Sunday Newsletter

Masses Today

6.30: (Vigil) Thomas Lyons, (Anniv).
11.00: Stephen Concannon, (Anniv).
6.30: Paddy Kelly, (Anniv).

As I Was Saying...

The Catholic Church is still reeling from the Dublin Report. There was much condemnation, and rightly so. The vast majority of those with whom I discussed the Report had their information filtered through the national media. But the response of the media was suspiciously uniform. Now, no one in their right mind will seriously question the facts of the Dublin Report. However, the conclusions drawn by Judge Murphy from an examination of those facts are a different matter.

Surely these conclusions are open to scrutiny and debate? But no. All the major media commentators have been singing since from a common hymn sheet. But this piece is not about the Dublin Report; it is about the way the media works in our society. Is the media objective? Is there an agenda? What sort of filters do they employ to push that agenda? What is 'filtered out'?

For example, theologian Sean McDonagh made a pertinent observation in the Irish Times this week: In recent years the Catholic Church has put an enormous amount of time, energy and money into devising child protection policies and putting structures in place to protect children in schools and parishes. This is seldom mentioned. I wonder why?

Our national media regards itself as a campaigning advocate of democratic liberalism. But how liberal is liberalism? Will the contrary view be fairly heard? In fact, arguing against liberalism is akin to arguing against motherhood. We are asked to absorb 'the spirit of liberalism' with our mothers' milk (or, more likely, with our gins and tonics!). We are asked to blithely accept 'liberal democracy' as the apex of civilisation. Is not this the 'Omega Point' towards which civilisation has been moving ever since our ancestors abandoned the cave?

Liberalism stands for freedom, tolerance, fairness, self expression, and choice. It stands AGAINST doctrine, discipline, and self sacrifice. Liberalism is marked by humanistic optimism. It sees life as essentially unproblematic, a matter of making of it what you will. You decide what you want, and you go for it! And when that decision is made, it may not be criticised, with one provisio: 'So long as no one gets hurt'! The hymn of liberalism is Frank Sinatra's "My Way". This is the politics of self assertion.

On the other hand, positive ethics, sourced from outside ourselves, and based on a clear vision of what we ought be, is easily dismissed as redundant. Why would we make things difficult for ourselves? The ethics of liberalism is eminently practical and it pursues the line of least resistance. This is why 'harm reduction' is a central strategy of liberalism. Abortion is legalised 'to reduce the deaths from back-street abortionists'; prostitution is legalised 'to control disease'; drugs are legalised to reduce the criminality of the drug culture. So 'harm reduction' takes the place of morality. Then the evils that we seek to control become industries that we need to regulate.

Of course, that picture I have painted above is something of a caricature. However, it may explain why the Church's voice is so unwelcome in the public forum. Not so long ago, you could not criticise a bishop. Today, you are not allowed to defend them. The 'Though-Police' have changed uniform, but they are still assiduously patrolling. Plus ça change!

-Dick Lyng

Items of Moderate Interest

Equality or Freedom?

The more equality a society has, the less freedom it has. The trick is to find the right balance between the two. This is an absolute rule of politics and no one should ever be elected to office without knowing it.

The Soviet Union strove for maximum equality and it destroyed freedom in the process. Rather less dramatically, there are those in this country who want the State to take over all state-funded schools. They want to do this in the name of equality but if they get their way they will remove from all but the richest parents the right to choose from a variety of schools for their children.

Just this week the Pope, ahead of a visit to Britain later this year, got himself into trouble with "human rights" groups (meaning left-wing pressure groups) when he indirectly highlighted the extremely serious implications of Britain's proposed new Equality Bill for religious freedom.

In Ireland, the upcoming Civil Partnership Bill, which will give marriage-like rights to same-sex couples, will also attack religious freedom; and with a few notable exceptions, no one in Leinster House seems to care.

For example, under this legislation a church hall that refused to rent itself out to a gay couple wishing to celebrate their civil union there could be sued. Its ethos wouldn't matter a jot.

As it is, under the Equal Status Act, if a printer was asked to print material he deemed blasphemous, he would have to, or else he would be found guilty of religious discrimination.

-David Quinn, Irish Independent, 5 February, 2010.

Just A Game

Betwixt the scrum of bodies tensed,
A gap perhaps the scrum half 's sensed.
Taking from the Number Eight,
He grits his teeth and runs straight.
The line appears, a magic sight,
But then a hand grapples him tight.
He twists his body, reaches out,
The ball's touched down, amidst a shout.
The crowd roars its sweet acclaim;
But the ref disallows the try,
Never mind it's just a game.

-Simon Wright.

Lenten Programme

I had an informal meeting during the week with the Rector of St. Nicholas', Gary Hastings. We had a general discussion on nurturing the relationship between our two parishes. We both agreed that the opportunity provided by the coming season of Lent should not be passed up.

Those who participated in the WOW Programme (Word on Web) during Advent were quite pleased with it. It is created and presented by Kieran O'Mahony, OSA and Sean Goan, two well-known and experienced scripture scholars and teachers. They have been working with this programme for some years now.

What happens is as follows: a local parish group (here in Galway, for example) gathers and listens via broadband to a 30 minute talk on a particular scriptural topic. The group then discusses the content of the talk for another 30 minutes. They will then participate for another 30 minutes discussion with the presenters and fifteen other groups via a telephone conference.

They are offering a different programme on St. Luke's gospel for Lent this year. But the same format will be followed.

  1. Wednesday, February 24th: First session: "Luke, the Story teller."
  2. Wednesday March 3rd: Second session: "Luke's Portrait of Jesus". (Little problem here: We had planned a Steering Committee meeting for this night. Must rearrange it).
  3. Wednesday, March 10th: Third session: 'Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road?' Revisiting the Road to Emmaus.
  4. Monday, March 29th: Seder Meal in the Augustinian Priory. This is the Monday of Holy Week. On the first evening of the Passover celebration, Jewish families share the special Seder Meal together. This is the ritual meal upon which the Christian Eucharist is based. We will be joined again this year by the people from St. Nicholas' Parish. We must decide soon where we should hold the meal - whether in the Church or in the Priory. The Seder Meal is primarily a family meal. We have tried it in both locations. Some believe that the domestic atmosphere was lost when we celebrated it in the church. However, if we celebrate it in the Priory, we will have to limit places to 40 at most. We will consult informally on the matter.

Social Evening on March 16th

St. Nick's and ourselves have a good history of celebrating 'social occasions' together. Gary and Catriona will host this social gathering (meal and drinks) in St. Nicholas on Tuesday night, March 16th in St. Nicholas's Collegiate Church. We will launch St. Patrick's Day from an ecumenical platform!

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