Sunday Newsletter

Masses Today

6.30: (Vigil) Brendan O'Donnell and family members (RIP).
11.00: Gerry Colgan and Maureen Kieran, (Anniv).
6.30: John Gavin and deceased family members, (Anniv).

As I Was Saying...

The 'vicarious' or 'remote' apology is a relatively recent animal! In June 1997, Tony Blair apologised to the Irish people for a famine that had taken place 150 years previously. "Those who governed in London at the time failed their people." Blair stated.

Two years later, in May 1999, the then Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, apologised to the the victims of institutional abuse on behalf of 'the citizens and the state' when he stated: "On behalf of the State and of all citizens of the State, the Government wishes to make a sincere and long overdue apology to the victims of childhood abuse for our collective failure to intervene, to detect their pain, to come to their rescue."

We had another 'vicarious apology' on Wednesday last. British Prime Minister, Gordon Browne, on behalf of the nation, apologised to the children, then aged three to fourteen, who were transported from Britain to Australia and other Commonwealth countries in relatively recent times. Between 1947 and 1967 up to 10,000 children were shipped to Australia. They were sent to populate a nation with what was called at the time "good white stock".

This was an extraordinary, shameful episode in recent British history. Children were mostly sent without the consent of their mother or father. They were told they were orphans, when their parents were in fact alive. Brothers and sisters were separated and many of them endured harsh conditions.

Yet, many people do raise questions about this sort of apology. How can a later generation say sorry for actions of a previous generation when they weren't there and were in no way personally responsible? Isn't it all a little unreal? This is an understandable reaction, but it does not take into account the organic nature of society, so memorably put by Edmund Burke when he described the state as a partnership. It is, he said: A partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead and those who are to be born.

If this is so, then someone in a representative role for this partnership can, I believe, make an apology, as Pope John Paul II did on behalf of the Catholic Church for its treatment of Jews over the centuries.

The whole episode of the enforced 'deportation of children' to the colonies shows that Irish society had no monopoly on institutional cruelty to children. To provide a broader context for this cruel behaviour is in no way to excuse it.

In recent months, some commentators and correspondents would lead one to believe that Ireland, and the Catholic Church in particular, were uniquely perfidious in this regard. The 'deported children' demonstrates that this is not at all the case.

We are often amazed about how blind our forebears were to evils which we now regard as appalling, such as slavery, or the decimation of indigenous peoples in America, Australia and elsewhere. But I sometimes wonder how future historians will regard our own age. For what is absolutely certain is that we are as blind to some of the cruelties of our own time as our forebears were to theirs.

-Dick Lyng

Items of Great Interest

Lenten Programme

Holy Week & Easter

Palm Sunday is now just three weeks away, on March 28th. We should be making at least remote preparations for the ceremonies at this stage. The ceremonies concerned are as follows:

Penitential Services:
Spy Wednesday 8.00
Holy Saturday 4.00

Easter Ceremonies:
Holy Thursday: The Lord's Supper: 8.00.
Good Friday: Stations of the Cross: 12.00.
The Lord's Passion: 3.00.
Tenebrae: 8.00.
Holy Saturday: Easter Vigil: 9.00.

We would greatly welcome your participation in these events. You may recall that, over the last two last years, members of the Steering Committee and others took responsibility for the Good Friday 'Stations of the Cross'. Of course, you don't have to explain the Stations of the Cross to anyone. It is deeply embedded in tradition, and attracts a full church. Last year the organisers opted to present the Stations in a dramatised tableau form. It worked very well indeed and the people were really appreciative of the effort put into it. It would be great if we could attempt a similar presentation this year?

If you are in a position to help out with any of the ceremonies, please give your name to one of the priests.

Croi Nua Programmes

"Finding Hope in Lenten Times": Deirdre Ni Chinneide,
Wednesday night next, March 10th, at 8.00p.m.

LENT A HEALING SEASON Saturday 13th March, from 10.00a.m. - 4.30p.m.
A day of reflection and healing with Croi Nua team

ENNEAGRAM PART 2 Sundays 14th and 21st March: 2.00p.m. - 7.00p.m.
(Booking necessary for this one).
Venue: Croi Nua, Rosary Lane, Taylor's Hill: 087 6833195.

Thirteen Sonnets (I)

I have been stone, dust of space, sea and sphere:
flamed in the supernova before man
or manmade gods made claim to have shaped me.
I have always been, will always be. I
am a pinch of earth compressed in the span
of snail-shell: galaxies' energy,
the centre of the sun, the arch of sky.
I became all that all things ever can.
I will be here: I have always been here.
Buddha had to walk upon me: my snows
were not so kind, my ice was sharp as grass.
Upon me, even Christ encountered fear:
the nails were mine, the mallet mine, the blows
were mine. I grew the tree that grew the Cross.

-Michael Hartnett.

"Last Words........"

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