Sunday Newsletter

Masses Today

6.30: Roderick Carr; (Anniv).
11.00: Bridget, William and Bernie Mulkerrins, (Anniv).
6.30: Nellie Carter, (Anniv).

As I Was Saying...

Church Unity Week begins today. Since the late 1960's, the Ecumenical Movement has enjoyed the blessing of all the main Churches. Differences were not regarded initially as insurmountable. In 1970, Anglican leader Michael Ramsey forecast that Anglicans and Catholics would be united within ten years.

Such optimism was naive. The work of the Anglican- Roman Catholic Commission, whose mandate it was to 'drive forward' the reunification of both churches, came to a halt 15 years ago. But recent Anglican insistence on the ordination of women priests and bishops, and the acceptance of homosexuality in some areas, have added greatly to the difficulties. Rome's response may be the death-knell for Ecumenism as we know it.

Last November, Rome revealed its plan to woo disaffected Anglican clergy. The proposal offered 'certain Anglicans' (that is, 'High Anglicans') their own dioceses within the Roman Catholic fold. They could also take with them into the Catholic Church 'certain Anglican traditions and customs'.

Anglican priests who are married will be allowed to serve as Roman Catholic priests. This will lead to an influx of married priests into a Church where clergy have traditionally been celibate. This would amount to 'a Church within a Church', similar to the status enjoyed by the Coptic Catholics of Egypt.

Mandatory celibacy for Roman Catholic priests must remain. However, the very presence of significant numbers of married priests could present a more attractive alternative model of priesthood to Roman Catholics.

However, Anglicans who 'cross the floor' will have to accept the full Roman Catholic 'package', including Papal Infallibility, and all the moral 'hot potatoes' still cooking! Clergy wishing to convert must be re-ordained as Catholic priests, and some might face painful choices, such as mundane salary cuts.

Some accused Pope Benedict of 'poaching in troubled Anglican waters'. Rome countered that groups of Anglicans have 'repeatedly and insistently' petitioned to be received into full Catholic communion. So Rome didn't go hunting; instead, the Anglicans came knocking!

But some are not convinced. "Rome has parked its tanks on the archbishop of Canterbury's lawn," thundered The London Times. Rather than pursuing 'the grand project of ecumenism', Benedict opted to 'pick off the Protestant one-by-one.'

Benedict visits Britain this year. His meeting with the amiable Archbishop of Canterbury may be awkward. But the most disconcerting consequences of what the Vatican began in 2009 might eventually be felt by conservative keepers of the Roman Catholic tradition. Popes have mighty powers, but the law of unintended consequences contains no exemptions for the merely infallible. Could this proposal be the Trojan Horse through which a married priesthood was accepted as normative in the Catholic Church? Rowan Williams could yet have the last laugh!

-Dick Lyng

Items of Moderate Interest

Attention 'Mercy' Pupils

The Mercy Secondary School, Newtownsmith invites prospective students and their parents to an Open Evening on Thursday, January 28th at 7.30pm. Pre-Entrance Assessments will be held on Saturday, February 6th between 9.00am and 1.30pm. Closing date for receipt of completed application forms is February 6th. For more information, call school office at 091-566595.

Poor Clares' Celebration

There will be a 'Celebration Weekend' in the Poor Clare Monastery 16th and 17th January to celebrate the newly refurbished Extern Convent. The event is an opportunity for viewing the work done and meeting the sisters. (At 3pm on Saturday, we will have picked the lucky winners of our "Buy a Brick" Grand Draw).The doors are open from 2-5pm Sunday 17th January and refreshments are available. At 3pm on Sunday we will have the official blessing kindly performed by the Bishop of Galway. It should be noted that there will be no extra parking available on the grounds of the monastery on the day. All are welcome.

New Year's Resolutions?

This is Day 17! How are you getting on? Have the withdrawal symptoms abated somewhat? Or are you still chewing at the four legs of the kitchen table? A couple of years back, Time Magazine gave cigarettes cover treatment at the beginning of the year. They had some interesting statistics on the percentage of adults who smoke in European countries. (Ireland wasn't mentioned, though I do think the figure is around 25%, putting us on par with Italy).

Meanwhile, that magazine recalled how cigarettes were regarded as medicinal in Victorian times was impressive indeed! An impressive variety of maladies were banished by a good smoke: "Asthma, Wheezing, Winter Cough and Hay Fever." Indeed, the ads claimed at the time that, 'with a little perseverance, a permanent cure will be effected!'

I particularly liked the line: 'Harmless in their action, they may be safely smoked by ladies and children!' Naive times! Incidentally, if you have fallen back into your old fuming habits, do not despair. The season of sackcloth will kick off with Ash Wednesday, February 17th, a mere month away from this day!

Gravy

No other word will do. For that's what it was. Gravy.
Gravy, these past ten years.
Alive, sober, working, loving and
being loved by a good woman. Eleven years
ago he was told he had six months to live
at the rate he was going
nowhere but down. So he changed his ways
somehow. He quit drinking! And the rest?

After that it was all gravy, every minute
of it, up to and including when he was told about,
well, some things that were breaking down and
building up inside his head. "Don't weep for me,"
he said to his friends. "I'm a lucky man.
I've had ten years longer than I or anyone
expected. Pure gravy. And don't forget it."

-Raymond Carver.

More Football Quotes of 2009

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