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Comment on the Mass readings for the Clogher Diocese 19.09.

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The Paradoxical Parable in Praise of Political Acumen (Luke 16. 1-13).

Hi Scribd Readers
I managed to make it to the vigil Mass in the nearby Parish of Magherarney (which
straddles the border between Monaghan and Fermanagh) Saturday evening and then
into Monaghan Cathedral today, Sunday 19.th., which is in the Parish of Rackwallace
and so I’ve attached both Parish bulletins. And well I might have for it took the
combined wisdoms of Fathers John Flanagan and Joe McEneaney plus a fully fledged
after Mass rant with an atheist friend (Michael Connolly – North Monaghan Green
Party candidate) in McDonald’s over a cup of tea to unravel the mysteries of the
apparently 'Paradoxical Parable in Praise of Political Acumen” (Luke 16: 1-13) as
well as providing the excuse I needed to rant forth about the government’s handling
of the worsening financial crisis. Before I go any further I should thank Michael’s
son, Ruairi (English version: Rory) for indulging the two ranting and intemperate
adults he'd been lumped with.

So what of the paradoxical parable on political acumen (my title) where Jesus
apparently condones political dishonesty? What he’s really illustrating in this parable
is the distinction between corruption and being a Gobshite, which the Irish might
define as a person who allows excessive moral scruples get in the way of practical
common sense and the need for social consideration. For in the Parable, the Steward
– on hearing he's about to be sacked - sets out to ingratiate himself with his Master's
debtors by discounting their debts, by fifty percent in the case of oil and twenty
percent in the case of food. What does the Master do on hearing of this seemingly
self-serving scam: punish him further for dishonesty as well as his original error of
being lazy? No, rather he praises the servant for his political savvy and keeps him on
instead. And if that’s not challenging enough Jesus goes onto develop the parable
through a veritable paradoxical obstacle course implying that not only does he expect
his followers to treat money with the disdain it deserves in the interests of society -
and of the Kingdom to come - he implies he’ll be miffed at those who don’t see the
necessity of doing so. For by prioritising the money system over societies interests
they will have shown contempt for their kind in order to curry favour with the bosses
of this world, and he will soon strip them of their graces accordingly – their Heavenly
inheritance, so to speak – exposing them for their lack of courage on societies behalf.

Now if you ever wondered whether was Jesus a socialist then wonder no more
because here he is clearly putting the money system at the service of society and not
the other way round; which - by my way of thinking - is the essential difference
between a Socialist and a Capitalist or a Democrat and a Republican at least. And of
course our good Bishop - the newly appointed Monsignor Liam McDaid – threw in a
reading from the prophet Amos to kick things off, Amos being a hero to Liberation
Theologians. In the First Reading the Prophet (Amos 8: 4-7) is having a go at
swindlers who rather than tilting the balance in favour of social interests seek to
exploit society making the lot of the people pure misery - sounds familiar. St Paul (1
Timothy 2: 1-8) is meanwhile saying leave no one out, pray for all, King’s included,
so that we may live in Peace and get on with the business of living fitting God fearing
lives. So would I walk past my Atheist mate in McDonald’s having heard all that?
Not likely!

Michael Connolly is involved in the Transition Towns movement and issues like oil
dependency and food security, pointing out that three quarters of all the oil we
consume is consumed indirectly via the food production system. An amazing fact
which behoves me to build a pollytunnel and get on with the business of growing my
own. So its curious that Jesus discounts oil at fifty percent – in this case vegetable oil
– clearly treating it as a factor of production and a critical constituent of the food
production/preparation system. I guess Jesus was not simply pulling numbers out of
the air as we all sometimes do. The fact that he was discounting from 100 shows he
was really referring to percentages and suggesting the appropriate discount rate where
energy and food were concerned.

But the real focus of our rant was on the Government, which quite unlike the
politically discerning Steward decided to bail out the system and not society writing
off the debts of the commercial, developer and banking sectors rather than writing off
a percentage of mortgage debt, which would also have served to re-capitalise the
banks indirectly in any event. And still even now faced with political and economic
oblivion they serve the rulebook and not society. When they ought to be pulling out
of the Euro and re-introducing the Punt for a period of five years while we get our
house in order – so to speak – they are walking us into an IMF based takeover, which
will impoverish the country for decades to come. The principle concern both of the
Government and of the Social Partners must be to ensure that Social Welfare
payments are met and Public Sector wages are paid - even if at a lower level -
because as things are going they will not be paid at all. Of course reintroducing the
Punt would lead to massive reverse migration of foreign social welfare recipients and
workers due to the poor currency conversion from Punt to Euro's further alleviating
the pressure on the Department of Social Welfare and on the Jobs market.

Bigger than this national level picture we could reasonably expect the British and
Europe's continental powers to get on with dividing the Euro zone in two: a Frankfurt
based Euro I for the Continental core and a London based Euro II for the Atlantic-
Med Fringe Nations (Europe’s ‘Bay of PIGS’: Portugal, Iceland, Ireland, southern
Italy and Greece). The effect would be to get the periphery off the German
Exchequer’s back while opening to door for the Middle East Oil Bourse to trade in
London Euros, following Turkish accession, thus anchoring Europe’s periphery in
petro-euros while giving the Arab world real political and demographic leverage in
Europe in exchange. I could flesh that out but this is an interpretation of a Sunday
Mass leaflet afterall. Thank God I’m not a Priest.

After a while Michael’s son Ruairi convinced us we were becoming unseemly as we


debated the economy, gay civil partnership and moral relativism. We did conclude
however by co-opting Sinn Fein into Government as the best way of opening the door
to default and the re-introduction of the Punt. ‘Remember these Guys: No2Lisbon,
No2Nice and No2Mastricht? We would say, well the price of failure has just been
applied. By co-opting Sinn Fein into government the Government would not be
saying ‘No’, to any of those Treaties just that we must bow out of the Euro while the
Principle Powers see the sense of dividing the Euro-zone in two, thereafter we’ll re-
apply for membership of the London Euro. And all that in an after Mass rant in
McDonald’s in the Republican town of North Monaghan, so of course we made
Caoimhghin O Caolain TD (SF) the Minister for Health - Harney got Cowen’s job.

I went home and slept for two hours vowing never to talk to a Green Party Atheist
again after Mass and wondering about St. Paul’s advice.

Please note that on the Rackwallace Parish Bulletin there’s an interesting item on
childrenincrossfire.org looking for participants for a Barcelona Fun Run. So if anyone
out there would like to take part in that cool event get in contact with me and I’ll help
with the fundraising on Facebook.

Paul V. Cassidy
www.facebook.com/webpresenceme

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