Truth Treasoned and forgiveness

1.

The living word is broken.
It is lost for words at the loss of its word.
At a loss to comfort the flock betrayed by the shepherds.
The sacred is treasoned.
Belief in belief is shattered, smithereened, smashed to bits.
Sorrow and trauma fill congregations of lost, scattered church goers. Faith in church and out is a sacked ruin.

Could this be Christ’s work?
Confronting not the money merchants in the temples
but his very own
apostles and vicars?
His once servants; now the self-servants.
All eyes turn away in hurt,
closed tightly in deep-felt shame
at the shamelessness of it all.
This is no glorious terrible beauty born
but entire disgrace upon us all.
For atrocity, inhumane cruelty, acts of barbarism,
insults and injustice,
havoc
have been perpetrated down upon generations of children,
boys and girls, men and women,
by our priests, our orders of religious congregations,
those we were loyal to,
while our Bishops stood idly by
those of us trespassed upon without mercy.

2.

The living word is struggling
to live up to its name.
No comfort now in the good church,
created to love and cherish all.
Dimmer now the sacristy lamp and the living word
is struggling to live up to its calling.
Voices from within a scream emerge
through the raging pages of the unholy bibles,
testimony from Murphy, Ryan and Ferns.
No tales here of Cú Chulainn’s childhood deeds,
no myths, no freedom dreams,
only perpetual sackcloth and ashes.

Listener, listen.
Please don’t abandon me now.
Stay present, intimate,
for surely what I say is the living truth.

Ordered into slavery by courts and State,
trafficked into the hands of tormentors,
of some men and women of the cloth of our church,
the trusted ones. The ones we were loyal to.
But their work was not for the greater glory of God.

Not in my name, laments the living word.

3.

We are shocked.
A nation bewildered, a world blitzkreiged,
super-traumatised
by the revelations, the scandals, the facts, the evidence,
the witness testimony
of the starved, beaten and slaved
in this republic of Ireland
on the island of Ireland’s land.

Stand now this moment your ground.
Stand on your own two feet and feel this truth,
this day, this moment, right now.
Feel your own loss of faith,
your own pain and distress,
disgust at what happened
and what is happening.
When we all stood idly by.
No one came to the rescue, nobody bothered.

You turned God’s miracles into frightened, gibbering wrecks
stripped of everything.
Own that now before you begin to atone
or seek reconciliation or healing.
Offer up personal responsibility, accountability
unconditionally
this now, this immediate instant.
Offer it up if only for the life of the living word
that was in the beginning.
Time now not to turn the other cheek
because they say they do,
because they know not what they do.
Yet they still do.

Protecting their reputations, their assets,
their position, their status,
the wealth of their church.

Their church.
Not ours.

4.

The living word has nothing to give, but gives.
A gesture.

They’ve no poverty any more;
no chastity; no obedience.
They threw away the honest truth to set us free.

Perhaps it is time now for you not
to consider your resignations
but to reconsider your vocations.
All of you who served your own will and your self-created
flimsy institutions.
Stand back now from that rock upon which
you have brutally collapsed our Church.

Our Father who art in heaven ...
This is not about giving us our daily revenge;
not about not forgiving them their trespasses.
We know deep down we are not forsaken,
that this is not in vain;
but, Lord, we are only human beings
whose dreams were not tread softly on
but harsly stood upon.

Who is accountable? Who is responsible?
Where is responsibility?
Who will lead us not into temptation?
Is it Faith? Is it Hope?
Is it Charity, and unconditional love?
If so, Lord, give it here.
Pour it out. Aid us now.
Supply us from every quarter
in the midst of this catastrophe,
this church-made disaster;
this organised criminality;
this treason of trust.

Breathe life into the living word.

5.

The living word has passed away,
overwhelmed by acts of man’s inhumanity
to men, women and children.
Infants.
Heart-broken,
despaired by the self-serving Church.
You did a disservice to your trusting flock
but we’ll say no more of that.
Fruitless now to cling to tragedy,
to stay in loss, in fury,
in grief, in anger.
Best let go.
Best to try and make
progress from here.
From this day. From this now.

Nothing now but the last words of the Living Word.
Remember my meaning.
Cherish its essence
and begin anew.
There but for the grace of God go I.

Order of the Christian Brothers, I forgive you
Order of the Oblate Fathers of Mary Immaculate, I forgive you.
Order of the St John of God’s, I forgive you.
Order of the Sisters of Mercy, I forgive you.
Order of the Good Shepherd, I bear you no grudge.
Order of the Brothers of Charity, I forgive you.

All religious congregations, I forgive you.
Priests, bishops, cardinals, Popes,
trespassers all,
I forgive you.
And I forgive myself.


© GERARD MANNIX FLYNN,
October 2010

Dublin City Council Statement of Regret

Press Statement 17th June 2010.

Lord Mayor’s Statement on abuse suffered by Children in Residential Institutions.



At its meeting on 14th June 2010, Dublin City Council debated the findings of recent reports on the issue of the abuse suffered by children in this country. Cllr. Mannix Flynn put forward the motion and also called on the Lord Mayor to issue a public statement, acknowledging that the abuse had happened, and expressing sorrow and regret at what had happened to children at the hands of the church and the state. Cllr. Flynn read a statement into the record covering the issue of child abuse in general, with reference to the findings of the Murphy, Ryan and Ferns Reports. “Finally after decades everybody accepts that what happened to thousands of children was awful. But it wasn’t just awful, it was criminal and so far the only people who have been criminalised in this whole sorry tale are those children sent by the courts to these institutions and that’s simply not good enough”, said Cllr. Flynn.



He also called on fellow Councillors to lend their support for a new Charter for Children and a new Bill of Rights. The ensuing debate involved several Councillors, all of whom expressed their solidarity with the victims of abuse in childhood. The Lord Mayor commented that the debate was extremely moving and that the sentiments expressed by Cllr. Flynn had resonated throughout the Council Chamber, evidenced by the expressions of support given by his fellow Councillors and Management, who expressed their regret and sorrow at what had happened most especially to children who were criminalised and incarcerated under the Non-Attendance of School Act. The Lord Mayor stated that she fully supported and endorsed Cllr. Flynn’s motion, which was unanimously carried, and formally read it into the record of the City Council. She expressed her deep concern and regret at the abusive treatment to which children had been subjected, and emphasised the necessity to bring the perpetrators of these appalling crimes to justice. She added that the City Council would facilitate, where possible, the provision of relevant minutes of School Attendance Board Meetings through an archivist’s report, while respecting the sensitivities of the victims involved.



Ends.





For further information – please contact Lord Mayor, Cllr. Emer Costello at Tel: 086 3831805 or Cllr. Mannix Flynn at Tel: 087-2246664

Note to Editor



FULL TEXT OF MOTION - COUNCILLOR MANNIX FLYNN

That this Committee calls on the Lord Mayor, Councillor Emer Costello to issue a statement in relation to the Dublin Diocesan Report and its findings also that the Lord Mayor call a debate on the issue in chambers. Dublin City Councillors have a role to play in how the safety and the welfare of our children is managed and that this Council issue a statement of regret and apology to all those who were abused in residential institutions. The then Dublin Corporation administrated the Non-attendance of School Act on behalf of the Department of Justice. Children were brought before the Children’s Court under this act and incarcerated for long periods of time throughout their childhoods where they suffered horrendous abuse at the hands of those whose care they were entrusted. It is the duty of the now Dublin City Council to acknowledge its role in the history of residential institutions and set its record straight in the interest of healing and reconciliation. I believe it is now time for us to take this positive, responsible position.

Another night-out of the Theatre Darling........

So here we are all again, on the outside of the inside looking on, looking out, just looking - gobsmacked at the level of no access, no backstage pass, no front stage pass and all the excuses - there is no excuse. It would appear the biggest disability is the blindness by those who have the ability who are charged with fixing things making things better fulfilling obligations. We're institutionalised when we should be outraged. We're not poweless so lets not turn the other cheek and make more excuses. The Abbey Theatre, Peacock Stage is not fit for purpose. There should be a warning sign to the public in relation to these buildings that they do not have universal access, that will enable us to have informed consent as to whether we would want to present our work there.

Personally I don't feel great at all with the turn of events at the Peacock in relation to the accessibility for individuals with accessibility needs. It is important to note that the Abbey Talks are upstairs in the Abbey and are inaccessible to people with disability also so the Abbey Peacock are both unfit for purpose in this instance.

No point in listening to the same old nonsense from the nonsense machine, its as bland as 'the cheque is in the post' you gotta fight for your rights and you gotta fight against indifference and othering. The cultural so-called community, who slurp up almost 500 million a year in funding haven't any shining example of universal access. Perhaps now is the time to turn this issue into a positive campaign as Dublin City Council debates the Cities Draft Dev. Plan for the next few years. I certainly intend to make it paramount and one of my primary purposes during my stay at DCC. There is indeed now time for at least one cultural space that addresses all the issue around accessibility for disability. We need to end 'othering' and segregation, because thats really what it is. If silence is violence what do you call whats unfolding at the Abbey at the moment, and what do you call my part in this diabolical situation? Had I of known there was no access for all i wouldn't be in the place so a part of me is lost and is out there wandering around out-of-body, out-of-spirit, estranged. I intend to address this issue and my reattachment of body and mind soul and spirit by providing a performance complimentary to all in a venue with universal access by Sunday 2nd May. I will announce the time and the place when me and the venue find each other. My sincere apolagies to all those who are offended by me in relation to this matter. Allow me make amends.

In the far off distance..

The sound you hear in the distance is not the leafing of a recently purchased literary work from the now silent Hughes & Hughes, it is the rumble of collapse.

Somewhere in this choking dust we have to make our way out.

Decide to move on, to let go of the after-shock.

To disengage from the ruin and engage in the rebuild.

We have to reconduct, reconstruct our loss, our fury, our anger.

We have to grieve the old way with the old rituals.

We must begin the wake, the true wake, the one we let go of, threw away in the scramble for the new ritual of bling and flash.

There is no 'old way' anymore, there’s just the way.

The sound of keening will replace the sound of the till. The wake is the wake-up call.

The water that will wash our face from the economic dust will be the water of tears.

So dry your eyes now with the back of your hand and listen. Someone should call the rescue mission off because the mission has nothing to recover.

There is no sign of economic life, there is no recovery, no pulse in this rubble. It is merely a dump now, a landfill site and underneath it between the rockface and the grey brown mud is all the aspirations of wealth and capitalism collective and personal dreams, betrayed.

This landscape of failed economy will become one of those 'sacred places'. A kind of Auschwitz, a reminder of the economic holocaust.

We trusted and we adored, not too long ago, our economic leaders, our heads of the church of cash. We had faith in the faithful when really all it was was generational conditioning. We frenzied for money. We loaned our souls to these people and they did with it what all tyrants do, they got drunk on power, on control and caused mayhem and misery.

Best now, to move from this place or be engulfed and turned to ash like those of Pompeii. Move quick before you fall from the fallout. The good place is over here with us, with yourself.

Sometimes in times like these to own nothing truly is to own something, to have something that no-one can take away. Don't get consumed by what they would like us to be consumed with, rage, resentment, envy, anger, self- sabotage. That would suit their needs. They would like disobedience, civil unrest. They would send out their armed forces to save their civilization, but not ours. Oh no, they wouldn't save us. We're the new poor, the underclass the ones outside the pale, the masses, the hardened not-working classless class.

It would be like the 30’s, the Great Depression, except it would be greater, it would be awesome, it would be mega. Full of cinematic and literary possibility except it would be real. And when its all over, subsided, quietened down, exhausted, no more rioting, no more mayhem, just dried blood, sure, wouldn't we still have to move on?

So are you coming? Are you coming or are you stayin'?

Or, are you waiting for any of the false promises to come true?

We cannot continue to blame those who won't hear us, those who won't be responsible or held accountable. Those that want us to be disobedient, riotous so as they can lock us up, baton us down, fill us full of lead.

Let’s not let the past repeat itself. Let’s not be any part of that.

Let’s do ourselves some service.

Look at the state of us. Scavenging on top of the pile.

Time now ladies and gentlemen please.

Stop blaming on your shoes the faults of your feet.

Come on we're waiting for you.

We're moving.

We can do better.

All this will pass if we let it pass.

No miracles in the Vatican, no smoke no mirrors!

What were they expecting those that were expecting?

Was it wondrous words and miracle cures,

was it the second coming,

was it a morsel of truth,

even an utterance of bewilderment and confusion,

Why did they go there in the first place,

and why did we follow,

if only through the eyes and ears of the media,

the biggest devil of them all.

Whose side is who on?

Who pays the fiddler not to play the tune,

All we have we hold,

best not to give our sorrows, our traumas, our betrayals,

into the hands of those who trespass against us in the first place.

Are we back doing the same thing, trusting in the untrustworthy.

Somewhere in our past somebody mis-nurtured us,

entangled us in a screaming traumatic co-dependency,

you hurt me you bastard, now unhurt me.

He who looks to Rome, should turn the other cheek,

and keep turning, there is nothing in Rome except Italians.

Two States in a state. One in denial.

Give a guess which one that is.

keep guessing its as good as any job,

we're good at guessing, here in Ireland.

We guess our way out of most things.

So back to the Bishops and the Pope

and the press statements and the press briefings

and the media frenzy and all the hysteria

and wrecklessness and hopelessness

and hope that something would be said

that was said in the beginning, that was the word.

and the word was 'love' and we betrayed that love

and in betraying that love we betrayed that God,

that God, that we call, the one true God,

The God of all,

and we ourselves as bishops and pope became a cult,

like the other cults.

self-centred, and self-protected above all, for our own greater glory.

Hurt thrives when its unowned, when its unloved, uncared for,

it roams aimlessly in a modern contemporary purgatory,

branded and labeled like a cheap product in a 50cent shop,

We must turn our faces away, turn our thoughts to a quietness,

from the flashing bulbs and the roaming hungry cameras,

from the Newsflash breaking stories,

we must turn to our own lives, to our own truth and to what happened.

To what really took place,

and thats really still in place.

That this Church and this State indemnified each other against any liability or wrong doing and in doing so cemented the lie, secured a denial, delivered the slap in the face to end all slaps in the face.

So the visit to Rome is like the sexed up document, the weapon of mass destruction, its part of the 'big lie' that we all want to hear, somethings happening, when nothing is happening,

nothings changing,

all is the same,

I hear a Bishop saying to another Bishops ear " they're looking at us, they're listening to us, they're expecting, they're back believing, we have them by the bollicks, they're feeding from our hands, like the ducks in the green"

its mesmerising what an economy class to Rome can do for the Catholic Church and its Bishops.

As the old saying goes, the cheque is in the post,

and so is change

The best thing you can do

is don't engage at all with anything to do with the Church of the Catholic faith

until you see that real Faith which is about change.

See the difference,

Do the difference,

Notice the change.

City Limits, Red sails in the sunset...

Tomorrow in DCC the traffic policy group debate and discuss the issues arising around the 30km speed limit. Its important for this city and its future that there is no about turn on this vitally important milestone in Dublin city. For too long we have put up with the 'battle field' that is our roadways. Just as people are entitled to the enjoyment of their car and the road, so too is the pedestrian and cyclists and citizens/visitors alike. Speed is a choice not a necessity, certainly the speed junkies out there are suffering withdrawal symptoms. We can't continue to feed this habit by lifting the speed restriction. A day at a time, a traffic light at a time and we can all enjoy the City once more. No 'U" turn on the 30km! Come out and support the effort tomorrow ring the bell on your bike, wear your speedos! get your best cycling or rambling outfit on...gear down into stroll mood, get into the swing of things in the unthreatening atmosphere of the 30km zone. If you wanna get there fast you better slow down, the quickest place of all, the most immediate place is the present.

Padded Cell and Other Stories

Just to let you know that the show at 'adifferentkettleoffishaltogether' art space on 18 Ormond Quay has now been extended until mid March. Below is a link for last nights interview with Vincent Woods on the Arts Show.

Be a candidate, be a contender.....

Theres so much coming in these days that its hard to decipher it all. What I can say is this it is my belief that we are allowing ourselves to be hoodwinked on all matters concerning this State. Where is the voice of people? Where is the real opposition? One of the most telling things of recent times was the debate around the inquiry into the banking scandal. Interesting that all of the opposition were against the terms of reference of this inquiry. Yet those very same references were used for the Murphy and Ryan reports into Clerical abuse and not a murmur out of them. Because both these inquiries are a peculiar form of official 'whitewash'. Bishops heads may have rolled on account of the Murphy report nobody rolled for the inquiry into residential institutions. These 'boyos' and 'girlos' are still in the business of containing the whole of the Irish people on the Island of Ireland and not letting anything break out and move us on are we to continue to be inward looking? Are we to continue to listen to those who do not speak the truth? Are we destined to remain entangled, co-dependent, rudderless, mass of screaming howling humanity?
Everybody should now consider themselves a candidate in the Mayor elections. It is not that expensive to be a candidate, to be a contender, to be somebody. The more of us in the ring with them, the less chance they have to practice their containment of us. Individually it is your call. Up to you to stand up and honour yourself in doing so you encourage us all and we are willing to break the chains that bind us.

http://www.dublincity.public-i.tv/site/player/pl_compact.php?a=36100&t=&m=wmx&l=en_GB

Happy New Year

Happy New Year just to let you know the sun is beaming down on the Magillicuddy Reeks, its light glistens in the running Laune River, vapour rises from the melting snow and frost, another day alive, another day to be grateful, another day of endless possibilities and choices. Breathe deeply, fill your lungs, and enter into 2010 with courage, strength, faith, and committment and above all happiness.