CÉAD MÍLE FÁILTE!

Those of you who know me will know that I am not gifted with the greatest memory in the world – in fact one might say that I am quite severely challenged in the memory department. And yes, I have tried all those ‘memory-improving’ schemes – you know the kind of thing – “link the name to your favourite vegetable and imagine blue hair growing out its mouth and five legs, and that will bring it to mind straight away”. Not for me, I’m afraid – I’m just left wondering what’s a five-legged vegetable got to do with anything?

So it took an email from a class-mate of mine (who, incidentally, probably was given my share, in addition to his own, when God was distributing memory) to remind me of a journey I started out on forty-five years ago today. Dressed liked an undertaker, in a black suit, and wearing one of those hats that the gangsters used to wear in the old movies as they walked into the warehouse to machine-gun every bottle on the premises, I set out from my home in Dublin to the Passionist novitiate in the north of Ireland. Little did I know what the next 45 years were going to hold for me! Little did I dream that I would ever be stationed in Paris – if only I’d known I could have gone and learnt a bit of French while the ole brain was still capable of absorbing fresh material.

Anyway, - welcome! Today we set out on another journey, as it were, as we begin a new year in St. Joseph’s Parish. A very special welcome to those who have recently arrived in Paris, and are still wondering what kind of place this is. A very special welcome back to those who are returning after Summer vacations, eager once again to get stuck in to the joys of their normal routines! Who knows what the year ahead is going to hold for us?

But then, in St. Joseph’s we don’t believe in sitting around and waiting to see what will happen to us – in modern terms, we like to be ‘pro-active’. We have been blessed down the years with people who are not only talented, but anxious to use their talents to build up our Parish as a welcoming, joyous community, celebrating and working together to make our world a better place. I’m not going to give a listing of all the wonderful achievements of the Parish over the years, or even last year – our challenge this year is not simply to be better than last year, but to be the best possible Parish we can be this year – we’re looking forward, not back.