Excerpts From The Book,
"Just Go And Do It"

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 "Just Go And Do It", .  - The Missions.

This was a special treat when the Mission Priests would come to the local Church for a week. They would say Mass each and every evening followed by a long Sermon. Now this was intended to bring you back in line with the faith and keep you straightened on the road to Heaven.

The Mission Priests worked as a pair. One would be quite and very reverend while the other did all the roaring, threatening you with hell and all the consequences that went along with it. Each night there would be a different sermon, one night it would be on the importance of Confession and Holy Communion, the next would be on what was called ‘company keeping’ and a stern warning about looking at other men’s wives. It was stressed that the Commandment clearly said ‘Though shall not covet thy neighbor’s Wife’. Oddly enough, we took great relief when we realized that it said nothing about his daughters.

On other nights, the Sermon would be focused upon the evils of alcohol.  Now the week’s sermons would be announced on the previous Sunday the subject of these Sermons would be told in advance. In our Parish, as in many others, there was a certain amount of men who liked more than their fair share of the drink and they usually planned on not being there for the sermon. They considered those Sermons to be boring.  On an totally unrelated matter, the craic in the pubs on those nights were mighty. 

The local parishioners had their schedule already made out between alcohol devilment and company keeping, now called living together. However, throughout the years, the Mission Priests had noticed a major drop off in attendance on the nights that the sermon about alcohol was due for airing. On this particular occasion, Wednesday was scheduled in for the sermon on company keeping. On that night, all the seats near the front of the alter were full with all the experienced drinker from the Community. With their ears perked up, waiting to be enlightened on the joys of company keeping and all that goes with it, a spanner was thrown in the works when there was a last minute change in the Sermon schedule.

The Mission Priests knew right well that they had trawled in a prime catch of well established drinkers on that night and they laced into the evils of alcohol. With the priest roaring out on the top of his voice what drink has done to Families and how drink paves the road to Hell and anybody who drinks will never see the face of God. He pointed to the front row and told then that they were all going to Hell.

Now this unexpected sermon was taking its toll. They had heard enough but there was no let up, the missioner knew that he had put the fear of God into them and after much preaching and scorning he then offered them a chance at salvation. Confessions were to be heard and anyone who repented and paid penance would, upon death would be greeted by Angels at the Gates of Heaven and taken directly to the Man above.

The Priest roared ‘Will the first man that wants to start out on the road to heaven, stand up and be counted’. Moments, which seemed like an eternity passed, no one stood up. Then the Priest then started all over again on the evils of drink telling them that how ‘he knew first hand about the evils and how his own brother was an alcoholic and where is he now? - He is in hell. He is burning in hell. He’ll be there forever, eternity and there’s no way out. He is going to be there forever and all because of alcohol’.

At this stage the poor drinkers at the front of the alter had enough and could not listen to him anymore. They stood up and started to walk out. The Missioner roared at them ‘You are going to go to hell, the place where my brother is’. With that, one of men who was walking out turns around and shouts back, ‘have you got any message for him’.

That was the end of Wednesday’s Sermon.