The KGB spotted Donald Trump in the 1980s

An interesting piece, which argues that the KGB spotted Donald Trump as an asset in the 1980s.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book

Gracioiusness is a wonderful gift

The 'Thinking Anew' column in The Irish Times today.

Michael Commane

In tomorrow’s Gospel St Mark shows that the words spoken by Jesus made a deep impression on his listeners. And a significant reason for that is: “because, unlike the scribes, he taught them with authority”. (1: 22) St Luke tells his readers that Jesus won approval of all: “And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips”. (Luke 4: 22)

There’s wonderful enthusiasm about that. The people listened to him because he spoke authoritatively and did so in a gracious manner. 

Graciousness is a supreme quality, a wonderful gift. And you know it when you meet it. It is seldom faked. Graciousness brings with it an air of authority; indeed I think it’s fair to say that it complements authority.

Two days after Joe Biden moved into the White House someone commented that he had spoken such gracious words and spoke them with authority. The person went on to say that often when we hear gracious words, we might well forget what was said but remember the graciousness of the person who spoke them. Surely, that’s a lovely thought.

There was a headline in the Guardian newspaper earlier in the month, which ran: “Trapped in a fantasy with no one to shout ‘cut’ ”. 

It was brought to my attention that you could well put so many words in front of that headline which would give it a great resonance. He suggested ‘religious life’. I added the words, priesthood or indeed church. Just as the headline captures the mood of our times, the added words give it an extra reality or vibrancy. It certainly makes for great debate and conversation.

We have just come out of four years listening to a world leader haranguing, insulting, ridiculing and demeaning those who did not agree with him. We are punch-drunk from it all. While Donald Trump may not be the cause of our fatigue and cynicism, he did reflect the confused state of millions of people around the world. 

In this newspaper last week there was an insightful article about QAnon, the deranged conspiracy theory that believes the world is run by a Satanic group of paedophiles and that Donald Trump has spent years leading a top-secret mission to bring these evildoers to justice.

Can you get anything madder than that? Yet it has millions of followers from right across society. Mike Rothschild, who researches conspiracy theories, says about QAnon that it appeals to anyone who is disaffected in any way. 

There is a void, a kind of emptiness affecting our world. Sadly there is precious little graciousness that speaks with authority. And that absence is  noticeable in the Catholic Church in Ireland, indeed, probably in all churches but my competency allows me to speak about the Catholic Church in the country in which I live and work.

Though there are people, who speak with grace and authority, the institution is diminishing in front of our eyes. There is some sort of blindness being perpetrated. And to add to that, there is a development of  cliques, many of which appear extremely right-wing in their views and beliefs.

Whom do we believe, where do we go to hear the truth?

Within the Catholic Church, and I imagine in all churches, there is urgent need for a real and honest discussion. It’s well beyond time when church leadership listened and indeed took a lead from its non-clerical membership. Our church has become crippled by a top-heavy management system, strangled by an unhealthy hierarchical command structure. And the result is that  the people on the ground have stopped listening.

In my job as a hospital chaplain I have the great privilege of being inspired by the faith of the people I meet, patients and staff. When last did the words of a bishop or priest genuinely inspire me? I cannot say. The words and actions I experience as a hospital chaplain are usually suffused with grace and a quiet and confident authority. 

They speak to me as the evangelist Mark describes. I  too am astonished. 

My hope is that when Covid regulations are lifted that I can invite the new Archbishop of Dublin, Dermot Farrell to come to the hospital, where I work, and accompany me on my rounds. I shall ask him to leave behind his episcopal ring and cross and experience for himself the lived faith of patients and staff. 

The wisdom and faith of people must be recognised. There is so much to be harnessed. So often there is a graciousness and authority in front of our very eyes.

We need to see it.

Funny money is no laughing matter

A staff member at a Starbuck's shop in Dublin drew a racist caricature on a customer's cup of coffee.

It cost the company €12,000.

In 2019 Ryan Tubridy's RTE salary was €495k.

The Starbuck's employee would have to draw over 45 insulting coffees before it would cost the company Tubridy's RTE salary.

And in the US it's reported that a convicted felon may have paid out $2 million for a Donald Trump pardon.

Rabbi Ephraem Mirvis warns against all forms of racism

The Irish Times yesterday carried an article by Oliver Sears, titled ‘Remembering Holocaust once a year is not enough’.

In the piece, Sears quotes Primo Levi, who said: “The Holocaust happened and it can happen again.”

He also quotes that famous line from Theodore Adorno: “…to write poetry after Auschwitz is an act of barbarism.”

 

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/the-holocaust-how-to-say-never-again-and-mean-it-1.4468455#.YBFx5BCp4io.mailto

 

Yesterday morning on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Thought for the Day’ Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis gave an excellent talk on all forms of racism.

Here’s the link to the talk

Thought for the Day, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis - BBC Radio 4

 

Ephraim Mirvis is currently Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom. He was Chief Rabbi of Ireland from 1985 to 1992.

 

International Holocaust Day

Today is International Holocaust Day.

On January 27, 1945 an advance group of scouts who broke away from their unit in Oswiecim in Poland, arrived at the gates of Auschwitz.

It was the day that the advancing Red Army began the liberation of the remaining living skeletons at the German death camp. 

Yesterday Richard Lutz the head of Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) admitted that today's German rail company is the successor to Deutsche Reichsbahn, and therefore bears a responsibility for the transporting of millions of people to the concentration camps.

Also yesterday the heads of Volkswagen and Daimler Benz, now known as Daimler AG, made a commitment to speaking out against anti-semitism and all forms of racism. 

They were among a number of companies who played a major role in supporting the Hitler terror.

In 2018 Holocaust survivor Salo Muller won a case against the Dutch railway company, whose predecessor carried him and his parents to a German death camp.

German Railways charged a railway fare to those they were transporting to their deaths.

Could there be anything more obscene and absurd?

Trust, like our health is a fragile gift

This week's Independent news & Media Irish regional newspapers' column

Michael Commane

There’s the often trotted out cliché that our health is our wealth. We all say it from time to time but I often wonder do we ever really appreciate what it means to have good health.

Fortunately, I’m relatively fit. I’m walking in the hills, swimming in the sea and cycling a bicycle. Of course a lot of it has to do with our good luck but I also get down on my bended knee to thank my parents for the good start they gave me in life.

But it really is like walking on a tight rope. Anything can happen at any time. It often occurs to me out walking in the hills how easy it would be to trip and break an ankle. 

During the Christmas season a 17-year old boy tripped and fell into the sea in West Kerry and lost his life. The unspeakable pain that must be for his family. An accident can happen at the blink of an eye. 

How many times have I listened to the stories of people recalling the first tell-tale signs of cancer, and then how it slowly but surely changes their lives dramatically. I am forever asking the question what at all is life about.

When our bodies are up and running and at full throttle we can easily think that we are indestructible. And indeed we act accordingly. It’s easy to understand how young healthy people have no conception of what it means not to be able to ‘float like a butterfly and sting like a bee,’ quoting those great words from Muhammad Ali.

It’s such a thin divide between being healthy and well and unhealthy and infirm. It’s as close as one gets to the toss of a coin.

It’s a similar story with trust.

Has it ever dawned on you how we take the notion of trust for granted? Only last week a young mother told me when she goes running she sometimes brings her two young children with her and leaves them at one end of the park, assuring them that she is close by. 

She was explaining to me how her children have absolute trust in her and know exactly that what she is saying is true. They take her word as certain.

And again, we have another cliché for that. We say my word is my bond. It’s a powerful expression. But what happens when it is broken?

Most times, in normal healthy circumstances we take trust as a given, it’s as certain as the air we breathe.

What do we do when we no longer trust a close friend. Indeed, what happens when we lose trust in another person, our boss, a community, an organisation, the place where we work?

 

Certainly, anonymity destroys trust and much of social media is no friend of trust.

Everything about our lives is so fragile. It all seems to hang by a thread. And what’s so strange about it all, we seldom if ever see it in such terms.

When we’re healthy we take it for granted and we take it as a given to trust people. 

But when we have serious health issues it requires great skills to bring us back to health. And so too with trust, when we lose it, it requires great skills to restore it.

Governing is ultimately about choices

Pat Leahy's piece in Saturday's edition of The Irish Times is well worth a read.

It includes a most interesting quote from Barack Obama's most recently published memoir.

Leahy argues that governing is ultimately about choices.

It's a great piece and the next time you are tempted to criticise the Government it might do no harm at all to think of the difficult job they have.

And especially in these uncharted waters, which appears in no text books, Government is constantly having to maker choices.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/school-reopening-the-first-of-many-tough-choices-as-covid-19-numbers-fall-1.4465410#.YA1tecQ1ul0.mailto

Reader enquires about Joe Bergin and Ino Ryan

A reader has enquired about Joe Bergin and Ino Ryan.

A comment giving information on both men has been added to the blogpost of Sunday, April 21, 2019. 

Newest addition to An Post's fleet

Obviously the Irish postal service is adapting to the times.

This is one of An Post's newest addition to its fleet. And it was seen out and about on a Saturday afternoon.

Older people will remember when there were two daily postal deliveries, one in the morning and one in late afternoon. 

When the then Post and Telegraph postal service ceased Saturday deliveries there was a national outcry.

And now what are we seeing? The postwom/an back out delivering on a bicycle.

This new bicycle is battery operated. Then again, it's not a bicycle. How could it be. Three wheels, which makes it a tricycle. Fadó fadó, children called them three-wheelers.

Back in fashion.

What goes round comes round. In more ways than one.

Bye Trump, you changed America, you also changed me

 This is an interesting read.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/21/donald-trump-changed-america-four-years

'Catholic Voice' call for civil disobedience is reprehensible

In a December issue of the Catholic Voice, editor Anthony Murphy writes:

One thing is clear - if the government try to reimpose restrictions and once again ban public worship their[sic] will be little resistance from our bishops and many priests. Therefore we the people must be the ones to lead civil disobedience and we must begin to organise ourselves to do so.

That paragraph appears in a page-long diatribe condemning the bishops, the Association of Catholic Priests and scientists. 

In that same issue the Irish Dominican Province advertises for vocations. 

It is disappointing that the Irish Dominicans would advertise or be associated in any way with such a publication.

Another paragraph goes: Perhaps the most alarming aspect of all this is how readily compliant swathes of the population have been and how easily they surrendered their liberty placing their trust in a group of scientists and politicians far removed from th daily reality of ordinary life. We will be paying the price for the actions of this elite group for many generations to come.

Anthony Murphy is incorrect and he expresses his ignorance in an extraordinary brazen fashion.

Mr Murphy should read the daily figures, check the list of dead and sick across the world. He might talk to front line staff in our hospitals before writing such insulting, indeed, vile words.

The worst possible nonsense.

Cleaning a shore or two could make a big difference

Sleet, rain and snow are forecast for the next number of days. Sun too.

But whatever weather we are about to have in the next fews days we know for sure that it will rain and it's possible there will be flooding in the next weeks.

This is a picture of a shore in south Dubin yesterday.

Might it not be a good idea that Dublin City Council would make sure that all its shores were cleared and ready to take surplus water just in case it might rain.

Such a simple job to clean shores.

Anyone who cycles across Dublin, just take a look down and note the number of shores filled to the brim with debris.

And that of course is replicated all over the land.

It doesn't make any sense.

And wouldn't this be the perfect time to do a big 'clean-up' on our streets' shores when there is so little traffic and kerbside parking clogging up our streets.

Trapped in a fantasy with no one to shout 'cut'

On yesterday's RTE Radio 1's Ryan Tubdridy programme school principal Jarlath or 'Churck' Dunford was interviewed.

He is principal in two-teacher Templemary National School. An impressive man as one of his pupils clearly articulated on Tubridy's Friday programme. Young Anne McDonnell sang Mr Dunford's praises.

On yesterday's programme Jarlath Dunford spoke about his job. At one stage he said: "When you teach children you are all the time brought down to earth quickly".

It reminded me of something the late Dominican Paul Hynes said to me before I began my teaching career. He made that very same point and added that pupils and students will always keep you on your feet and you can never fool them or talk spoof to them.

Wise words.

And if one thinks about it. Are Mr Dunbford's words not an insight into the importance of fatherhood/motherhood. 

Cutting away from all the pretend talk is there really a value or purpose in priestly celibacy in today's world?

This was a subheading on a Guardian article last week: Trapped in a fantasy with no one to shout 'cut'.

A colleague edited the subheading and wrote: Religious Life - trapped in a fantasy with no one to shout 'cut'.

And you could easily replace religious life with priesthood.

Rainbows right at our own feet

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column.

Michael Commane

I noticed they were taking down the Christmas decorations in our hospital after the feast of the Epiphany, January 6. As the wise men only arrived on January 6, the crib is still in situ in the hospital oratory. The experts tell me it comes down on Candlemas Day or the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, February 2.

And what’s happened all the Christmas gifts, where are all the toys and presents that Santa brought? How much of the Christmas magic is still in our daily lives?

My mother died in 1988 and dad in 2004, and honestly, since the death of my father I’ll just quietly say that Christmas has never been the same.

So, was there a standout moment for me this Christmas? 

Indeed, there was a number. A man who had been a patient in the hospital in early 2019 sent me a Christmas Card, wishing me well and telling me, that all was good with him and family and that he was back at work. Most likely he will never know what he touched in my soul. 

The privilege to know that someone thought of me and wished me well at Christmas. And remember, it was almost two years since we met. I can imagine the kindness and goodness that he radiates in his job.

Sometime in November I spotted two young women locked out of their newly rented house after 6pm. The door had closed on them and the key was inside. They had no idea what to do. I was passing so I offered any help I could. I did not manage to open the door but I did call a locksmith, who arrived within minutes and solved the problem.

Come Christmas they arrived with a card and a small gift. Again, they had the grace and kindness to do that.

Some weeks before Christmas I had an unpleasant experience with a work colleague. It was as much my fault as his. But after Christmas I approached him and we mended fences. It was a lovely sense of relief. 

At least any embarrassment on meeting was now gone.

I keep saying that it’s the little things that make such a difference in our lives.

The current Covid pandemic provides us with an obvious example of how important such small acts as washing our hands, wearing a mask and keeping our distance are.

We are who we are, we are challenged every day to live with ourselves and the unique gifts we have been given. It’s up to each one of us to do the best we can. 

But it’s for us to catch the moment and see the wonder and greatness in the small, every day experiences we encounter.

No, it’s not at all that our lives are humdrum, anything but. There’s always the temptation to chase rainbows. It makes no sense because do you know what, they are right at our feet.

That does not mean that we ever tolerate any forms of injustice or wrongdoing. While we have to hang our heads in shame at the wrong that has been perpetrated in the past we have to be brave and fearless, always to speak truth to power.

The Irish Catholic Church needs a Willy Brandt moment

On December 7, 1970 the then German Chancellor Willy Brandt fell to his knees at the memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto.

On December 7 last year on the 50th anniversary of what happened at the Warsaw Ghetto memorial, German Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas said of the famous event in Warsaw:

"Brandt’s falling to his knees was an admission of German guilt – for the crimes of the Holocaust and the war of annihilation against Poland. The Chancellor bowed before Polish suffering and before the courage of the Jews who dared to revolt against the German occupiers in the ghetto uprising of 1943. Back at home, many accused him of exaggeration or even treason. The erstwhile exile bore no personal guilt. The Chancellor knelt, although he did not need to. He knelt for those who needed – but were unwilling – to kneel.

"In 1970, Brandt signed the Treaty of Warsaw in the Polish capital – a turning point in German-Polish relations with the recognition of the Oder-Neisse border. The Nazis had unleashed their racial-ideological war of annihilation against Poland in 1939. Brandt’s falling to his knees at the monument to the Warsaw Ghetto therefore acknowledged all Polish victims of the war – including the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. That is why it is so important that the German Bundestag finally decided to commemorate the Polish and all other Eastern European victims of the war of annihilation with dignified memorials in Germany in the future."

Not for a moment can what happened in Ireland be remotely compared to what Nazi Germany did, nevertheless, some profound, public act of apology from a Catholic Church leader might prove a moment of reconciliation.

Yesterday Archbishop Eamon Martin was interviewed on RTE Radio 1's lunchtime news. While making a number of worthwhile points it was a weak interview in the context of all that has been said and written during the past week.

The Archbishop-elect of Dublin, Dermot Farrell in a sermon in St Mary's Cathedral, Kilkenny yesterday also spoke of how children and unmarried mothers were treated. Again he admitted to the wrong-doing, but there was no one sentence in his sermon that would catch the moment.

The Irish Catholic Church needs a Willy Brandt gesture, a Willy Brandt moment. Who is going to deliver it?

Netflix film on Berlin's Charité hospital not to be missed

Currently on Netflix, Charité comes highly recommended. It was first screened on Germany's ARD in 2017.

The film traces the history of the famous Berlin hospital, where Robert Koch and Emil von Behring made their discoveries. And then the rivalry between the two great men.

Plus the thought that Hoechst AG will make them wealthy men.

Koch's famous divorce to marry Hedwig Freiberg.                  

The hospital has survived the German Reich, the Weimar Republic, the Nazis, East Germany and now once again, flourishes in a united Germany. Focus magazine voted it Germany's best clinic in 2017.

Because of the research at the hospital and the rush to cure tuberculosis and diptheria the film is particularly apposite in the time of Covid and another rush to find a vaccine.

Then the story of religion, anti-semitism, homosexuality and, indeed, heterosexuality.

At the end of the 19th century is was still not possible in the German Reich for a woman to study medicine.

A powerful series and not to be missed. 

Washington riot reminds Germans of century-old myth

This is an excellent piece. It appeared in The Irish Times last Saturday. Certainly well worth a read.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/washington-riot-reminds-germans-of-century-old-myth-1.4453502#.X_scAxd1u4A.mailto

Annoying letters with annoying errors

Do you ever parse a letter you receive?

It's annoying when large corporations give the impression in correspondence that they are on familiar terms with the addressee. 

It's also annoying when people use terms of endearment, when you know well they don't mean a word of it.

How do you deal with errors of grammar and syntax, especially in letters that are annoying?

David Hanly of 'Morning Ireland' fame, when working on the programme, always insisted that no presenter on his programme would ever use the word presently incorrectly.

It's part of Hanly's legacy that RTE always uses presently correctly.

Presently, in these parts of the world, means in the immediate future and does not mean currently or at present.

The dogs in the street know that the word number takes the singular.

There is often an interesting  link between the use of uppercase letters and the self-importance of the writer.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss comes highly recommended to anyone, who is a regular letter writer, as does Alex Games' Balderdash & Piffle.

Any organisation worth its salt would have a house style-guide. 

When it comes to sexuality we are all hypocrites -Freud

The cruelty of the church, the State and the acquiescence of the Irish citizenship must make all of us hang our heads in shame.

To take a child from its mother is an unspeakable crime. To lock up women because they become mothers is another unspeakable crime.

And while all of that was happening the majority of Irish people offered a silly reverence to priests and sisters, who were asked to be celibate.

Is there any explanation for it? Does anyone know what advantage or what gifts celibacy brings to a human being?

But the line from Sigmund Freud is worth quoting; "In matters of sexuality we are at present, every one of us, ill or well, nothing but hypocrites."

It's surely a brilliant line.

Robert Seethaler's The Tobacconist throws some light on the mayhem/the wonder/the danger/the loneliness/the failure of human sexuality.

Seethaler is an Austrian writer. His book, The Tobacconist, published in German in 2012 proved a best seller and was made into a film.

A young man moves from his small village to Vienna in the 1930s. Hitler is in the background. The young man has his first sexual experience during his early days in the Austrian capital. He's confused, accidentally meets Freud and so goes the conversation.

More troops in Washington than in Afghanistan

US politician Seth Moulton said in the House today that there are more troops protecting the Capitol today than there are in Afghanistan

Brutality and savagery not exclusive to any one nation

Yesterday we heard of the cruelty meted out to young mothers and their children in Ireland. The behaviour of agents of the State, members of religious congregations, bishops, priests is beyond words.

And then how the Irish people allowed this savagery take place must make all of us hang our heads in shame.

The link below is one woman's experience at the hands of agents of the Chinese State. The same old story of savagery and brutality.

How dangerous it is for any one nation, any one group, any religion to say they occupy the moral high ground.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/12/uighur-xinjiang-re-education-camp-china-gulbahar-haitiwaji

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin was a competent leader

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column

Michael Commane

Diarmuid Martin is about to hand over his episcopal baton to his successor Dermot Farrell, though of course, he remains an archbishop.

Readers of this column, who attend Mass, will be aware that in the Eucharistic Prayer the priest prays for the pope and the bishop of the diocese. It is a long and wholesome tradition that the assembled people pray for their bishop and the pope. 

It’s a lovely reminder of the unity of the community and it is also a prayer of hope that in spite of all our differences we are in unity with our bishop and pope. No, not that we are nodding the head in subservient obedience, rather that the unity of people, with their bishop and pope help us on our pilgrimage or journey, that ultimately leads us to God.

So for example at Mass in the Catholic Diocese of Ferns people pray for their bishop Denis, in Kerry they pray for Raymond and in the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin people pray for their archbishop Diarmuid.

A new man, Dermot Farrell has been appointed in Dublin. So once he’s installed as archbishop we’ll be moving from Diarmuid to Dermot.

In his 16 years as archbishop in Dublin Diarmuid Martin made it a priority of his ministry to clean up the long sad legacy of clerical child sex abuse in the diocese. It was by no means an easy job. He was a most competent church leader, who also performed well on radio and television and had no problem answering difficult questions, honestly.

Over the last 10 years or so I have met Diarmuid Martin a number of times. On every occasion I found the man interesting and engaging. Maybe because both of us have an interest in things German made it easier for us to converse.

On one visit when I thought I might get 15 minutes of his time, we spent an hour chatting. And on another occasion, when I called on him for advice I found him most helpful and indeed decisive.

At least from my perspective I got the impression that he had an inspiring and forward-looking understanding of the role of the church in the world in which we live.

I can well imagine it’s a lonely ministry being a bishop. Dealing with priests can’t be the easiest of jobs! 

That reminds me of hearing a story about a well-known priest in Dublin, who having fallen out with Diarmuid Martin, never again mentioned his name at Mass.

 

And no doubt Diarmuid Martin was not everyone’s favourite person, certainly not the priest who stopped mentioning his name at Mass. But from my own personal experience I found him a fine man and he was certainly always polite and kind to me. I never had any inhibition telling him exactly what I thought and I felt he appreciated that.

I wish him every joy and happiness on his new journey. Diarmuid, thank you for your listening ear and kindness.

And thank you too for your leadership as archbishop during often difficult times.

From banned on the airwaves to the slickest PR machine.

It was British Labour prime minister Harold Wilson who coined the famous phrase that a week is a long time in politics.

If that be the case, then 24 years is an eternity, indeed for many, especially younger people it certainly is.

Twenty four years ago this day, January 11, 1994 the Government lifted the 15-year broadcasting ban on the IRA and Sinn Féin.

And isn't it ironic that today Sinn Féin, most likely has the savviest and slickest PR machine of all the political parties on the island of Ireland.

17-year-old married 93-year-old, a lovely but sad story

This is a lovely story. She was 17 and he 93 when they married each other.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/08/last-civil-war-widow-dies-helen-viola-jackson  

Fr John Heffernan OP (1927 - 2021) - an obituary

Dominican priest John Heffernan died in Suncroft Lodge, The Curragh, Co. Kildare yesterday, January 8.

He was born in Kerry in 1927 and attended primary School in the North Kerry village of Knocknagoshel  and then went on to Newbridge College, where he was a boarder. 

John joined the Irish province of the Dominican Order in 1945 and was ordained a priest in March 1952.

After postgraduate studies in theology in Rome he returned to Ireland and read geography and Latin at University College Galway. On completion of  his Higher Diploma in Education he began teaching at Newbridge College.

John, commonly known in the Order as Johno, spent many years of his working life teaching Geography and Latin in Newbridge College. Indeed Johno and Newbridge College are for many Dominicans synonymous. During his years in the college he was dean and headmaster. He was a gifted teacher and followed in the footsteps of his parents, who were both teachers. 

His interest in his subjects, mixed with his rigour and thoroughness, helped students obtain good grades in their public examinations.

Students, indeed, staff wouldn't mess with Johno.

It is said of Johno the only students who might ever get away with not having a Latin or geography homework done were those who were out training with him the previous day on the rugby field.

Rugby and golf were his two main sporting passions and his crowning glory was his training of the Newbridge College team, that won the Leinster Senior Cup in 1970, beating Blackrock College. On the day Blackrock were favourites. Newbridge had beaten Clongowes Wood College by the tightest of margins in the semi-final.

Irony would have it that  the school made it to the 2020 finals of both the junior and senior cup but because of Covid-19 the finals never took place. It was the second time since 1970 that the school had made it to the senior final.

They were due to play Clongowes Wood in the final. Clonglowes kept the cup for the fist six months, which means it was in Newbridge College for the last months of Johno's life.

Irish rugby international Mick Quinn, who was captain of the winning Newbridge team, says of Johno that he was the best coach he ever had.

When it was discussed in the 1970s whether or not Newbridge College should join the free school scheme Johno was one those who opposed the move away from fee-paying. The school remained a fee-paying post-primary school.

It was during his third term as headmaster that the school moved to c0educational.

Johno oversaw a number of building projects in the school, including the bridge across the River Liffey. Wouldn't it make sense to name the bridge in his honour?

On retiring  as headmaster he moved to St Dominic's parish in Tallaght where he worked as a curate.

During his time in St Dominic's he became familiar with the Charismatic Movement and in due course became passionately involved in charismatic groups.

Every job and sporting activity that Johno took on, he did it with great fervour. There were never any ifs and buts with Johnno. The job would be done and every obstacle would be overcome to get the job done.

Johno did nothing in half measures and everything he did was done with the greatest enthusiasm and passion. Once he was convinced of a job-of-work he would let nothing get in his way. 

While in Newbridge every teacher and student knew that rugby, geography and Latin were the epicentre of life, school and the world, at least when Johno was involved with the three disciplines.

He spent six years as prior in Holy Cross, Tralee, where he did Trojan work with the Dominican Laity. 

On the many occasions I visited the late Lally Lawlor, mother of Fr Paul Lawlor, she would without fail, regale me with stories of how hard a worker and dedicated priest Johno was.

During his time in Tralee the Dominicans sold the adjacent property on Day Place.

After Tralee he was prior in Athy and remained in the priory until the Dominicans closed the Co Kildare church and priory.

From Athy he returned to his 'real  home', Newbridge College, where he spent his years of retirement. 

Johno was admired and respected by those whom he taught. He had a special gift of staying in touch with past pupils, especially those who were interested in rugby and golf, and pride of place among those, were the members of winning 1970 senior cup team.

In later years, when he had more freedom, Johno travelled the world with many of his rugby friends.

He was a close friend of the late Fr Jim Harris, who taught and sparred with him in Newbridge College. 

Both of them went on many international rugby pilgrimages, following the fortunes of the Irish team.

One trip was to South Africa, where along with following the Irish rugby team, he visited his sister, who was a Loreto Sister working in the country at the time.

Jim Harris, who was a larger-than-life character, had a wonderful ability of telling stories. His rugby pilgrimages with Johno gave him full rein for subsequent tales and yarns. And the stories could easily turn into very late night sessions.

On one of those late-night sessions the story was told of how Johno and Jim Harris were refused entry to St Mary Major's because they were in shorts.

Johno lived life to the full and was above all else a dedicated Dominican priest.

John Heffernan's remains will be reposing at the Dominican College church in Newbridge from 11am  until 8pm on Sunday. Funeral Mass is on Monday at 11am in accordance with Government guidelines. The Mass can be viewed at www.dominicansnewbridge.ie. Funeral afterwards to St Conleth's Cemetery.

May he rest in peace.

                                                                                                                          Picture courtesy of Pat Lucey OP

John Heffernan OP, RIP

Dominican priest,  John Heffernan died in the early hours of this morning in Suncroft Nursing Home on the Curragh, Co Kildare. He had only moved from Newbridge College the previous day to the nursing home.

Funeral arrangements to follow.

An obituary will appear on this blog over the next few days.

May he rest in peace.

John Kelly sees Donald Trump as a flawed person

Former White House chief of staff John Kelly in an interview on CNN yesterday said that when he first met Donald Trump he had no idea how flawed a man he was. But as time went on he realised just how flawed he was.

He pointed out that Trump always  surrounded himself with people who agree with him.

Kelly said that if he were now at the cabinet table he would support invoking the 25 Amendment.

Admitting that Trump has only a few days left as president, John Kelly, who is a retired four-star Marine Corps general, is concerned at what he might do because he knows that Trump will now realise he is seen as a laughingstock.

He went on to say that with only 13 days left in the White House and after yesterday no one around Trump is going to break the law.

Trump lets the genie out of far-right bottle

Watching Donald Trump's fans riot on Capitol Hill last evening gives the world some idea of what happens when the genie is let out of the bottle of the far-right.

How would America react if this had been a Muslim or Black Lives Matter demonstration?

America has known for days now that this would happen. Trump has used the word combat. Far-right radio station Patriot has been strongly advising its listeners to travel to Washington and do this.

It might sound a step too far but watching this madness there are those who will say a similar violent far-right grouping is growing within the Catholic Church. And it's happening in front of our eyes.

And they are merciless and fanatical.

All during the presidency of Donald Trump there have been Catholic priests supporting Trump. Among those is Dominican  Pius Pietrzyk, who tweets on a daily basis his praise of  Donald Trump.

Here's his last tweet: We have a media and political elite that has been rationalizing violent protests for the last six months, and now seems surprised to find that tacit support of violence leads to more violence. These violent protests are horrendous -- both six months ago and now. Pray for peace.

In Ireland David Quinn is constantly chipping away at all views and opinions that are not in accord with his own vision of the world.

For many months now he has been questioning the Covid pandemic and has often tweeted that government has been overreacting.

One of his latest tweets: I asked the HSE how many patients in hospital who have Covid would be there anyway due to other conditions. They don't know. Here is their answer in full. Surely this kind of information should be available to analyse properly what is going on? @AnMailleach @CormacLucey

John Watters and Gemma O'Doherty are often asked to talk to far-right Catholic groupings.

And then there are the two far-right newspapers, Alive and Catholic Voice.

Noel Curran writes of world-renowned Harry Clarke

‘An Irishman’s Diary’ in The Irish Times on Monday is about world-renowned stained-glass artist Harry Clarke. It’s a lovely read.

It is said that one of his windows is in the Catholic church in Castlegregory in West Kerry. 

It would seem that a large number of churches lay claim to Harry Clarke windows. Once questioned, people in the know are inclined to say, well, it’s from the Harry Clarke school.

The Catholic church in Dublin's Terenure has a Harry Clarke window.

  

The writer of the Diary is Noel Curran, the current director-general of the European Broadcasting Union. 

Today The Irish Times has as an insert its 2021 calendar.

 

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/into-the-light-an-irishman-s-diary-on-harry-clarke-1.4449914#.X_RW1t-CEoo.mailto

The night of the big wind in Ireland

On the night of January 6, the feast of the Epiphany, in 1839 the entire island of Ireland experienced a once-in-300-years wind, damaging or destroying over 20 per cent of Dublin's houses.

A daunting task for new archbishop

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column.

Michael  Commane

Last Tuesday Dermot Farrell was named as the new Catholic archbishop of Dublin. 

The archbishop-elect is from Westmeath and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Meath on June 7, 1980.

He spent 11 years as president of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Since 2018 he has been bishop in the Diocese of Ossory. Before his episcopal appointment he was parish priest in Dunboyne.

In the run-up to the appointment of a new bishop the papal nuncio sends three names, called a terna, to Rome and a group of men in the Vatican usually pick one of the three and that person is appointed bishop.

Is it possible that senior clerics had suggested names to the papal nuncio? Because it is all done behind closed doors it’s fair to say that anything and everything is possible. And it’s a pity that the appointment of bishops is done in such a closed and secret manner. Far too often apparatchik-type people can easily be appointed bishops.

What Dublin needs right now is a charismatic man, who will inspire, someone who will be genuinely interested in people. And already, Dermot Farrell has spoken of the importance for him to listen to the people.

The Catholic Church in Ireland is tired and its leadership leaves much to be desired.

Is it a good idea to move one of the current Irish bishops to Dublin? Was there not a priest in the archdiocese suitable for the position? The archdiocese needs someone with imagination and courage, who will not be afraid to try new ways, so as to capture the imagination of the people.

After all, the Gospel is a story of Good News and wouldn’t you imagine that it should be easy enough to sell a good news story.

The new archbishop needs to be a person of prayer and humility, who feels at ease with people. Dermot Farrell has a doctorate in theology. I hope he can easily communicate the faith and is pastorally sensitive. 

It’s important that he appoint a top class press officer, who has the skills, intelligence and sense of humour to make the story of the Good News attractive to the media. 

The church has a bad track record in appointing staid and boring people to speak on their behalf to the media. Indeed, often they have a sense of haughtiness about them. Any good press officer needs to feel at ease with his or her counterparts across the media.

On top of all that, the new bishop will have the almost impossible task of getting to know the priests of the diocese and building up a relationship with them. A bishop needs to be in touch with his priests and deacons.

Just imagine if the new man, say within 100 days in the job, decided to organise a gathering, some sort of synod, to plan for the future of the archdiocese.

Above all, Dermot Farrell needs to give us hope, not just to Catholics but to all people of good will.

Hopefully he will be kind and good natured to the people in the archdiocese.

Straight from the strange lips of US President Donald Trump

This is Donald Trump talking Georgia's Secretary of State George Raffensperger, who happens to be a Republican.

This is not reported speech, this is straight from the lips of President Donald Trump and it is jaw-dropping. Note how he slips in the word 'rumour' and then builds a crazy edifice on the rumour. Is he mad, bad or just a simple-style dictator?

In a phone call on Saturday, President Trump insisted he won the state and threatened vague legal consequences. Here are excerpts from the call. https://wapo.st/2MlD8ga

Appalling behaviour of RTÉ and those associated with skit

There has been a storm of complains about RTÉ's New Year's Eve Countdown Show, which accused God of rape.

How could anyone ever attempt to make a joke on this subject, the idea of God raping, or indeed, anything to do with rape.

The programme was hosted by Kathryn Thomas and Deirdre O'Kane and the sketch was read by former RTE newsreader Aengus Mac Grianna.

We often shake our heads and wonder how people in the past behaved as they did.

It's ever so easy to live in the coattails of what's fashionable.

How can anyone associated with that so-called skit not be ashamed of themselves.

Denigrating God and joking about rape. It really is appalling.

RTÉ has made an apology but have said the piece will remain on the RTÉ Player but will come with a warning.

It should be removed immediately.

The day they began to build the Brooklyn Bridge

On January 3, 1870 construction work on New York's Brooklyn Bridge began. 

'The world is charged with the grandeur of God'

The 'Thinking Anew' column in The Irish Times today.

Michael Commane

In the Christian tradition Christmas runs from Christmas Day until at least January 6, the feast of the Epiphany, Little Christmas or Nollaig na mBan as it is called in some parts of Ireland.

Indeed, the Gospel reading in tomorrow’s liturgy is the same as that read on Christmas Day. The beginning of St John’s Gospel is considered to be one of the finest pieces of literature ever written. “In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” (John 1: 1 - 2)

God the Son, Jesus Christ is called the Word, the Word made flesh.

In these dying days of Christmas it’s apposite to recall the first two lines of Gerard Manley Hopkin’s poem God’s Grandeur: “The world is charged with the grandeur of God./ It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;/It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil/ Crushed …”

The poet and the evangelist both use words to convey transcendence. 

 

Words are fascinating, our use of them, indeed our misuse of them,  can express thoughts and ideas that might well have extraordinary consequences. I often recall back on my schooldays and attempts at essay writing and how I really never appreciated or understood in any sort of meaningful way the power of words. It is something I greatly regret. But missed opportunities are just that. What is important is to make use of the present and build on it. 

I am forever asking myself and others what’s life all about. On one occasion when I asked that to a friend, who has a sharp wit and a good sense of humour, he replied: ‘Our lives lurch from one distraction to the next.’ I thought it was a brilliant reply and made perfect sense, especially coming from him  as his wife had died some months earlier. There are moments in my despondency when I find myself repeating it, nodding my head, and saying to myself how right he was. 

And just before Christmas we were back chatting and again the theme turned to the purpose of life and what it all means. He had just become a grandfather again, on this occasion for the seventh time. Jokingly he suggested that his job was done now and then added: “And now we are lurching to the end.” We are both in our late 60s, early 70s. So he was putting perspective on things.

There’s a grim reality to both those words, ‘lurching’ and ‘end’. But it’s a reality that is staring us in the face. And then I stopped for a moment and decided there was more to it than that. No, it’s not the end. There’s resurrection. The feast of Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ, who is eventually condemned to death and rises from the dead.

God becomes man and in the most mysterious ways, in ways beyond our understanding, the Word is  made flesh. Jesus  experiences suffering and death and then rises from the dead and makes it possible for us too to rise from the dead. It is an extraordinary thing to say but it is at the centre of our faith.

I was forced to think of the enormity of such a belief and how impossible it is to speak about it when reading an obituary of the spy George Blake, who died outside Moscow last week. He stated in stark terms that he did not believe in an after-life. In an interview with a Russian newspaper on his 90th birthday Blake admitted that as a child he was thinking of becoming a priest, “But that passed. As soon as our brain stops receiving blood we go, and after there will be nothing.”

Our Christian faith does not leave us with nothing. It leads us towards resurrection and God. Christmas can be a great reminder for us of everything to do with God. “He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things came to be, not one thing had its being but through him.”

The Christmas season, now in its final days,  is above all else, a time to relax in the knowledge and faith, just as the poet Hopkins did, to realise: “that the world is charged with the grandeur of God.”