Trump and gang paint a picture of nastiness and violence

This week’s column in The Kerryman newspaper.

Michael Commane Kerry is a long distance from Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz and Qom. These Iranian cities have been on maps on television screens and newspapers in recent days because they have been bombed by either US or Israeli planes. 

I’ve been in those four cities; all four are world treasures. They are unique places of great beauty and sophistication.

The Irish Dominicans have a priory in Tehran where I was visiting Tralee man Fr Paul Lawlor, who at the time was living in our priory in the Iranian capital. Our church and priory have been vacated for a number of years. It is hoped at some stage the Dominican Order will be back in Tehran.

It’s because of having been there and the Dominican links with the country that I have been keeping a close eye on current happenings.

In April 1951 Mohammad Mossadegh was democratically elected prime minister of Iran. Both the United States and UK governments were not happy with Mossadegh. They wanted ‘regime change’ so organised a coup, which restored Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to power. The reasons Mossadegh was not the flavour of the month was because he planned to nationalise the  country’s oil.

British Petroleum, better known as BP, was originally called Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which was founded in 1909. In 1935 it was renamed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, later becoming BP in 1954.

The last time I  heard of ‘regime change’ was before the Iraqi war. And all for what?

I can no longer watch Donald Trump and his Secretary for War, Pete Hegseth at press conferences.

Hegseth is no longer the US Secretary for Defence, Trump changed the name to the Secretary for War. He was obviously preparing for war. 

Hegseth reminds me of a teddy boy from the 1960s. His attire, his poor grammar, his sleazy looks, his drinking habits are worrying. Indeed, the teddy boy description is an insult to the genuine teddy boys. 

Last week an F-15 was shot down in Kuwait, An F-15s costs €26.71 million. 

Approximately 15 million people in the US avail of soup kitchens to feed themselves and their families.

It is estimated that the US spent €669.08 million  during the first 24 hours of Operation Epic Fury. Trump and Putin must learn from each other; Putin calls his bloody war in Ukraine a Special Military Operation.

Some weeks ago I attended a lecture, where the speaker argued that in times of war truth loses its meaning.

It is generally accepted that the government of Iran is a cruel despotic government. But doesn’t the western world say the same of China and Russia. Why has the US not bombed them?

This war cannot make sense. Pray God it stops.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State said last week: ‘This erosion of international law is truly worrying: justice has given way to force; the force of law has been replaced by the law of force.’

He went on to say:  ‘When speaking of the causes of a war, it is complex to determine who is right and who is wrong. What is certain, however, is that war will always produce victims and destruction, as well as devastating effects on civilians.’

Powerful words.

We’ll talk about anything except the meaning of life

Joe Humphreys' opinion piece in The Irish Times yesterday is an interesting read.

Here it is.

We ask a lot from our teachers and educators. Every time an issue of public concern arises, the catch-cry is “x should be taught in schools” – where x is everything from digital literacy to driving skills, computer coding to empathy. The voice of Catholic Church in Irish education has added a further item to the list: purpose.

In a submission to the Government’s Convention on Education, which is due to hold its first meeting later this month, the CatholicEducation Partnership (CEP) quotes Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky when he wrote “the mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for”.

“Education worthy of the name should help students to discover that purpose, to form conscience, and to learn the disciplines of friendship, study and service,” says the partnership, which was set up by Ireland’s Catholic bishops to represent the church’s interests across primary, post-primary, third-level and further education.

The church’s concern over a “loss of meaning” is shared by many in Ireland and internationally. The worry is not just that we have lost the ability to distinguish between right and wrong but that this moral vacuum is leaving us in a state of hopelessness and despair.

Friedrich Nietzche predicted this drift towards nihilism in a post-Christian world. With the demise of a shared belief in God, we toggle between different sources of moral authority, chiefly: (a) populism (whatever the majority says); (b) capitalism (whatever the market says); and, increasingly, (c) dataism (whatever the algorism says).

This “loss of a shared moral order” was the theme of David Brooks’s final column for The New York Times in January.

The “small-c” conservative commentator signed off his 22 years with the paper lamenting a “shredding of values” that began long before Donald Trump came to power in the United States.

One source of regret for Brooks is the way education has become just another arm of the economy.

“Multiple generations of students and their parents fled from the humanities and the liberal arts, driven by the belief that the prime purpose of education is to learn how to make money.” He cited recent Harvard research showing 58 per cent of college students say they experienced no sense of “purpose or meaning” in their life in the month before being polled.

“Loss of faith produces a belief in nothing,” Brooks wrote. “I’m haunted by an observation that Albert Camus made about his Continent 75 years ago: The men of Europe ‘no longer believe in the things that exist in the world and in living man; the secret of Europe is that it no longer loves life’.” But diagnosing a problem is easier than treating it. Just how do we go about teaching people to have “purpose”? Is it even possible?

Socrates

In Plato’s dialogues, Socrates argues that virtue cannot be taught; it is instead a gift from the gods. He suggests that, for all the fine words of priests and philosophers, no one can be reasoned into living a good life; spiritual or religious conversion is a mystery. Centuries of Christian indoctrination provides evidence for this. Ireland was once overwhelmingly Catholic but was it ever particularly Christian? Preaching seems to be a poor method of moving the soul.

So what can schools do? They can model purpose in action. They can uphold and defend values in their community. None of this will guarantee a sense of meaning is passed on to children but setting an example is important.

It has been inspiring, for example, to see school communities showing solidarity with students facing deportation during the current shift in asylum policy. A hard-nosed, rational approach states that “rules are rules”. But the rational answer isn’t always the right one. Brooks signed off his The New York Times career with a quote from theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. It contains the line: “Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith.”

Schools fighting to stop pupils being taken away on deportation flights are demonstrating a kind of faith – a faith in justice as kindness. Whether or not you think such campaigns are naive, they force us to confront our own moral principles.

But let’s not think schools alone have responsibility in this area. The CEP should be commended for putting “purpose” on the agenda of the Government’s National Conversation on Education. However, wider society needs to step up. And for that, we need a national conversation on values, or better still a national conversation on the meaning of life. Why are we here? Is there a purpose to our lives? In Ireland we’ll talk about anything except the most fundamental question of existence.

For all the faults of the Catholic Church, it at least attempts to provide an answer. Much of Irish society is too incurious, or too prejudiced against religion, to even enter the discussion.

My own submission is that we’re here to be human – and that means erring on the side of humanity. On hard cases, I humbly suggest we should lean into kindness. Call it an article of faith. But, as Niebuhr suggests, without some sort of faith we’re damned.

Fr Kant born 1916, German Danzig, today Poland Gdansk

This is a lovely story about the world’s oldest priest.

He was born in 1916 in Gdansk, then the German city of Danzig. Same surname as philosopher Immanuel Kant, who was born in Kaliningrad, then the German city of Königsberg, 165 kilometres from Gdansk. Wonder might Fr Kant be a descendant of Immanuel?

Pope Leo XIV congratulates world’s oldest priest on his 110th birthday

https://share.google/TqXKTaQQRzFp6t0rR

Donald Trump and his cronies playing the praying game

It’s close to impossible to watch the nightly television news about the war in Iran. 

The violent words from US President Donald Trump and secretary for war Pete Hegseth is mind-boggling.

And then there is the sacked secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem; it’s worth checking out her cv.

BBC Radio four reported on Saturday morning that the Israelis  flew 80 bombers over Iran in night raids. 

Hegesth tells the world that we have seen nothing yet.

The RTÉ evening news on Friday showed a clip of Trump sitting at his desk with a group of people standing around him in ‘prayer'. It was a jaw-dropping moment. 

One man seems to have been conducting the 'prayer service' while everyone in the group was holding out her or his hand. It was beyond awful, indeed, most likely sacrilegious. At least and thankfully, there was no one present dressed as a priest.

And Trump gave the impression he was deep in prayer or meditation.

One is reminded of the former archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan praying with Trump. Thankfully Dolan is no longer archbishop in New York.

The American war being waged on Iran is illegal, just as Putin’s war is on Ukraine.

Obviously these two men have much in common, both of them are criminals.

It’s interesting too how Vladimir Putin cosies up to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Yesterday in Rome Pope Leo called on all people to promote peace that “is not only the absence of conflict, but the fullness of justice, truth, and love.”

Pope Leo has appointed Archbishop Gabriele Caccia - Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations since 2019 - as apostolic nuncio to the United States. In a statement, Archbishop Caccia highlights this new role as a “mission at the service of communion and peace.” 

It so happens Channel 4 screened Bill Bailey’s Vietnam last evening. Over 3.8 million people were killed in that war, including 58,ooo US troops. We were told Ho Chi Minh was the devil incarnate. 

The Americans threw everything at them and yet the people of Vietnam prevailed and sent the Americans back home.

That was the war in which Trump never fought. He was a draft dodger; claimed he had bone spurs in his heels.

Could you make this up? Trump has.

Foreign debt perpetuates cycles of poverty and inequality

From Vatican News

Speaking at the 61st regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See deplored the effects of foreign debt on developing nations, perpetrating cycles of poverty and inequality.

Archbishop Ettore Balestrero described debt as a moral and human rights issue plaguing the most vulnerable.

“In too many nations – particularly in the Global South – debt servicing consumes resources that should nourish the common good,” the Archbishop said, noting that funds urgently needed for “basic necessities such as food, clean water, health, housing and social protection” are being diverted.

“When debt burdens become crushing, States face impossible choices: repay creditors or fulfil basic obligations to their people,” he added, describing it as “not merely an economic dilemma; it is a profound moral and human rights crisis.”

He noted that excessive debt reduces fiscal space, imposes austerity measures, and “perpetuates cycles of poverty and inequality,” which directly affect the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights.

Balestrero said debtor countries should adopt fiscal systems that follow “the principles of good governance, transparency, accountability and responsibility.”

He explained that public finance should be based on trust between institutions and citizens, and that when taxation and public expenditure are seen as fair and oriented toward the common good, “social cohesion and voluntary compliance are fostered,” allowing States to expand their capacity to mobilise resources.

He said that “when conflicts arise, human rights obligations must take precedence over debt repayment.” Creditors, whether bilateral, multilateral or private, must ensure that lending practices respect human dignity and do not increase poverty or hardship.

He also noted that “illegal debts, tax competition and predatory lending erode the social contract and hinder States' capacities to meet core obligations.”

Quoting Pope Leo XIV,  Balestrero said: “Every effort should be made to overcome the global inequalities […] that are carving deep divides between continents, countries and even within individual societies.”

Visitors to Cologne cathedral to pay an entry fee

Over six million people visit every year the famous cathedral in the German city of Cologne.

It has been decided that from this summer visitors will be charged an entry fee.

There will be no charge for people attending Mass or those who have entered the cathedral to pray.

How will the archdiocese distinguish between the prayer and the non-prayer? 

Yet another problem for Cardinal Rainer Woelki, but nothing compared to some of the problems the cardinal has had since he was appointed archbishop in 2014.

United States killing, maiming, vandalising is not cheap

 It is estimated that the US spent €669.08 million during the first 24 hours of their aggression in Iran.

Keep eye and ear open for the wonders of spring’s delights

This week’s column in The Kerryman newspaper.

Michael Commane

Driving from Dublin to Kerry, Des would always turn to his wife the moment he saw the Kerry mountains and express his delight at being back in Kerry, especially so in early spring days.

It’s a great moment when you see those mountains whether it be from car or train.

This year it would seem there has been far more rain on the east coast than in Kerry, certainly more flooding.

While travelling on the Luas last week, crossing the Liffey at O’Connell Bridge on an unusually dry day I looked up the river towards Heuston Station. It was 7.10am, light was in the sky, and just for those few seconds there was something beautiful about the Liffey. 

The mornings are getting brighter and there is a noticeable stretch in the evenings. I can still vividly recall my mother being thrilled when it would be bright when my father came home from work at 4.45pm. It was as if she were making a formal public announcement. These days I’m home from work 15 minutes later than Dad was, and guess what, it’s bright.

In recent days I’ve seen primroses, daffodils, cherry blossoms, and travelling by rail from Tralee to Dublin on Sunday I saw my first lambs of the year.

In spite of all the never-ending rain there are definite hints of spring arriving on our doorstep.

I’ve survived another winter and with the passing of every year I consider it no unsubstantial feat. I’ve made it, Alleluia.

Watching the snow-covered streets and fields across Ukraine it is beyond my understanding how the people can withstand such hardship and suffering in this time of war.

Our temperate climate makes for ideal living conditions. But what’s ahead of us with climate change? Something Donald Trump calls a hoax.

It’s that time of year when it can only get better; there’s everything to which we can look forward. The sights and sounds; the morning music of birds, almost time to cut the grass. And then at the end of this month the clocks go forward; the final stamp of approval.

That morning crossing the Liffey and looking at its beauty I was aware that everyone sitting near me on the Luas was staring into a phone. 

It  dawned on me the number of people who have closed themselves off to the sounds about them, blocking their ears with earbuds and earphones. If you stop to say hello to someone or to ask a question, you have to roar at them before they hear you. Are we losing the run of ourselves? It would seem to me the world is in a spin.

The other day I found myself checking the weather on my phone to see if it was raining outside. And it’s as mad as that. It reminded me of Bob Dylan’s words: ‘You don’t need a weather man to know which way the wind is blowing’.

But in the meantime, make the best of the days and weeks ahead. Instead of being a slave to your phone, see and hear the beauty of the world around you. A chance to do some thinking too, even daydreaming.

‘Spring is the time of plans and projects’ - Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy.

America’s Operation epic fury will be an epic mistake

Over 50 years ago the United States and the United Kingdom overthrew tMohammad Mossadeghhe democratically elected prime minister of Iran.

The Mossadegh government planned to nationalise oil, something that did not suit the British or the Americans.

Half a century ago the Americans and the British told the world their purpose was to bring about  ‘regime change’. They succeeded on the double and helped create hell.

Large numbers of people in the US depend on soup kitchens. How much does one missile cost? 

This war is great for Putin; more reason to believe that he has something on Trump. It also takes the Epstein story off the front pages of the newspapers.

Depressing news, upsetting and worrying.

History tells us America’s ‘Operation Epic Fury’ cannot succeed.

Even the childishness of giving this violence fancy names is akin to the nicknames of criminals and gangsters.

Great to see more gardaí on the beat in the DMR

Have you noticed more gardai on the streets of late, especially in the Dublin Metropolitan Region?

In the Terenure Rathgar - former P Division - there is a daily presence of gardaí simply walking about.

It is now Garda policy that a garda will be present in Rathgar and Rathgar Road all day Monday to Saturday. The system is already in place in the city centre and is about to be rolled out in other areas in south Dublin over the next number of months.

The presence of more gardaí on the beat is evident across the city.

Whether it was introduced under the previous Garda Commissioner or the current commissioner Justin Kelly, it is a most welcome policy.

Talking to rank and file gardaí, there is a general acceptance that they are well pleased with the new commissioner. Long may it last.

The new commissioner has made a positive introduction and has an impressive cv.

Turgid words make little or no sense to the casual reader

Is leisure merely a ‘battery-charger’ for our productive hours, or is leisure a good pursued for its own sake?

Generally speaking, the “work, work, work” mentality - that utilitarian assumption of modernity - is to be strenuously resisted. Ought one feel guilty about taking time out to rest? Certainly not.

Considering leisure and work from the perspective of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Doctrine, what does the Book of Genesis have to teach us? Does it not curse humanity to toil and work, even by the sweat of their brow? Is work, therefore, something always evil? Again, certainly not - in fact Adam was entrusted with work before the fall - a ‘liturgical work’. Such was Adam’s commission “to till and keep it [the Garden], which has liturgical connotations. The worship of God, the liturgy, thus serves as an exemplar for other kinds of work

This liturgical exemplar of work opens up to considering leisure, not as the absence of activity - but as recreative activity. Just as in heaven, that place of pure leisure, of pure ‘sabbath’, we shall enjoy God for all eternity through activity: knowing and loving God face to face, so too on earth, it seems that those activities which most deeply recreate us, must bear some connection to God Who alone can create in that strict sense, and thus re-create. This is not to make leisure a univocal uniformity amongst all people, as it what recreates one person must recreate another to the same degree, and as if there were no room for differences of temperament and habit (although worship at Mass is the highest form of leisure, ‘Sabbath rest’) - nevertheless it is to re-focus our attention on the true meaning and purpose of leisure. And so yes, leisure is certainly a good pursued for its own sake.

The text above is from the current issue of the free- sheet The Key. On the cover page is written: 'Irish Dominican Friars, Spring 2026.'

Part of the reason St Dominic founded the Dominican Order over 800 years ago was to speak in a language that would be understood by the people, in other words to make the story and mystery of God available to people.

It’s easy to criticise. Is it helpful to criticise? Is it appropriate or responsible to criticise ‘your own’ people?

Is it right to be negative about anyone who is trying to spread the Good News?

But this text above sounds to this reader and the many people who read it over the last number of days, ‘gobbledegook'. What meaning would this have to those who are alienated from the church, what meaning has it for the vast majority of young people? From the small survey this blog carried out during last week, it has zilch meaning or relevance to those who read it.

What in fact is the text saying?

On The Holy Cross Dominicans Tralee Facebook page is written the following: ‘The Key’ is a wonderful new publication by the Irish Dominicans intended to support the journey of formation......’

If you AI the full text it is interesting what it does with it and what it has to say about it. The word ‘scholastic' keeps recurring.

For whom is The Key targeted?

The world and its mother knows we all need recreation, we all know frenetic work is bad for us.

As a child and young person I often heard people saying about the priest’s sermon: 'he’s an intelligent and holy man but I did not understand a word he said'. As I grew older I realised just as well no one understood what he was saying.

The words pomposity and arrogance come to mind.

Is it any wonder Jennifer O’Connell could write her piece in The Irish Times yesterday. It’s an unpleasant read, not helpful, maybe close to being nasty.

Who is the editor of The Key, is there an editorial board?  Why not print these details on the publication? But it does give the name of the designer, printer and the publisher, but is the publisher a bona fide publishing company? 

Google says: Key Publishing is a magazine publishing company specialising in aviation titles, based in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England. 

A worrying trend surrounding Eucharistic practice

There is note is on a table in the Catholic church in Dublin’s Harrington Street.

It seems something is going on among a number of people within the Catholic Church that is difficult to understand.

The note reads: FOR GREATER REVERENCE FOR THE BLESSED SACRAMENT, HOLD THE CLOTH UNDERNEATH YOUR CHIN WHEN RECEIVING. 

It’s titled: THE COMMUNION CLOTHS

It’s puzzling and worrying.

Being flippant, what happens if the cloth is not clean?

What sort of understanding is this about the Eucharist?

Will there be a bishop who will have open discussion about this?

Ukraine wins back more land for the Russian aggressor

In five days in mid February Ukraine reclaimed 201 kilometres of its land. It represents more territory it has won back from Russia since summer 2023.

The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022.

It was the expansion of a war between the two countries that had begun in February 2014, when disguised Russian troops covertly invaded and took control of the Ukrainian autonomous republic of  Crimea. In the following months, Russian troops and local proxies seized territory in Ukraine’s Donbas region, resulting in ongoing fighting in eastern Ukraine that killed more than 14,000 people prior to Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Always good to be vigilant concerning our blind spots

"We all fall prey to preconceptions that make us take certain things for granted. This is a dangerous thing. Our slavish reliance on our own common sense  creates a blind spot.”

- by the Japanese author Seichō Matsumoto in his novel Tokyo Express. Translated by Jesse Kirkwood. [In English translation p 138.]

Great read, strongly recommended.

At sea in a world where it’s difficult to believe anything

This week’s column in The Kerryman newspaper.

Michael Commane

Last week Channel 4 television screened a three part miniseries on Tony Blair. I still remember the May night in 1997 he was declared prime minister in the UK; it was the end of many years of Conservative government. 

This young man and his Labour team offered new hope to his country and indeed the world. While the Iraq war will forever hang over him he played a major role in stopping the barbarism in Kosovo and of course he and Bertie Ahern played pivotal roles in silencing the guns in Northern Ireland.

I enjoyed the Channel 4 miniseries and learned a lot from it. 

I contacted a friend, suggesting she might watch it. She replied: ‘Blair is a nasty piece of work, would not believe a word he says’. 

Politics is a strange game and politicians are a special breed. But in democracies they are the people in charge, the people who help make rules for the common good. And all the time life trundles on, we get on with our daily living.

In the past in Ireland, families voted for Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and a few Independent personalities. In the early days of the State the big farmers voted FG and their smaller counterparts voted FF. There was a rhythm to it all.

And more or less the same with religion; there were Catholics, Protestants, small numbers of Jews; and again it all seemed to make sense; Catholic parents, Catholic children and so on.

It may not have been a healthy certainty but whether or not, it has now  vanished.

Back then would we ever have thought men would be marrying men, and women marrying women?

When I was a young man an extremely wealthy person was a millionaire, today they are billionaires. How is it possible to deal with all this?

Is it any wonder I’m at sea and don’t know where I am with my thoughts and beliefs. I think Blair was a decent man but my friend says he’s a nasty piece of work, who’s right?

And then in the midst of all this upheaval, the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein appears. We’re told he took his life by suicide. With the passing of every day and the flood of new revelations it seems possible the man is still alive or else bumped off to protect the rich and powerful. Rumour has it he worked for Mossad or the FSB. Who knows?

But for Virginia Giuffre, would the likes of me ever have heard of Epstein and his gang of sordidly wealthy men? In her book, Nobody’s Girl, she wrote that she feared she might die a sex salve. We are told she died by suicide. Another suicide or is that what we are told? I simply don’t know.

I’m back to what I said earlier; I’m lost, I don’t know who to believe, no, that’s not quite accurate; there are people in my life whom I trust and believe. But as for the world out there I’m swimming in a sea of the unknown.

Pope Leo is giving me some hope; he suggests we fast from harsh, offensive language, replacing it with kind words, respect, and constructive, loving communication.