John Delaney walks with full pockets

It is reported that former FAI boss John Delaney has walked away from his job with a pay-off of €500,000. Delaney has been on gardening leave since April on full pay.

This is the people's money, also State money.

Is it any wonder people talk about an 'elite'?

There have been rumours and talk about John Delaney during his entire tenure as the top man at the FAI.

And all the current hub-hub came about as a result of  information entering the public forum of Delaney loaning €100,000 to the FAI and then the money being paid back.

What was all that about?

It is being said today by insiders that John Delaney asked for a €3 milion severance pay-out.

Another example of what 'management' does. And all the sycophants who support 'management teams'.

Pope Francis phones former Dominican James Alison.

There is an article in the  current issue of The Tablet written by James Alison.

James is a gay man and a former Dominican priest.

This is a brilliant honest piece and should be on the curriculum of every institute where men are studying for priesthood.

He talks about the phone call he recieves from Pope Francis.

The words of Pope Francis as quoted by Alison: 

I want you to walk with deep interior freedom, following the Spirit of Jesus. And I give you the power of the keys. Do you understand? I give you the power of the keys.

Pray for me. I'll look up your dossier and get back to you.

Pope Francis offers a hope and love, a hope and love about which the clerics who work and live in the dark can never dare dream.

Is there an outside agency that inspects/monitors the management of institutes where men train for priesthood?

Genscher in Prague 30 years ago today

Thirty years ago today German foreign minister Hans Dietrich Genscher appeared on the balcony of the West German embassy in Prague and said what is probably the most famous half-sentence in recent German history: "Dear fellow Germans, we have come to you in order to inform you that today, your departure…" The rest was drowned out amid the cheers that erupted.

At 7.30pm the first people left the Lobkowicz Palace. Three minutes earlier, the GDR news agency broadcast a statement from the foreign ministry in East Berlin. For humanitarian reasons, the government had decided to expel the people illegally occupying the embassies of West Germany.

At 8.50pm the first "freedom train" left Prague, heading for Dresden. Four more trains departed at two-hour intervals, headed for the Bavarian border town of Hof.

The first brick of the Berlin Wall falls.

Joe Heffernan OP, RIP

Dominican priest Joe Heffernan died in Tallaght Hospital on Thursday, September 26.

Joe was born in Dublin in May 1932. He made his profession in November 1956 and was ordained a priest in June 1977.

His initial years in the Order were spent in St Mary's Priory, Tallaght.

While in Tallaght he worked as a cook at the weekends in the Retreat House.

Before joining the Order he was an active member of the Legion of Mary and the spirituality he imbibed during those years remained with him for the rest of his life.

Joe was a quietly spoken man, gentle in demeanour, a kind man too, who always had time to listen and be concerned for other people.

He spent many years in Trinidad and Australia.

When Joe joined the Order his intentions were to be a 'lay brother' or cooperator brother - unfortunate names for non-ordained members of the Order. There is a long history of non-ordained members being treated as second-class citizens.

At reception of the habit Joe was given the name Brice. Later, most likely after his priestly ordination, he reverted to his baptismal name, the name his parents had given him at birth.

In the early 1970s Joe studied philosophy and theology and was ordaind a priest in 1977. He was one of a number of 'brothers' who decided to become priests. Indeed, Joe may have been the last of that group of 'brothers' to take priestly ordination.

After ordination he returned to Trinidad where he ministered as a priest. His faith and gentleness was greatly appreciated. It so happened that on the day of his death a woman phoned from Trinidad hoping to speak with him. When she was told that he had died that day she spoke in glowing terms of his fine priestly qualities.

Among the places in Ireland where Joe ministered as a priest were Drogheda and Kilkenny.

He moved to the Black Abbey in Kilkenny in 2017 and in his short time there he built up a strong relationship with those who attend the Dominican church in the city.

Joe had been in failing health for the last number of months.

His funeral Mass takes place at 11.30am next Tuesday in St Mary's Priory, Tallaght followed by burial in the community cemetery.

May he rest in peace.

Wrightbus major supplier to CIE/NTA

The majority of vehicles in the Dublin Bus fleet have been built by Wrightbus in Northern Ireland.

The bus builder has gone into administration.

There has been little in the Irish media about the link between Dublin Bus and Wrightbus.

Wrightbus also supply buses to Bus Éireann.

All CIE buses have Volvo engines.

The Mogg pose and his fellow posers

A clever advertisement.

This is the gentleman who talks so eloquently about the importance and reverence of the Latin Mass.

All spoof and trickery. One colossal game they play.

The Mogg pose sets the tone for a poser. And after 40 years of experience it's clear that the Latin 'Massers' are posers. They and all their regalia.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/25/get-ready-for-brexit-satire-led-by-donkeys-launches-billboard-contest?CMP=share_btn_link

Jeremy Corbyn on Radio 4

English Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn gave an extensive interview on BBC Radio 4 this morning.

He seldom appears in radio or tv interviews. A pity, as this morning's interview was a tour de force.

Corbyn was clear, knew what he was saying and expressed his intention that in government they would spread the wealth of the land around more fairly.

But he should try to sound less annoyed.

Pope Francis knows a thing or two

The quote below from Pope Francis is brilliant. It shows what an insightful man he is and how he is so aware of those priests who work and live in the dark.

They are everywhere, religious congregations, dioceses. They all appear so pious, so 'holy', and all perfectly groomed.

Pope Francis knows his priests.

I do not like it when critics are under the table. They smile, they let you see their teeth and then they stab you in the back.

The quote is from an article in the current issue of  The Tablet. The piece is written by Christopher Lamb.

A Tipperary Trump fan

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

Michael Commane
Is there a chance that you might suffer from TDS?

I never heard of it until the Saturday of the All-Ireland Kerry-Dublin football replay game.

Irish-American Alice Butler Short was interviewed by Marian Finucane for approximately 40 minutes on the Saturday morning. She hails from Cahir, Co Tipperary.

My head is still spinning from the interview. It was one of those radio moments when it’s close to impossible not to listen.

According to Alice I am one of those people who is afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS).

More or less, anyone who disagrees with Trump suffers from this malady. She cited people who disagree with his tweets or any words that flow from his mouth as TDS sufferers.

‘People don’t understand or know about him because of misinformation and lack of understanding.’ She was adamant that there is not a racist bone in his body. Alice referred to ‘fake news’ and said that 85 per cent of the media is against him.

She said this: ‘If he walked on water the papers would say he can’t swim’.

Alice sees how Trump has a good time at his rallies and it is at those rallies that people realise how brilliant he is. It is there, she says, that he touches the hearts of people.

She assured her listeners that Trump was full of love. She admires his strength, his determination and willingness “to give up the life of a billionaire to serve his country’.

Her conversion happened having attended a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at which Donal Trump spoke. She heard all 16 presidential candidates speak. Alice went home prayed about it. She quoted a line – ‘He arose from the ashes of his despair’ and it was that that told her Trump was her man.

She recalled how the US was living in despair during the two terms of Barack Obama’s presidency and that the country would be in great danger had they elected Hilary Clinton as president because America would turn socialist.

She was insistent that the United States could never become a socialist country because of its constitution and that the country believes in small government.

Alice kept repeating the United States is a government of the people, by the people and for the people and that it is unique in that it is built on ideas.

She spoke how Trump has built up the economy and the military. When pressed about the current level of debt, there was a long pause before she said: ‘We may have, but debt goes up and goes down’.

On the following Monday I read Maureen Dowd’s ‘New York Times’ column where she talked about Trump being ‘one of the phoniest people ever to have walked the earth’. She described the Trump era as ‘a paradox wrapped in an oxymoron about a moron’.

I have heard Trump talk about losers, I have heard him use inappropriate words about people. These days he is calling Joe Biden ‘Sleepy Joe’.

Can you imagine if an Irish bishop, Catholic or Church of Ireland, expressed similar-type views as Alice Butler Short?

I can only imagine that it would still be making news headlines. The bishop would be considered to be daft.

A weird understanding of religion and wacky politics can far too easily bring out the worst in us.

On her website Ms Short says she is highlighting the intersection of spirituality and politics.

The biggest of rogues try to pass themselves off as mystics. Trump a mystic?

Strange times.

Ferriter tells some home-truths in beef row

Diarmaid Ferriter writes an interesting piece on the current beef row in The Irish Times on Saturday.

He writes that the current controversy is a reminder of how the industry is enveloped by greed.

The Goodman APB Group had a turnover of €2.9 billion in 2018 while meat-processing operatives earn €22,000 annually.

Small-scale farmers are being offered €3.45 per kilogram for their cattle.

Ferriter argues that the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed and his colleagues have directed their frustration at the wrong target by "suggesting it was the beef farmers who were holding the industry to ransom".

Michael O'Regan talks about his cancer in The Irish Times

This weekend's edition of The  Irish Times carries a piece written by Michael O'Regan.

Michael is a journalist with the paper.

He writes about his cancer diagnosis, his coping with the illness and learning how important it is to talk about it.

A great read.

One of the first jobs I had when I went to work at The Kerryman was to sub Michael's weekly column. It was always a great read.

That was 21 years ago. Over the years we have got to know each other and Michael has always been a guiding light, kind and helpful too.

The Germans have a lovely way to wish a person good health - Gute Besserung.

Parliament and Boris

Another Boris and parliamentary shenanigans.

On this day, on September 21, 1993 Boris Yeltsin triggered a constitutional crisis in Russia when he suspended parliament.

Archbishop Martin on Cardinal Etchegaray

The current issue of The Tablet carries a piece by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin on the late Cardinal Etchegaray.

Below is the final paragraph.

I  OFTEN REFER to Cardinal Etchegaray as my Maestro. From the very first day we met, he said to me that he wished to know what I was up to, but that once he knew he would back me up to the hilt if things went wrong. It was a relationship of maturity between men of very different backgrounds. He was encouraging. He was a man of faith. He was refreshingly free. We need more church leaders of his kind.

BBC's John Humphrys

BBC 4's 'Today' presenter John Humphrys is retiring today from the programme after 32 years.

This morning he interviewed Tony Blair. It was classic Humphrys, classic Blair.

The interview was followed by 'Thought for the Day' given by Rabbi Lord Sacks.

Speaking about Humphrys' agnosticism he said: 'Honest doubt is better than dishonest faith'.

Some time after 08.15 he did an extensive interview with David Cameron.

'Today' matters for tomorrow.' His last words on the programme.

Humphrys will be missed.

Hugh Doyle spoke with clarity and authority

On morning Ireland on Monday Hugh Doyle representing the Beef Plan Movement spoke about his group's worries and concerns.

He came across as an extraordinarily honest man, frustrated with the meat companies.

He understood why the farmers were behaving in such a manner but hoped they would remove their pickets.

On the morning he spoke he had been up for 48 hours.

Mr Doyle spoke with a clarity, an honesty and authority that is seldom heard.

It is well worth listening to him on the RTE Player. It was on Morning Ireland, RTE 1 Radio at 08.15 on Monday.

'The New York Times'

On September 18, 1851 The New-York Daily Times was launched. It later changed its name to The New York Times.

When is it propaganda and when information?

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

Michael Commane

Have you noticed they are now talking about the British Parliament being suspended. It seems they have dropped the word prorogued. It is something of a tongue-twister.

But isn’t everything to do with Brexit proving annoying and infuriating.

Watching Boris Johnson at Government Buildings on his visit to Dublin reminded me of a very shifty English upper-class public school boy, who had been caught breaking the rules. He had no intentions of owning up but didn’t know what to say next.  Then again all those antics could be perfectly choreographed and rehearsed.

Watching and listening Jacob Rees-Mogg, AKA ‘MP for the 19^thcentury’, reminds me of all that I find nasty and dishonest within the far-right of the Catholic Church. Rees-Mogg is a big fan of the Latin Mass and all the fancy gear and ritual that was placed in the cupboard after the Second Vatican Council. His slouching pose in the Mother of All Parliaments gives us some insight into the real and arrogant Mr Rees-Mogg. It’s always the little things that catch us out.

But right now for the ordinary punter we are all more or less punch-drunk with the Brexit phenomenon.

It has been wall-to-wall media coverage on the political shenanigans taking place in the UK.

Two weeks ago Channel 4 aired a special programme on Brexit. There were four political panellists, two leavers and two remainers. The audience was evenly divided between leavers and remainers.

There was much passion, fury and anger in the hour-long programme. Bad manners too.

I was none the wiser after it all. It set me thinking about how we come to decisions, how we make up our minds on matters. Is it that we come to decisions by means of hunches, gossip, inaccurate information, group think? The list is endless.

In a Gospel reading at Mass in August we were told that the people listened to Jesus because he spoke with authority.

The word authority comes from the Latin word ‘auctor’ meaning source/author. Jesus spoke from his own sources, knowing exactly what he was saying.

Dare I make a confession? In this current Brexit row I have developed a game: when people appear on television to talk about Brexit, before they get into the debate I try to decide whether they are leavers or remainers from the way they speak, how they look, even the way they dress.

What is it that forms our opinions and views?

Why is one person a Muslim, another a Buddhist, another an atheist and someone else a Christian? 

History, geography and indeed conviction play significant roles in who we are.

Most likely I’m a Christian and a Catholic because I was born into a Catholic family.

Is it all something of a mystery? Theologians talk about a divine plan.

Is it all decided for us while we are still in our mothers’ wombs?

Advertising is a multi-billion-euro industry. Companies spend large sums of money on PR and every political party has spin doctors.

They are all trying to get our attention, win over our minds and empty our pockets.

When is it propaganda and when is it information?

When last did you change your mind about something or about someone?

I have changed my views and opinions on many topics, social, political, religious. But I’m wondering how intellectually honest I have been in coming to decisions?

But fanaticism in it all its forms, shapes and sizes is scary.

And we seem to have an abundance of fanatics everywhere at present.

Donald Trump is 'dangerously nuts'

This is an interesting read.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/15/donald-trump-nuts-impeachment-25th-amendment-2020-election?CMP=share_btn_link

Speech writing

"Speech writing by committee doesn't work."

-Miriam O'Callaghan, Enda Kenny's speech writer,  on RTE Radio 1 yesterday morning.

How true.

Miriam wrote the now famous Enda Kenny speech on the Cloyne clerical abuse case.

She also wrote the Kenny speech given on Dame Street when President Barack Obama was in Ireland.

No cherry-picking when it comes to the marginalised

The 'Thinking Anew' column in The Irish Times today

Michael Commane

In the early days of Irish television the station aired many US soaps. Anyone watching them would think that everyone living in the United States lived in a mansion and drove the fanciest and best of cars. Of course nothing could be further from the truth. As with every other corner of the earth, the US back then and today has its own share of poverty, misery and pain.

And today too, television can easily give us a very wrong picture of reality. Has it ever struck you watching advertisements, how perfect and beautiful everyone looks and, indeed, how the world is such a perfect place?

Could anything be further from the truth? Yet we all seem to fall for it. We must, otherwise advertising would not be such a big business.

It's always tempting to hide that which is not perfect. It's natural and inevitable that we want to show off what's best, we always want to put the best foot forward.

While that may be so, life often teaches us a very different lesson. And it's important to remember that there is no such thing as perfection in any form or shape, at least not in this world.

Today we are more open and probably quicker to admit the suffering and pain that people who are marginalised experience. For example, when it comes to mental health more effort is made in dealing with the problem out in the open than behind high walls. And it's also the better approach.

Thankfully, we don't use crass words to describe people with special needs. It's true to say that we are on a learning curve.

But there is always the difficulty that we are  specifically selective in whom we consider to be the marginalised and weakest in our community.

In tomorrow's Gospel Luke (15: 1 - 32) tells us how the Pharisees and scribes were annoyed with Jesus for welcoming and eating with sinners. He then goes on to tell the parables of the wise shepherd, who goes off looking for the lost sheep, the woman with the 10 drachma, who loses one and spends a lot of time and energy looking for the one she lost. Luke follows that up with the famous story of the prodigal son. In all three cases, the effort is worthwhile: the sheep and the coin are found. 

And the once lost son returns to his home and to his family, where he is lovingly received by his father, though, in spite of his brother.

It's interesting how so much attention is given to what has been lost, the sheep, the coin and the  son, and then the joy and celebration when they are found and are back in the fold.

The mercy of God really is all-encompassing.

While the three parables are about loss, they are primarily about being found.

Tomorrow's Gospel tells a universal story and speaks right to the times in which we are living.

We are all God's children and it is not for you or me to decide who is part of the fold. There is place for all of us in this confused, unexplainable world of ours.

With such a Gospel reading one is forced to think of how badly we are treating migrants who come to our shores, looking for help and protection. There will be the cry from people who will say that we simply cannot take in so many. The world is large and wealthy enough to care for all its inhabitants. The problem is that we have not gone to the trouble of reaching out to those who need our care and compassion.

If we spent as much effort and money in attempting to alleviate poverty as we do on weaponry, there would be few if any people abandoning their homes and looking for solace on our shores.

And we also far too easily forget that it was the developed world who through colonisation, war and a policy of might-is-right that left the peoples of the developing world in such poverty and misery.

We are all in this together. It's facile to find scapegoats, it's lazy to hide away those who don't suit us.

Isn't it interesting that Jesus does the very opposite, he goes to great trouble bringing back into the fold those who have been lost and are in pain. 

It really is uncanny how relevant the story of the Gospel is for our times.

We can never brush aside those who are an embarrassment or cause us any sort of discomfort. We do it but it's never the wise action to take.

And it's not a question of cherry-picking. Today it might be fashionable to focus on one group of marginalised people. There can never be any cherry-picking in the Christian message. All marginalised people deserve our fellowship and love.

The Christian message is a powerful message of communion, all people, living together in unity and peace. In harmony too.

Terence McLoughlin OP, RIP

Fr Terence McLoughlin, who died in Galway on Monday, was born in Mohill, Co. Leitrim in 1929. The family moved to Galway when he was a child.

He joined the Dominicans in 1949 and was ordained a priest in 1955.

Fellow Dominican Ned Foley, who studied with Terence and was ordained in 1953, recalls that he was a great mimic.

Terence  spent many years in the Irish Dominican priory in Lisbon, where he was greatly appreciated for his kindness and good humour. 

He went to Lisbon in 1957 and remained in the Portuguese capital until 1991, with a short break of one year in Paraná, Argentina.

He was prior at the Dominican community in Newry from 1996 to 1999. I had the good fortune to get to know him during that time.  From Newry he moved to Sligo, where he spent three years.

Terence was a gracious man, an old-style Irish gentleman. Always had a smile for you. Sometimes you might not know exactly what he was saying, you might wonder did he, but he may well have been two steps ahead of you.

While he used modern means of communications he had a special aversion to fax machines. Email was surely a God-send for him.

He had an extensive network of close friends, ranging from royalty and ambassadors to the poorest of people. He was a most effective preacher with a great pastoral outreach, which included prostitutes.

As a senior he moved to Rome to administer the Sacrament of Reconciliation in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

Terence experienced a period of ill health in recent times but it never stopped him form smiling and being kind.

During a visit to Galway in July he went to great trouble for me to make my stay in the priory as pleasant and as comfortable as possible.

He was a close friend of the former provincial of the Irish Dominican Province Flannan Hynes, who died in July, and also of Damian Byrne, who was Master of the Order.

Terence McLoughlin was a special person, a kind man, who saw through so much of the nonsense of clericalism but had the grace and vision to say little and simply smile at it all.

A gentleman.

Terence McLoughlin's funeral Mass is in the Dominican church in the Claddagh, Galway at midday today. His friend and fellow-Dominican Tom Jordan will preach the sermon.

May Terence rest in peace.

Terence McLoughlin OP, RIP

Dominican priest Terence McLoughlin died on Monday afternoon.

He was a member of the Dominican community at The Claddagh, Galway. He died at The Hospice in the city.

His funeral Mass is tomorrow, Friday at midday in the Dominican church in Galway. Burial in Rahoon cemetery.

Terence was the gentlest and kindest of people, a wonderful human being.

Apologies for the late announcement and no short obituary. It should apear in the next few days.

Ian Paisley

Today is the fifth anniversary of the death of Northern Ireland politician Ian Paisley.

Tempus fugit.

'The Clown Prince dies on his feet not in a ditch'

This is a great read.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/05/bumbling-boriss-speech-at-police-academy-was-classic-dom?CMP=share_btn_link

The thrills and excitement on All-Ireland day

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

Michael Commane

I’ll be back in Croke Park on Saturday. Is it possible to relive the thrills and excitement of the drawn game? We’ll see.

Really, I had no right whatsoever to be at the drawn game. I’d be considered a fair-weather spectator, even if that. Late on the previous Saturday evening a friend phoned to tell me he had a ticket for me.

He’s an expert on the game and would hold his own with any sports’ media analyst.

All during the game he had his programme out, copiously taking notes on everything that was happening, every score, every free, noting every substitute who came on.

I can’t believe the amount of fun, thrills and excitement I got from the day.

From the moment I left home until I turned the hall door key on my return I was consumed in the action. The crowds streaming towards the stadium, the flags, the streamers, the hats, the jokes, two mounted gardaí keeping an eye on all of us. Everyone in the best of humour. And the game had not even begun. Among the mass of people, I hear a ‘fella’ shout ‘A Mhíchíl’. In that swarming crowd I bump into someone from West Kerry. He was upbeat about a strong performance from the Kerry team and assured me they were going to show the Dubs a thing or two.

It’s something of a mystery to me how 82,000 people can get to their places with such ease.

We’re there about 30 minutes before kick-off. I’m thinking of the days fadó fadó when the Archbishop of Cashel and Emly would throw in the ball. How many in Croke Park would even be aware that that was the custom? As patron of the GAA it was his role to start the game. Actually the archbishop is still patron of the Association and he presented the Cork team, the winners of the minor game, with the cup.

I find myself thinking of the ban. That infamous GAA rule that prohibited players from playing or attending ‘foreign games’. Imagine, had they not got rid of that, where would the GAA be today?

Rule 27 was abolished at the GAA annual congress held in Belfast on Easter Sunday 1971. It was the first annual congress to be held in Northern Ireland.

The first episode of this year’s All-Ireland final was one of the best entertainments I have had in a long time. I watched every kick of the ball.

There are so many angles, twists and turns to it all. The father of one of the players on the Kerry team was my principal when I was teaching German and English in his school. I can still recall how he would be talking about going to games back in West Kerry to watch his young son play. And now here he is in Croke Park playing for Kerry.

My mind wanders again and I’m thinking of the late Anton O’Toole, who died in May. He was known as the Gentle Giant when he was playing for Dublin in the ’70s. I had the great good fortune to get to know Anton before he died. What a gentleman. 

On RTE’s ‘Up for The Match’ the previous evening the legendary Dublin goalkeeper Paddy Cullen, spoke so warmly about his teammate Anton. I know exactly what he was saying. It’s remarkable how goodness can spread its wings. And people always recognise it.

All set now for Saturday. I have my ticket and rearing to go.

.  

Archbishop Eamon Martin points the way

The scandal of the Holocaust, violence, conflict, continue.

Humanity has still to learn true humility.

Archbishop Eamon Martin on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the German invasion of Poland and the beginning of World War II.

OPW spending on empty buildings

The Office of Public Works spends €1,000 per week on security protecting empty buildings.

Pell pens a letter from prison

It is reported that Cardinal Pell has written a letter from his prison cell taking issue with the upcoming Amazon synod.

He writes that the church "cannot allow any confusion, much less any contrary teaching to damage the Apostolic Tradition...".

Cardinal Pell is in an Australian jail.

Is the idea of a cardinal in prison not a matter of confusion and damage?

What is it about right-wing prominent people that allows them to be so outrageous?

An 'ordinary' decent citizen, who would find him/herself in prison, would most likely be embarrassed to say or write a word in the public forum.

From an open organisation to a cult

On Wednesday evening on the main evening news on BBC 1 Television a Conservative MP said that the Tory Party he joined was an open, forward looking party that allowed for a wide range of opinions. But unfortunately, he said, the party had become a cult.

A similar reality is happening within the Catholic Church and religious congregations.

Personally, I know exactly how the Tory MP feels about joining an open and broad organisation that turns into a cult and is then controlled by 'dark people'.

Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party

This article in yesterday's Guardian makes for great reading.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/04/boris-johnson-electoral-gamble-wreck-tory-party?CMP=share_btn_link

A glimpse at an arrogant Rees-Mogg

Jacob Rees-Mogg in the House of Commons yesterday.

This is the man who talks about respect. He is a devotee of the Latin Mass.

Why might one think of the words, arrogance, hypocrisy, spoof, falsehood come to mind?

Does this picture not make every word from his mouth some sort of nonsense or sham. A poser. And then the accent.

His dress aligns nicely with the the antiquated clerical garb he likes.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2019/sep/04/sit-up-caroline-lucas-slams-jacob-rees-moggs-body-language-during-brexit-debate-video

Remembering Little Rock

On this day, September 4, 1957, Orval Faubus, governor of Arkansas, called out the National Guard to stop African American students from enrolling in Central High School in Little Rock.

An important moment in the American Civil Rights Movement.

Back hitchhiking on Irish roads

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

Michael Commane
Hitchhiking is a long forgotten art. When last did you see someone hitching on an Irish road?

I have an early afternoon appointment so give myself approximately two hours to cover 30 kilometres a la thumb.

It's instant luck. In less than a minute a vehicle pulls up just beyond where I am standing. They are going my way. Magic.

It's an old VW camper van. A young boy hops out and opens the sliding door and invites me to get in. I presume it is his mother who is driving. She tells me to sit on the mattress in the back.

Off we go. There are three people sitting in the front, the driver, the young boy and an older man.

We get talking. The driver hails from South Africa and has been living in Ireland for a number of years. I presume her son is Irish and the man is from Waterford. They are interested in Irish music and play the odd tune. It turns out they know people whom I know, so we get chatting about where they are now and what they are doing.

Here I am talking to strangers, exchanging views on different topics but maybe most of all having a good laugh and enjoying one another's company.

The camper van is something straight out of 1960s' hippy world. It certainly is different. The conversation is lively and interesting. There is a sense of camaraderie between us.

We arrive at my destination, the young boy jumps out, slides open the door for me and out I pop. I thank them for the lift. We smile, say our goodbyes, off they drive and I have oodles of time before my appointment.

On the return journey later that day I travel by bus for the first 20 kilometres and then back hitching for the final 10 kilometres. Again, that initial few minutes at the side of the road is daunting. But I'm enjoying it too. It's fun and something of a challenge.

I'm in luck. Within five minutes I'm sitting in the passenger seat of a 152 van. It's my day for vans, old and new. This time the driver recognises me from of old. In the short 10-kilometre journey we share memories of former times. It was so fortuitous that we met. As a result of his stopping to pick me up, the next day his wife calls to me and we have a short but wonderful and uplifting conversation.

Within a short three days of my hitchhiking adventure an elderly priest friend of mine expresses his belief that the institutional church is where it is today partly because there is no effort whatsoever for any sort of dialogue, communication or real and honest talking among the priestly class.

I'm thinking about what he said: how can I compare my hitchhiking conversations with the conversations I have at meetings with fellow priests? Indeed, I have seldom if ever had such an open and real conversation with the management class within the Irish church.

There is something systemically out of kilter with the management, the day-to-day communication within priesthood both within dioceses and religious congregations.

I suggest an Irish bishop or provincial leave the car in the garage for a day and take to the road hitching a lift. He might well learn a thing or two. It is a great way to meet people and save on carbon emissions.

Indeed, when last was a bishop on a bus? 

The cleansing influence of sea water

West Kerry is a beautiful part of the country. 

My grandfather was born in that neck of the woods, which means that I am in the most fortunate position to have a bolthole right on the edge of the Atlantic.

Ireland is not a sun-holiday destination and certainly nowhere on the western seaboard is sun-splashed. It would be a silly person who would go to Kerry or Cork looking for the sun.

I have just spent three magical weeks lapping up the waters of the Atlantic.

August and September must be the best months of the year for swimming in Irish waters. My father always said that September was the optimum time for sea swimming in Ireland. He had some theory that September was also the healthiest time to swim in the sea. That might well be a pishogue but I have fond memories of his explaining to me something about the health factor of iodine and seaweed in the water in September. Salt water is regarded as a spiritual cleansing in many cultures.

But certainly the water where I was swimming this August was like a bathtub. 

I went swimming at least once a day and on many days twice. 

Was swimming in the rain, wind and even in the darkness. It was a matter of catching the full tide.

There is something therapeutic about the water and swimming. 

It really has a healing influence on our bodies and minds. I'm not at all talking about hectic or fast swimming. I'm speaking of taking it easy in the water, changing from crawl to butterfly to breaststroke and then to backstroke. Simply floating atop the water and looking above you, straight into the sky is relaxation par excellence. Just lolling about in the water is the best of therapies.

The view that I had from where I was swimming was exactly as it would have been when my father, his parents and their parents before them were swimming there. Indeed, I swam with my dad in that very spot when he was 92 years old.

Whether it's the Atlantic or the Irish Sea, we are blessed to have such a natural resource at our doorstep.

I know the Kerry team make good use of their beaches. It helped yesterday.

Today and 80 years ago

It is irony at its best that on this day in the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg it is most likely that the far-right AfD will make substantial gains in the polls. 

Above all, on this day, the 80th aniversary of the German invasion of Poland and the beginning of World War ll.

A war that took millions of lives before the tide would be turned on the river Volga. Indeed, in these days 77 years ago the Germans were still rampaging through the Soviet Union. But also in these days the Rusians had decided there would be no further retreats and the great battle at Stalingrad would prove them victorious.

In November the Red Army launchedOperation Uranus.

Being happy

If we milk the joys that life brings, we build up a reservoir of happiness and hope that tides us through the bad times; and you can't ask for better than that.

- Joanna Moorhead.