Donald Trump leaves his stamp on US diplomatic service

This tells another story of the damage that US President Donald Trump is causing to the United States' diplomatic service and indeed the world.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/28/trump-president-diplomats-ambassadors?CMP=share_btn_link

Passengers moving from air to rail across Europe

This is a great read.

The return of sleeper cars across the European rail network is a positive return to the past.

With the introduction of high speed trains and cheap airfares, night sleepers lost their appeal. 

Concern for the environment was the spur that led Austrian Rail ÖBB to reintroduce the night sleeper.

And now with Covid-19 larger numbers of people are moving from air to rail.

Long live the railway.

And maybe the next move will be that customers will become passengers again?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/27/covid-19-reawakens-europe-sleeper-trains?CMP=share_btn_link

Portland archbishop tells people to stay home

Interesting read in the National Catholic Reporter.

NCR talks to Catholic activists in Portland, Oregon, about their call to the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that have been going on there for more than two months. We also look at the response of Archbishop Alexander Sample. Read: Catholics join protests and 'Wall of Moms'

https://www.ncronline.org/news/justice/catholics-join-protests-and-wall-moms-portland-oregon

Hard to beat the new Irish spud

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

Michael Commane

There’s always the temptation to be nostalgic about the past. Of course there were great days fadó fadó but we also lived through some horrific events. Maybe the older we get the more we tend to concentrate on idyllic moments.

One of the highlights of my childhood was holidaying on my granduncle’s farm in Tipperary. I remember the fun we had out in the fields picking the new potatoes.

Reading Brendan O’Connor’s column in the Sunday Independent of July 12, where he writes in awe of the new Irish potato, I was back thinking of those Tipperary spuds.

On being discharged from hospital in Tralee in early July I headed home to West Kerry where I doused myself in self-sympathy. 

Part of that dousing involved indulging in the pleasure of eating new potatoes.

Friends supply me with new potatoes. If they do not deliver them to my door, I am eating them at their table.

The newly picked-from-the-field Irish spud has to be up there with the best of food anywhere in the world. I have wined and dined all over the world in the best of restaurants but it’s hard to beat the new Irish spud with dollops of Irish butter.

I’m embarrassed to admit here how many spuds I have eaten at one sitting on many occasions during my two weeks in West Kerry.

One evening everything on the plate was local, the fish, the spuds, the carrots, onions and beetroot.

I’m only an alright cook, indeed, really know nothing about the culinary art but I have learned how important it is to snatch the new Irish spud from the pot before it’s over-boiled. A few seconds can make such a difference. It needs to be snatched from the pot while it still puts up a tiny resistance to the penetrating fork. 

The new Irish spud can be lost for ever in the twinkling of an eye. 

That’s why it’s essential to watch those boiling spuds like a hawk.

But there’s so much mystery surrounding the new Irish spud. Yes, I have eaten tasty new potatoes in Dublin but they are never a patch on the spuds I have eaten in Tipperary or Kerry. 

Then again they are the places where I’ve spent great holidays, lived wild times, swam in the sea, whether in sunshine or rain. 

Is the new Irish spud in some way or other wrapped up for me in the psychology of being on holiday, doing nothing, lazing about, relaxing over a long breakfast? No, there is an intrinsic objective reality about the taste of a new Irish spud and I defy anyone to tell me otherwise.

This year for the first time I didn’t even use a brush to clean them, instead I used my fingers to remove the soil that was on them. It worked out fine and I ate the skins too.

I’ve been doing so much talking about the new Irish spud to a friend of mine who lives in Dublin that she has asked me to bring her up some.

 That’s fine if you have a car to throw them in the boot. It’s another story lugging them on and off trains and buses.

I’ll bring them up and keep some for myself. And the mystery is, I know they’ll have lost some of their magic when I’m eating them in Dublin. 

People talk about Guinness not travelling well. Maybe it’s the same with the new Irish spud? Then again, they’re longer out of the ground too.

Albert Camus' 'The Plague' is well worth a read these days

'So they've got alarmed  - at last.' The telegram ran: Proclaim a state of plague Stop close the town.

An extract from The Plague by Albert Camus.

Readers not familiar with old-fashioned telegrams, please note that the word Stop was inserted after each sentence - I think.

Recommended reading in the days that are in it.

Camus wrote the book in 1947.

From the jacket of the book:

'The town's people of Oran are in the grip of a virulent plague.

'It's a story of courage and determination against the arbitrariness and seeming absurdity of human existence.'

Looking at life as a garden of opportunity

This is a meme that is circulating on WhatsApp. It is said to be a speech delivered by Pope Francis. But it is not from Pope Francis. It's fake. Nevertheless, it's worth a read.

You can have flaws, be anxious, and even be angry, but do not forget that your life is the greatest enterprise in the world. Only you can stop it from going bust. Many appreciate you, admire you and love you.

Remember that to be happy is not to have a sky without a storm, a road without accidents, work without fatigue, relationships without disappointments. 

To be happy is to find strength in forgiveness, hope in battles, security in the stage of fear, love in discord. It is not only to enjoy the smile, but also to reflect on the sadness. It is not only to celebrate the successes, but to learn lessons from the failures. It is not only to feel happy with the applause, but to be happy in anonymity. 

Being happy is not a fatality of destiny, but an achievement for those who can travel within themselves. To be happy is to stop feeling like a victim and become your destiny's author. It is to cross deserts, yet to be able to find an oasis in the depths of our soul. It is to thank God for every morning, for the miracle of life. 

Being happy is not being afraid of your own feelings. It's to be able to talk about you. It is having the courage to hear a "no". It is confidence in the face of criticism, even when unjustified. It is to kiss your children, pamper your parents, to live poetic moments with friends, even when they hurt us. 

To be happy is to let live the creature that lives in each of us, free, joyful and simple. 

It is to have maturity to be able to say: "I made mistakes". 

It is to have the courage to say "I am sorry". 

It is to have the sensitivity to say, "I need you". 

It is to have the ability to say "I love you". 

May your life become a garden of opportunities for happiness ... 

That in spring may it be a lover of joy. 

In winter a lover of wisdom. 

And when you make a mistake, start all over again. 

For only then will you be in love with life. You will find that to be happy is not to have a perfect life. But use the tears to irrigate tolerance. 

Use your losses to train patience. 

Use your mistakes to sculptor serenity. 

Use pain to plaster pleasure. 

Use obstacles to open windows of intelligence. 

Never give up .... Never give up on people who love you. Never give up on happiness, for life is an incredible show.

Schillebeeckx's views on some of his fellow Dominicans

"There are some even among us Dominicans whom I would want to call theological obscurantists.

"They are brute beasts who call down anathemas on things of which they do not have the slightest idea, such people murdered Socrates, drove Plato out of Athens and intrigued to murder Aristotle.

"Albert the Great Schillebeeckx had found a fellow figure with whom he could closely identify."

An extract from John Bowden's Edward Schillebeeckx: Portrait of a Theologian.

Belgian Dominican Edward Schillebeeckx was born in Antwerp in 1914. He spent the war years as a Dominican student in Belgium.

Schillebeeckx drafted many of the interventions for the Dutch bishops at the Second Vatican Council. He repeatedly ran into trouble with the 

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) for his theological writings.

He was awarded the Erasmus Prize in 1982, and the only theologian ever to be awarded the Gouden Ganzenveer in 1989.

Edward Schillebeeckx died in 2009. 

Who is going to pay for the empty trains?

Below is a picture of the leading coach on today's 07.00 rail service from Dublin Heuston to Cork.

One passenger in a 69-seat coach.

Who's is going to pay for this?

Will Covid-19 lead to war? Isn't money and power the genesis of all wars?

There is no doubt that China is a one-party dictatorship. But is the US in a position to preach to China?

Is there not an irony in Pompeo quoting from Richard Nixon to support his argument?

We live in an era of fake news but back in the day, Nixon was proved to be a simple old-time liar.

From today's Guardian newspaper:

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has called on “free nations” to triumph over the threat of what he said was a “new tyranny” from China, in a provocative speech likely to worsen fraught US-China relations.

“Today China is increasingly authoritarian at home, and more aggressive in its hostility to freedom everywhere else,” Pompeo said in a speech on Thursday at the Richard Nixon presidential library in Yorba Linda, California.

“If the free world doesn’t change Communist China, Communist China will change us,” he said, Pompeo said Nixon’s worry about what he had done by opening the world to China’s Communist party in the 1970s had been prophetic.

“President Nixon once said he feared he had created a ‘Frankenstein’ by opening the world to the CCP,” Pompeo said. “And here we are.”

One passenger in a 69-seat coach.

Janet Street-Porter on the British Royals

This is an interesting story.

Janet Street-Porter has a long history in British journalism. Among the newspapers she edited is The independent.

JANET STREET-PORTER: Prince Andrew is now so irrelevant he was invisible at his own daughter's wedding but, be honest, ladies - haven't most middle-aged men outlived their usefulness? 

We know the Royals don't do things like the rest of us, but Princess Beatrice's wedding last weekend was a first. The father of the bride was nowhere to be seen, writes JANET STREET-PORTER.

Read full story

Looking at the world

An 98-year-old man was heard saying yesterday that our perception of the world depends on the type of glasses we are wearing.

Simple, but wise words.

French archbishop calls for greater church participation

Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, president of the French bishops' conference has said he does not understand why women Religious are not allowed to vote in Vatican synods.

He says: "It leaves me completely speechless."

A wise man but surely there is much more about the church that leaves the archbishop speechless.

At parish level there is urgent need to give parish pastoral councils real teeth. At present it depends on the parish priest. That's not the way it should be. 

Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort writes: "The voice of all baptised laity, from the moment they try to live in a Christian way, should be able to count as much as that of the clergy."

The link below from Crux makes for interesting reading about parish life.

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2020/07/vatican-issues-guidelines-for-parishes-in-the-pope-francis-era/f

First anniversary of the death of Fr Flannan Hynes OP

Today marks the first anniversary of the death of Fr Flannan Hynes.

He died in Montevideo, Uruguay.

An obituary on Flannan was posted on this blog on July 22, 2019. It can be found in the archives, which are at the right side of the blog.

Church's right-wing shows such arrogance

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

Michael Commane

Sometimes I wonder should I even be a Catholic let alone a Catholic priest. But here I am. Twisting Martin Luther’s words a little and probably taking them out of context, I’m inclined to say: ‘Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me.’

If I may digress for a moment. The Wartburg was a so-called prestige car built in the former East Germany. Wits nicknamed it the Martin Luther car because it regularly broke down. They edited the Luther quote to support the nickname: ‘Here I stand, I can go no further’.

Last Monday week journalist Mary Kenny, speaking to Sarah McInerney on RTE Radio I’s Today programme, was criticising the Irish government Covid-19 regulations. She was due to speak at the Percy French Festival in Roscommon this week and was questioning the ‘wisdom’ of having to quarantine for two weeks on arrival in Ireland from London. Immediately after the programme it was announced that that she will not be in attendance. 

She argued that everything we do in life involves risk. Kenny compared the dangers involved with Covid-19 to those when we sit behind the steering wheel of a car.

For me the upshot of Mary Kenny’s problem is that she does not like being discommoded.

Mary Kenny writes a weekly column for The Irish Catholic. Two weeks ago she wrote about Ghislaine Maxwell, who is in custody in New York awaiting trial on charges of trafficking minors for Epstein.

Kenny argues that the sexual licence that prevailed in their circle has been normalised for some time.

I can’t imagine a single person I know would consider such behaviour normal.

In that same issue of The Irish Catholic the headline on the lead story on the front page runs: New Govt could ‘kick Church out of Education’ warns Senator.

It’s a story about Senator Ronan Mullen calling for the church to engage families in any attempt the new government may have in plans to exclude the Catholic Church in the running of schools.

I can’t help thinking that the historical tendency of the church to think that it knows best is being perpetuated. Might the zealots not stand back and place more trust in the Holy Spirit than in their own judgement?

Surely the tools the church should use in preaching the Gospel are those of kindness and love.

There is a palpable arrogance, a stridency that the right-wing in the Catholic Church is currently exhibiting that I find greatly upsetting and indeed, dangerous.

Listening to the Mary Kenny interview I kept feeling that she knew best. Mary Kenny is not a doctor, nor is she a theologian. She constantly gives the impression that she knows best on so many topics. 

Her latest entry into the world of medicine is new.

The Irish Catholic seems so angry with everything to do with a world that does not have the stamp of its approval.

Surely life is far more nuanced and varied than such an outlook.

Living a Gospel of kindness and love is the most effective way to live and spread the Christian message. 

Have we not learned all the damage that sticks have caused?

I am reminded of something Pope Francis said last month: ‘God shows his love, not with great speeches,  but with simple, tender acts of charity.

‘It is not easy to understand, but God expresses his infinite love in small, tender ways.’

Well said and thank you Pope Francis.

Foley nonagenarians from Blessington

Patricia Brennan, a sister of Dominican priest Ned Michael Foley, died this morning. She celebrated her 99th birthday last month. May she rest in peace.

Ned Foley was 98 on Saturday and his brother Gerry, a Spiritan priest, is 92.

German defence minister criticises far-right soldiers

German defence minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has strongly criticised far-right members of the German Federal Army for making any links between today's army and Hitler's Wehrmacht.

She pointed out that far-right extremists are claiming that they call on the military virtues of the National Socialists.

"The only types of examples that we can take from the times of the National Socialists are the efforts of those who tried to bring about change.

Karrenbauer was speaking today at the 76th anniversary of the July 20 plot to assassinate Hitler.

The plot was planned and executed by Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg.

Saufenberg's grandson Philipp von Schulthess said at the commemoration at Berlin's Bendlerblock:  "July 20 was a day of freedom. And that's still the case, even if the attempt failed."

The Bendler Block refers to a historic building complex located near the Tiergarten park along the southern edge of what was once the diplomatic quarter of Berlin. Until 1945, the buildings were used by the military.

Stauffenberg was executed on July 21, 1944 by a firing squad in the courtyard of the Bendlerblock.

Reasons given for the vow of chastity

In 1967 novices in a religious congregation were given two reasons for the vow of chastity.

They were told it had an eschatological value and allowed men to devote all their time to the work at hand.

I have seldom if ever met a priest who worked as hard and as diligently as my late mother and father.

As for eschatology.

Well, who knows anything about that?

Down to the strand and into the sea on a perfect day

Is it because it's home that it is so spectacularly beautiful?

Yesterday was a blue-sky day in West Kerry, maybe all over the land.

Full tide was the optimum time, circa 15.00. The water coming in over the sand. Perfect swimming conditions. The little waves strong enough to give you a gentle push. 

Floating on your back, looking directly at the blueness above. The occasional whiff of white touching another fluff of white.

Being in the sea, whether swimming, floating, standing, paddling, lounging or lolling about, has to be one of the greatest activities a human being can do. It's pure freedom, it's relaxation, it's adventure and it can be madness too. That urge to keep swimming out and out, that border with darkness. Swimming has to remind one of the edge.

Yesterday the waters at Castlegregory strand were perfect for swimming. The people in Castlegregory go down to the strand, they never go down to the beach.

Swimming erases all worries and anxieties. Sea water seems to remove  fear. One loses the sense of danger. And how it heals.

An extended moment of perfection.

Wise to see the greatness and goodness of other people

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

Michael Commane 

It was brought to my attention some days ago that an acquaintance referred to me as a ‘thug’. I presume it was about something I had written or a view that I had expressed. It appears we have different opinions on myriad subjects, theologically, politically and socially. It set me thinking and while I jokingly told friends I considered it a badge of honour, it did of course hurt me.

Have I never referred to an opponent as a ‘thug’? Unfortunately, I too have used the word. When someone calls you a name you mull over it and spend some time thinking about it. I’m afraid  that we spend more time and energy thinking of the negative aspects people see in us than the positive ones. You wonder why someone might think badly of you and no matter who they are, most of us don’t want people  to perceive us badly. The corollary is certainly true, when someone speaks well of us, we immediately are inclined to view them in more positive terms.

On reflection, it dawned on me that the man who called me that name  had never in his life sat down and spoken with me in any serious or real way. I always felt he was shouting at me.

And isn’t that so often the story of our lives? We form opinions of people, make judgements on them, yet  knowing so little about them. Certainly, I often find myself forming opinions of celebrities and politicians without knowing the first thing about them. We can easily do the same about our neighbours or acquaintances. It might be based on how they look, the way they walk. Yes, it’s as superficial as that.

Isn’t that why corporations and political parties spend so much time, money and energy on advertising? If they can manage to get their target audience to see someone in a favourable light then they have the possibility of winning them over to their side, buying their product or voting for their candidate. Is it all as ephemeral as that? I suspect it may well be.

Dogmatists and those with ‘notions’ about themselves may claim that it’s hard core teaching, objective standards, the teachings of the difference between right and wrong that win people over to doing what is right and proper. Of course,  that approach too has a role to play in the forming of a person and the structuring of good society. But we can never, nor must we ever, forget about the incidental words and acts of kindness that shape us and leave indelible marks on our psyche.

In tomorrow’s Gospel (Matthew 13: 24 - 43) among the parables Jesus tells us is that of the mustard seed: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.”

Isn’t  a remarkable illustration of the effects of the smallest of things and then how significant they can become in our lives? Indeed, they are so influential that we continue to go back to them looking for shelter and protection, just as the birds seek shelter in the branches. And again, in Psalm 86 in tomorrow’s liturgy we are told that the Lord is kind and forgiving and most loving to all who invoke him.

Little acts of kindness have the potential to swell into major moments in our lives. When we experience acts of kindness from another person,    we will see that person in a positive and warm light. Alas, the reverse too is true, when someone disrespects us, it makes it far easier for us to see them in a negative light.

Tomorrow’s liturgy calls on all of us to focus on God, who is love and compassion. Instead of looking for the weak and negative aspects in other people, we are encouraged to see them as the handiwork of God, who fashioned them.

It’s easy enough to call a person a thug, and I may well deserve it,  but it’s more gracious and uplifting to acknowledge another person’s  moments of greatness and goodness, a potential of  which we are all capable. If we all make greater efforts to be kind to one another,  to understand people’s challenges and frailties,  surely, we shall  see them in a different light and they in turn will  reciprocate those acts of kindness.

Pie in the sky? No, actually it’s the message of Jesus.

RTE calls on us to dance with drunken uncles at weddings

There was an item on weddings in the time of Covid-19 on the lunchtime news on RTE Radio 1 yesterday.

At one stage during the clip Aine Lawlor made a comment suggesting that we all like to dance on the wedding floor with our drunken uncle. And she laughed while saying it.

Preposterous.

Europe's first banknotes

The first banknotes in Europe were issued on this date, July 16, 1661.

The notes were issued by the Swedish bank, Stockholms Banco.

The power of touch

Journalist and writer Olivia O'Leary in her RTE Radio 1 Drivetime talk yesterday spoke about some of the damage that Covid-19 has inflicted on all of us.

She was speaking about the power of touch.

During her short talk she remembered with affection the balming hand of her mother on her forehead when she was sick as a child. 

She also spoke of that feeling of reassurance as her late husband on one occasion put his arm around her.

She referred to lovers not being able to meet during Covid-19.

What does priestly celibacy do for a man?

For how many priests does celibacy play a positive role?

Good idea to treat others as we would like them to treat us

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

Michael Commane

In this column last week I wrote about a bad experience I had in a hospital. 

Since then I have spent 10 days in a Kerry hospital. It was like moving from darkness to light. 

In the first hospital I felt humiliated. It was a matter of protecting myself against bad behaviour. It was as if I was constantly under siege and never for one moment did I feel the possibility of being at ease.

Whosever fault it was, I felt stupid and anxious for the entire six hours I spent in the hospital.

I left the place psychologically bruised, nervous too. For the first time in my life I had a bag strapped to my leg. When you are not accustomed to something, surely it is inevitable that you are anxious. It might well be that there is no need for one to be so anxious. A steadying word, a word of advice and assurance, that all would be okay, would have gone a long way in making me feel at ease. But I never heard any such words.

The moment I arrived in the Kerry hospital I was welcomed with open arms. 

During my 10-day stay I experienced nothing but kindness and indeed attention. Any questions I asked were answered and answered in such a way that I understood what was being said to me.

In the days leading up to surgery of course I was a little nervous but all those sorts of reactions and feelings were totally assuaged by the people in whose care I was. And that included everyone, those who made my bed, the surgeon, the anaesthetist, the nurses, those who brought my food, the cleaners, who always enjoyed a good sense of humour.

I’ve been looking back on the experience and thinking about how we all connect and disconnect with one another.

Every actor, every sportsperson will say that they are only as good as their last performance. No one, no institution can ever relax and lie back on their laurels.

These days most companies and institutions have Human Relations departments. Over the years in the various places I have worked it has often struck me that HR departments need to play a far more active role in making sure there is a good and healthy atmosphere across the organisation. 

It’s all in the name. The purpose of a HR department is to ensure for good relationships among employees and between employees and management. Far too often HR is seen exclusively as the department that hires and fires.

Might it be that HR departments are far too beholden to management, in which case, they lose the purpose for their being?

It’s important that the individual is always treated with respect and decency. When we feel we are respected and treated in a correct and proper manner, it’s then that we will perform at our best.

It has been interesting these last two weeks observing how we react to how other people deal with us and how they treat us. And most normal people behave accordingly and in proportion to how they feel they are being treated.

So much of our opinions and views of our life experiences, the places we’ve been, the jobs we have done, depend on our relationships with other people.

Invariably, we like a city or country because of the people we meet there.

St Matthew spells out the golden rule: “Always treat others as you would like them to treat you.’ (Matthew 7: 12)

A lovely story about an old man in Abkhazia

A friend sent this excerpt from a blog written by a German. The blog is called 'Alles Schall und Rauch' (All Noise and Smoke).

Copying the excerpt here is not in any way a statement of support for the opinions and views of the writer of the blog 'Alles Schall und Rauch'

It makes for an interesting read.

This is from Abkhazia is known for its people who are getting very old. It is because of the healthy climate, healthy food, healthy lifestyle and the healing spring water. 

That is why Stalin had five holiday homes built in the most beautiful spots of Abkhazia, because he thought that this is how he would grow old.

My neighbour is such a "Methuselah" and yesterday I was invited to his birthday party, the celebration of his 123rd birthday.

You have to imagine, he was born in 1897. At that time Tsar Nicholas II, Nikolaus Alexandrovich Romanov, who abdicated in 1917, ruled.

Everyone was there, his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren and great-great-great-grandchildren plus friends and neighbours, a total of almost 500 well-wishers.

After I had toasted his health several times with self-distilled 70 percent fruit schnapps, I took the opportunity to ask him about his life, his health and of course about the current corona virus crisis.

He said that he would drink a glass of Tchacha (abasian brandy) every morning and that it would kill all germs, that is why he had been living healthy for so long.

It would also be important not to have any stress, that's why after his wife died 90 years ago he would not have married a new one, although the female sex, especially the young ones, are still after him, but that's not so exhausting.

He still looks good, is slim and fit, he said with a wink and a mischievous smile. I understood what he meant, this daredevil!

Timur stressed that the pandemic was nothing more than a mass hysteria invented by the media, and he said to me that he would not let the corona virus stop him from meeting his friends.

"Everyone is in panic over this, but as far as I can tell, it is the politicians, journalists and doctors who are pushing this flu-like virus disproportionately high," he said.

He stressed that he had already experienced and survived quite different crises, such as the Great War (World War I), the October Revolution of the Bolsheviks, the Communists' seizure of power, the Spanish flu, then the mass deportations of Joseph Stalin, the Great Patriotic War (World War II), the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union due to Gorbachev's perestroika and the Georgian war of aggression in 1992/93.

"The German soldiers of the Wehrmacht, who came from the north via the Caucasus, tried to invade Abkhazia, but we beat them back, just like the Georgians did almost 30 years ago," said the multiple war veteran with pride.

After a very long life, he wouldn't let such a ridiculous virus stop him from visiting his friends and having a drink and playing cards with them.

"They say I must stay at home to protect my 100-year-old children and 75-year-old grandchildren. What is this?" He said that anyone who hides out now is a coward.

Today's generation is simply not hardened and too spoiled, he added. "But come on, Pojechali (Let's go!). We will all stay healthy," he said to me laughing and we toasted.

"Anyway, I promise you this... " he looked into the round of congratulators, "...we will look back and laugh about this in a few years when I am 125 years old."

I understood... ...his optimism and humor, plus his joy of life, made him grow old, which is a lesson to me.

Well then, cheers to Timur, to your health and to the beginning of the new month of April.

Stop, scratch your head and wonder what to do

What exactly does this sign say?

Surely a sign like this could only appear on an Irish road?

But it's brilliant. And to add to its brilliance, the road it is on is tiny,

Allowing a vehicle to travel on this road at 80 km/h is insane.

On the one hand it is giving permission to travel at 80 km/h and on the other hand, telling the driver to drive slowly.

And surely the Irish must be off-putting to the non-Irish speaker: where are they being told to 'go'?

Details of Funeral Mass of Fr Joss Breen OP

Fr Joss Breen's requiem is on Tuesday, July 14 at 10.30 local Perth Time (03.30 Irish Time).

The Funeral Mass takes place in Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Doubleview, Perth. 

The church was designed by the late Fr Bonaventure Leahy OP. 

Bonaventure, a member of the Irish Province, spent many years in Australia. He returned to Ireland in his senior years, and was a member of the Sligo community at the time of his death. Bonaventure died in Sligo on July 16, 1990.

The anniversary of Fr Bonaventure's death is within two days of Joss Breen's Funeral Mass and Joss died the day before his 86th birthday.

The link to the live-streaming of the Mass:

https://livestream.com/accounts/29439303/events/9210058

Taking the 'T' out of the Trump hat made in Bangladesh

From the 1950s until the present-day most of the people who emigrated to the US from West Kerry automatically found themselves at home politically with the Democrats on arrival in America.

It's a different story these days. Indeed, there are many villages in West Kerry today where the home-coming 'yanks' proudly admit their allegiance to President Donald Trump.

A home-coming friend gave me a Trump hat the last time he was in Kerry.

Ashamed to wear it, after an hour of destitching this is what I did.

And irony of ironies the hat is made in Bangladesh. So much for making America great again and producing everything in the US.

The letters are so well emblazoned it took one hour to remove the 'T'. 

Another four hours removing the full name seemed an inappropriate wast of time. And maybe the remaining four letters tell a better story.

Then again removing the 'P' could give it a whole new meaning.

 

What's in a name?

The link below is from Wednesday's Guardian and is about renaming Mohren Straße (Moor Street) U-Bahn Station in Berlin.

The station is to be renamed Glinkastrasse. The street, which was previously in East Berlin, was named in 1951 after Russian composer Mikhail Glinka. But the trouble with him is that he had antisemitic views.

Has there been any talk of renaming some of our streets? Grafton, Talbot, Henry Streets, and all these gentlemen have, to say the least, interesting tales to tell about their behaviour towards the Irish.

On the other hand was Dublin ahead of the times in removing Nelson and Gough from the city skyline?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/07/blm-inspired-name-change-for-berlin-metro-station-mohrenstrasse-fails-to-end-controversy

Distributing Holy Communion from a 'Safe space'

Fr Joe O'Brien distributing Holy Communion
 in Holy Cross, Dominican church, Tralee.

This picture appeared on the front page of The Irish Examiner on Monday and a similar picture is in The Kerryman this week.

It shows Fr Joe O'Brien distributing Holy Communion at the Dominican church in Tralee from a 'Safe space' as the caption reads.

In The Kerryman this week there is a number of stories of how churches in Kerry have adjusted to Covid-19.

Simon Brouder writes in The Kerryman: "Protective visors are now the norm for priests, strict non-contact rules have been introduced for Communion, while sharing the 'sign of peace' is a thing of the past.

"At the Dominican church in Tralee the safety steps have been taken even further with priests at daily Masses handing out Communion from a specially made perspex box in front of the altar."

Joss Breen OP (1934 - 2020) - an obituary

Joss Breen OP

Dominican priest Joss Breen died in the early hours of the morning of July 7 in Guardian Angels Nursing Home, Scarborough, Perth, Australia.

The nursing home is situated near the Dominican priory of the Holy Rosary and the community of Dominican Sisters of Western Australia.

Sister Marlene Laracy OP of that community, a good friend of Joss, was especially attentive to Joss as his health failed during his last few months.

Joss, also known at one stage as Luke, was born on July 8, 1934. He joined the Dominicans in St Mary’s Priory, Pope’s Quay, Cork in September 1959 and was ordained a priest on July 3, 1966.

He grew up in Kilworth, Co Cork and on finishing school joined the Presentation Brothers, where he spent a number of years working as a primary school teacher.

In the immediate years before he joined the Dominicans he taught the scholarship class at Bun Scoil Chríost Rí, at Turners Cross in Cork City. Former pupils of that class remember Joss as a great teacher.

The scholarship class was a special class at primary school that prepared pupils for county council scholarships. 

Every year local authorities granted a limited number of scholarships to pupils, which went towards the payment of school fees at post primary level.

With the introduction of free post primary education, the scholarship examination was discontinued.

Because Joss had already been a member of a religious congregation before joining the Dominicans, he took solemn vows immediately after his noviciate, 

After priestly ordination in 1966 Joss completed post graduate theological studies at the University of St Thomas, Rome, while living at the Irish Dominican Priory on the Via Labicana nearby.

On returning to Ireland the following year he studied for his Higher Diploma in Education at Maynooth College.

He later obtained an M.Ed in Education and a diploma in guidance counselling from Trinity College Dublin.

Joss spent the majority of his Dominican life in Ireland at Newbridge College, where he taught, and then later was the school’s career guidance counsellor.

In 1985/’86 he went to Australia and New Zealand on a sabbatical break. He so liked this experience he sought permission from the Irish provincial to go live and work in Australia.

He remained a member of the Irish Dominican Province.

In his years in Australia he lived at Dominican priories and worked in a number of parishes. Before his health deteriorated he was parish priest at Gosnells in Perth.

Joss was a tall man, who chose his words carefully. He had a dry sense of humour, that could easily be misinterpreted.

He gave an impression that he was meticulous in what he did, yet he would have no difficulty in explaining that he was anything but so. 

And regularly it would be that impish smile of his that would tell the full story. One got the impression that Joss liked to leave people wondering as to who he was.

In my first days teaching in Newbridge College, he called me aside and told me always to carry a folder when walking about in the school. "It gives others a sense of your importance," he told me with a roguish smile.

He seldom expressed his views on current and political issues but on the rare occasion, during a discussion, he might quietly disagree with what was being said. His words would always be felt and noted. Joss was well able to express a sense of gravitas.

Joss was a gracious host and while in Australia always received Irish visitors with open arms.

He was a private person, who carried out many acts of kindness, all done in his own quiet manner.

Joss seldom bragged about his Cork roots but made it very clear he was a Cork man to anyone whoever attempted to speak badly about his native county.

He enjoyed walking in the hills and while at Newbridge he procured a boat, which he kept at the picturesque marina on the Grand Canal and Old Barrow Line at Lowtown, near Robertstown, Co Kildare.

A fellow Dominican, who boated with Joss on a number of occasions, remembers some of their boating escapades.

Once on the River Barrow it was Joss's companion's job to open and close the lock gates and provide food.  "Joss was particular about his food. I went off and found some wild garlic in a field, cleaned it up and Joss was none the wiser as to its provenance," he explains.

On another occasion at Leighlinbridge, the River Barrow was in flood and the craft got stuck under a bridge. "The boat sat under the bridge. Eventually I climbed on to the top of the boat, and using the bridge as a support, I was able to push the boat up river. Otherwise, we might still be sitting there,"he smiles.

"Joss never let me control the boat but one day at a pier he was unable to get back on the boat, it was left to me to guide it so that he could get aboard. But I was subsequently chastised for how I manoeuvred the vessel" he recalls.

They also boated from Lowtown to the River Shannon, again with Joss in control and his fellow Dominican opening and closing the lock gates, supplying and cooking the food all the way to the Shannon. But all done in good fun and a fine sense of camaraderie.

"His little boat was his study. It was there that he read and studied," his fellow mariner remembers.

That Joss had a boat was surrounded in true Dominican-style ‘secrecy'. 

It was a top class secret that he had a boat and yet every one in the Dominican community in Newbridge knew that Joss was the proud owner of a watercraft. But it never came up for discussion, as if it were a taboo subject.

Joss’s funeral Mass will be celebrated by the retired bishop of Geraldton, Justin Bianchini.

As of yet there are no details of funeral arrangements.

This obituary appears on Joss's 86th birthday.

May he rest in peace.

Joss Breen OP, RIP

Dominican priest, Joss Breen died in Perth, Australia early this morning, Australian time, last evening Irish time.

Joss was a member of the Irish Dominican Province.

May he rest in peace.

Obituary to follow.

A night of terror in a hospital

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

Michael Commane

I remember the morning my mother died. Dad and I were called to the hospital before 6am. Mum died as we arrived. I was standing at her bedside crying, when the priest chaplain arrived. He told me to ‘get a hold of myself’ and started muttering inaudible, meaningless prayers at breakneck speed. 

Later I meant to follow up on his behaviour but I never did. The man certainly should not have been let near a hospital bed.

That was 1988 and 32 years later I was back thinking about him. In hindsight I should have reported the man’s bad behaviour.

Two weeks ago I had to visit the emergency department of a hospital, one of those hospitals that is considered a centre of excellence.

I had a good idea what the problem was and a catheter had to be inserted. For starters, that is painful. But it was one long night of terror.

Yes, I did scream as the catheter was being inserted. Earlier that day I had cycled across a mountain in quite some pain, so honestly I don’t think I’m a wimp.

Indeed I had climbed 544 metres on the bicycle.

While being examined by the registrar, I was in such pain I held on to her arm. She curtly asked me to remove my hand from her arm. Some time later she came back to the cubicle and asked me could she carry out an examination. I consented. But she simply walked off and never carried out the examination.

At one stage I asked her a question to which she replied that she was busy.

A junior doctor attached a bag to my leg. In a most flippant manner he explained how to operate a release valve. I had no idea what he was saying. I hope if I were explaining a bicycle tube valve to someone unfamiliar with the mechanism I would be more understanding and patient than my young doctor.

The two people I encountered on the night who showed humanity and kindness were a junior doctor from the Far East and a nurse from Africa. 

The night of terror began close to 7pm and at approximately 02.40 on Sunday morning I was told to go home. From a wall-phone in the hospital I called for a taxi. Waiting time for next available taxi was one hour.

I appreciate the world and its mother is under great stress right now. And especially in hospitals, where staff have been through experiences they never dreamed of and nor did they ever read about in text books.

The experience has of course set me thinking. It has also crossed my mind, as a taxpayer, funding that hospital and the medical staff who treated me that evening, I certainly did not get value for money.

But most of all I was shown little or no respect. I would also question some of the medical advice I was given. 

Some days later I was admitted to a smaller rural hospital, where I have received the best of care and was shown a respect that made me feel good in myself.

Bill Clinton’s strategist James Carville is famous for his quip, ‘It’s the economy, stupid’ . And it is of course smart. But I’d much prefer to go with: ‘I’ts  respect that matters’. And I’d leave out ‘stupid’.

Along with everything else during my night of terror, I was made feel stupid.

Everyone deserves respect. It’s the making of us. No one should be made feel stupid.