Wednesday, June 30, 2021

England team wins while fans boo

Congratulations to England in their history over Germany in EURO 2020 yesterday.

But the booing of the English fans during the German anthem and indeed the booing right throughout the game was unfortunate and cannot be good for the game.

It certainly was most unsportsmanlike.

Not at all impressive.

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Shame on us - 82.4 million refugees

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column.

Michael Commane
The Dominican saint and theologian Thomas Aquinas says that what we need to note is what is being said and not who it is who says it. I think you could argue the pros and cons of that.

Earlier this month I was scanning the letters page of The Irish Times when I spotted a letter written by Siobhan Walsh. While I was working in the press office in Concern Worldwide Siobhan was also working with Concern and we met on a number of occasions.

She is now chief executive officer of Goal. Goal is an international humanitarian response agency, founded by Irish journalist John O’Shea in 1977.

Siobhan’s name caught my attention so naturally I read the letter. The treasure trove that it opened for me.

The following day, Sunday, June 20, was World Refugee Day and Siobhan was highlighting the plight of refugees.

Some of the statistics are simply horrendous. There are 82.4 million refugees around the world and it is the highest number ever recorded. Approximately 34 million of that number happen to be children. That is simply shocking.

And for you and me those figures are just numbers.

When I read Siobhan’s letter I was on a three-day break in West Kerry with everything at my disposal. 

But so it is with me every day. I never have to worry where I am going to sleep or how I’ll manage to get my food. I take it all for granted. Is it possible for someone like me to understand what life must be like for refugees?

Reading Siobhan’s letter and then going off and finding out more information on the subject I began to feel ashamed of myself. I can get agitated if I find out I have run out of oranges for my breakfast. And what are we doing as a nation for refugees? Since the beginning of 2020 Ireland has resettled 250 refugees. 

Sweden, which has a population twice the size of Ireland resettles 5,000 refugees annually.

Since last November a war in northern Ethiopia has caused two million people to lose their homes.

Pope Francis has referred to the Mediterranean as ‘the largest cemetery in Europe’. He is talking about those poor miserable people who have paid large sums of money to smugglers to flee their homes and then end up at the bottom of the sea.

The picture is bleak.

Surely we in the West have a grave responsibility to bang heads together to come up with a solution to the problem of refugees.

Right now Ireland has a seat at the UN Security Council. As an Irish tax payer may I scream out to our representative on the Security Council to fight like hell on behalf of the 82.4 million refugees.

Refugees are forced to leave their homes usually as a result of war and violence. They’d much prefer to stay at home but they simply can’t.

To think that the weaponry that is driving people out of their homes is the same weaponry that is making billions for the armaments industry and the large corporations that support them.

Why do we let this cruelty happen?

Monday, June 28, 2021

What might 1.6 billion children make of yesterday’s Gospel?

In the Gospel read in the liturgy yesterday St Mark tells the story of how Jesus heals the little 12-year-old daughter of a synagogue official.

There are 34 million children refugees in the world.

There are 1.6 billion children living in conflict zones.

Approximately 12.3 Irish children leave school after the Junior Cert. That works out at approximately 8,000 children every year, in 10 years that’s 80,000 children.

And all the pious words that will have been spoken yesterday.

Sunday, June 27, 2021

Smarmy James, Ivana’s scarf and the odd bicycle

Before the arrival of Photoshop

and social media is was generally accepted that a picture was worth a thousand words. It’s probably not  so any longer.

There is an election in Dublin Bay South on Thursday July 8.

The posters are appearing all

over the constituency, which covers a wide spectrum of Irish society.

Labour Party Ivana Bacik’s poster would make one ask some questions.

Wearing a scarf in July? And then there is the bicycle.

No chain, no brakes. Ivana with a scarf around her neck and no mudguards on the bicycle. And then there’s the basket.

Does Fine Gael’s candidate James Geoghegan look a little too smarmy for the casual voter passing the lamppost?

More anon on what’s adorning our lampposts right now.

Saturday, June 26, 2021

Matt Hancock asked citizens ‘to keep doing their bit'

UK’s secretary of health Matt Hancock’s dalliance, his not keeping the social distances rules that he asked the rest of the citizenry to keep, his comments of criticism when a UK Covid expert had to resign because of an extra marital affair, saying that it was  not just possible in these circumstances to keep his job, tells the story of the current crop of Conservative politicians.

At one stage Hancock asked the citizens of the UK “to keep doing your bit”.

Irony of ironies.

And Matt Hancock’s boss is Boris Johnson.

How did a video camera find its way into Matt Hancock’s office and remain unnoticed?


The day that Stalin’s enforcer is forced out

On this day, June 25, 1953 the notorious and cruel Lavrentiy Beria, head of the Soviet secret police was arrested. At the time Nikita Krushchev had replaced Stalin with help from Georgy Zhukov.

After being arrested, he was tried for treason and other offences. He was sentenced to death, and executed on 23 December 1953. 

During his trial, and after his death, numerous allegations arose of Beria being a serial sexual predator. 

Beria carried out all of Stalin’s requests. He played an important role in the satellite states of the Soviet Union in the years immediately after World War II.

Friday, June 25, 2021

Viktor Orban always insists of picking on a enemy

Naomi O’Leary in her European Letter in The Irish Times yesterday writes about the phenomenon of the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban.

She interviews  Hungarian MEP Katalin Cseh, who points out that Orban always has to have one enemy, whether it is during his time in government or in the run up to an election.

“It is usually a group of people in a minority who are weak, who do not have the same opportunities as the majority and they are singled out.

“Before this it was the migrants. Now it appears that the LGBTI community is part of the new enemy group."

Antony Blinken and Heiko Maas share a German beer

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and German foreign minister Heiko Maas met in Berlin yesterday.

They visited the Holocaust memorial in the centre of the city, where they met a 99-year-old Holocaust survivor.

One of Blinken’s ancestors was a victim of the Hitler terror. Blinken is a Jew.

Blinken's stepfather was the only Holocaust survivor of the 900 children of his school in Poland. 

Maas and Blinken enjoying a German beer spoke about the close relationship between their two countries and the German foreign minister, with a smile, admitted that in a phone call with ‘Tony' he had the feeling that this was his first time to talk with a US secretary of state.

Obviously Germany and the US are back doing business as close partners after four difficult years.

Thursday, June 24, 2021

What to believe and what not to believe

According to a Reuters Institute Digital News Report 70 per cent of Irish people are extremely or very interested in news, which is up five per cent on last year.

The EU average is 60 per cent, the UK 51 per cent and in the US the figure is 54 per cent.

Sixteen per cent of Irish people pay for news.

RTÉ is considered by 78 per cent as a trusted news brand with The Irish Times at 77 per cent.

WhatsApp has overtaken Facebook as the most popular social media platform. It is used by 68 per cent of the 2,000 people who responded to the survey.

Seventy five percent of over 65s are concerned about what is real and what is fake on the internet, compared with 55 per cent of 18 - 24-year-olds.

When a new DA was appointed in Philadelphia major changes were made in the police. 

Someone was overheard saying that a person who has nothing to hide, hides nothing at all. 

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Angela Merkel offers her condolences to Vladimir Putin

German Chancellor Angela Merkel phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday to offer her condolences on the 80th anniversary of  Germany's World War II invasion of Russia.

June 22, 1941 was the first day of Operation Barbarossa when the Wehrmacht crossed the River Bug and entered the territory of the USSR.

Merkel expressed feelings of empathy in connection with "the incalculable misery and suffering brought by the war unleashed by the Nazi regime," the Kremlin said in a statement.

"Both sides stressed the importance of preserving the historical memory of the tragic events of those years. It was stated that overcoming mutual hostility and reconciliation of the Russian and German peoples carried key importance for the fate of postwar Europe. It stressed that even now the security of the common continent is possible only through joint efforts," it said.

Vladimir Putin also spoke to Merkel about his meeting last week with US President Joe Biden in Geneva.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier laid a wreath in Berlin yesterday to commemorate the victims of the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

Steinmeier laid the wreath at the Soviet War Memorial in Schönholzer Heide in the Berlin district of Pankow. It is estimated the war  against the Soviet Union cost roughly 27 million lives, of which 14 million were civilians.


Steinmeier said: "Nobody during this war mourned more victims than the people of the former Soviet Union. And yet these millions are not as deeply etched in our collective memory as their suffering, and our responsibility, demand.”


He added that the German war against the Soviets was carried out with "murderous barbarity.”


More than 13,000 Red Army officers and soldiers who died in the battle for Berlin in 1945 are buried at the Schönholzer Heide memorial, which is one of three large Soviet memorials in the German capital, along with those in Treptow and Tiergarten.

Tuesday, June 22, 2021

I’m no Mick Dundee but an hello helps

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column.

Michael Commane
Cycling home from Mass on Monday morning I came up behind a mother and what I took for her seven/eight-year-old daughter, who were cycling in front of me. The daughter was in front of her mother and her mother was giving her gentle instructions on how to navigate between the kerb and the passing cars.

I was intrigued by it and then when I was overtaking the two of them I said to the mother to tell her daughter that I’m cycling 67 years, gave a wave to the little girl and assured her she was doing a fantastic job. I cycled off and it’s most unlikely that we’ll ever meet again. But I do know I gave the little girl’s mother cause to smile. She was delighted with both herself and her daughter and waved me goodbye.

I hadn’t cycled 500 metres when I was reminded of the 1986 film Crocodile Dundee.
 
Sue Charlton (Linda Kozlowski) is a feature writer on her father’s New York newspaper and is engaged to the paper’s editor when she goes to visit Mick Dundee (Paul Hogan) in Australia’s Outback.

Later in the film he travels back to New York with Sue. It’s his first time in the US. He brings all his rural customs of the outback with him to the Big Apple. He says hello to everyone he meets on the street, even opens the window of his taxi to greet people. Naturally New Yorkers think this chap is crazy. And he certainly does behave in a way to which no New Yorker would be accustomed.

Well before the onslaught of Covid a friend of mine commented that there are so many elderly and lonely people out there that even to say hello to them when passing them on the street is a good idea. I listened to her carefully and decided I should follow her example. I didn’t. 

Some months ago I heard Fr Peter McVerry arguing that even if we are unwilling to give a person begging on the street some money, at least we could say hello to them. Again, I was impressed with the idea but like all good intentions the path to hell is paved with good intentions.

It was Covid that caused me to develop my new street policy. These days I’m saying hello to far more pedestrians and cyclists than I ever did before. Of course I’m not saying hello to everyone I pass on Grafton or O’Connell Street but on quiet streets and parks these days I’m far more inclined to say hello or give a nod of the head. 

The same with cyclists, I’ll say hello or offer some sort of friendly gesture when passing or stopped at traffic lights.

I’m pleasantly surprised with the responses I am getting. The vast majority of people reply or give some sort of recognition.

Just think of the difference it could make for them and for us.

I have learned from my job as a hospital chaplain the profound importance of a simple smile or a quick kind word.

Mick Dundee’s approach was hilariously funny, but remember where it got him in the end. If you haven’t seen the film, watch it and find out.

And say hello to the passing person.

Monday, June 21, 2021

On your knees in hell

Lateral thinker Edward Charles Francis Publius de Bono, who died on June 9, tells a joke:

An old man dies and goes to hell. When he gets there, he sees his friend, a 90-year-old man, with a beautiful woman sitting on his knee.

He says to his friend. This can’t be hell. You’re not being punished, you’e having fun!’ To which his friend replies, ‘This is punishment  - for her!’ "

Sunday, June 20, 2021

World Refugee Day

Today is World Refugee Day. The number of  vulnerable people forcibly displaced globally stands at almost 82.4 million, which is the highest figure on record.

Saturday, June 19, 2021

The safe option is not always what we need

The Thinking Anew column in The Irish Times today.

Michael Commane
It is spectacular that in a world population of over seven billion each one of us is unique.

When it comes to someone being elected or appointed to high office a term that comes to mind is ‘a safe pair of hands’, at least that is, when the person is considered not to rock the boat. And so often we are more comfortable with the familiar.

Whether or not it is a complimentary or pejorative term may well depend on our own understanding of the word and our opinion of the particular person.

But when the safe pair of hands throws off that mantel and turns out to be an adventurous and prophetic leader there is a wonderful charm and excitement about what might happen.

In the present world of politics it might just turn out that Joe Biden, considered by many ‘a safe pair of hands’ may well turn out to be far more adventurous than people originally thought. 

One could look on Pope John XXIII as fitting that bill. He was a former diplomat. The elderly man was considered a caretaker pope on election but he went on to give an exciting life to the Catholic Church, indeed, his influence spread across all churches and indeed further.

Other names that come to mind are Gorbachev, and Merkel. Gorbachev was a loyal and true-blue member of the USSR Politburo and Merkel had a leadership role in the East German controlled Free German Youth. Both considered safe pairs of hands, who went on to show the world what imaginative and prophetic people they were.

It was exciting watching them develop and blossom in their roles and how they attempted to improve the lot of their citizens. Closer to home, Sean Lemass comes to mind, even among those who don’t support Fianna Fáil. Along with farsighted civil servant Ken Whitaker Lemass, who had spent his career in the political  shadow of Éamon de Valera merged and began the economic revolution which became the practical  realisation of Irish nationhood. 

Are churches far too tempted to go for the security of the safe pair of hands? And how often does it happen that the safe pair of hands breaks loose and goes on to be prophetic and exciting?

If ever it were needed, surely we in Ireland right now need a church leadership that has the humility and genius, the courage too, to inspire people to be impressed by the Word of God.

The new Catholic archbishop of Dublin, Dermot Farrell has set up a task force titled ‘Building Hope’. 

Parishioners across the archdiocese have been asked to contribute their thoughts, their vision for the future of the archdiocese.

It would seem Dermot Farrell is hitting the ground running. But it is vital that he and his team listen to those who feel alienated and may have highly critical opinions to express, something John XXIII did.

The lesson writ large in tomorrow’s Gospel (Mark 4: 35 - 41) is that we should not be afraid. It’s so easy to hide behind fear, to use fear and security as tools to keep us in our bubbles and stave off the prevailing winds. And that’s exactly why Jesus is critical of his disciples as they battle with the sea winds.

Jesus offers them a new and exciting alternative. And when the wind drops they are astounded, surprised and realise that this man is offering them a hope for the future that is beyond their calculations. Out on that boat they realised that they have to recalibrate.

Is there anyone at senior leadership level in the Irish Christian churches willing to say that we are in trouble? Might someone have the temerity to suggest, calling in an outside agency to do a root and branch audit of church organisations in Ireland?

There is a faith reserve across Irish society that goes back centuries. It hasn’t been blown away by any wind or storm. Yes, it has been damaged but if we make a genuine effort in listening and summoning God to our side we will not be left wanting.

God’s love always wins out. During the life of Jesus and in his church what’s worked best has not always been the safe option. However you choose to describe him, the man from Galilee was never a safe pair of hands. And he is God too.

Friday, June 18, 2021

Thursday’s RTE Radio 1's ‘A Word in Edgeways'

A Word in Edgeways, aired on RTE Radio 1 yesterday, Thursday, June 17 at 06.15.

https://www.rte.ie/radio/utils/share/radio1/21969322

Thursday, June 17, 2021

RTE’s ‘A Word in Edgeways’ on June Bank Holiday Monday

The link is to RTE Radio 1’s 'A Word in Edgeways’ aired on the June Bank Holiday Money. 

https://www.rte.ie/radio/utils/share/radio1/21963614

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Accommodating misspellings in Rathgar

This notice is outside a bistro in Rathgar.

And on Bloomsday too.

One is reminded of Jimmy O’Dea singing ’Thank Heavens we are living in Rathgar’

Most likely they spell accommodate correctly in Heaven.

“There are quite decent suburbs, I am sure,

O Rathmines is not so bad, or Terenure,

O we’ve heard of spots like Inchicore,

But really don’t know where they are;

For, thank heavens, we are living in Rathgar.”

— From ‘Thank Heavens We Are Living In Rathgar’, written by Harry O’Donovan and sung by Jimmy O’Dea,

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Garda vetting system not fit for purpose

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column.

Michael Commane
Have you ever noticed how a news event gets extensive coverage for a number of days and then it fades into oblivion. One thing is certain, the issue has not gone away.

The rockets and guns in the Middle East may have fallen silent but people are left without their shelter and water, all the things that make human living possible.

It is interesting how a news story is popular one day and the next day it’s no longer the flavour of the month.

On the scale of things this is no big story but I find it all most irritating. Indeed, I have written about it on a previous occasion but I feel so strongly about it, I think it is important I remind readers of the stupidity of it all.

It’s the story of Garda Vetting. Since Christmas I have received notification from three separate organisations informing me that I need to update my Garda Vetting details.

Before another word is said, let me explain how unwieldy the system is.

Each time I fill out these forms I have to give the exact address of every place where I have lived since birth. In my case it is 17. 

Fortunately, the first time I filled out the form I kept a copy of it.

It is a truly absurd system. If ever there were a case of closing the door after the horse has bolted this is it.

I actually find it a demeaning procedure. Every time I fill out those forms some sort of worrying feeling comes over me. And then the form itself is not fit for purpose. Believe it or not, it will not accept apostrophes, commas or full points when one is typing names and addresses.

I’m annoyed and yes angry too with the State authorities for designing such a system. I am also annoyed with the organisations who have collaborated with the State in creating this monster.

How much money is it all costing to keep it going, the staffs employed by the State and the individual organisations?

And then how you are told that this has to be done and that’s that. 

How dare you question the wise ones. And if you refuse to cooperate you simply lose your job.

Why can’t they put all the information on a card and then after a number of years it is updated. Is the current system a means of humiliating people? That’s the impression I get every time I have to go through the hoops.

Why each time do I have to give all the addresses they already have? 

I’m sure I have been told it is in accordance with GDPR. Of course there is a place for GDPR but why do I keep thinking it is manna from heaven for those who want to control, patronise and keep us in our boxes? GDPR, or the misuse of it, is the perfect tool for the pathetic bureaucrat-style officials who want to lord it over of us.

Honestly, I’m tired of it all.

It may not be on the news these days but the entire sorry saga is newsworthy. Indeed, a discussion on it could open a can of worms.

I’m also wondering how much of it has to do with organisations covering their backs?

Monday, June 14, 2021

Fr Kevin Liam Condon OP (1932 - 2021) - an obituary

Irish Dominican priest

Kevin Condon died in a nursing home in Camberwell, Australia today, Monday, June 14.

Kevin was born on January 31, 1932 in Glenroe, County Limerick near Ballylanders and not far from Mitchelstown.

He was christened Liam and took the name Kevin when he joined the Dominicans.

Kevin won a scholarship to Newbridge College, where he spent his  five years of secondary school. He joined  the Irish Province of the Dominican Order on September 14, 1949, spending his noviciate year at St Mary’s Priory, Pope’s Quay, Cork, before moving to Tallaght, where he studied philosophy and theology. Kevin was ordained a priest in July 1956. He spent the following year in Rome and readily admits the highlight of his time in the Eternal City was not studying but rather playing rugby with San Gabriele in Frascati.

Kevin, new to Italy, had never drunk wine before. On one occasion after a rugby game in great heat he was extremely thirsty. In innocence, immediately after the game, he imbibed far too much wine, taking it simply to quench his thirst. Very quickly he realised what he had done.

On his return from Rome he spent a pastoral year back at his alma mater in Newbridge, where he taught a young Dermot Weld. Many years later in Australia he met up again with Dermot, who by that time was a world-famous horse trainer. It turned out a profitable meeting.

The late Dominican, Gerard O’Keeffe was a first cousin of Kevin’s, and he was a nephew of Terence O’Donoghue, who played a major role in his joining the Dominicans.

As a newly ordained priest Kevin was sub-master of novices in Cork in 1958.

During his time in Pope’s Quay in Cork he played for Sunday’s Well Rugby Club. While playing for the Cork rugby club he played against many Irish internationals.

The story goes that on Saturdays he would always rush back from rugby to hear confessions in Pope’s Quay at 4pm.

Kevin went to Australia in November 1960 and travelled under the assisted passage scheme. It meant the fare to the sub-continent cost the princely sum of £5.00. It was Fr Antonius Costello who suggested that he go to Australia.

In 1974 there were 23 Irish Dominicans working in Australia, five of whom had transfiliated to the Australian province.

Unlike the Welsh man, who got so home sick on arrival in Australia that he airmailed himself in 1965 in a box back to Wales, Kevin stayed and spent the rest of his life working in different Australian cities.

He was prior in a number of Dominican communities, including in Perth, Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne. He spent many years working as a parish priest in Dominican-run parishes.

As a young priest in Adelaide he carried out a census of the parish, which lasted a year. He visited over 4,000 homes and in that time he received only two rebuffs. He tells the story of one man telling him that he had left the church because he had a row with the local priest. “I told him there were bastards in every walk of life.” One thing led to another, with the man eventually returning to the church and indeed becoming a stalwart member.

It fell on Kevin to raise funds for the building of the house of studies in Canberra, where he was later superior.

He attended a renewal course at Berkeley University in the academic year 1978/’79 and saw it as a wonderful experience.

The Second Vatican Council gave the Limerick man a new lease of life and he was quick out of the traps to develop parish councils even in spite of the difficulties he experienced from fellow priests and parishioners.

Kevin was parish priest in Perth from 1983 to 1989. At the chapter of 1989 he was asked to go to Camberwell to be parish priest, where he spent a number of years.

Beginning in 2000 he  worked for a number of years in various parishes across the Archdiocese of Sydney.

Here I am, Lord: Memories and Musings of a Wandering Dominican, is a short memoir written and published by Kevin in Melbourne in 2000.

In 2008 he was appointed chaplain in Nazareth House at Ballarat in Victoria. But due to ill-health he had to retire. He duly recovered and was told by his consultant that it was God and golf that were responsible for his recovery.

During all his years in Australia he kept in touch with the Irish province. He was a regular visitor to Ireland and was always interested in what was happening in the home province. His most popular homes from home were the priories in Limerick and Sligo.

Any time he was home on holidays he would tell the pp in Mitchelstown to take off on holidays and he and his brother, Fr Sean Condon, a priest of the Limerick diocese, would celebrate Mass for him.

On one occasion a woman said to him there must have been a third Fr Condon because she had been at Mass one day and the priest saying Mass was very handsome.

Kevin was an accomplished golfer and had a lifelong interest in sports.

During the Rugby World Cup in Australia in 1987 Kevin was feverishly looking for a ticket for the Ireland Australia quarter-final game in Sydney and was having no luck. After many phone calls back to Ireland two tickets for the game arrived for him on June 5 in the Concord Oval in Sydney just in time before the kick off on June 7.

He was also a regular visitor to the world-famous horse racing spectacular, the Melbourne Cup.

Kevin had a great sense of humour and related well with people.

He was greatly saddened when the Irish Dominicans closed shop in Glentworth Street, Limerick. He felt the Dominicans had abandoned the city, a city with which his family had a long association. It also meant he would no longer be able to avail of the hospitality of the Limerick priory, something he had grown to cherish and appreciate for over 45 years.

His brother, Seámus died on May 6 in the family home in Glenroe. He was 92.

May Kevin and his brother Seámus rest in peace.


Fr Seán Maurice Cunningham OP (1931 - 2021) - an obituary

Maurice Cunningham died 


yesterday, Sunday  June 13 in Sligo Nursing Home, Ballytivnan. He had been a member of the Holy Cross community in Sligo for a number of years.


Sean Cunningham, born in 1931, was given the name Maurice when he joined the Dominicans in St Mary’s Priory, Pope’s Quay, Cork in September 1954. 


He studied philosophy and theology in the Dominican studium in Tallaght and was ordained a priest in July 1960.


Seán was born into a farming family outside Omagh. He had 12 siblings, one of whom died in childhood.


His father, Patrick Cunningham was an abstentionist MP representing the Nationalist Party for the constituency of Fermanagh and Tyrone, being elected to the House of Commons in 1935. 


Two of Seán’s brothers were Holy Ghost/Spiritan priests. One brother, Tom died of Covid in January and another brother, Colum was president of Rockwell College. A third brother was a priest in the US.


Seán was 23 when he joined the Dominicans and in those days he would have been considered ‘a late vocation’.


Before joining the Order Seán had obtained an LLB in Queens University, Belfast and a BA in history and English in UCC. 


After his priestly ordination he did post graduate studies in theology at La Sarte in Belgium and at the University of St Thomas in Rome.


He was one of a group of Irish Dominicans, who went to Nagpur in India, to establish the Order on the sub-continent. 


On one occasion, while giving a retreat in northern India he was shot by bandits. Fortunately, the wounds were superficial and he suffered no longterm ill-effects.


Seán was a pleasant and gentle man who was extremely good in community. Once a decision was made he gave it his complete support. 


Because of his strong republican views, which he was not slow to express, he was moved in the early 1970s from the priory in Newry to Tralee.


He was engaged in pastoral work in the Kerry capital, where he was appreciated and respected and made a number of lasting friendships. From Tralee he moved to Waterford.


A Dominican who lived with Seán in Waterford said of him: “He was a zealous, apostolic and prayerful man and easy to get on with.


Seán was conservative in his theological and social views. On one occasion he caused controversy on RTE Radio 1’s Marian Finucane Show because of  strongly-held views he expressed on issues surrounding marriage.


He was a dedicated pastoral man, who made it his business to be available to those who attended Dominican churches.


Seán gave much of his energy to the pro-life movement and had a lifelong devotion to Our Lady.


On arrival in Dundalk he expressed a wish that he would see Tyrone footballers win a Senior All-Ireland  Championship and that Antrim would win a Senior All-Ireland Hurling Championship.


His hopes for Antrim were never realised but the Tyrone footballers won three All-Irelands.


A week before the 1995 Tyrone Dublin final Seán was asked to bless the Tyrone team, which he duly did. 


The following Sunday Dublin beat Tyrone by one point. The final score was Dublin 1 -10, Tyrone 0 - 12.


It was the source of good fun in the community as the late Andrew Kane, who was a staunch Dublin supporter, was regularly teased for never having been asked to bless the Dublin team. 


Seán was a mild-mannered man, who spoke in a most gentle manner. He was also a hospitable person, who always received visitors with open arms and made them feel most welcome. He was gentle but brave. 


May he rest in peace.


Requiem Mass will be on Wednesday, June 16 at 2.30pm in Holy Cross Priory, Sligo.


Sunday, June 13, 2021

Sean M Cunningham OP, RIP

Dominican priest, Sean Cunningham died this morning in Sligo. 

Funeral arrangements to follow.

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

May he rest in peace. 

Covid vaccine volunteer waxes lyrically

Freelance journalist Eoin Butler writes a wonderful piece in The Irish Times Weekend Review.

It’s a personal account of his working as a Covid vaccine volunteer at the Citywest Hotel.

It’s funny, it’s real, it’s a great read. But most of all it highlights the inherent goodness of human beings.

Even the ransomware attack did not dampen spirits.

“We had so many people working that day, of different ages, genders, sexual orientations, from different professional and cultural backgrounds. 

"There were so many stress points where the system could have fractured. Someone could have snapped. Someone could have lost their temper. Someone could have been rude to one of our colleagues. But it never happened.”

And then there’d this: "After a whole day of processing thousands of 52-year-olds, you become so attuned that if a 51-year-old dared sneak in, you’d spot him across the car park before he even got out of his car."

Brilliant.

Saturday, June 12, 2021

Big companies, big profits, big numbers

The top 10 companies in Ireland in 2020 were Apple Ireland, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, CRH, Medtronic Johnson Controls, DCC,  Eaton Corp and Abbvie.

Last year Apple Ireland made a profit of €29,029 million and CRH profits were €1,355 million.Apple Ireland employs 6,000 people and CRH 76,600.

CRH’s Albert Manifold earned €11.2 million last year.

The boss of Kerry Group, 17th largest company in Ireland, Edmond Scanlon earned €2.32 million. The company employs 26,000 people.


Friday, June 11, 2021

RTE presenters using incorrect version of past participle

Oliver Callan during his programme this morning on RTE Radio 1 talking about non-alcoholic drink said:

“...... you have drank in the past...”

RTE needs to run a course on English grammar for all presenters.

This error with the past participle is happening all too often.

The grammar gaffe was at approximately 09.14.

Priests left to run their own fiefdoms

This appeared in The Irish Examiner. As relevant today as it was back in 2012. Maybe even more so. 

Priests left to ‘run own fiefdoms’ after ordination

Fr Michael Commane, a long-serving member of the Dominican Order, said it was his opinion that priests in Ireland managed to run “their own little fiefdoms” and, after ordination, it was quite likely that they would never be asked to attend a retraining course.

He revealed that in almost 40 years in the priesthood, not once had a superior or a bishop asked him what he might think about central issues of his faith.

Commentating on the fallout from the recent controversy surrounding Cardinal Seán Brady, the Kerry-based priest and author said, while he could understand people saying it was time the Catholic Church was closed down, he also understood those who maintained that the latest dispute was yet another attack on the Church.

“My head is in a tumble. Turmoil reigns,” he said.

Fr Commane, writing in The Kerryman, said there seemed to be an element of paranoia with Church officialdom and bureaucracy concerning authority and it always seems linked to matters of sexuality.

Referring directly to the latest clerical child abuse scandal, he asked how a priest could interview a 14-year-old boy, asking him “the most outrageous questions”, while the boy’s father was left outside the door.

“Who allowed these questions to be asked? Who compiled the questions? Any organisation that would allow such questions to be asked to a minor would not seem fit for purpose.”

He said the Church seemed to have an unhealthy attitude to all matters dealing with human sexuality and said that had a woman been in that room the day the boy was questioned, “terrible questions” would not have been asked.


Thursday, June 10, 2021

Churchill’s description of Russia as riddle inside an enigma

US president Joe Biden left Washington yesterday for a week-long visit to Europe.

Next Wednesday he will meet Russian president Vladimir Putin in Geneva. His  secretary of state Antony Blinken will be among the top officials who will accompany the president  on his visit to his Russian counterpart.

Will his officials have reminded him of what Churchill said of the Soviet Union in a 1940 radio broadcast.

He described Russia as ‘a riddle, wrapped in mystery, inside an enigma’.


Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Boris Johnson and the Catholic Church in one breath

Jennifer O’Connell writing in The Irish Times on Saturday on the Boris Johnson wedding in Westminster Cathedral:

"But double standards in either the Catholic Church or the life of Boris Johnson surely can’t come as a surprise to anyone.

"There have always been two tiers within the Catholic Church; one for a powerful, male, privileged elite, another for everyone else.”

Elsewhere in the article she writes:

"Hypocrisy is a subject close to Pope Francis’s heart, and one he has frequently railed against. But while he is undoubtedly sincere and I admire his determination to change the tone of the church’s communications, the head of the Catholic Church lecturing the world on double standards is like Jeff Bezos holding forth on the evils of consumerism.”

It doesn’t make for good reading. Is it accurate?

Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Danger masked when descending steps

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column

Michael Commane
Covid has dominated our news for over 12 months. 

The lists of dos and don’ts have been quite exhausting, indeed, they have been the cause of street demonstrations.

But some months ago I discovered something about the world of Covid that has received no news whatsoever.

At work some months ago one day I was coming down a wide stairs wearing my mask when I lost my footing. But luckily nothing untoward happened. I quickly learned an important lesson. When walking up and down stairs but particularly so when descending, it is essential that one holds on to the bannister when wearing a face covering.

Since my near-mishap I have been telling everyone to make sure to hold on to the bannister when wearing a face covering while on a stairs.

Certainly in my case I find wearing a mask impedes my vision in some way or other and especially so when on a stairs. There’s also the issue of your glasses steaming up.

On Wednesday, May 26 I was in the RTE Radio studios recording a piece for the following Friday’s ‘A Leap of Faith’. I cycled there from work. It was a few hours of needed distraction and it was all something of a novelty for me. I’ve been in the building a few times but it is terrain with which I am not too familiar.

I had my mask on right up to the moment when the recording began. Once the recording was over and I had finished my coffee I replaced my face covering.

I was chatting with the very kind and pleasant producer and then when the business was all done she accompanied me from the studio back to my bicycle.
There is a number of concrete steps from the door of the building back down to ground level.

We were chatting away and I can imagine we were having a mix of a funny and animated conversation. We both had our masks on. Unwisely I did not held on to any of the four rails on the steps.

Somewhere half way down the steps I slipped and stumbled, indeed, it happened three times over two or three steps. In those mili-seconds I knew exactly what was happening. 

I can still vividly remember it. I was certain there was no way out of this without having a smashed ankle, and that would be getting away lightly. But in those mili-seconds I fought like a demon to protect myself. 

And to my absolute amazement and total surprise I managed to save myself and stay upright. No damage was done whatsoever. And the producer, who was with me, could not believe that I was still standing with no damage done. Indeed, the next morning she kindly sent me a text inquiring if I were okay. I was. 

Indeed I’m still thinking about it and how miraculously fortunate I was not to have at least broken my ankle. 

Once again it set me thinking about our fragility. But most of all it was the starkest of reminders to me never ever to descend a stairs or steps with a mask on without holding on to a bannister/rail. If there is no rail or bannister, then please remove your mask, especially so when descending.

Stay safe and take good care when wearing a mask on stairs.

Featured Post

Bishop's comments on ‘Conclave’ leave on mesmerised

When the film Conclave was released Bishop Robert Barron,  bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, advised Catholics to avoid ...