The gift of wisdom

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

Michael Commane 

This newspaper last Saturday published  an obituary of Mervyn Taylor, who was a cabinet minister in the 1990s and also served as chairman of the Labour Party and the party’s chief whip. 

The obituary gave a detailed account of his Polish ancestry, including family members  who were murdered in the Holocaust. On hearing of his death, President Michael D Higgins said that he was “one of the most gracious, unselfish and kindest members ever to serve in the Dáil”.

Coincidentally on that same Saturday I was talking to a friend, who knew Mervyn for 40 years and had always been impressed by his ability to listen to the views of other people. 

Our conversation moved on to talk about the meaning of the word wisdom and he felt that his ability to listen and absorb what people told him  allowed one to say that he was a wise person. 

Isn’t one of the finest qualities or characteristics that one can attribute to someone to say that they are wise. To know a wise person is surely a great gift. And I imagine for most of us we have in the course of our lives have had the good fortune to encounter a wise person.

But what is wisdom? Yes, it’s linked to knowledge and intelligence but it is much more. The  wise person knows himself or herself, sees the broader picture, and can apply  knowledge and understanding to specific situations. 

The wise person reads the signs of the times, does not claim to know it all and will readily admit that we are all on a journey of self-awareness. When we see and experience wisdom we know where have encountered it. Christians talk about wisdom as being a gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Hebrew Scriptures, which are central to the Jewish faith, the faith of Mervyn Taylor, have much to say to us about wisdom. In the first reading in tomorrow’s liturgy from the Book of Wisdom (7: 7 - 11) we read: “I loved her more than health or beauty,/preferred her to the light/since her radiance never sleeps./In her company all good things came to me/at her hands riches not to be numbered.” Note the feminine pronoun, she, not he nor it.  

Those words were written towards the middle of the first century BCE/BC. The authorship is attributed to Solomon. And we are all aware of the phrase; the wisdom of Solomon. Solomon was a Jew devoted to God. He is hoping by his writing to lead Jew and pagan to God, who is the lover of all peoples.

In tomorrow’s Gospel reading Mark (10: 17 - 30) writes about the upstanding man who, lives an exemplary life but when he asked Jesus how is he going to inherit eternal life, he is told  to sell everything he has and give the money to the poor.

“You will have treasure in heaven; then come follow me.” Both the man and the disciples were aghast at  this reply  from Jesus, but he goes on to explain to them that through their own efforts “it is impossible, but not for God: because everything is possible for God.” Surely that is a fundamental difference between God and us. I like to think that our lives bring us on a trajectory, that is never fulfilled here in this life, but reaches fulfilment in the company of God after our death.

When Jesus tells the rich man to give up his money,  he is hinting to him that nothing in this world is ever going to bring us to ultimate fulfilment, as that is only found in God. I think it is in order to say that our lives are like a pilgrimage. We are constantly in process, and hopefully we  progress.  

In Psalm 4 of the Psalter, which is more Jewish literature, we read: “O men, how long will your hearts be closed,/will you love what is futile and seek what is false?”

How often do we chase rainbows, how often do we place our trust and hope in all that is passing and ephemeral? And it’s so easy to think we are the masters of the human race. 

No matter how often we learn that such is not the case we seem to find it so easy to be overconfident in our own ability.

In moments of self-doubt, in times of dejection and rejection, as in periods of success and triumph, we should remind ourselves that our efforts are always limited. We are finite beings, whereas God is all about the infinite.

Mervyn Taylor said to his children close to his death: “I’ve had a wonderful life, a wonderful wife, wonderful grandchildren, wonderful friends and a wonderful career.”

Wise words indeed, and praising God for being so fortunate. All of that wonder is to be fully realised in perfect harmony and unity in the company of God.

Rainer Maria Woelki on spiritual time-out aka suspended

Rainer Maria Woelki the

Archbishop of Cologne is currently taking “spiritual time-out”. In the language of the ordinary person he has been suspended for six months.

He will return to the cathedral in Cologne, the famous Kölner Dom in March.

He faced criticism for his handling of allegations of past child sex abuse, in particular for shelving a report into wrongdoing by priests. 

It has been a long-running scandal that has caused pain and stress in Germany’s wealthiest archdiocese.

The Vatican said that there was no evidence that Woelki had broken the law in relation to the cases of sexual abuse.

“Nonetheless, he committed grave errors in his approach to the question of dealing with this question, above all in the area of communication,” it said. 

Woelki was an auxiliary bishop in Cologne when conservative Joachim Meisner was archbishop.

Woelki went on to be archbishop in Berlin before returning to Cologne.

In the Dáil TDs can be suspended but does it ever happen that a government minister is suspended? Does it ever happen anywhere across industry that a CEO is suspended?

But Cardinal Woelki is not technically suspended he has been told to take "spiritual time-out”.

Mother Church.

Nothing lasts and hopefully goodness wins out

On this day, October 7, 1949 The German Democratic was established. Almost to the day, October 3, 1990 it was dissolved and the territory became part of the Federal Republic of Germany.

And on another October 7, this time 1944, Jewish prisoners at Birkenau burned down a crematorium. 

Just three months later, January 27 the Red Army arrived at Auschwitz Birkenau and liberated those who were still alive.

Nothing lasts and it often happens those who do wrong and commit evil deeds are stopped in their tracks.

And so often evil can be dressed up to look extremely refined, sophisticated, urbane and even gentle.

It happens.

Staggering scale of clerical abuse revealed

Lara Marlowe reports in The Irish Times today on clerical child sex abuse revelations. It is a horrifying read.

The words ‘scandal, hidden and silent’ resonate strongly.

Lara Marlowe

The president of the French conference of bishops, Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, has expressed his “shame and horror” at the staggering scale of clerical abuse revealed by a 2,500-page report released yesterday.

Jean-Marc Sauvé, president of the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church, known by the French acronym Ciase, said that 216,000 children had been sexually abused by clergy since 1950, a much higher figure than earlier estimated. When abuse committed by lay persons in religious settings such as schools and summer camps was factored in, the total rose to 330,000, he said.

Four-fifths of the victims were boys, most aged 10-13. Mr Sauvé said 60 per cent of the men and women who experienced sexual abuse in childhood subsequently encountered emotional or sexual difficulties.

The number of clerical predators in France since 1950 is estimated at 2,900-3,200, says the report, which is the result of nearly three years of investigation.

Msgr de Moulins-Beaufort received the report directly from Mr Sauvé at a press conference that was broadcast live on YouTube and on the Catholic television channel KTO. The bishop said the testimony and number of victims were overwhelming, “beyond what we could have imagined . . . My wish this day is to ask forgiveness from each and every one of you”. French bishops are to respond formally to the report next month.

Mr Sauvé said the green-bound volumes were “a heavy burden, literally and figuratively”.

Sr Véronique Margron, president of the Corref grouping of religious orders, which co-commissioned the report with the bishops’ conference, spoke of “a physical shame, absolute shame . . . before massive crimes committed in my church”.

Vatican response

A few hours after the report was released, the Vatican said Pope Francis “learned of its contents with pain” and expressed “immense grief” for the wounds of the victims and “gratitude for their courage” in coming forward. Matteo Bruni, the director of the Holy See press office, said the pope expected the French church, “having become aware of this horrible reality”, to “take the path of redemption.”

François Devaux, a co-founder of La parole libérée (Speech freed), a group of victims of the paedophile priest Bernard Preynat, was the first victim interviewed by Ciase. He delivered an angry diatribe against Catholic authorities at yesterday’s presentation.

“You must pay for all these crimes,” Mr Devaux said. “There were atrocious crimes and offences, the betrayal of confidence, of morality, of childhood, innocence and the Gospel. There was cowardice, weakness, and dissimulation . . . I have no doubt about what the report will reveal. You, members of the commission, have been to hell and back. You have explored the darkest, most abject details . . . in what resembles a mass grave of the shredded souls of the church.”

The report recounts the evolution of the church’s attitude towards paedophilia in its ranks. In the 1950s and 1960s, when more than half the crimes took place, church officials sought “to protect it from scandal” and “asked the victims to remain silent”. What happened to them was “hidden”. It was not until the 1990s that the church timidly began “to take account of the existence of victims” whom it began to “recognise” in the 2010s.

The report condemns the “inadequate” response of the church and demands that it recognise its responsibility for “massive” and “systemic” abuse. “Outside family circles, the Catholic church is the milieu with the highest rate of sexual abuse,” it notes.

Last March, the bishops’ conference advocated “contributions” to the victims of clerical abuse, which would be financed by the faithful. They avoided using the words “compensation” or “reparations”.

The report states clearly that victims must be compensated individually through an independent body outside the church, and that the funds must come from French Catholic church holdings.

Clerical abuse began declining from the 1970s and had levelled off, Mr Sauvé said. But the diminution was due to lower numbers of priests and decreased attendance of church and related institutions. “We must do away with the idea that sexual abuse in the Catholic church has been completely eradicated and that the problem is behind us. The problem continues.”

 

Encouraging leadership roles in the church

This article appeared in the Right and Reason column in The Irish Times yesterday.

Nicola Brady

The initial phase of the synodal pathway for the Catholic Church in Ireland, announced by the Bishops’ Conference during its spring general meeting in March of this year, is now under way.

The focus of this phase will be prayer, listening, consultation and discernment, as we seek to lay the foundations for a national synodal assembly (or assemblies) for the church across our island to be held within the next five years.

To start the process a steering committee has been appointed to oversee its work, carry out some initial listening, analysis and awareness-raising and to offer recommendations about how this might be carried forward into the next stages of the process.

This committee is supported in its work by a task group to help co-ordinate engagement at local level and ensure that what happens nationally is shaped and informed by the learning from recent and current processes of listening and consultation.

At the heart of our work is this question: “What is God saying to the Irish church at this time?”

We will be exploring this through a process of discernment which, in a Christian context, is understood as a decision-making process in which discovery leads to action, guided by the Holy Spirit.

Challenges

An important task before the steering committee will be to identify the challenges that have inhibited the practice of discernment in the church up to now, and discouraged people from taking a more active leadership role in the life of the church.

One of the first challenges we face is that the language of

“synod” and “synodality” is unfamiliar to many people in the Catholic Church.

The term synod, meaning assembly, has its roots in the Greek language for “together on the way”.

In describing this new focus for the Catholic Church in Ireland as a synodal pathway, the Irish bishops, similarly to other Bishops’ Conferences around the world, have sought to convey this image of being on a journey together.

Misunderstandings

Among the most common misunderstandings we encounter in our work is the idea that synodal assemblies are parliamentary-style debates where the objective is to win votes for particular decisions.

Rather, synodal processes create space for different views, and different visions for the future, but in a spirit of sharing, respectful listening and discernment, rather than argument.

A priority for this initial phase will be to help people understand how this might work in practice and attempt to address any fears and apprehension they may have about the process.

Submissions

As part of their preparatory work, bishops invited submissions by way of a public consultation undertaken between Easter and Pentecost this year. More than 500 submissions were received.

Unsurprisingly, we see from the consultation submissions that there are clear tensions we will have to navigate throughout this process.

Some people are fearful that the process will lead to the secularising of the church and that it will devalue elements of their faith and local parish community that are so precious to them.

Others are concerned that it will fail to take sufficient account of the changing social context, or to engage in a meaningful way with those who feel alienated from the church.

The initial phase of the synodal pathway for the church in Ireland coincides with the preparations for the 2023 Ordinary General Assembly of Bishops in Rome, which will focus on the similar theme of “For a synodal church: communion, participation and mission”.

While the process under way in Ireland will create space to explore the questions that arise specifically in an Irish context, it will also take account of the wider global developments, with particular emphasis on the example of Pope Francis, who has consistently prioritised a focus on those who are marginalised, and those who have been made to feel “discarded”.

How we frame our invitation to people to participate in the synodal pathway will be crucial.

We are asking people to join us on a journey without knowing all the detail of the final destination, but to trust that this is a sincere effort to bring about real transformation and renewal in the church guided by the Holy Spirit.

Through the process of the synodal pathway we are seeking to acknowledge the hurts that exist within our church community and work to heal those relationships, so that the Catholic Church in Ireland can fully live out its calling to serve the wider society as a wounded healer.

Dr Nicola Brady is chairwoman of the Synod Steering Committee

A faith-filled First Holy Communion ceremony in Cloghane

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column.

Michael Commane

If you are a regular reader of this column you must know that I am something of a train buff.

Covid meant I have been away from the iron ways for far too long. My witty friend assures me I’ve been off the rails for too long. How true that is.

On Friday, September 24 I travelled on the 17.05 Heuston Tralee service. While there are seven trains a day, the 17.05 is the only direct service linking Dublin with the Kerry capital.

There is no longer social distancing on public transport and I was surprised to see how busy the train was. Leaving Heuston there was just a handful of empty seats. 

There’s a world of difference between an early morning empty train and a busy Friday evening train. Shortly after Mallow, darkness set in and much of the charm of rail travel is dissipated by the absence of daylight.

We arrived in Tralee at 9pm and my bus to Camp was at 10. An hour is a long time sitting outside a closed bus station. But I managed to be entertained. 

A small number of passengers were attempting to board a bus. It would seem they were intoxicated or else did not have the appropriate ticket or pass to travel. I was impressed with the patience of the bus driver.

Eventually, some 10 minutes late the bus rolled off into the night. It was an interesting cameo to while away the time before my departure time. 

The Dingle bus, a new 211-registered vehicle in the new Transport for Ireland livery, departed two minutes late. Four passengers on the large single-deck bus and two of us getting off at Camp. There are 10 buses a day between Tralee and Dingle. I must admit that is something of a mystery to me.

The weekend in West Kerry was a break from much stress I am currently experiencing, but also to attend a First Holy Communion ceremony in Cloghane, which was all so well done by the community. You can almost see America from Cloghane and that entire neck of the woods is spectacularly beautiful.

There were seven children receiving their First Holy Communion. I baptised one of them and her parents kindly invited me to the Holy Communion ceremony.

The liturgy was part in Irish and part in English. It was a lovely prayerful child-orientated ceremony and it was so impressive to see the work teachers, parents and priest had put into the day.

There was nothing fancy or over-the top about it. I even felt a genuine sense of faith at the ceremony. There was something easy and gentle about it all.

Walking out of the church at the end of Mass I kept saying to myself, I was so happy that I turned up for the day.

I was trying to recall my own First Holy Communion. All I can remember is something remote and serious. 

I hope these seven children will remember theirs. There was a kindness about it all.

I’m wondering is the faith environment in which I received my First Holy Communion any different from that of today. Were people closer to God then than they are now? I doubt it. Might it have been that people behaved in a subservient way towards ministers of religion? And that surely was unhealthy.

Another shameful Catholic Church story, this time France

A report published in France on Tuesday estimated that 330,000 children in France were sexually abused over the past 70 years, providing the country’s first accounting of the worldwide phenomenon.

The figure includes abuses committed by some 3,000 priests and an unknown number of other people involved in the church — wrongdoing that Catholic authorities covered up over decades in a “systemic manner,” according to the president of the commission that issued the report, Jean-Marc Sauvé.

The 2,500-page document was issued as the Catholic Church in France seeks to face up to shameful secrets that were long covered up. 

Victims welcomed the report as long overdue and the head of the French bishops’ conference asked for their forgiveness. 

The report said the tally of 330,000 victims includes an estimated 216,000 people abused by priests and other clerics, and the rest by church figures such as scout leaders or camp counsellors. 

The estimates are based on a broader research by France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research into sexual abuse of children in the country. 

Permafrost melting in Siberia causing great concern

The city of Yakutsk lies in eastern Siberia. It has a population of 300,000 and road distance between the city and Moscow is close to 8,000 kilometres.

This summer 8.8 million hectares of surrounding forest was engulfed in fire.

At the same time the permafrost under the area is melting.

Alexander Fyodorov, deputy director of the Melnikov Permafrodst Institute in Yakutsk says: "The biggest threat is that degradation of the permafrost will change and destroy infrastructure: towns, villages, roads, airports, everything in turn. And many accidents have already taken place with gas and oil pipelines, due to changes in the permafrost.

Two years ago an apartment block in Yakutsk was found to be listing by 42 centimetres. Walls were cracked, floors were sloping. Emergency work was carried out on the piles that support most buildings in permafrost areas.

President Putin has asked authorities in the region "to speed up the creation of a national system for monitoring the condition of the permafrost."

Information taken from The Irish Times.

One week after election Germany celebrates Day of Unity

On this day, October 3, 1990 The German Democratic Republic was abolished and became part of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was an eventuality that had been accounted for in the Basic Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany since its foundation.

The Berlin Wall came down on November 9, 1989.

Germany celebrates every year the day of unification. It’s called Tag der deutschen Einheit. This year it falls on a Sunday and so it is celebrated on the Sunday and none of the Irish practice of making Monday a free day. Note it is the day of German unity and not German reunification. The difference is to be noted and involves a major study of the drawing and redrawing of German frontiers.

Germany does not celebrate the events of November 9.

Novemebr 9 brings back terrible memories for the Germans. On November 9, 1938 the Nazis broke the windows of properties owned by Jews.

It is often referred to as Kristallnacht - the night of the broken glass.

Many Germans object to calling it Kristallnacht as the word in no way carries the evil of what actually happened on that terrible night.

The piece below appears in The Irish Times on Monday, October 4. Written by Derek Scally

Caretaker chancellor Angela Merkel has urged western Germans to show greater respect for their eastern neighbours’ lives and achievements before and after the end of cold war division.

In an unusually personal speech yesterday, marking 31 years of German unification, Dr Merkel reminded her audience that it was East Germans – not West Germans – who toppled the Berlin Wall.

Just how great a leap of faith it was – with help from its eastern neighbours in Hungary and Poland – was often forgotten by westerners.

“The country we celebrate today as unified became this way because people in East Germany risked everything for their rights, their freedom and another society,” she said in the eastern city of Halle. “We must never forget that it could have ended differently . . . that the revolution would succeed and that it would not end in terrible punishment.”

As a former East German herself, she cited examples that betrayed occasionally unreflected attitudes of western Germans. While their lives continued largely unchanged after 1989, their eastern neighbours had to reinvent themselves entirely – and not all succeeded.

She cited an essay from last year which described her East German biography as political “ballast”.

“Ballast that at best is good for balance but can be tossed overboard as a useless burden,” she said, regardless of the good or bad experiences it included.

She wondered aloud if former East Germans of her generation still had to “prove that their East German past was some kind of imposition”?

Three decades after German unification, she said it was time to accept how easterners’ readiness to adapt and westerners’ solidarity had created a new feeling of belonging in a new, united Germany.

“A country in which everyone has to learn anew together,” she said, suggesting the embrace of change for unification could be applied to looming challenges on climate change and digital transformation.

Katie Hannon highlights plight of women in Irish Army

In 1985 the then President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Richard von Wiezsäcker referred to women as being “the keepers of the flame of humanity".

During that same time in Ireland, when it was suggested that women be allowed take on non-combatant roles in the Irish Army, an Army chaplain demurred, arguing that “whatever use women might have in the forces was overridden by the moral dangers involved.

- Information taken from an opinion piece by Diarmuid Ferriter  in The Irish Times yesterday.

Ferriter was writing on how the Irish Army has taken too long to face up to sexual harassment problems and how it took the airing of the personal testimony of women to create the necessary urgency to confront in any sort of a meaningful way a deep-rooted, damaging culture.

Young Stutthof secretary forces us to ask many questions

This is an interesting story.

The now-96-year-old woman worked as a secretary at Stutthof concentration camp in occupied Poland. She was 18 at the time.

Does it mean that anyone who works at any level in an organisation that perpetrates wrongdoing plays a part in that wrongdoing.

This girl was a low-level secretary.

Kurt Kiesinger was West German chancellor, who served in a senior position in the Nazi propaganda department under Joseph Goebbels.

How many Nazi judges served as judges in West Germany?

How many priests, who supported Hitler, remained in ministry in West Germany?

What about the teachers who began every class with Heil Hitler, did they all stop teaching in 1945?

But it is always interesting how people owe allegiance and work for evil systems and people of the dark.

When one experiences wrongdoing and malpractice and observes those who slink in under the darkness, it is easy to understand how Hitler did what he did.

We must never forget.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-96-year-old-nazi-war-crimes-suspect-flees-ahead-trial-2021-09-30/

Real stand-ins for Del Boy and Rodney fix a chandelier

A reader submitted this in response to this week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column

Your piece on 'Only Fools and Horses'  reminded me of an amusing real life incident.

One of the Royal Medical Colleges for whom I worked on the project management of the restoration of a listed building involved a valuable chandelier, which hung over a circular stair void. It was operated by an ancient hand-wound rachet chain system from above a glass laylight.

The much-damaged chandelier was slowly lowered down by two brothers, who were experts in chandeliers. 

First of all they sat down for about half an hour with a cup of coffee and surveyed the chandelier, then slowly had it let down, dismantled it and took it away to be cleaned. The metal structure was dipped in acid, dried and then repainted. 

The old hand operated winding mechanism was replaced by a motor powered drive and in due course the brothers brought back the repaired chandelier with "new" glass pieces to replace the missing items.

All the pieces were slowly put back together and it looked stunningly beautiful.

The brothers recounted how some evening previously they had been called at midnight by Kensington Palace and were urgently required to repair a pair of moveable chandeliers, which had been accidentally

damaged. They were required for a meeting room the following day. Security passes were awaiting the two men at the entrance gate. 

They recounted how they were immediately brought to the scene of the disaster. One chandelier was in small pieces and the other badly damaged.

They set to work putting the pieces together and rebuilding it. 

Lionel recounted that at some stage during the night a man came into the room, had a casual look around, and asked if they were Del Boy and Rodney and wondered where was granddad?”

Lionel, who was down on the floor on his hands and knees, identifying the pieces and putting them back together, enquired: "who the hell was that?” Oh, that was Prince Edward responded his brother. 

The bones and blood of David Trimble lie deep in Kilkeel

The bones of my ancestors are in this land, the blood of my family has been spilt on this land. We’ve fought for the right to be in this land.

Our roots are here, this is our home, and I love this place. I love the beauty of this place. I love the people of this place. I’ve no intention of going anywhere. 

Leader of the DUP, David Trimble in an interview with The Irish Times.

David Trimble’s family has lived in the same part of Northern Ireland for 400 years. They have been living in the fishing village of Kilkeel, Co Down.

They were no ordinary fools and horses

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column

Michael Commane

When I heard the news last week that Boycie had died I was genuinely shocked.

My immediate reaction was that’s both Boycie and Trigger gone.

Actor John Challis played the character Boycie in Only Fools and Horses. How could anyone ever forget Boycie, a crooked second-hand car salesman with the most ridiculous and silly of laughs, who was married to Marlene, actor Sue Holderness. Sue did her damndest to look sexy.

If you are not familiar with the series, it is about the life and times of an East London quasi-hoodlum, Del Boy, played by David Jason, his family and associates. It is the funniest piece of theatre I have ever seen.

Only last week I happened to see one of the series on either RTE or BBC. It was the one where Del Boy, his brother Rodney, played by Nicholas Lyndhurst and Granddad, played by Lennard Pearce, accidentally end up in a manor house. 

It is hilarious. Del Boy does everything that is possibly wrong and the lord and the lady of the manor try to get rid of the three of them. But Del Boy tricks his way into being hired by them to clean the chandeliers in the hallway. 

Some days later they arrive all dressed up in white coats, looking the part, when the lord and lady of the manor are away. Granddad opens the wrong bolt to release the chandelier and it all comes crashing down on top of them.

Before you could blink an eye, the three of them are out the door and the episode finishes with them scrambling into their iconic but ridiculous three-wheeler yellow van, flying out the gates of the manor house.

Watching that episode on my own I found myself roaring laughing, indeed, laughing so energetically that I felt a pain in my stomach.

It’s pure genius. Even the yellow three-wheeler van was spectacular. Written across the side of it is Trotters Independent Trading. You don’t need too much imagination to get the funny side of that. 

Del Boy must have been delighted to see his yellow 1968 Reliant Regal three-wheeler sell for twice the expected price at auction in 2017.

Everything about Del Boy has a story to it. He is perfectly dressed in the style of a nice type of hoodlum or at least how we perceive a hoodlum to look. And that too tells its own story.

He spends his life trying to impress people but all done in the silliest of ways. His stock phrase when things appear to be going well is ‘Lovely Jubbly’.

Nothing has ever made me so laugh and for that I must thank the late John Sullivan who wrote the series. But of course the actors too.

And now I’m thinking of Trigger, played by Roger Lloyd-Pack, who died in 2014.

He plays the council worker, who by changing his brush and the handle at different times claims he has the same brush for many years.

Bye Boycie and thank you. Miss you too Trigger.

Russian woman offers hope to those who fight wrongdoing

Marina Litvinovich commenting on why she continues to oppose Vladimir Putin writes:

“I believe we need to fight to the end. And if I don’t do it then who will.”

A brave woman expressing a powerful resolve.

Words that give hope to anyone who fights wrongdoing.

And certainly words that support them in their resolve to remain steadfast.

Merkel’s party has its worst ever general election result

All the Irish media have been singing the praises of the chancellorship of Germany’s Angela Merkel. And she certainly has been a leading light in her country, Europe and the world.

Angela Merkel’s CDU had its worst ever result in yesterday's general election.

It is still possible for the CDU to form the next government but most likely the SPD, which had a five per cent vote increase yesterday, will be the main party in the next government, with Olaf Scholz as German chancellor.

The next days will see much horse trading. Had Die Linke received a larger vote it most likely would have been an SPD, Green, Die Linke government. but it now seems it will most likely be an SPD, Green and FDP coalition.

German finance minister versus Canisius scholarship boy

The Germans go to the polls today. Approximately 60 million people have the right and privilege to vote.

The opinion polls are calling it a very close race.

Up to last week SPD candidate Olaf Scholz was ahead of CDU leader Armin Laschet, but in the last days it seems Laschet has made up ground, something he did in the election that won him the premiership of North Rhine Westphalia.

Scholz is a former mayor of Hamburg and current German finance minister in the Berlin coalition government. 

The Catholic Church in Germany awards university scholarships, Canisius Scholarships, to gifted students. Laschet was the recipient of such a scholarship.

If the CDU win it most likely will be a CDU/CSU, Green, FDP coalition.

If the SPD win, they will most likely form a grouping with the Greens and the FDP or Die Linke. Die Linke has its origins in the SED, the ruling party in the former German Democratic Republic.

There is one unusual or strange aspect to the current opinion polls. This time last year both CDU and SPD were performing badly in polls, but the SPD even more so. Why are the polls giving them such a strong showing now? Can one man, in this case, Olaf Scholz, make such a difference?

The German election system is, to say the least, complicated. People vote for the party and also vote directly for individual candidates. It means the number of MPs differ from one election to the next.

There is also referendum tomorrow dealing with the right of the State to acquire property for personal accommodation, something on those lines.

It would be good for Germany, Europe and indeed democracy to see the far right AfD do badly in today’s elections. Then again, they might well cause a surprise.

For any party to sit in parliament it must obtain at least five per cent of the vote. This is to safeguard Germany from another Adolf  Hitler. 

38 per cent of today's voters are over 60 years go age.

Olaf Scholz to be next Gemran chancellor?

Apprising people to stick with the simple word

RTE reporter Barry Lenihan interviewing Bishop Michael Router on the Claire Byrne Show yesterday on the scourge of drugs, said that the bishop was appraising the minister about the situation. Of course he should have said that the bishop was apprising the minister.

The moral of the story is always to use the simple word instead of the ‘fancy’ one.

But it’s not only journalists who make this error. Some people get confused with these two words. And it seems to happen when they are trying to sound important, patronising their listener, playing tricks with people.

Why not simply say inform or tell?

Wise, incisive words from T S Eliot

This except from T S Eliot’s The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock fits the mood.

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;

Am an attendant lord, one that will do

To swell a progress, start a scene or two,

Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,

Deferential, glad to be of use,

Politic, cautious, and meticulous;

Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;

At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—

Almost, at times, the Fool.

I grow old ... I grow old ...

I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Shall I part my hair behind?   Do I dare to eat a peach?

I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

An anthem full of nostalgia with ruinous implications

The anthem on the former German Democratic Republic.

An ironic title ‘Risen from the Ruins’ 

Next Sunday Germans will go to the polls to elect a new Bundestag or parliament.

The current German borders exist since 1990.

Was that an issue of unification or reunification?

https://youtu.be/eC1tcNtfVdw

German anti-masker shoots a man dead at a filling station.

At an Aral  filling station in Idar-Oberstein in the western State of North Rhine Westfalia in Germany a 20-year-old assistant was shot dead when he asked a customer to put on a mask.

The 46-year-old alleged shooter gave himself up to the police and explained how he is opposed to the wearing of masks.

He was buying beer at the filling station.

A little kindness goes a long way......

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regionals newspaper’ column.

Michael Commane

A friend of mine had a  most pleasant experience  travelling from Dublin to Killarney using public transport two weeks ago.

 

Her grandnephew was receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation in Killarney. She had been invited to be one of the young man’s sponsors.

Some weeks earlier she had a knee replacement and naturally as a result of the surgery her walking is still somewhat impaired.

 

Heading to Killarney from Dublin by rail she decided to be on the safe side and took one of her crutches with her. It worked wonders for her.

Yes, she greatly enjoyed the Confirmation, meeting her family and the party that followed, but she was blown away by the kindness and help she experienced from the moment she left her hall door in Dublin until she arrived in Killarney. And it was all due to that crutch she was using.

Changing trains at Mallow on her outbound journey a young man in his twenties, who was very polite, carried her case off the train without having to be asked.

 

On her return journey, and again changing at Mallow, an Irish Rail staff member approached her and asked her did she need assistance.

 

The moment she got on the Luas Red Line at Heuston on her way home two men offered her their seats. Later a bus driver saw her approaching the bus stop and waited for her.

‘Everyone was so helpful. They went out of their way to be kind and courteous. I really was impressed with the genuine goodness of people,’ she said.

From time to time we all give out and criticise. I immediately put up my hands and admit that I am a dab hand at it. But when you hear a story like that it really lifts one’s spirits. It certainly lifted mine.  And I could see from talking to my friend how impressed she was with her experience. 

It is extraordinary how small acts of kindness can make such a difference. I’m forever saying we learn so much from the small things right in front of our noses.

I often notice when I am passing through railway stations, especially at Dublin’s Heuston Station, how railway staff assist passengers who need help. It’s a lovely touch and Irish Rail have every reason to be proud of themselves.

There is a Latin expression that explains how goodness of its nature diffuses itself. I know my friend has told a number of people about her travels with her crutch. 

And it’s a lesson too for me. It’s so easy to focus on the negative and forget about all the kind and good things that happen us, especially in an age where vile social media and trolling are so prevalent.

The Dalai Lama gets it so right when he says: ‘My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.’

There was a great sense of serendipity about her travel. The journey complemented the joy of the Confirmation ceremony and party.

Boycie of Only Fools And Horses Fam dies

On the death of John Challis, who played Boycie in Only Fools And Horses, it’s worth watching this clip of the iconic show.

And Trigger too is gone.

Sad times.

https://youtu.be/W_sm6y4UKqY

When it comes to cancer there is no safe alcohol limit

Just one glass of wine or beer every day is enough to increase a person’s chances of developing mouth cancer.

Eilish O’Regan writing in the Irish Independent reports: 

Eleanor O’ Sullivan, of Cork University Hospital, said the more people drink the higher the risk of these cancers and that there is no safe limit.

“People need to become aware. It is not a case of telling people what they can and cannot do but informing them of the risk.”

She was speaking ahead of Mouth, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Day on Wednesday which this year is focusing on the links with alcohol.

It can be a silent killer because people can be unaware they have the disease for so long. She said while many people can identify smoking as a cause of mouth cancer, few know the risks posed by alcohol.

Controversy surrounding three-day Russian elections

Russian citizens living in Ireland can vote today in their country’s three-day elections.

All they have to do is turn up at the Embassy of the Russian Federation on Dublin’s Orwell Road between 8am and 8pm and cast their vote.

Prior registration is not required.

According to an embassy spokesperson there are over 5,000 Russians living in Ireland.

At the request of the Russian government Google and Apple have removed the Navalny app, designed  by Alexei Navalny’s team to identify opposition candidates with the best chances of defeating rivals from the ruling United Russia party.

Navalny supporters accuse Google and Apple of a shameful act of censorship. The Russian government threatened to sue the two companies and accused them of interference in Russia’s election.

From golf to the bicycle and back to golf again

It is said that golf is no longer the favoured sport of young upwardly mobile people. Instead, kitted out in expensive lycra, they have taken to bicycles.

But it now seems that golf is on the upswing, at least in the United States of America.

The number of people who teed up for the first time hit a record three million in 2020. In all, close to 37 million golfers played 502 million rounds. This is a 14 per cent increase on the previous year.

Preaching and proclaiming the good news.

A line from today’s Gospel goes: Now it happened that after this he made his way through towns and villages preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. With him went the Twelve.

It’s from St Luke.

Goodness and kindness. Doesn’t the Dalai Lama say that kindness is his religion.

If we are not good and kind then it really is all empty, a fraud, a scam.

The joy, the privilege it is to meet good and kind people.

Something to do with being real.

Boris Johnson and his new cabinet of nitwits

If it weren’t so serious it would be hilarious.

And it applies not just to the Tories and the current UK government.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/sep/15/gavin-williamson-too-stupid-boris-johnson-cabinet-reshuffle

Giving people a chance to control their lives

Interesting and indeed even wise words from The Irish Times columnist Fintan O’Toole.

Giving cash to people living in poverty does not make them lazy. It gives them a chance to take control of their lives.

A bird’s eye view of third level fees across the EU

It’s the norm that third-level full-time students pay only administrative fees in the first cycle, which max at €100  in Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Croatia, Czech Republic and Germany.

In Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Netherlands, Hungary and Spain fees range from between €1,000 and €3,000.

In England the comparable fee is over €10,000.

No fees in Sweden, Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Malta, Scotland.

In Northern Ireland it is just short of €5,000.

A joy in reading the printed version of a newspaper

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspaper’s column

Michael Commane

It’s a faint memory with me but I can still remember paper sellers shouting out on the streets of Dublin ‘Herald, Mail or Press’.

The Evening Mail sold in Dublin and ceased publication in 1962. The Evening Press sold across the State and ceased publication when Irish Press Newspapers closed in 1995 and the Evening Herald, also a nation-wide newspaper, was renamed The Herald in 2013 and became a morning publication.

Many people, especially in Dublin bought two daily newspapers.

The newspaper trade has undergone extraordinary change.

Is the demise of the printed newspaper now inevitable? Today everyone is glued to their smartphones. But are they reading newspapers?

Why buy a hard copy newspaper when you can read it all on your phone?

I have been toying with subscribing to the digital version of a newspaper. But I am having second thoughts.

I have the Saturday edition of a national newspaper delivered to my door and I spend an inordinate amount of time reading it over breakfast. It’s a sort of weekly indulgence with me.

It’s many years since I have bought a Sunday newspaper but two weeks ago I bought the Sunday Independent.

I’ve been thinking about it since. It has dawned on me there is an art in newspaper reading, especially at the weekend if you have free time to spend reading the newspaper. I think it is a whole different experience from reading it on an electronic device.

There is a joy, indeed, an art form in spreading a newspaper out on a table. My modus operandi is at first to turn over the pages and pick out a topical or major story that might interest me.

That particular Sunday I leafed through the main section of the paper and the first story I read was Gene Kerrigan writing about ‘real scandals’. 

I’m interested in politics so naturally I read all the shenanigans surrounding the Katherine Zappone affair and whether or not Micheál Martin might be for the high jump. I checked the Newsbrief and saw no one won the Lotto and that a ‘homemaker’ had left €8.4 million in her will. I then put the main section aside and read what Joe Brolly was saying for himself. 

Although writing on GAA matters he came out with a brilliant nugget. He talked about what goes on in dressing rooms and said: ‘Players know when there are cliques’. Don’t we all know when there are cliques? 

We all know cliques do so much damage to an organisation.

Weekend newspapers have reading in them for the week.

I find with anything I read using electronic media I’m far more tempted to skim read it, constantly scrolling down to see how long it is.

There can be a great joy in reading a hard copy newspaper. I’m inclined to think that is not the case with digital media. Then again, am I saying that because I am an old fuddy-duddy, who’s just growing older?

No, I don’t think so. And before a word is said about the environment, newspapers are recyclable and it’s a shame that there is not a single paper factory in the State.

I think I’ll hold off subscribing to the digital version.