St Brendan The Navigator Feast Day May 16th Ancient Order of Hibernians
St Brendan the Navigator Division Mecklenburg County Division # 2
ISSUE #11 MONTHLY NEWSLETTER VOLUME# 5
November 2013 Our next business meeting is on Tuesday, November 12th at 7:30 PM
St Mark’s Parish Center, Room 200/201
2013 Officers
Chaplain Father Matthew Codd President Ray FitzGerald Vice President Dick Seymour Secretary Tom Vaccaro Treasurer Chris O’Keefe Fin. Secretary Ron Haley Standing Committee Patrick Phelan Marshall Walt Martin Sentinel Frank Fay Past President Joseph Dougherty
www.aohmeck2.org
Féadfaidh an Máthair Naofa an dochar de na blianta a ghlacadh ar shiúl ó leat. May the Holy Mother take the harm of the years away from you.
President’s Message
Brother Hibernians,
November is the month where we pray for the souls of the faithful departed. In addition to praying for our deceased family members and friends, let us remember our departed Brother Hibernians, especially the deceased member of our Division, Mike Johns.
We ask for continued prayers for Brother Ron Haley as he begins his radiation therapy. I recently spoke with Ron and he is feeling well, all things considered, other than for some tiredness and lingering back pain. We hope he will be up and about and in attendance at our upcoming meetings and events. I wish to thank those Brothers who quickly volunteered to be on call if Ron or Kathleen needed some transportation or other assistance. Also, keep Brother Frank Flynn’s son and daughter-in-law in your prayers as they struggle with their illnesses.
We have a future Hibernian waiting in the wings, although we have to wait sixteen years before he’s eligible to join our ranks. Congratulations to Shane and Mary Margaret Lis on the birth of Brennan James Lis, who entered the world on October 16th at 7:44 am (7 lbs 9 oz 19.5 in). Mom and baby are home and healthy. As you recall we had been praying at our meetings for the safe pregnancy and healthy baby and God answered our prayers.
I wish to thank Joe Dougherty and Tom Vaccaro, who along with my son, Mike, and I participated in our semiannual cleaning of the Torrence Creek stream near the Stumptown Rd. traffic circle on Oct. 12th. As you drive along Stumptown Rd. approaching the circle you should notice a blue sign recognizing our Division’s efforts in performing this community service.
October was Respect Life month and our Division participated in a number of pro-life activities. We had a good turnout at the Room at the Inn Banquet on Oct. 24th. Six Brother Hibernians were in attendance (Joe Dougherty, Dick Seymour, Scott Fisher, Gene Mann, Bill Murphy and I). Our Division has been supporting this organization through our contributions since we were organized in 2009. At the Banquet it was announced that The Room at the Inn will be formally changing its name to MiraVia (Miraculous Way), although its mission remains the same (an alternative for those women who do not want to abort their children).
Later in the month, four of our Brothers (Frank Fay, Walt Martin, Bill Murphy and I) spent about an hour in prayer in front of an abortion mill in Charlotte, as part of the National 40 Days for Life Campaign.
Although our Division is not sponsoring the event, the Christmas in Ireland Concert/Show will still be taking place on Wednesday evening, December 4th, at the Comedy Zone in Charlotte. Contact Joe Dougherty (704-9426345) if you are interested in obtaining tickets for the show.
Our next meeting will be Tuesday, Nov. 12th at 7:30pm in Room 200 of the St. Mark Parish Center. We won’t have access to the kitchen area for refreshments and snacks after the meeting, so after the meeting we will visit the Cork & Cask establishment in Cornelius), which is co-owned by one of our Division Brothers, Brian Fay. Cork & Cask is located at 9624 Bailey Rd., just east of Statesville Rd./US 21.
Since the fourth Thursday of the month is Thanksgiving, we will have our monthly social on the third Thursday, November 21st, at the Port City Club in Cornelius 18665 Harborside Drive in Cornelius (off West Catawba Ave., about a mile north of Sam Furr Rd./NC 73). The restaurant is on the same site as the old Harborside and Lattitude 36 Restaurants. The owner also owns the Brickhouse in Davidson, where our Division has met several times.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
St. Brendan the Navigator, pray for us! Ray FitzGerald
“ Cuimhnigi ar na daoine ar thainig sibh”
“Remember the people from whom you came”
November Birthdays
Richard Seymour Jr. Son of Brother Dick November 1st Leah Greene Daughter of Brother Zack November 2nd Scott Fisher Sr. Division Brother November 4th Gina Vaccaro Daughter of Brother Tom November 10th Christopher Schilling Son of Brother Larry November 9th Joe Dougherty Division Brother November 10th Rob Ledbetter Division Brother November 11th Suzanne FitzGerald Daughter of Brother Ray November 13th Sarah Battle Daugther of Brother Tom November 14th Jim Kelly Division Brother November 18th Laurie Schilling Daughter of Brother Larry November 25th Kierann Fisher Son of Brother Martin November 29th
November Anniversaries
Debbie & Ray Smith November 11th Jane & Charlie Swengros November 24th Kathleen & Ron Haley November 30th
Irish America News
ILIR reaches out to 17 states at National GAA event in Cleveland The GAA fans at the North American County Board (NACB) Finals welcomed the volunteers of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) as at least 8,000 from 17 states across the United States descended on Cleveland for the weekend.
ILIR’s message was for the Irish and Irish American community to reach out to their Congressmen and remind them that immigration is an Irish issue and one they feel passionately about. Their message to those visiting their information booth was simple, the Irish were locked out by the Irish act in 1965 and the legislation set to go before the House of Congress in the coming few weeks will fix this broken system.
President of ILIR Ciaran Staunton was delighted to have the chance to reach out to Irish and Irish Americans from across the country.
He told IrishCentral, “It’s amazing to have 100 teams from 36 cities and 17 states all in one field in Cleveland. It was the perfect opportunity to reach out to the fantastic GAA community we have stretching out throughout the country.
“What we need to do in the next three weeks as this legislation goes to Congress is burn up the phone lines and speak to our politicians.”
Over the summer months, while many took a break, the ILIR was working hard on influencing the 148 representatives in Congress who will, come October, make a decision on the United States comprehensive immigration reform.
The legislation, drafted by “the Gang of Seven” headed up by New York Senator Chuck Schumer, will not only provide a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish in the United States currently but it will also insure a future flow of Irish so the Irish community in the United States will continue to flourish. The new law will provide 10,500 visas for the Irish annually, an annual quota which currently does not exist.
Deirdre Foy, an ILIR volunteer who manned the information booth for the weekend was encouraged by the response of the GAA community. She told IrishCentral, “They really wanted to know what they can do to help remedy the Irish situation and make sure this new bill goes through Congress this fall. This is the best chance we have of fixing this broken system.”
They were ready to learn about the situation, the legislation and what came next. Foy added, “What was great was that they were educating themselves and bringing their new knowledge back to their teams, signing up to our Facebook page and pledging to keep informed and help.”
However Foy was also surprised by some people’s reactions to the old 2006 “Legalize the Irish” t-shirts hanging from the booth. Some simply thought immigration reform was an issue for those “south of the border” but this is not the case. In fact only 25 percent of the estimated 11 million people living without papers in the United States are from South America.
Among those millions are the 50,000 Irish but more importantly there’s those Irish who in the future will look to the United States and be able to receive one of those 10,500 visas. Last week the Central Statistics Office of Ireland released figures showing that every six minutes a person leaves Ireland. Sadly in the year to April 2013 only six percent of these came to the United States, simply because it’s so difficult to get a visa.
Where will events such as the NACB Finals and other Irish cultural events be if this continues?
Cities & Towns of Ireland
Fintown, County Donegal
FINTOWN ~ Population approximately 100 with up to 500 including surrounding area Baile na Finne ~ Meaning "Townland of Finn"
Fintown is a small hamlet that sits on the banks of Lough Finn approximately 30 km/19 miles from Letterkenny on the Glenties road. Lough Finn is approximately 3 miles long and half a mile wide (5km long and almost a kilometer wide) and sits below the mountains of Aghla (1,961 feet high) and Screig.
The drive from Letterkenny takes you over the vast landscapes of Meenaroy where there is scarcely any sign of human habitation. Acres and acres of land and forests making for some wonderful scenery.
The hamlet of Fintown is named after a figure from Irish mythology, Finngeal who it is said drown in the lough trying to save her brother Feargamhain. The hamlet has a school, a church (St. Colmcille), a G.A.A. pitch, a library, a few pubs and a store and post office. It also has a small railway, the only narrow gauge railway in Donegal, which takes visitors on a run along the length of the beautiful Lough Finn and back.
"This is the heartland of Donegal where a turn on the road or hill along the way can unfold a new a stunning landscape. A rugged and beautiful countryside in mountains, glens and lakes. The River Finn is recognized as one of the finest salmon rivers in Europe and attracts anglers from far and wide. The tradition, culture and language of the area is evident in the way of life of the people, the traditional music in pubs every weekend, and the Irish language spoken by the people of the area.
Excellent views can be seen towards the Bluestack Mountains which overshadow the banks of the River Finn. Glenveagh National Park is nearby where roaming deer can be observed in the unspoilt countryside. Sli Na Finne will provide the most beautiful scenery and exhilarating walk imaginable. Take a memorable trip on the Fintown Railway, Donegal's only operational narrow gauge railway. This unique journey is a five mile return trip along the shores of Lough Finn."
Real Irish Heroes
Mystery Irish hero saved hundreds of terrified shoppers trapped in Nairobi
A FORMER Irish Army ranger helped save hundreds of terrified shoppers who were trapped inside the Westgate mall as it came under terrorist attack at the weekend.
The hero, who does not want his identity to be revealed, was part of a group of four who fought off some of the al Qa'ida linked attackers to rescue the terrified shoppers.
A close friend revealed last night that the ex-soldier was about to leave the mall when the attack began and he ran back inside with a former British soldier.
They were provided with guns by two Asian men and the four ran into an underground car park where they found over 200 shoppers and staff hiding behind parked trucks. They brought the group up a ramp onto a street and then returned to the mall where they found another 100 people. The men also helped to bring them out of the mall.
But when the two ex-soldiers tried to gain access to the third floor, where some colleagues were based, they came under fire from the roof.
They returned fire and moved into a restaurant where others were in hiding. After a further exchange of gunfire, they found another large group of shoppers and engaged with the gunmen again as they brought them to safety.
The close friend told the Irish Independent last night: "They left no one behind. "In escorting those people from the premises they took more fire from the upper floor before escaping. "This man then spent three hours using his paramedical training to help the injured, including people who had been shot or hit by hand grenade shrapnel, and then turned restaurant tables into temporary stretchers to shuttle them to safety.
"His skills saved the lives of many. Eye witness accounts say he did an extraordinary job", the friend added. The former soldier spent several years in the Army Ranger Wing. He is from the Midlands and is currently working as a consultant with an international company based in Africa.
He had been in Nairobi on business and was making a social visit to the mall when the shooting started. His friend said he slipped out of the mall afterwards in blood-soaked jeans and t-shirt and "stayed out of the limelight, despite tweets and appeals on Facebook from people, who wanted to thank him for his efforts".
Division Calendar of Events for November 2013 November 12th Monthly Business Meeting, St Mark’s, 7:30 PM Room 200
CALL JOE DOUGHERTY FOR TICKETS 704-942-6345
A Bit of Irish History
Political Unrest in the Later Eighteenth Century (Second half 18th C) In the absence of political rights, a network of agrarian secret societies emerged, known as the ‘Whiteboys’. The Whiteboys were frequently violent, often in reaction to taxes or the spread of the dairy economy. They protected the peasants from rack-renting landlords. They were only interested in local affairs, not national politics. The Irish people lived in extreme poverty but reserved their loyalties for the church and secret societies. Middle-class Catholics, who were still allowed to trade, emphasized their loyalty to the Crown. There was much violence between Protestant small farmers and upwardly mobile Catholics, particularly as incomes began to level off at the end of the century. The Popery Bills were passed on inheritance rights and leases.
The first people to talk of an Irish nation were recent Protestant settlers and converts to Protestantism. They were known as the Protestant Ascendancy and they were highly aspirational. Their culture included the literature of Swift, Sheridan, Burke and others. They wanted to be treated by Britain as an equal nation. Jonathan Swift, Protestant dean of St Patrick’s in Dublin, argued that the English parliament had no right to legislate for Ireland. However, the Irish parliament had little significance. English restrictions on Irish trade stirred up the Irish colonists’ political restlessness, and they were inspired by the example of colonists in America, whose 1770s rebellion was an important event for Ireland. At that time, the Protestant nation formed companies of armed ‘Volunteers’ under the pretext of defending Ireland in the absence of British regiments
1760 George III ascended to the throne and the tempo of Patriotism increased.
1770s Unrest in America focused ‘Patriotic’ Irish politicians on their own position. Whigs at Westminster opportunistically made the same links. There were also strong connections between Ulster and America forged from generations of emigration.
1778 From this year there was a powerful campaign to allow Ireland unrestricted access to world trade. ‘Patriotic’ and other discontents joined a military volunteering movement, which the government reluctantly recognized. Pressure from these Volunteers and ‘patriot’ rhetoricians as well as threats of non-cooperation from the Irish House of Commons helped repeal commerce restrictions and then make constitutional concessions in 1782.
The British government relaxed penal laws against Catholics in order to secure the support of the majority and allow Catholics to join the army.
1780 (June). Lord George Gordon led riots in England against Catholic emancipation.
1782 Henry Grattan’s ‘Patriot Party’ won a Declaration of [Legislative] Independence for the Irish Parliament. Britain and Ireland were to be two sovereign independent kingdoms linked by a common Crown. The Sixth of George I was repealed. The new empowered parliament was called ‘Grattan’s Parliament’. But its authority was still inconclusive, with the Privy Council having power over Irish legislation. Ascendancy figures still wielded much influence. John Fitzgibbon of Clare, for example, blocked concessions to Catholics as he feared sectarian tension. Political reform and emancipation of the Catholics were needed to make Ireland a ‘Nation’, and the Protestant Irish weren’t unanimous on this.
1789 The French Revolution took place, overthrowing the ruling powers in France. This conveyed the message that the will of the people was enough to effect change. Belfast Presbyterians formed the Society of United Irishmen, which promoted unifying the Catholic and Protestant nations into one. Wolfe Tone, a Dublin Protestant, was a member. They had limited success.
1790s This decade was prosperous and began in apparently stability. Architecture, artefacts like jewellery and furniture and decorative art bear witness to this. Dublin represented the apex of architectural achievement. Belfast was shaping up to become an industrial boom city, becoming the chief export centre for textiles. There was slight tension between Dublin and Belfast.
1791 The United Irishmen had begun as a debating society, French-influenced, middle class and Presbyterian. William Drennan, an ‘aristocratic democrat’, wrote their prospectus. The most famous United Irishman was Kildare Protestant Theobald Wolfe Tone, a pro-Catholic campaigner. It was he who steered the United Irishmen into a ‘French Revolutionary’ movement with links to the Defenders.
1793 Catholics gained the vote and civil rights. The liberalisation of land laws only heightened tensions with the secretive ‘Defenders’ becoming more openly political. Politicians split on Catholic emancipation (their right to sit in parliament or hold high office).
1794 (May). The government tried to crack down on radical activity but only succeeded in exacerbating the situation. Farmers and the lower middle/skilled working class joined, although the leadership continued as middle class. Sectarianism was rife lower down in the movement. Protestant morale sank following a succession of Catholic Relief Acts.
1795 The Orange Society was founded, taking its name from William of Orange. They were a reorganisation of an agrarian/working class secret society called the ‘Peep O’Day Boys’, who terrorised Catholics. The first Orange lodges appeared; their role was to oppose the Defenders. Defender ideology spread, encouraged by resistance to tax.
Earl Fitzwilliam as viceroy attempted to offer total Catholic emancipation and was repudiated by the government. The British government were however becoming worried.
Maynooth seminary for Catholics opened. It was hoped that this would encourage an Anglicised Catholic church. It meant priests would not be trained abroad or drawn from the peasantry.
Catholic merchants were still important, despite their exclusion from guilds. Dissenters (non- conformists) were also discriminated against, helping to form the Presbyterian political culture of Ulster.
France provided a revolutionary spur, particularly amongst the Presbyterian bourgeoisie in Belfast. Rumors of rebellions abounded even before Britain and France went to war.
1796 The United Irishmen had become a secret society who preached violence. Wolfe Tone persuaded the French to send a fleet to Ireland in December to help found an Irish Republic. The fleet was battered by harsh weather. There was a handful of militia waiting to oppose them and a local landlord organised the yeomanry, but it was the weather that drove the ships away. A further fleet was prepared, but by now the government was awake to the threat and cracked down effectively on the secret society. Another factor in ruining the society was the formation of the sectarian Orange Society which attracted Protestants.
1797-8 With the United Irishmen around, the authorities saw the usefulness of the Orangemen in exploiting sectarian prejudice.
1798 A Dublin aristocrat, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, tried to organise a national rebellion led by the United Irishmen and incorporating the peasant agrarian secret society network, particularly the Defenders who had their own ague nationalist politics. However, informers betrayed the United Irish Society. Alarmed by the scale of events, the government unleashed repression on the Midland counties, including brutal floggings to elicit information. Other brutal torture methods like pitch-capping were carried out. Thousands of arrests were made and arms were uncovered. The eventual rebellion was confused, and the peasants were slaughtered.
In Wexford, the Protestants – who were sectarian-minded – were given the job of searching for arms and information after the port of Wexford was named as a possible site for French landing. The local population was terrified, and to make things worse the North Cork militia turned up and began flogging people. The Wexford rebellion seems to have been a panicky response to the torture. Father John Murphy became a peasants’ leader in the revolt. This was not really a nationalist rebellion; the North Cork militia prisoners begged for mercy in Irish but the peasants didn’t understand it. The events in Wexford were probably driven more by land hunger, economic crisis and anger at taxes than by nationalism. After a victory at Oulart Hill, the rebels camped on Vinegar Hill. This was more a bundle of refugees from the troops than a military camp. They had no strategy, except revenge; they began by murdering Protestant prisoners. A barn containing Protestant men, women and children was set on fire at Scullabogue, with any survivors being brutally killed – 200 in all. This did the rebel cause no good. A Protestant landlord, Bagenal Harvey, a member of the UIS, took command of the campaign. He was ineffective in curbing the lust for revenge, or defining a strategy. The rebels had gone south, capturing Wexford but forgoing the chance to join with other rebel groups. This gave the government time, and they began to suffer defeats. They were eventually viciously slaughtered on Vinegar Hill. 50,000 people died in the rebellion.
An uprising in Ulster failed. Rumors of southern atrocities were fuelling sectarianism. By the time the French landed in Ireland it was too late. Wolfe Tone was captured and committed suicide. Consequently, Protestants began to think in terms of an Irish ascendancy class whose interests would be protected by the English. Meanwhile, the rebellion proved to Catholics that they needed political leadership.
The reality of 1798 has become distorted into an expression of the ‘separatist idea’, tainted by British treachery.
1799 William Pitt accused the Irish of ignorance and bigotry.
By now barely 5% of Irish land was owned by Catholics.
Politics by William Butler Yeats
How can I, that girl standing there, My attention fix On Roman or on Russian Or on Spanish politics? Yet here's a travelled man that knows What he talks about, And there's a politician That has read and thought, And maybe what they say is true Of war and war's alarms, But O that I were young again And held her in my arms!
Current News from Ireland
Photograph taken on Bloody Sunday, 1972
Bloody Sunday British soldiers may face murder charges and criminal prosecution The British soldiers who killed 14 people on Bloody Sunday in Derry may be arrested and charged with murder or attempted murder. The Sunday Times of London report says that up to 20 retired soldiers are likely to be arrested and questioned by police for murder, attempted murder or criminal injury over the shootings more than 40 years ago. Britain’s Ministry of Defense has already started to hire lawyers to represent the soldiers, most of whom are now in their 60s and 70s. They will be questioned under criminal caution about their roles in the shootings when soldiers who opened fire on participants in a Civil Rights march. The British Army troops who killed the 14 Bloody Sunday victims may face prosecution in a trial which the paper says will reopen wounds from one of the most notorious incidents in the history of the Troubles. The move comes three years after the 12-year inquiry by Lord Saville into the shootings produced its report. The Saville Report concluded that all those shot by paratroopers during a Catholic civil rights march in the nationalist Bogside area of Derry in January 1972 were unarmed. It said the killings were both ‘unjustified and unjustifiable’. The enquiry said the army had lost control of the situation, that the soldiers had fired first and some of them had then lied to cover up their culpability. After the report was published, British Prime Minister David Cameron issued a formal apology to the families on behalf of the nation. The Sunday Times reports that a source close to the police who has seen government files has confirmed the possibility of court action against the soldiers. The source said: “This is the beginning. It is the first time the soldiers will have been interviewed formally by police as part of a murder investigation. It is possible that some of the soldiers will be prosecuted. “Interviews under police caution are expected imminently.” A spokesman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) told the paper that the time scale might be longer. The spokesman said: “Preliminary work has begun into what will be a lengthy and complex investigation into the events of January 30, 1972. “For the investigation to be as comprehensive and effective as possible, police will be asking for public support in the form of witnesses who gave evidence to the Saville inquiry now making statements to detectives. “This is because police are precluded from using Saville testimony in a criminal investigation.”