Happy Birthday, Mom

On June 28, 1909 my mother, Martha Catherine Cavanaugh, was born in Fairfield, Connecticut. Mom was the ninth and youngest child in her family. Her parents, Thomas Cavanaugh and Julia (Soier) Cavanaugh, were both born in Ireland back in 1873 and 1866. They both died before I was born, so I never knew them. My paternal grandmother, Ann (Moran) McCarthy, was also born in Ireland. Her husband and my paternal grandfather, John McCarthy, was born in Canada while his parents were visiting relatives in Quebec. So, thanks to my four grandparents, I guess that makes me a full-fledged, second-generation American. 

As for Mom, she was an absolutely wonderful mother, the family glue that held everything together and always kept us moving in the right direction. Quiet, but strong in her beliefs, Mom willingly shared her wisdom with her two sons. My dad offered us lots of wonderful, practical guidance and grounded us politically and to a certain extent, philosophically. But Mom taught us the truly important things. She was the family’s spiritual guide whose love for God and His Church certainly had a lasting effect on me. 

Mom died far too soon at the age of 67 on March 12, 1977. It’s hard to believe she’s been gone 46 years, but even harder to believe she was born 114 years ago, a fact that reminds me of my own advance age. As I said to Diane today, I would happily have given Mom ten years of my life so she could have lived another ten years. And Diane said, “I would have done the same.” Yes, indeed, she was and still is loved. We miss you, Mom. Happy Birthday. Rest is please.

Being There…and Not Here

President Biden just spent a five-day family vacation in Ireland. I suppose he thought it a good time to get away from it all, to ignore all those pesky crises erupting across the globe, and to spend a little quality time with Hunter. 

I found it curious that the White House told the press the president hoped to enjoy his trip, so he would hold no press conferences or take any questions. If that’s so, why did the entire press corps bother to make the trip? Perhaps they, too, needed a little vacation in Guinness country. Or maybe they hoped the commander in chief might answer a few shouted questions about the quality of the fish and chips or whether Irish ice cream met his high standards. Such questions reveal the depth of investigative reporting focused on this president.

It’s would seem the president enjoyed himself, especially his time with his Irish counterpart, President Michael Higgins. I know little about the Irish president, but he seems to be a pleasant man with an infectious smile, although when standing alongside the tall Joe Biden, he looked a wee bit like a leprechaun. Of course, if you’re an Irish politician that might be a plus. 

Full disclosure: My roots are 100% Irish. Three of my four grandparents were born in Ireland, and my fourth grandparent was a second generation Irish-American. I can, then, appreciate the president’s desire to dig more deeply into his own Irish roots. Unlike many Americans of Irish descent, I have no particular love for Ireland, a nation that once kept the faith but today is largely faithless. I recall my father once being asked if he were proud of his Irish heritage. He responded with, “Not proud because I had nothing to do with it. But I am glad my ancestors left the blasted place and came here to America.” My parents were born in 1909 and my grandparents in the 1870s. Given how most poor Irish Catholics lived in those days, it’s no wonder they left their homes for the freedom and opportunity offered by the United States. For many of them, I suppose the old sod was indeed a “blasted place.” As for me, unlike most of today’s Europeans, I’m far more interested in celebrating my Christian roots.

Diane and I have visited Ireland only once, back in 2012. It was a delightful two-week trip, filled with castles, B&Bs, boutique hotels, charming pubs, friendly folks, remarkable scenery, and even an Irish Wolfhound named Mr. Higgins (no relation to the Irish president). And it was all made special because we traveled with our dearest friends, Nancy and Dave Lee. We also attended the Navy-Norte Dame football game played that year in Dublin. Despite the score, a wonderful time was had by all. 

Mr. Higgins Checking Out Diane

I hope the president truly enjoyed his Irish visit, although I think he could have spent those five days doing far more important things given the precarious state of the world. And unfortunately for Joe Biden, many of the problems faced by the United States today are directly attributable to his failed policies. Sadly, I don’t think he is aware of this, and it seems the leftist ideologues advising and guiding him seem quite pleased with the results of their work. If they intend to completely restructure our constitutional republic, and turn it into just another totalitarian state run by a cadre of inept elites, they’re well on their way. But I have faith in the American people, in their spirit, and in their love of freedom. I also accept that our God is in charge of His creation, and this nation and its people are certainly a part of it.

Pray for our nation, and pray for our world. And I can also still hope: Erin go brách.

Persecution Update

Living as we do in this nation where true religious freedom was once celebrated by the vast majority of Americans, we can easily overlook the attacks believers must endure throughout the world. Religious persecution here in the United States certainly exists but, at least until recently, it has been somewhat subtle, typified by verbal attacks and social exclusion, or what we now call "cancellation." Times are changing, though, and even here the enemy tries to exercise judicial and governmental power to eliminate any reference to religious values in the public square, and to belittle those who espouse them. Yes, the persecution of Christians is far worse in many parts of the world, where the martyrdom of the faithful has become an almost everyday occurrence. Sadly, though, the purveyors of hatred have become more adept at selling their product to the uninformed and spiritually indifferent here in the USA and in once-Christian Western Europe. I've included below just a few subtle and not-so-subtle examples pulled from recent news stories.

• St. Brigid Cancelled. Ireland, no longer the Catholic land of my ancestors, has seemingly regressed into a new form of paganism. St. Brigid, Ireland's traditional #2 saint, has apparently been cancelled. At first, it seemed the beloved fifth-century saint, whose feast day is February 1, would be commemorated by the creation of an annual "bank holiday" on the first Monday of February. But the Dublin City Council altered the celebration a bit. Forgetting the saint, they made the holiday a celebration honoring Irish women and the arrival of spring, all "inspired by the Celtic goddess, Brigit." They have, therefore, cancelled St. Brigid, replacing her with a virtually unknown Celtic goddess. The Dominican priest, Fr. Conor McDonough, who has researched both the saint and the goddess recently stated: 

"It's really quite incredible how this paper-thin theory became so widely accepted. We know almost nothing about the pagan divinity identified as Brigit in the 10th-century text, Sanas Cormaic. Brigit there is described as a goddess worshipped by poets, while her sister, also Brigit, is a goddess of medics, and another sister, Brigit again, is a goddess of blacksmiths. That's it; that's all we know. We don't know whether there was really a cult of Brigit(s) in pre-Christian Ireland. All we have is this very late report, written at a time Irish intellectuals were actively fabricating elements of the pagan Irish past."

I include this story just to demonstrate how Christian, and especially Catholic, traditions and beliefs have been undermined even in the least likely places. Thankfully, there remains in Ireland a "holy remnant" that will keep the faith alive and resist religious indifference or the return to paganism. Pray for them, that they will mirror the earlier evangelizing efforts and success of St. Patrick and St. Brigid. (Oh, yes, in the above image of St. Brigid, you'll notice her holding the St. Brigid Cross. One of those hangs just inside our front door.)

A brief postscript: It seems celebrating St. Patrick in Ireland will also be subject to wokeness. According to Ireland’s Arts Minister, Catherine Martin, this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Festival will celebrate diversity and inclusivity by highlighting LGBT entertainment, including parades of drag queens. The intent, of course, is to eradicate anything religious from the feast day of Ireland’s patron saint. We can only hope at least some Irish will have the courage to object.

• Iran and Lebanese Christianity. Thanks to the Islamic Republic of Iran, hundreds of thousands of Christians in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East, are being killed and displaced. Iran uses its Shiite puppet, Hezbollah, a Lebanese terrorist group, to sabotage the nation’s physical, economic, and cultural infrastructure while also working to eliminate Lebanon’s Christians. 

Habib Malik, of the Philos Project, states that Lebanon faces a “new and unprecedented threat unlike previous scourges — it is the difference between what I would term the ‘dumb evil’ of the Islamic State (ISIS or Daesh) and the ‘cunning evil’ of Hezbollah and its Iranian Mullah overlords.” Hezbollah, he says, is determined to destroy Lebanon as a nation and replace it with a terror state. Malik added that Hezbollah’s goal is “to alter Lebanon’s identity as a country and a society: from a free and open society with both solid Arab and Western connections to one with stronger if not exclusive ties with Iran, Assad’s Syria, China, and other anti-Western states.”

Malik stresses that Iran is waging war on Christians throughout the Middle East and not just in Lebanon. Iran’s war, he states, “has been deliberate as part of a larger objective of creating the Shiite Crescent stretching from Iran to Lebanon through both Iraq and Syria.” Malik adds that the Iranian terrorist regime hates freedom and “sees the native Christians, especially those of Lebanon who have resisted dhimmitude over the centuries at enormous cost to them in terms of lives and resources, as the great obstacle in the face of their domination of the region.” 

The Iranian strategy appears to be working since huge number of Lebanese Christians, particularly young Christians, are leaving the country to live in the relative freedom available elsewhere in the West. How sad that Christians, who have lived throughout the Middle East since the time of the apostles, are being forced to leave their homelands.

• Worldwide Persecution of Christians Increasing. Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world, largely because of Islamic extremism and repressive governments. The ever-increasing persecution has led Pope Francis to call it a "form of genocide" and "religio-ethnic cleansing." Keeping up with the news on the persecution of Christians is no easy task since the mainstream media tends to ignore it. You really have to dig deep to find stories on the subject. One good source, however, is Aid to the Church in Need International, a Catholic organization that is serious about keeping track of persecution throughout the world. (By the way, there are few organizations more worthy of donations than AID. I highly recommend throwing a few dollars in their direction every so often.)  Just a brief scan of the news section of AID’s website provides a quick review of the persecution of Christians in many countries, including:

Democratic Republic of the Congo where armed militias attack villages in the eastern provinces and often slaughter the inhabitants. Fr. Marcelo Oliveira, a missionary who serves the people in this dangerous region, stated that “Terror is widespread…It’s one village here today, another there tomorrow, and all this in silence. And this is what gets to us, as missionaries, seeing the silence of the international community, the deafening silence, while human lives are massacred.” Fr. Oliveira spoke right after terrorists used explosives to attack a Protestant church, an attack the killed at least 15 worshippers and wounded dozens of others. This is just one example of ongoing terror attacks aimed largely at Christian communities and churches.

Christians Massacred in Nigeria

Nigeria has undergone perhaps more persecution of Christians than any other African state. Between January 2021 and June 2022, more than 7,600 Christians have been killed in terror attacks. The terrorists have focused much of their attention on killing and kidnapping Catholic priests. In just the past year, four priests have been murdered and 28 kidnapped. Then in mid-January, two Catholic priests were attacked in their presbytery by terrorists. One, Fr. Isaac Achi, was burned alive when the building was set afire, and the other, Fr. Collins Omeh, was shot but survived the attack. On the same day another priest was kidnapped. Unfortunately, the Nigerian government has been less than enthusiastic protecting Christians or pursuing the terrorists. Speaking to the UK Houses of Parliament, Nigeria’s Bishop Jude Arogundade stated: “I strongly appeal to this important body and all people of goodwill to compel the Nigerian government to stop the genocide.” I suspect that the UK, the nations of Western Europe, and the USA will probably just wipe their hands of it all, saying, “Really, what can we do?” And when Christians are massacred by Muslim extremists, the Western media keeps silent. Of course, the unspoken sentiment that drives so much of the liberal, woke West’s attitudes and actions relates to Christianity’s unwillingness to stop “making disciples of all nations…baptizing…and teaching all that I have commanded you” [See Mt 28:19-20]. As one liberal, agnostic acquaintance said to me a few years ago, "All your proselytizing does is anger the Muslims. In a sense you Christians are the root cause of terrorism." How can you argue with logic like that? Another unstated motivation? The systemic racism of the atheistic left. Hey, it’s in Africa, not really worth our trouble.

I simply don’t have the time today to address all the other nations of the world where Christian persecution is widespread, but if you visit the AID website and click on their “News” section, you can read these stories yourself. The Christians in Africa are among the most courageous and their courage is the reason Christianity is growing so rapidly on that continent. Read about persecution and anti-Christian terrorism in Mozambique, Mali, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, and other nations. But Africa’s not unique. The same kind of persecution, much of it conducted by governments, takes place today in Asian nations such as Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, North Korea, and too many others. 

Keep the Christians of the world in your prayers. Think of them as you drive to church this weekend, knowing that you can do so without fearing for your life or wondering if your children and grandchildren might be targets of a terrorist attack or government reprisals simply because they are Christians.

Praised be Jesus Christ...now and forever!

Just Stuff

Sometimes I just feel the need to pass along a few thoughts to my blog’s highly selective cadre of readers. Nothing very astonishing, just experiences or ideas that strike me and seem worth sharing. 

To Mask or Not To Mask. For example, earlier this afternoon dear Diane said she would really like a pizza — specifically, a pepper and onion pizza — from one of our local vendors, NYPD Pizza. Now, I eat neither peppers nor onions (Were I ordering for myself, I would choose a sausage and pepperoni pizza), but because I love Diane more than life itself, I called, ordered the pizza, and was told it would be ready in 15 minutes. When I arrived the pizza was not quite ready (I was a few minutes early), so I simply stood off to the side and waited. There were perhaps a dozen or so people seated at tables enjoying their meals. Of course, none wore masks, but neither did any of the employees. The cooks in the kitchen weren’t masked and neither was the one waitress. How refreshing! 

But then a man entered and approached the take-out counter. He looked to be in his 50s or 60s, but it was hard to tell since his facial features were disguised by a mask. Standing there, he glanced around the room and then uttered, presumably to himself, but loud enough for me to hear, “How come no one’s wearing a mask in here?” Assuming he wanted an answer, I just said, “Maybe like me they’re all vaccinated and know they’re immune.” It seems I was wrong and he wasn’t looking for an answer, at least from me, because he turned and said, “Vaccination means nothing. And why aren’t you wearing a mask?” At this point, I said something very un-pastoral and certainly un-deaconlike, but it just rolled off my uncontrolled tongue before I could stop it: “Because I’m not an idiot.” Fortunately, two seconds later my pizza was ready. I took it and left before he could respond either verbally or physically. I’m not proud of what I said to this confused man, but I won’t apologize for speaking the truth. Let’s get back to normal... now!

Congressional Masks. Other than the content of the president’s speech, the most obvious absurdity witnessed by the nation last night was the masking of everyone in the House chamber. Every person in the room (just 200 people in a space designed to hold 1,600) had been vaccinated. They were all masked and separated by more than six feet. They were also immune from COVID-19, so why the charade? Do you get the feeling that maybe Nancy Pelosi and her friends want to ensure Americans remain afraid and psychologically dependent on government? What other reason could they have?

Georgia On My Mind. President Biden today made a surprise trip to “racist” Georgia and visited an aging President Jimmy Carter, presumably to pick up a few pointers on how to become one of the least effective presidents in American history. Jimmy certainly wrote the script for how not to deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and if you’re old enough you’ll never forget how miserable the economy was on his watch. Remember the “misery index” — the sum of inflation and unemployment — that reached over 20% in 1980? More than anything else, I believe that number put Ronald Reagan in the White House. If the federal government continues to spend the trillions Biden wants to spend, it might well break the Carter record. Assuming he’s still in office in 2024 (and still alive), I think the 2023 economy will make him a one-term president.

Attend Mass, Go To Jail. Did you know (probably not, since you won’t read about this in the mainstream media) that in the Republic of Ireland it’s now against the law to attend Mass. Yes, indeed, on April 16, I suppose in the midst of another lockdown, the Irish Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly, signed a “Statutory Instrument” (presumably an official document) that makes attendance at Mass a criminal offense. Now, for all you Irish-Catholic Americans out there, who still believe Ireland is a Catholic country...believe me, it’s not. Like most of Europe, Ireland has devolved into a secular, materialistic, largely agnostic society in which all those formerly Catholic folks and the generations behind them no longer believe in much of anything, leaving the Church with little, if any, influence. Who’s to blame? Sadly, the primary culprit is the Church itself. Like too many of the bishops of our country, the bishops of Ireland slouched into political correctness and ordained a lot of questionable priests, including homosexuals, pedophiles, Marxists, and sadly, even some tacit agnostics, whose subsequent activities destroyed any credibility the Church once had. So now, the few remaining faithful, if they want to participate at Mass, must watch it on TV or prepare for a fine or a stay in the local slammer. Lest you chuckle too much at the expense of the Irish, this has also happened in some states in this country where the First Amendment of our Constitution has been overruled by certain state governors. As my late brother used to say, “Keep your powder dry.”

Whose Racism Is It, Anyway? The president believes we are essentially a racist nation, despite the fact that every conceivable indicator shows tremendous progress since the days when Senator Joe Biden was bosom buddies with the Senate’s old segregationists, especially Senator Robert Byrd (D, WV) the Ku Klux Klan’s “Exalted Cyclops.” Probably the best indicator of who actually are today’s real racists is abortion. The population of African Americans would be double its current level were it not for abortion. Indeed, abortion is the leading cause of death among black Americans. And, of course, Margaret Sanger, the founder of a Planned Parenthood, hoped to decrease birth rates among all those “less desirable” races by means of artificial contraception and abortion. Who supports abortion? Why, the Democrat Party, the party of racism, the party of the KKK, the party that filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1964 until Republicans forced a cloture vote. And nothing’s changed. This was apparent today when the leftist knives were unsheathed and thrown at Senator Tim Scott who gave the Republican rebuttal to the president’s speech. The racist slurs and other comments by Democrats were despicable, but what else can we expect from those whose intent is to keep African Americans on the Democrat plantation. More and more black Americans are starting to recognize their real enemy.

Catholics and Big Tech. I won’t write about this since someone else has done a far better job than I ever could. But if you’re still enamored of Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and all the rest, follow this link to the National Catholic Register:

Catholics in the Crosshairs of Big Tech.

That’s enough for today. God’s peace...Pray for our nation.

Random Thoughts

What follows are just a few random thoughts that popped into my aging brain as I scanned the news yesterday evening and this morning. Among them are a few predictions, which will likely be very wrong indeed. In truth, though, I've sometimes done pretty well looking into the future. For example, back in 1967 when I was making my way through Navy flight training in Pensacola, I would occasionally chat with another flight student who happened to be a Saudi. It didn't take long to realize that he and his colleagues despised us. These conversations and other subsequent interactions I had with military officers from Muslim nations convinced me that our greatest future threat would come from the Islamic world, a threat motivated by a kind of irrational fanaticism. Whenever I aired these concerns in military circles the response was predictable: "You're crazy. It's the Soviet Union we need to worry about, not a bunch of Arabs." This attitude changed on 9/11/2001.

More recently I got quite good at predicting President Obama's actions involving the Middle East. My rule of thumb? Any action he took, any decision he made, would always support the Shiite Muslims. I may be wrong, but I believe this stemmed from the fact that his father was supposedly a Shiite. But enough of the past...

Bye-bye Europe. If you plan to vacation in Europe, I'd suggest you do so soon, while it still exists. The pro-abortion vote in once Catholic Ireland is just one more symptom of Europe's rapid decay. The acceptance of abortion, indeed the entire contraceptive mentality that has gripped much of Western Civilization for the past 50 years, is the primary cause of its future destruction. Once a people decides its weakest can be destroyed for any reason whatsoever, human life at every stage becomes essentially worthless. This can lead to nothing but the people's ultimate self-eradication.

The root causes? Europe's movers and shakers openly deny its Judeo-Christian roots and have convinced most of the population to do the same. In fact, Europe has discarded Christianity to such an extent that today European atheists quite likely outnumber its active Christians. And Europe's Jews are more at risk than anytime since the 1930s. It's all very sad and so predictable. Once the cult is removed from a culture there's really nothing left that's worth saving. I expect that my children and grandchildren will witness Europe's accelerating destruction from a kind of continent wide civil war. It will be messy, fueled by an immigrant-led insurgency, a confused and suicidal secular establishment, and a feisty nationalistic remnant. Think of Syria on a continental scale. Messy indeed.

Memorial Day Forgotten. I had hoped to visit the national cemetery in Bushnell, Florida on Memorial day, but then discovered that, along with Diane I was assigned as on-call chaplain at The Villages Hospital. And so we spent a few hours popping in and out of the rooms of the newly admitted folks, praying with them, talking and laughing about all sorts of things, and spreading God's love and mercy wherever He thought it was needed. It made for a good morning, and got my mind off of the weirdness that seems to arise on Memorial Day.

Every Memorial Day I suffer because of the stupidity and ignorance of so many. Yesterday, for example, some leftist talk show host stated that on this day we should honor those who resist President Trump. Hearing such talk from the left encourages me since I can't believe most Americans could possibly agree. If the day ever comes when a majority discard the true meaning of Memorial Day and replace it with such gross political tripe, we are doomed as a nation.

Then there's the trivial uttered by the clueless. Earlier yesterday morning a smiling TV meteorologist declared that Memorial Day is "really the day we celebrate the beginning of summer, the first real beach day!" She was hoping to join her family for a week's vacation at the Jersey shore.

Of course there are also those well-meaning but ignorant folks who confuse their holidays. One news flunky told everyone to "be sure to thank all those veterans out there on this day when the nation  remembers them." Yes, it's always nice to be thanked (on Veterans Day), but the ones we thank on Memorial Day are the ones resting in peace in our national cemeteries.

And I try to ignore all those who create the commercials and newspaper ads that use Memorial Day as a way to push their wares.

I really think the decline began in June 1968 when Congress voted to change the dates of four of our national holidays to give people three-day weekends. No longer would Memorial Day be celebrated on May 30; we would now salute our fallen on the last Monday of May. With this, people began to think more of the long weekend with its barbecues and trips to the shore than of those who gave their lives so we could taste such pleasures in the freedom they won and preserved for us.

Antifa Doing Their Thing

Democrat Crack-Up. I don't understand the Democrat party. Their visceral hatred of Donald Trump has seemingly blinded them to the reality of political life. Not long ago the polls (if you can believe them) gave the Democrats a huge lead in the upcoming November mid-term elections. Now those same polls show them several points behind. The party, which once had a rather large, influential, and moderate center, now seems to be led by those of the far left. Even Hillary, who's not all that moderate, recently complained that the socialists (aka Marxists) have taken over the party's leadership. And at the grassroots level it has become a party of far left special interests -- Antifa, Black Lives Matter, Planned Parenthood, CAIR, La Raza, Southern Poverty Law Center, etc. -- that certainly don't represent the beliefs of most Americans...at least not yet. Has the party become so ideological that it has lost the ability to engage in any kind of bipartisan effort or seek productive compromise? It would seem so. If the Democratic far left wins in November I suggest you pack your bags and go off the grid.

The Senator's Father

John McCain. Let me state up-front that, even though I voted for him, I've never been a fan of John McCain. I got to know his father, Admiral John S. McCain, years ago when he was Commander-in-Chief Pacific. As a young junior officer and Navy helicopter pilot I flew him around Hawaii for a few weeks and during this time had a number of interesting conversations with this crusty, cigar-smoking admiral. I developed a tremendous respect for him.

As for Senator McCain, I've always thought he was too much the politician. For me that's perhaps the worst thing you can say about a public figure since I can't think of a single career politician I respect. I'm sure there are a few deserving some respect; I just can't think of one. Career politicians, driven by their desire to remain in office, tend to lose whatever philosophical and moral grounding they might once have had. Lacking this firm foundation they say whatever is necessary to appease the voters and then do what is necessary to maintain power. I won't denigrate Senator McCain's patriotism because he certainly suffered at the hands of the Communist butchers of then North Vietnam. This, however, happened years ago and I have many friends who suffered right alongside him. No man should be judged solely on the good or bad he did in the distant past.

I'm concerned more with the senator's recent political antics that seem to be focused more on creating problems for his personal foe, President Trump, than on the good of the country. The latest piece of news is that he is waiting until after June 30 to resign, thus eliminating the need to have an election for his seat this year. This would allow Arizona Governor Doug Ducey to name McCain's wife, Cindy, to serve as senator until the 2020 elections. If this is true -- and I don't know that it is -- it seems to be just another example of a career politician's sense of entitlement. The voters are ignored so the politician's plans can be fulfilled. We'll just have to wait a month to find out.

John and Cindy McCain

I'm sorry that the senator is dying but that's something we must all face. As Senator McCain approaches his death, I ask God to grant him the same grace I hope and pray He grants me: that John McCain, the man, has the will to repair any damaged relationships he may have caused; that he is humble enough to heal any wounds he may have inflicted; and that he turn to His merciful God and Judge in repentance.

God's peace...

Public Crosses

What exactly is a public cross? Well, first, I don't include the crosses one encounters on churches or in churchyards and cemeteries. After all, one expects to find crosses atop steeples and on church property. The crosses I refer to are those unexpected ones, those crosses (or crucifixes) that have been purposely placed where they can be seen and approached by the public. Whether they're on public or private land matters not. The reality is, they are there; they can be seen by all who pass by.

I suppose the first public cross I remember seeing was in post-war Germany. In 1951 my family lived in Heidelberg where my father was stationed for nearly a year. During that time we took many short trips around the country, including several to the mountains of Bavaria. On one of these trips, around Christmastime, we stayed at a small ski lodge for about a week. Each morning, if the weather permitted it, Dad would take my older brother and me on a hike along one of the many trails that wound through the nearby forest. As a seven-year-old boy with a new pair of leather alpine boots that Mom and Dad had just bought for me, I couldn't have been happier and considered these hikes to be true adventures. It was really all very Hansel and Gretel-ish and I expected we might well come upon a spooky forest cabin, complete with a wicked witch, or maybe even a troll. Instead we encountered a cross.

We saw it on our first hike. After only a few hundred yards, we were confronted by a wayside shrine perched on a small hill right above the path. The shrine was actually a crucifix not unlike the one pictured above. Jeff and I followed our dad up the few steps leading to a stone bench at the foot of the shrine. This beautiful spot had obviously been designed as a place for prayer and meditation and that's exactly what we did. I remember the three of us saying the Our Father together and then, after Dad brushed the snow off the bench, we sat down for a while and enjoyed the view of the nearby mountains. 

After this experience I began to notice these shrines (called Bildstöcke in German) wherever we went during those wonderful months in Germany. Almost all were skillfully made, and many are hundreds of years old. Not all of them, however, were crucifixes. Some were Marian shrines displaying either a statue or picture of the Virgin Mary. And some, like the shrine pictured at left, include both a crucifix and a statue of Mary. 

Those beautifully crafted shrines I encountered in Germany 60 years ago were erected simply to remind us of the goodness of God. Almost always located in a place of beauty, they point to the glory of God's creation. It's as if those who built the shrines were telling future generations to take a moment to thank God for all His wondrous gifts, for the gifts of our world, our salvation, and our very being. But whatever their theme, these wayside shrines were so very different from anything I had seen in the United States. One certainly didn't come across such things in our 1950s suburban New York town.

Today, of course,we encounter an increasing number of roadside shrines along our American highways and streets, but unlike those in Bavaria, these seemingly makeshift shrines are memorials to people who have lost their lives, usually in car accidents or as a result of some other tragedy. I can certainly sympathize with those who suffer from the sudden and tragic death of a family member or a close friend, but to me there's something slightly grotesque about these shrines which are often littered with a collection of personal items or other mementos. Although they are usually centered around a cross, they seem designed less for the worship of God and more as odd memorials to the person who died. It's almost as if those who constructed them are afraid that without the shrine the deceased person might be forgotten. There's just seems to be something tragically unfaithful about this. But then, I suppose I should avoid attributing motives to others.

The Germans, of course, are not alone in their construction of shrines designed for all to see. On our recent trip to Ireland Dear Diane and I visited the ancient site at Clonmacnoise in County Offaly where we found several of the old high stone Celtic crosses. The earliest of these crosses, dating from early medieval times, were decorated with geometric designs, while the later crosses were carved with Biblical scenes.There are over three hundred of these magnificent old high crosses scattered throughout Ireland.

The photo at left shows one of these ancient crosses, complete with its carved scenes from Scripture. I suspect that, like the stained-glass windows that later graced the Gothic cathedrals of Europe, these carvings were excellent reminders of those Bible stories the people heard proclaimed and preached at Mass. The cross in the photo was moved inside  to protect it from further erosion from wind and rain. A full-sized replica was placed outside where the original once stood.

I find it interesting that in Ireland these crosses are celebrated as an important part of the nation's heritage, while in the United States groups like the ACLU, and too often the government itself, seem to find any display of our own religious heritage unacceptable.

One recent news story involves a cross erected in California's Mohave desert in 1934 as a memorial to World War I veterans. The cross was a centerpiece of the Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial, the only World War I Memorial designated by Congress as a National Memorial. The ACLU, of course, thinks the cross is a disgraceful and egregious violation of the principle of separation of church and state (a principle, by the way, which does not exist in our Constitution). Ultimately, a lower court finding against the veterans was thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court in a close (5-4) decision. Justice Kennedy, who sided with the majority, wisely stated: "The goal of avoiding governmental endorsement [of religion] does not require eradication of all religious symbols in the public realm".

But that's not the end of the story. Not long after the Supreme Court's favorable ruling, someone decided to steal the seven-foot cross. When the veterans replaced it with a new and virtually identical cross, the National Park Service took it down and claimed that only the original cross approved by Congress could be erected on the site. A subsequent lawsuit by the veterans against the Obama administration resulted in a land swap in which the veterans gained ownership to the small piece of land on which the memorial is located. Since then the veterans have erected a new cross which still stands today. The entire legal battle to keep the cross took almost 13 years.

More on public crosses in my next post...

Mullingar and Us

As I mentioned in a previous post, Dear Diane and I returned from a two-week trip to Ireland (our first) about two weeks ago. We had a delightful time and were able to visit and enjoy at least part of that lovely country.

We decided to spend the last three days of our trip in the small city of Mullingar in county Westmeath. We took up residence at a lovely B&B, Tara House, and were very well cared for by the proprietor, Maureen Doran, and her husband Gerry. If we return, and God willing I trust that will be soon, we shall certainly stay there again.

Mullingar is not your typical Irish tourist town, but our reasons for staying there were strictly personal and had little to do with tourism. My paternal grandmother, Anne Moran, was born in Mullingar in 1877 and came to the United States when she was just a toddler. The cathedral in which she was baptized was torn down in the early 20th century and replaced by the present cathedral, built in the 1930s. We attended Mass there one Sunday and were pleased that our B&B host, Gerry Doran, was the reader that morning. It's really a magnificent church as you can see in the photo below.

Mullingar's Cathedral of Christ the King

Although Mullingar might not be a tourist magnet, we soon discovered that it's actually quite well situated for visiting some of Ireland's wonderful ancient sites. One of these, Clonmacnoise, is a national heritage site that includes the ruins of a 6th-century monastery founded by St. Ciarán (Kieran to us). It also includes the tombs of many of the Irish kings of old. Coincidentally, I discovered that one of the two tall towers at Clonmacnoise is called McCarthy's Tower, named after the kings of  Munster who were apparently numbered among my ancestors. Sadly, there's nothing left to inherit. Anyway, I suspect the tower would be a bit drafty.

McCarthy's Tower at Clonmacnoise

We also drove to the nearby town of Fore, to wander among the ruins of St. Fechin's church and abbey which he founded in the 7th century. While there we encountered a breed of cattle called "Belted Galloways." They're rather unusual looking -- Diane says they look like they're wearing cumberbunds -- and are raised largely for beef. The photo below shows two of these interesting bovines lunching near the ruins of St. Fechins monastery.

Belted Galloways near the town of Fore

Another short drive took us to the town of Multyfarnham where we visited the Franciscan friary that dates to the 15th century and has been in continuous use ever since. The current friary church was quite nice, and I've included one photo below.

Interior of the church at the Multyfarnham Friary

Being creatures of habit, during our stay in Mullingar Diane and I ate in the restaurant of the Greville Arms Hotel each evening. We enjoyed our meal the first night and so we decided not to tempt fate and try elsewhere. Interestingly, the hotel is located directly across the street from Whelehans Pharmacy, founded toward the end of the 19th century. Some years ago, I bought an old  measuring bottle of the kind used 100 years ago. The bottle is etched with the words, "T. P. Whelehan Earl St Mullingar." I purchased it for a few dollars simply because of its connection with Mullingar, where my grandmother was born. I never expected that the pharmacy would still be in business. The photo below was taken during dinner from our table at the Greville Arms Hotel restaurant.

We also planned a visit to the Mullingar Pewter Company and its factory, as well as a related business, Genesis Fine Arts, that produces some beautiful sculptures. While browsing in their shop I came across a photo taken in downtown Mullingar in 1890, only a few years after my grandmother had emigrated to the United States. I had to buy it. But remarkably, as I studied the photo, I realized I had taken a photo late the previous afternoon from almost the same exact spot. As I looked at the old photo I searched my digital camera's SD card for the shot I had taken and could hardly believe the similarity. Two photographers, over 120 years apart, stood on almost the same exact spot. It was uncanny. I've include both photos below.

Mullingar c. 1890 (www..Lawrencecollection.com)

Mullingar 2012 by Dana McCarthy

I'm happy I was able to touch some of my Irish roots, but happier still that I live in the USA.

Pax et bonum...

Relationships, Renewals and Encounters

Life, this remarkable gift with which we've been blessed, often seems to be marked less by who we think we are or what we have done as individuals than by the relationships we share with others. If I try to define myself, I usually turn to words that mean nothing outside of the human relationships they describe: "I am a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a grandfather, a friend, a child of God..." These are the words that first come to mind, and it is right that they do so. After all, God so loved the world that He sent His Son. He didn't send an idea or a concept or a philosophy. He sent a Person, Someone with Whom He has the deepest and closest kind of relationship imaginable. Indeed, the Holy Trinity is all about a relationship. It's also telling that the Father's Son was born into a human family with a mother and a father. Jesus didn't just appear; He became one of us in all things except sin.

In the same way, our closest relationships tend to be familial or of the kind of friendships that last a lifetime. Other relationships rise and fall with the rhythms of our lives. We move. We change jobs. We change interests. Some of us even retire and settle in Florida. Gradually some earlier relationships fade while others develop. Life goes on, even though we might occasionally glance backwards in time wondering about those faded friendships and asking, if only of ourselves, "Whatever happened to...?"

One of these long-ago relationships came to mind this past week. As I've mentioned before, I'm on the board of the Wildwood Soup Kitchen, an ecumenical ministry in nearby Wildwood, Florida. At our last board meeting we appointed a new soup kitchen manager, and the other day, as I helped Dear Diane (my wife who's also the Thursday cook) prepare and serve nearly 300 meals to our guests, I had the opportunity to speak with our new manager for a few moments. At one point she said, "I understand you were involved in the recoveries of some of the Apollo astronauts." I told her I had been a Navy helicopter pilot and, yes, had flown on several of the recovery operations. At that point, she said, "My brother-in-law was a crewman on some of those recoveries. Maybe you knew him? Glen Slider?" I almost dropped the box of donated food I was moving. Glen Slider was a Chief Aircrewman, one of the two aircrewman who flew with Chuck Smiley, our commanding officer, and me and on the Apollo 13 recovery. Over the years I had completely lost track of Glen, so it was wonderful to hear he was doing well and occasionally visits here in The Villages. What a marvelous coincidence! It will be nice to renew our acquaintance after so long a time.

The photo below shows the crew of the recovery helicopter for Apollo 13: (left to right) Chuck Smiley, me, Mike Longe, Glen Slider. I was a very young 25-year-old back in April 1970.

Apollo 13 Recovery Crew

Other renewals of past relationships are less spontaneous. For example, two weeks ago Diane and I attended my 50th high school reunion in White Plains, NY. I actually enjoyed those four years at Archbishop Stepinac High School. We were blessed with some outstanding teachers, all priests and brothers, although very few are still with us. Stepinac was and remains an all-boys school.

Prior to this reunion I had visited the school only once since my graduation, and had never attended a class reunion. I was likely too busy with work and family. And so it was a pleasure to renew some old friendships and to form a few new ones with classmates I had really not known at all. As I recall our class had about 400 members so I was unlikely to know everyone very well. And yet, as you might expect, Diane and I spent most of our time with the few friends with whom I had stayed in touch over the years. I'm very happy we took part, although I was disappointed that so many classmates did not attend.


Our connections with some people, however, are the result of simple encounters and can hardly be called relationships. And yet, for various reasons some of these brief, often single, encounters become firmly planted in our memories. My chance meeting with then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger on the streets of Rome back in February 2000 certainly falls into this category. As a result of this brief encounter -- we spoke for perhaps two or three minutes -- I have a wonderful photo and a delightful personal letter from the man who would become Pope Benedict XVI.

Cardinal Ratzinger, as I give instructions to the photographer

Late last month I had another of these enjoyable but brief encounters; however this time I had no idea whom I had met. Diane and I were in Dublin, Ireland and had stopped by to meet some friends at their hotel. While there, we discovered the hotel was hosting a fundraiser, including a barbeque and live entertainment, for a local Catholic parish, so we all decided to attend and bought tickets. While waiting for our friends to join us, Diane and I sat at a small table outside the hotel's pub while I enjoyed a pint of Guinness. After a moment we were joined by a man carrying a clarinet. He sat down with us and like all Irishmen began to talk and ask us questions. Noticing his clarinet, Diane told him about our eldest daughter who had played clarinet in our town's band on Cape Cod. He then told us how his father, who also played, made him practice when he would have preferred to be "playing football with my mates." He went on to tell us of his years touring the States and in Las Vegas playing with his band on the strip. And so the conversation went until our friends arrived and he had to leave to join the other entertainers.

Paddy Cole at the St. Mary Parish fundraiser

Later, when he stepped on the small stage, he was introduced as the famous Paddy Cole, whom we discovered was one of Ireland's most loved musicians. He entertained us all for quite some time, playing the clarinet and saxophone and singing wonderful old songs that brought back many memories. What a delightful, unassuming man, one who placed his family first, above his show-business career, and today was willing to share his talent to support St. Mary Parish in Dublin. Here's a video of an interview of Paddy Cole that spans his entire career:

It's unlikely I'll ever sit down and chat again with Paddy Cole, or run into a future pope on the streets of Rome, but who knows what kind of new encounters and renewals of old relationships the future holds.

What a marvelous gift life is.

Irish and Islamist Terrorism

Not long ago a friend, speaking of what he called the "tensions in the Middle East", told me that eventually the Israelis and Palestinians would follow the example of the Irish and come to a "reasonable solution" that would no doubt lead to lasting peace. I thought this was more than little Pollyannish and suggested that the two conflicts were not at all alike. He, however, countered that there was little difference between the IRA and Islamist groups such as Hamas or Hezbollah or the Muslim Brotherhood or even al-Qaeda. "We just need to get them all together with the Israelis," he argued, "apply some serious diplomacy, and they will come to see that violence never leads to success." When I said that World War II was a rather obvious example of the successful application of violence, he got personal and said, "That's the sort of warlike talk I'd expect from you." (He knows I am a retired naval officer.) At this point I concluded there was little reason to continue our argument.

Sadly this all occurred before I read the following article by Clifford May, or my (rhetorical) weapons would have been considerably more effective. May is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a policy institute focusing on national security. The article appeared this week on National Review Online. I intend to share it with my friend, who I am certain does not read this blog or NRO.

Dublin — In 1978, I was a young foreign correspondent assigned to cover “the Troubles,” the conflict in Northern Ireland between Protestants and Catholics, between those loyal to the British Crown and those determined to make Ireland a united and independent nation. There were “paramilitaries” on both sides. Terrorism — bombings, assassinations, and other forms of violence targeting civilians for political ends — was among the principal weapons employed.

But in at least one way, terrorism was different then: Although I sometimes worried that I might end up on the wrong Belfast street at the wrong time, I was confident that no one saw me as a target. Journalists were neutrals. “Loyalists” and “Republicans” alike were eager to tell me their stories, and have me retell those stories to distant audiences. Without fear, I would sit down with hard men and ask tough questions.

At some point over the years since, new technologies and ideologies brought changes that became obvious when the Wall Street Journal’s Daniel Pearl took his notebook and pen to a 2002 meeting with terrorists in Karachi. They had a different approach to shaping the narrative — one that would entail beheading Pearl on camera and posting the video on the Internet.

The Troubles wracked Northern Ireland for almost 30 years. More than 1,500 people were killed. In those days, that was a serious number. But early in the new century, nearly twice as many innocent people would be killed on a single day in New York, Pennsylvania, and Arlington, Va. Meanwhile, in Syria over the past year, a conflict with ethno-religious-political undercurrents has taken some 20,000 lives. Perceiving this as an inflationary trend does not inspire optimism.

Queen Elizabeth & Martin McGuinness, former IRA commande

George Will, the venerable columnist, once cited Northern Ireland as one of the world’s two “intractable” conflicts. The other was what was then known as the Arab–Israeli conflict, today more usually called the Palestinian–Israeli conflict, though in reality it is now Islamist regimes and movements that are most seriously waging what they call a jihad against Israel.

Will was wrong about Ireland. The Troubles ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Two Northern Irish politicians, John Hume and David Trimble, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize — a rare occasion on which the awards were actually deserved.

Today, Northern Ireland remains British. But a good road connects the Republic in the south with the United Kingdom in the north, and no border guards or checkpoints impede travel between the two. Former terrorists, reformed if not repentant, serve in Northern Ireland’s government. Rightly or wrongly, Queen Elizabeth II shook hands with one earlier this year.

On a brief return to Northern Ireland this week, it was apparent that there are still tensions, still segregated neighborhoods, still pubs where Protestants and Catholics do not mix. But the Troubles ended when most people on both sides accepted the idea of an imperfect peace, when they came to see compromise as preferable to more killing and dying, and when they tired of the poverty and degradation that chronic carnage brings in its wake.

Should that give us hope that peace in the Middle East also is possible and perhaps even imminent? Absolutely not.

At its worst, the IRA never sought the destruction of Britain and never vowed to wipe Protestants off the Irish map. The most extreme Protestant paramilitaries did not argue that southern Catholics had no right to self-determination.

These days, it is fashionably multicultural and politically correct to assign blame in roughly equal measure to Israelis and Palestinians. It also is patently false. Time and again, Israelis have demonstrated their willingness to compromise in order to achieve an imperfect peace with their neighbors, not least those in Gaza and the West Bank.

Hamas, by contrast, is openly committed to Israel’s annihilation, attacking those who would settle for less as traitors and apostates. Fatah’s spokesmen, at least in Arabic, express solidarity with Hamas on that score. Meanwhile, Iran’s rulers, Hezbollah, and the Muslim Brotherhood all continue to insist that they will never accept Israel, that they will not allow even the tiniest swath of the Middle East to be ruled by non-Muslims, least of all the despised Jews, who, it is charged with bewildering inconsistency, defied the Prophet Mohammed in ancient Arabia and have no roots in the region.

“There are fascist forces in this world,” David Trimble said in his 1998 Nobel Lecture. “The first step to their defeat is to define them.” In Ireland, enough people took that step, and what Trimble has termed “a sort of peace” has been the admirable result. In the Middle East, too many are still unwilling or unable to take that first step, and so no other steps can follow.

Here's a link to Clifford May's original article on NRO: Letter from Ireland

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