Comments for Onwards... http://ballylara.wordpress.com a few words of a kind... Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:20:11 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 Comment on Wrenboys, Swarees and Scrap Parties in County Clare by John Fitzpatrick http://ballylara.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/wrenboys-swarees-and-scrap-parties-in-county-clare/#comment-210 John Fitzpatrick Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:20:11 +0000 http://ballylara.wordpress.com/?p=1284#comment-210 Great write up Eddie....you have as usual a great memory and a knack for the detail that gets the nostalgic juices flowing. I remember the wren boys in Ballinrobe (County Mayo) in the late fifties when I was about 8 or 9 years old. They used to scare the living daylights out of me, thanks to the warnings from the pulpit. They were right up there with the brothers, priests and nuns in my nightly terrors department. Little did I know that they were the least harmful of the lot. John. Great write up Eddie….you have as usual a great memory and a knack for the detail that gets the nostalgic juices flowing.
I remember the wren boys in Ballinrobe (County Mayo) in the late fifties when I was about 8 or 9 years old. They used to scare the living daylights out of me, thanks to the warnings from the pulpit. They were right up there with the brothers, priests and nuns in my nightly terrors department.

Little did I know that they were the least harmful of the lot.

John.

]]> Comment on The Warrior Carty: Irish Christmas Story Podcast by Jay Taber http://ballylara.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/the-warrior-carty-christmas-story-podcast/#comment-209 Jay Taber Tue, 22 Dec 2009 02:13:14 +0000 http://ballylara.wordpress.com/?p=1217#comment-209 Many thanks for sharing. Only visited Clare once, and small pubs often. Greetings from the Golden Gate! Many thanks for sharing. Only visited Clare once, and small pubs often. Greetings from the Golden Gate!

]]> Comment on Time Passes: Irish Christmas Story Podcast by beryl http://ballylara.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/time-passes-irish-christmas-story-podcast/#comment-208 beryl Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:22:48 +0000 http://ballylara.wordpress.com/?p=1337#comment-208 nollaig shona dhuit. thanks, eddie. we will be reading it out loud here in berkeley. i am in california-home from ireland for Christmas. nollaig shona dhuit. thanks, eddie. we will be reading it out loud here in berkeley. i am in california-home from ireland for Christmas.

]]> Comment on Time Passes: Irish Christmas Story Podcast by The Burren Ranger http://ballylara.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/time-passes-irish-christmas-story-podcast/#comment-207 The Burren Ranger Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:51:06 +0000 http://ballylara.wordpress.com/?p=1337#comment-207 This, for me, captures the very essence of any Xmas eve in any irish village of the Ireland of the 1950's & '60's. A true classic . Thanks Eddie, pjc This, for me, captures the very essence of any Xmas eve in any irish village of the Ireland of the 1950’s & ’60’s. A true classic .
Thanks Eddie,
pjc

]]> Comment on Time Passes: Irish Christmas Story Podcast by Ellen D. Murphy http://ballylara.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/time-passes-irish-christmas-story-podcast/#comment-206 Ellen D. Murphy Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:44:52 +0000 http://ballylara.wordpress.com/?p=1337#comment-206 Listening to "Time Passes" on CD has been a Christmas Eve tradition in my house for many years; with many family members together over the next week we may read it aloud instead. Thanks, Eddie, for this evocation of lost days. "And we are still here ... " Listening to “Time Passes” on CD has been a Christmas Eve tradition in my house for many years; with many family members together over the next week we may read it aloud instead. Thanks, Eddie, for this evocation of lost days. “And we are still here … “

]]> Comment on Fooled by Faith: Ireland and Bishops by Wendy http://ballylara.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/fooled-by-faith-ireland-and-bishops/#comment-205 Wendy Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:51:11 +0000 http://ballylara.wordpress.com/?p=1235#comment-205 The church wouldn't have had the power if it hadn't been granted to it by its rosary-waving followers - some (or many?) of whom are speaking out in the media and defending these same bishops outside their churches. Still the same old hyprocritical and narrow-minded Ireland... But the church has been always been corrupt - the same church that made saints and martyrs of children who were believed to have died at the hands of Jewish people as blood-sacrifices. These innocent people then had their lands and money confiscated. A shrine to one of these children still existed in a Catholic church in Europe until the 1990s... But what can be expected of an undemocratic, all-male institution? Yes, there may be good individuals within this organisation. But if they are not working to revolutionise it, then how sincere are they at heart? As for missionaries, aid workers do the same work for the poor and hungry without imposing their own belief system on someone else's culture. Regarding your statement, "Irish freedom and Irish Catholicism grew entwined like the vine and the branch. You died for Ireland and you died for Jesus, same difference", I disagree. There were many non-Catholics who supported Irish freedom fighters and who were active in 1916. The church wouldn’t have had the power if it hadn’t been granted to it by its rosary-waving followers – some (or many?) of whom are speaking out in the media and defending these same bishops outside their churches. Still the same old hyprocritical and narrow-minded Ireland… But the church has been always been corrupt – the same church that made saints and martyrs of children who were believed to have died at the hands of Jewish people as blood-sacrifices. These innocent people then had their lands and money confiscated. A shrine to one of these children still existed in a Catholic church in Europe until the 1990s… But what can be expected of an undemocratic, all-male institution?

Yes, there may be good individuals within this organisation. But if they are not working to revolutionise it, then how sincere are they at heart? As for missionaries, aid workers do the same work for the poor and hungry without imposing their own belief system on someone else’s culture.

Regarding your statement, “Irish freedom and Irish Catholicism grew entwined like the vine and the branch. You died for Ireland and you died for Jesus, same difference”, I disagree. There were many non-Catholics who supported Irish freedom fighters and who were active in 1916.

]]> Comment on The Warrior Carty: Irish Christmas Story Podcast by Daithi MacSamhain http://ballylara.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/the-warrior-carty-christmas-story-podcast/#comment-204 Daithi MacSamhain Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:07:29 +0000 http://ballylara.wordpress.com/?p=1217#comment-204 The blessins of God on you Eddie! I've been hoping for a mp3 of The Warrior Carty for a long te now... Daithi The blessins of God on you Eddie! I’ve been hoping for a mp3 of The Warrior Carty for a long te now…
Daithi

]]> Comment on Fooled by Faith: Ireland and Bishops by peter quinn http://ballylara.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/fooled-by-faith-ireland-and-bishops/#comment-203 peter quinn Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:29:15 +0000 http://ballylara.wordpress.com/?p=1235#comment-203 Right on, Eddie, well put. You can have the Gospel or you can have power. The Church opted for the latter. The wind was sown, and now the whirlwind is reaped. Right on, Eddie, well put. You can have the Gospel or you can have power. The Church opted for the latter. The wind was sown, and now the whirlwind is reaped.

]]> Comment on Fooled by Faith: Ireland and Bishops by Ellen D. Murphy http://ballylara.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/fooled-by-faith-ireland-and-bishops/#comment-202 Ellen D. Murphy Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:26:51 +0000 http://ballylara.wordpress.com/?p=1235#comment-202 This should be required reading in the U.S., where elements of the religious right continually exert their influence on the political process, heedless of the wisdom of the drafters of our Constitution who guaranteed us not only freedom of religion but freedom FROM religion. There is at present a legal action in North Carolina to remove a local officeholder because he refuses to take an oath that includes a reference to his belief in God. Jesus wept, indeed. Fine work, Eddie. This should be required reading in the U.S., where elements of the religious right continually exert their influence on the political process, heedless of the wisdom of the drafters of our Constitution who guaranteed us not only freedom of religion but freedom FROM religion. There is at present a legal action in North Carolina to remove a local officeholder because he refuses to take an oath that includes a reference to his belief in God. Jesus wept, indeed. Fine work, Eddie.

]]> Comment on Fooled by Faith: Ireland and Bishops by irishelectionliterature http://ballylara.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/fooled-by-faith-ireland-and-bishops/#comment-201 irishelectionliterature Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:15:45 +0000 http://ballylara.wordpress.com/?p=1235#comment-201 I had forgotten how big an event the Eucharistic Congress was. Prior to the Popes visit in 1979, my Father and others of his generation told of the crowds and the mass in the Phoenix Park. Then of sitting on steps in Drumcondra in awe as the parade passed. He told us the parade took almost a day to pass and we of course didn't believe him fully.... I had never put the Eucharistic Congress into a political context as you do in the article and of course it all makes sense when looking back at it. In textbooks it was the opposition to Noel Brownes mother and baby scheme where the church first intervened. We took the intertwined Church/State relationship as begining with Arcbishop McQuaid. Looking back of course it wasn't the case. I had forgotten how big an event the Eucharistic Congress was. Prior to the Popes visit in 1979, my Father and others of his generation told of the crowds and the mass in the Phoenix Park. Then of sitting on steps in Drumcondra in awe as the parade passed. He told us the parade took almost a day to pass and we of course didn’t believe him fully….
I had never put the Eucharistic Congress into a political context as you do in the article and of course it all makes sense when looking back at it.
In textbooks it was the opposition to Noel Brownes mother and baby scheme where the church first intervened. We took the intertwined Church/State relationship as begining with Arcbishop McQuaid. Looking back of course it wasn’t the case.

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