9/11, Seven Years On

We are indebted to Thomas Murphy for the following:

The Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, wrote the following poem with thoughts of an attack that came out of the blue, with no warning on 9/11: ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN after Horace, Odea I, 34 Anything can happen. You know how Jupiter Will mostly wait for clouds to gather head Before he hurls the lightning? Well, just now He galloped his thunder-cart and his horses Across a clear blue sky. It shook the earth And the clogged underneath, the River Styx, The winding streams, the Atlantic shore itself. Anything can happen, the tallest things Be overturned, those in high places daunted, Those overlooked regarded. Stropped-beaked Fortune Swoops, making the air gasp, tearing the crest off one, Setting it down bleeding on the next. Ground gives. The heavens' weight Lifts up off Atlas like a kettle lid. Capstones shift, nothing resettles right. Smoke furl and boiling ashes darken day. Seamus Heaney

As we sit here at the computer, it is all too painful to remember that beautiful morning in early September, arguing with a fellow commuter over which cycle in hell to consign the Reverend Ian Paisley for his support of the bombing of Catholic schools in Northern Ireland, to remember being underneath the Trade Center on the subway, heading for work. We will never forget and our prayers are with the families and friends reading the names of the deceased.

Patricia Jameson-Sammartano
Culture Editor, WGT

Democratic National Convention

History was made this week at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Senator Barack Obama(IL) has accepted the nomination of his party for President of the United States. He's young, he's the first African-American since Jesse Jackson(1988) to run for the office, and he is the first African-American to receive the nomination -- and by acclamation on the nomination of NY Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Vice-Presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden of Delaware adds much gravitas to the ticket. Biden is an Irish Catholic from Scranton who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; he also is a former Judiciary Committee chair, he's written legislation to protect women against domestic violence. Senator Biden has been a member of the Senate since 1972, and he's a commuter.

He was honored by the American Ireland Fund for his leadership at their 2006 gala, and we are indebted to their website for the text of his speech in honor of his mother:

Tribute to an Irish Mother

Thank you for this honor, and for the wonderful work of the Fund.
The Troubles. I first heard about them from my grandfather, Ambrose Finnegan. All Irish Americans have heard the tales of decades of carnage and division. And we have been heartened by the last decade of remarkable progress toward peace.
But as much as we Irish Americans want peace, we can't want it more than the Irish of Ireland.
Last year, the Provisional IRA made a historic decision to end the armed struggle.This year, the Democratic Unionists face a historic choice: will they share political power with the nationalist community? Next year, when we meet here again, it is my hope, and my mother's prayer, that you will have taken government back into your own hands - and Ireland will again be on the road to a permanent peace.
What was it that Yeats said? "Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart." Don't wait until hearts turn to stone. I challenge all political leaders: follow what Lincoln called your better angels. It is in our nature. It is the 21st century. Look forward and write a new chapter of Irish history.
I want to thank you all again for this honor. I know my mother has always loved and adored me -- but this is one of the few awards I've ever been given that makes me feel totally worthy within my mother's eyes. Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden is the soul, spirit, and essence of what it means to be an Irish American.
She is spiritual. She is romantic. She honors tradition, and understands the thickest of all substances is blood, and the greatest of all virtues is love.She has taught her children, all her children in my neighborhood who flocked to her hearth, that you are defined by your sense of honor and you are redeemed by your loyalty.She is quintessentially Irish -- a combination of pragmatism and optimism.She also understands as my friend Pat Moynihan once said, there is no "point in being Irish if you don't know that the world is going to break your heart eventually."But she is more. She measures success in how quickly you get up after you have been knocked down.She believes bravery lives in every heart, and her expectation is that it willbe summoned. Failure at some point in everyone's life is inevitable, butgiving up is unforgivable.
As long as you are alive you have an obligation to strive. And you are not dead until you've seen God's face. My mother is a living portrait of what it means to be Irish - - proud on the edge of defiance. Generous to a fault. Loyal to the end. She made not only me believe, but scores of my friends and acquaintances believe in themselves. As a child I stuttered. She said it was because I was so bright I couldn't get the thoughts out quickly enough. When my face was dirty, and I was not as well dressed as others, she told me how handsome I was. When my wife and daughter were killed, she told me God sends no cross a man is not able to bear.
And when I triumphed, she reminded me it was because of others.She was watching through the kitchen window as I got knocked down by two bigger guys behind my grandfather's home. She sent me back out and demanded that I, to use their phrase, "bloody their nose," so I could walk down that alley the next day.When my father quit his job on the spot because his abusive boss threw a bucket full of silver dollars on the floor of a car dealership to humiliate his employees, she told him how proud she was.
No one is better than you. You are every man's equal, and every man is equal to you. You must be a man of your word, for without your word you're not a man.When I was in eighth grade, I was a lieutenant on the safety patrol. My job was to keep order on the bus. My sister and best friend Valerie acted up. At dinner that night I told my mother and father I had a dilemma. I had to turn my sister in - it was a matter of honor. My parents said that was not my only option. The next day I turned my badge in.
I believe the traits that make my mother a remarkable woman mirror the traits that make the Irish a remarkable people. Bent, but never bowed. Discriminated against, but always looking down at their discriminator. Economically deprived, but spiritually enriched. Denied an education, but a land of scholars and poets.
As I look out at those massive Corinthian columns, I see my 5 foot, 2 inch mother, who stands taller in my eyes than any pillar in this room.
And I think of the Irish poem "Any Woman" by Katherine Tynan:

"I am the pillars of the house;

The keystone of the arch am I.

Take me away, and roof and wall

Would fall to ruin utterly.

I am the fire upon the hearth,

I am the light of the good sun,

I am the heat that warms the earth,

Which else were colder than a stone."

We Irish are duly represented.

Patricia Jameson-Sammartano

Culture Editor, WGT

RIP Tim Russert 1950 - 2008

Updated with reflections from his son Luke, Chris Matthews, Mike Barnicle, Pat Buchanan, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Tom Brokaw, Maria Shriver


Buffalo-born Irish American Tim Russert, anchor of NBC's "Meet the Press," died Friday afternoon of an apparent heart attack. His last act was doing voice overs for Sunday's show. The Emmy award-winning Washington Bureau chief of the network was only 58 years old and had just returned from a European trip with his wife Maureen Orth and son, Luke. He is survived by them, his sisters, and his father, Timothy Sr., about whom Tim wrote two best selling books("Big Russ and Me: Father and Son: Lessons of Life" and "Wisdom of Our Fathers:Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons"). One of the country's most respected political journalists, he was known as a hard questioner no matter which side of the political aisle upon which one sat. If you click on no other link, listen to the videos made by his colleagues. They are accolades to his gravitas, in a business that is all too often cut-throat. Particularly listen to Matthews, Barnicle and Buchanan on Hardball as they discuss the Irish obsession with politics and Irish-American Catholicism.
Photo credit: Boston College

Russert, who was a National Baseball Hall of Fame board member, began his career with NBC in 1984 and helmed "Meet the Press" beginning in 1991; prior to that he had been a counselor to New York Governor Mario Cuomo, who authored the 2008 Time Magazine biography featured below and earlier, an aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. We remember meeting him in Kingston, NY in the late 1970's when the senator was on a trip there and Russert served as chief of staff. A gracious man with an Irish sense of humor, he displayed a keen insight for politics which served him well in both his political and journalistic careers. And he was always kind to the journalists, even those of us who freelanced.

God rest his soul, and give comfort to his family. We will miss his voice, especially in this presidential election year.

Timothy J. Russert, 1950 - 2008

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25186769#25186769
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25186769#25186769
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25145431/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25145655/displaymode/1107/s/2/framenumber/1/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lklfIPBK4Zg
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1733748_1733752_1735737,00.html http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/russert-dies-of-apparent-heart-attack/#comments
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1814437,00.html

Patricia Jameson-Sammartano
Culture Editor, WGT

Victory Celebration for St. Brigid's Parish

In a telephone interview with Edwin Torres, chairman of the Committee to Save St. Brigid's, he told us that the Committee will be holding a fundraiser/ celebration at Connolly's, 121 West 45th St. on June 18th, at 7 p.m. sharp. This will be a reprise of 2006's Bards for St. Brigid's, with musicians like Larry Kirwan, and authors like Peter Quinn and Malachy McCourt. The proceeds will be donated to the legal defense fund. "We just want to say thank you to all the people who made this possible and who, by extension, are members of our parish."

Photo credit: Patricia Jameson-Sammartano


From our perspective, we can't wait for the next Mass to be celebrated at the Famine Church of the Lower East Side. This is proof that miracles do exist, and God is indeed hope.

Patricia Jameson-Sammartano
Culture Editor, WGT

http://www.cny.org/archive/ld/ld1052208.htm
http://www.archny.org/news-events/news-press-releases/index.cfm?i=8106

Saint Brigid's Has Been Saved!!!!!

Today's news about St. Brigid's Church on the Lower East Side of Manhattan is truly miraculous. The embattled congregation, which has been working mightily to save the church, has received the news that their church will be purchased by an unnamed benefactor for $20 million dollars. We quote an email from Edwin Torres, the chairperson of the Committee to Save St. Brigid's:

"Dear Members,
The associated press release a press release that an anonymous donor has met with the Cardinal and offered 20 million dollars to the Archdiocese. 10 million to restore St Brigid as a Parish Church, 2 million for an endowment and 8 million for the school. The Cardinal has accepted his unexpected offer. ST. BRIGID CHURCH is Saved!!!! I am lining up interviews with TV stations. The first will be with UNIvision today @ 12:30. in front of the church. Please try and come. I know it is short notice but it would be great if the committee is present. The Lord does hear the prayers of the just. Thank you Lord, and thank you to all members who persevered. God Bless! Please call me. 212-691-5570. Yeah! Yeah ! Yeah!Ed"

Photo credit: Committee to Save St. Brigid's

This Committee is entitled to all the joy -- God is indeed good, and hope prevails. On a more personal note, we have witnessed a true parish congregation, even though without a building. The Committee's concern for one another has been the true hallmark of Catholic Charity.

Patricia Jameson-Sammartano
Culture Editor, WGT

http://www.savestbrigid.com/
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/05/21/2008-05-21_st_brigids_saved_from_wrecking_ball_by_a.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/nyregion/22church.html?em&ex=1211688000&en=2c1881e48b07cc4b&ei=5087%0A

Keltic Dreams Celebrate St. Patrick's Day at City Hall

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn hosted this year's City Council Celebration of Irish Heritage and Culture on Wednesday, March 12. Senator George Mitchell received the Thomas Manton Irish Man of the Year Award, Staten Island's own Assemblyman Michael Cusik and the CEO and publisher of the Irish Echo, Mairtin O'Muilleoir, and the Committee to Save St. Brigid's Church also won awards.

But by far and away the evening belonged to the 30 young stepdancers from PS 59 in the South Bronx, and their teacher Caroline Duggan. The children are of African-American and Hispanic descent, but they do a mean Riverdance. Ms. Duggan, who is from Dublin, is to be saluted for her devotion to her children, and their education.

March's festivities will continue; the next big event at City Hall is the Irish Heritage and Culture Week Celebration on March 28th.

Patricia Jameson-Sammartano
Culture Editor, WGT


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/14/nyregion/14educ.html?ex=1206072000&en=6e76d50362c77a88&ei=5099&partner=TOPIXNEWS

News Flash from Northern Ireland - Paisley to Step Down as First Minister

It was reported this evening by Reuters that Antrim-born Ian Paisley will be resigning his position as First Minister of Northern Ireland in May. The Presbyterian minister, long infamous for his vitriolic diatribes against the Catholic population of the world, entered into the power sharing agreement brought about by the Good Friday agreement of 1998, which was implemented in 2007.

"No Surrender!" became compromise, after years of hatred. Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander, became Deputy First Minister. In an oxymoronic move, Northern Ireland's "Dr. No" became famous to a new generation for saying "yes" to power-sharing with the Irish Republicans, and that may eventually have been the reason for the surprise resignation. Paisley was initially to have served a four year term.

The 81-year old evangelist, head of the Democratic Unionist Party, the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland, and leader of his own insurgent Free Presbyterian Church since 1951, was first elected to Parliament in 1970 and to the European Parliament in 1979. According to CNN, in January he was forced to stand down as leader of the anti-Catholic sect because people were disappointed by his compromise.

No overt reason has been given for his resignation; his son, Ian, Jr. was forced to resign from the coalition due to ethical misconduct, but Dr. Paisley has sworn that had nothing to do with his resignation as First Minister. Last summer, Martin McGuinness visited New York and was feted; he said then that Paisley was ill.

Reaction to the surprise move was that this is the end of a 40-year old era for Northern Ireland politics, and people on both sides of the struggle had praise for Dr. Paisley's leadership.

Patricia Jameson-Sammartano

Culture Editor, WGT

http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL0455485820080305?sp=true&pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0

http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL0424769920080304

http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL044936320080304?sp=true

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/03/04/paisley.quits.ap/index.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7270000/newsid_7278300/7278389.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&asb=1&news=1&bbcws=1

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/04/AR2008030401438.html?hpid=moreheadlines