Pope John Paul II Park: It could use some fixing

By BostonIrish.com... (not verified)
June 4, 2015

By James W. Dolan
Special to the Reporter

Pope John Paul II Park, the southern gateway to the city, needs some attention. Thousands of people each day cross the Neponset and enter Dorchester. The first thing they see is the park. From a distance it looks nice but close up it’s an underutilized mess. I expect its namesake would be embarrassed at the neglect. Unfortunately, the Southeast Expressway blocks the view and creates a barrier between the park and its neighbors.

Rebuilding St. Greg’s – how you can help

By Ed Forry
June 4, 2015

The old school building on Dorchester Avenue in Lower Mills, once the home of St. Gregory’s Grammar School, is undergoing a complete renovation. When completed in September, old timers (like me, Class of ’58) who spent their primary school years at St. Greg’s will have trouble recognizing our old schoolhouse.

Irish minister for diaspora gets good look at Quinnipiac collection on Great Hunger

By BIR News Room
June 4, 2015

Jimmy Deenihan, Ireland’s minister for diaspora affairs, visited Quinnipiac University on May 7 to view the university’s vast collection of visual art, artifacts, and printed materials relating to the Irish Famine.

Deenihan took in the exhibition “‘Saving the Famine Irish: The Grey Nuns and the Great Hunger” in the Arnold Bernhard Library on the Mount Carmel Campus. He also toured Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University.

Irish education minister hails ‘vision, dedication’ of Boston’s Irish

By BIR News Room
June 4, 2015

Ireland’s Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O’Sullivan, TD, recently expressed her deep appreciation for the work of the Boston Irish community in sustaining and enhancing the deep and valued links between Ireland and America.

O’Sullivan was speaking at the conclusion of a week long visit to Boston where she met many Irish business and community organizations.

‘SO ABUNDANTLY BLESSED’ Fr Dan Finn reflects on 35 years of tending to all of Dorchester

By Peter F. Stevens
June 4, 2015

Peter F. Stevens

In multiple ways, Father Dan Finn embodies the parish priest who renders his spirit to the entire community, not merely to his own flock. This month, the County Cork native will embrace the next step of his pastoral and personal journey as he takes his leave of St. Mark’s parish after 22 years as its pastor, and 35 years overall of serving the people of Dorchester.

Vatican reaction: ‘Defeat for humanity’

By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press
June 4, 2015

Nicole Winfield, Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican’s secretary of state has called the Irish vote to legalize gay marriage a “defeat for humanity,” evidence of the soul-searching going on in Catholic circles after the predominantly Roman Catholic country overwhelmingly rejected traditional church teaching on marriage.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin said he was saddened by the landslide decision, in which more than 62 percent of Irish voters said “yes,” despite church teaching that marriage is only between a man and woman.

Gay marriage vote means ‘new normal’ for many in Ireland

By Shawn Pogatchnik,  Associated Press
June 4, 2015

Shawn Pogatchnik,  Associated Press

Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tanaiste Joan Burton celebrate at Dublin castle, Ireland, Saturday, May 23, 2015, on news that Ireland had voted resoundingly to legalize gay marriage in the world’s first national vote on the issue. AP Photo/Peter Morrison
DUBLIN – The gay couples of Ireland woke up on Sun., May 24, in what felt like a nation reborn, and some of them had dreams of wedding plans dancing in their heads.

Many weren’t rising too early, however, after celebrating the history-making outcome of Ireland’s referendum enshrining gay marriage in the constitution. The festivities began when the final result – 62 percent approval – was announced the previous night, and ran until sunrise in some corners of Dublin, with tens of thousands of revelers of all sexual identities pouring onto the streets.

A royal return to Sligo recalls a lord’s murder

By Shawn Pogatchnik,  Associated Press
April 30, 2015

Shawn Pogatchnik,  Associated Press

Classiebawn, the home of Lord Mountbatten in Mullaghmore, County Sigo, was built in the 1860’s by twice Prime Minister of England, Lord Palmerston. Prince Charles will be visiting Sligo this month where Lord Mountbatten was assassinated in 1979.

DUBLIN – Prince Charles is expected to visit the scene of the Irish Republican Army’s most high-profile assassination – the 1979 slaying of Charles’s great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten – during an official visit to Ireland this month to Ireland.

The British and Irish governments said that details are still being confirmed for Charles’s tour involving Co. Sligo in western Ireland, where Mountbatten lived without security in a castle residence for many years despite the IRA threat.

More are finding Ireland is made for walking

By BostonIrish.com... (not verified)
April 30, 2015

By Judy Enright
Special to the BIR

Healthy and active vacations are very much the focus for visitors to Ireland these days.

Walking/cycling trails abound for those energetic souls who want to get out and go, but there are also options for the traveler who just wants to take a slow amble through the countryside or a gentle bike ride. Of course, there are many other forms of exercise for visitors and residents such as the more than 300 golf courses in the North and in the Republic as well as almost any sport and adventure on land and sea that you can imagine.

Murphy finds satisfaction in his post-Nightingale life

By Sean Smith
April 30, 2015

Sean Smith

He may not have intended it that way, but the title for New England folk musician Keith Murphy’s fine recent solo album seems a little autobiographical.

“Suffer No Loss” is a refrain from one of the album’s songs, a dialogue between a couple on the pros and cons of relocating from Vermont to the Wisconsin wilderness. And while his circumstances may not have been as dramatic or compelling as those faced by the couple in question, Murphy can relate to the challenge of letting go of the familiar.

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