Jeffrey Keating poses with a bust of Archbishop John McNicholas.
(Steven M. Herppich photo)
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Jeffrey Keating, a McNicholas High School teacher, is spending two weeks in Ireland. On July 5, he was an observer to the violence surrounding the Protestant parade in the Northern Ireland city of Portadown. He moved on to the village of Kiltimagh, birthplace of the late Archbishop John Timothy McNicholas. He filed this report by e-mail.
BY JEFFREY KEATING
What a thrill to walk to the deserted home of Archbishop McNicholas and stand in the corner where he was born in 1877! His niece showed me around the property, which still has a working stone shelter that is used to store supplies for the grazing cows that are property of McNicholas's niece and grand-nephew.
The niece, Mrs. Mona Forkan, said there are occasional visitors inquiring about the birthplace. Last summer seven American bishops came in one van to, according to Mrs Forkan, make a spiritual connection.
We chatted in her kitchen over some tea and talked about such vital topics as the weather and Orange Orders. In response to her son's suggestions for beating the heat in Cincinnati, she recommended a glass of water "with a wee bit o' whiskey in't." Sounding like a graduate of some lofty medical school, she claimed that the whiskey slows the body's need for perspiration. Or something like that.
I presented her family with a number of sweatshirts and other items from Kathy Dillhoff and The Spirit Shop of McNick.
I then left Kiltimagh and aimed south toward Claregalway, a small village outside of Galway, in search of some cousins of my mother's. The highway was packed with tourists approaching Galway for its arts festival and gargantuan outdoor concert featuring The Beastie Boys. But mixed into the traffic were citizens of the North who were getting away from the Orange Order parades, which were threatening to be hostile.
There was little trouble finding the Murrays, who informed me that Mary Murray, very much alive during my last visit in '92, had died two years ago at the age of 95. She had never married, but her sister-in-law, her nephew, and his family were still living there in abject poverty. Just like they were six years ago. I accepted their offer for lunch and was a wee bit surprised when it appeared in the form of three cookies and a glass of whiskey. Oh well.
We took a ride in the Citroen and visited three cemeteries and their church. But their day was made when they got to use the 8mm minicam. Nineteen-year-old PJ ran all over the property filming just about everything. So I can't wait to plug in the tape on return.
Mom's Condron/Walsh/Murray family reunion next month will be thrilled, at least.
It stays light until 11 p.m., allowing for late-evening travel with minimum traffic. Hence, I moved on to Connemara to set up there for some golf at the club just south of Clifden. Head Pro Hugh O'Neill lives with his parents, who own a B&B next to the course. I played early the next morn right through a virtual gale. I'm an accomplished duffer anyway, so it was a thrill simply not losing a ball between tee and green.
Connamara Golf Club is a links-style course carved out of granite and bogfields. The Atlantic Ocean pounds against several fairways. The course is beautiful, but impossible. I played with an elderly chap, Brother Viv Cotter, and was amazed with his skills. I suspect he has too much idle time.
That evening folks gathered in the club's lounge to watch the World Cup final and pay tribute to the new women's club champion. The place was bedlam, but I enjoyed being the only American there. Seems the ladies like American accents. Fine with me!
But what has everyone concerned is the deaths of three young Catholic boys whose house was firebombed after their family had been receiving threats from Protestant toughs in their housing community.
I don't know what information has made it back to the states, but all one hears here seems to be connected to problems in the North of Ireland. It's strange to think of being in Portadown just a week ago amid all that tension. What a contrast. But Monday's controversial parade went through Belfast without any drastic problems, so what remains is the standoff at Drumcree in Portadown. There is no end in sight for their problems.
Previous reports
From the cemetery to the pub July 9, 1998
'Random violence is the rule' July 8, 1998
Irish trip no mere vacation July 4, 1998
