Séamus Ahearne: Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and every humming insect is holy, in the memory of my people. (Chief Seattle – from a letter written to the US President in 1883)
Jaywalking and the Donald:
America is strict and straight. Jay walk and it is penalised. Be a Trump and nothing happens. Clearly assaulting women is not as serious as jay walking. Avoid tax and inflating business costs is a minor misdemeanour. Attempting to scuttle the election in Georgia is only the excitement of disappointment. Exciting the crowd and signposting them to a riot at the Capitol is simply exuberance to stop ratifying a false election result! Distorting language and lying is the effluent of hyperbole, which adds colour to a campaign. It appears everyone loves a rogue. The bad guy is the good guy! Many are surprised at The Monk appearing on the scene for our own Election. He may do well. If recent history tells us anything.
Our own Election:
However. It is not Trump that worries me. It is the electorate who voted for him in such great numbers. It is the supportive Republican Party. It is the madness of the magnetic attraction towards such a buffoon. We often talk of the sacred duty of voting and the privilege it is. Many remember the queues in South Africa when Nelson Mandela had made the breakthrough. Some wish for the Australian scene, where voting is mandatory. But the electorate is not always sensible or serious. Our own Election has begun – and it is full of great expectations and crazy promises. There is such an air of chaos and irresponsibility. Some of us are so weary of an election that it is hard to be bothered with all the gibberish. None of us can have everything. Everyone wants more for themselves. It is such a nonsense.
The politicians give up their lives for the thrill, but they then douse themselves in rhetoric. Words mean whatever is useful for the moment. Michael O’Leary opens his mouth and there is uproar. It is surely obvious that the Dáil and the Government need mixed experiences and abilities. The Teaching Profession was probably over- represented in the Dáil. That too is understandable. They were afforded rather excellent conditions in stepping aside from their teaching and still retaining all the perks of the trade. The screams against Michael were extreme. Sensitive skin is not the most needed hide, for politics. But the business of governance is very serious and needs long term planning and honesty. Somehow as Joe Biden said – ‘Bring down the temperature.’ We don’t need noise. Or constant attack. Or the belittling of each other. The ordinary values still matter. Kindness. Respect. Listening. Appreciation for other views.
Are the young interested in politics?
I am concerned. At what I see to be stupidity. At the superficiality of life exemplified in Trump. I always had great regard for the innate goodness of humanity. But that is wilting. The whinging and the moaning gets on my nerves. The Social Media delights in splashing conspiracy theories and fake news and this is frightening. (The Southport follow-on riots illustrate this). It does also seem to me that many of the young have almost no interest in Current Affairs or in Politics or in Religion for that matter. It may be so that this is an issue worth examining. Our young people are full of formal education. There is a college for everything. There are schools of so called excellence all over the place. What and who is emerging from these? We need more serious thinking. More reflection. More attention to the big questions. Maybe more humility. More of us seeing as life as forever learning.
Rivermount is Golden:
I haven’t given up. I haven’t lost hope. How could I? Every day is a learning day. And my locality for the past 27 years still echoes for me – the sacraments of life. As Schillebeeckx says: ‘A sacrament is a smile on the face of God.’ Those sacraments are scattered in abundance all around me. Every home invites me in. Every person challenges me to think afresh. We are celebrating the Golden Jubilee of Rivermount here on the 22nd November. We remember Larry Forrestal. We remember Willie King. We remember John McNamara. We remember Michael Cleary. (Earlier priests here). All of them immersed themselves in the soil and the lives of the people. They were flexible. They adapted. The formalities of religion didn’t apply here. We remember Jim O’Shaughnessy, Mary Conroy, Conor McCarthy (the early school principals). They gave their all. Their commitment and their sheer goodness and their love of the community was extraordinary.
And those were the days, when robbed cars were almost nightly. When the schools were broken into on a regular basis. When night calls were happening many nights. We recall the characters who made up the community. The open homes to all of us. The banter. The fun. The laughter. The honesty. The stories. The Liturgy which was bent to the occasion and to the people. The special liturgies for special occasions. The sharing at every Mass where the experience of God in every life was truly celebrated. There was no clerical monopoly on God. Where the Word became flesh. Where the people with little gave a lot. Where the ordinary folk proved to be extraordinary. Where the poetry of life shone out in the resilience of great people. Where God appeared to be at home in the adventures of daily life. Is it any surprise that Larry Forrestal said that he should have remained a parish priest as he was nostalgic about his happy days in Rivermount?
The artist speaks to me:
Despite being frustrated and infuriated by the Trump success, I will never lose hope in people or in the beauty of nature or the goodness of people. God still plays the music for me. I was particularly reminded of this when Fergus Lyons (artist from Portlaw) send me a painting of trees and views up the road from where I was born and lived. I saw all the characters. I saw his father – my teacher. I saw his family who looked after my parents. I saw the people in the community who surrounded my family. I saw the River Suir. I saw Curraghmore (despite my politics against the gentry) and the playground and the beauty and the great friends of my past. Fergus evoked all of that. And I know how blessed I was and am. It does happen that the unexpected political surprises does dampen my enthusiasm for a time and some of the preoccupations of religious commentary seems ungodly to me. However, life is good. And I am thankful.
Seamus Ahearne osa
12th November 2024.
Séamus Ahearne’s reflection of November 12th expresses worry concerning the electorate who voted for Donald Trump in such great numbers. Later, Fr. Ahearne laments what he sees to be stupidity and superficiality that he sees exemplified in Trump. Notably, the reflection does not brand all Trump supporters as stupid and ultimately its disenchantment with a swathe of humanity is alleviated by a sacramental recognition of the goodness of life, people, and creation. Seeking to reassure rather than critique Fr. Ahearne, as one who lives in the US (Atlanta) and teaches Catholic theology there, may I offer the following in defense of those who voted for Trump? Ordinary people have had enough of aggressive forms of trans ideology, race-baiting that stirs up strife and division, media bias, an unwillingness to have a reasonable discussion about abortion limits, poorly managed immigration, creeping secularization, enthusiasm for the funding of foreign wars (and in effect the US military industrial complex), attacks of freedom on thought and speech, and a zeal to police everything except crime. I would posit that, in a sense, many voted against these realities rather than for Trump. I have always considered myself to be progressive and have faced my share of trouble and strife in my career for being committed to the dialogical vision of the Second Vatican Council, Catholic Social Teaching, modern biblical scholarship, and theological positions including support for women’s ordination. I never thought I would find myself defending “conservative” perspectives but people in this country are in many facets of their existence from work, to healthcare, to civic life confronted by a new form of secular fundamentalism and integralism where there is no room for discussion and it is a question of conforming or being abused, silenced, “cancelled”, and/or fired. It is drilled into people that objectivity and meritocracy are hallmarks of white supremacy, that math is racist, and that all white people are privileged and bear inherited guilt (that unlike Original Sin is not atoned for or forgiven) I suspect that this dynamic played a major role in Trump’s victory. Clearly there exists diversity of opinion among working class people but I would argue that many who voted for Trump are the US equivalent of the parishioners to whom Fr. Ahearne dedicates his life. They do not look to Trump as a moral exemplar, they may dread his positions on the death penalty, the treatment of Muslims and immigrants, and a host of moral issues but voted for the lesser of evils as they saw it, in defiance of what they experience as a “woke”, relativist, censorious, and authoritarian establishment. As a Green Card holder, I could not vote and I thank God for that.