Séamus Ahearne: PAULA MEEHAN: POETRY AND FAITH:
Paula Meehan was on the Brendan O’Connor programme (with Dearbhail) last Saturday, 9th August. She spoke of how language and poetry intrigues her. She spoke of her family history. She spoke of Finglas. She spoke of her education locally and at Trinity. She illustrated her life with five songs. Her humanity and warmth spills out of every conversation she has. For me, it is the excitement and celebration of the ordinary that matters. She mightn’t think that her work is holy. But it is. Somehow the Paula Meehans have to teach us how we approach the world of God. And how we humbly try to express faith.
THE BOOMTOWN RATS AND CURRAGHMORE:
I met my nieces and grandnieces last weekend. We spoke of the Curraghmore Festival 2025 – ‘All together Now.’ It was a source of great amusement for me. This was my home place. The Estate was a special place to live. The fields. The woods. The grounds. The community of workers. The characters. My father and mother worked there. My uncle worked there. I worked there. We could never have imagined that such a Festival of music would happen on our home land! The grandnieces loved the many shows at the Festival. They even were happy sleeping in tents. My niece went there to accompany the young ones. However, those young ones told me that she had used them as an excuse to be present at the performance of The Boomtown Rats and Bob Geldof. The niece told me that he was brilliant. She also enjoyed his rant. On Palestine. On Gaza. On Israel. On colonialism. I presume he realised that the Show was going on in Lord Waterford’s Estate. Something of an anomaly in a Republic! Despite my own historic resistance to living and working on such an estate, it was a good place to be. I didn’t get to hear Bob Geldof but heard enough of his rant. Should I go to Oasis? Hardly.
ALASKA WITH TRUMP AND PUTIN:
Today’s meeting in Anchorage brought back some memories. I flew into Anchorage airport a number of times on my trips to South Korea. I only saw the inside of the airport. It is also surprising that Trump and Putin meet in Alaska. Mister Putin might be expecting to get ‘his land’ back from America. Stephen King said – “Trump is a horror show, isn’t he?” How right he is. One of the locals here wrote a letter of welcome to Edward S Walsh, the newly appointed Ambassador to Ireland from America. That letter offered deep sympathies to the man who has to represent America now and has to speak of his Master and be His Master’s Voice. Sympathies were expressed with him on the rogue that Trump is. Among other comments, this was said:
Donald is now due in Anchorage for the Friday meeting. The world waits and wonders. Who can trust this man who is so lacking in self-awareness of his own ignorance? I only hope that the Ambassadors across the world will make every effort to moderate his influence.
THE TRAVELLERS STILL HAVE THE FAITH:
The Travellers are becoming a bigger part of our Congregations. They appear to be the only ones who have a residual faith. They seem to be the only ones getting married too. Our main man Paddy Kelly (Redemptorist), who was the unofficial chaplain to the travellers, has semi-retired. He knew all the families. He knew all the stories. He was brilliant. It now devolves on us in the Parishes to be there with the Travellers. We don’t know them as well. We are overwhelmed as we are. That is a great loss. In the past few weeks, I had two weddings and a funeral. (Traveller). It was different. The first Wedding was wonderful. The faith was obvious. The responses were uplifting. The sense of God was palpable. Oh yes – the dress was big and was hard to manoeuvre. The second wedding was chaotic. All that mattered was the dress. It took over everything. A forklift truck was needed. I couldn’t rescue the situation. The prayerfulness wasn’t there.
A few days ago, we had a funeral of Thomas. He was 29 years old. He had six children. The whole world of Travellers turned up. The village of Finglas was taken over. The outside of the church was decorated with a mighty number of family photos. The church was packed. The reverence was there. The responses were there. The young wife and Thomas’ mother arranged everything. When the women speak, the men listen! The little ones fully took part in the Service. It was special. Again the faith in the Traveller community was quite wonderful. We got to the graveyard. That journey took forever. The casket was gold and huge. The crowd took over Glasnevin. But the sense of togetherness was mighty. Liturgy has to be adjusting to another Ritual. We cannot be limited and confined by the ‘book.’ Today I ready another funeral but not a traveller’s. It will be different.
Seamus Ahearne osa
15th August 2025.