Tipperary Home of Hurling - Erin’s Own

 Had to share this great song by a great band to mark a historic occasion. I got to know the lads in Erin's Own through my friendship with the Corrigan Brothers, some of whom also play with Erin's Own. Anyway, enough of introductions - sit back and enjoy:

Tipperary Home of Hurling performed and written  by Erin’s Own- who comprise of Tipp Men, Brian Corrigan, Willie Dunne, Dave Lawlor and Ger Hogan

Released to celebrate Tipperary’s challenge for the All Ireland Title and to inspire the county to triumph over Kilkenny’s five in a row challenge the song tells the story of Hurling in Tipperary. Tom Semple, Jimmy Doyle and man of the other Tipperary Legends are acknowledged in the song.

Erin’s Own are just back from an extensive tour of the USA. 

Tipperary, The Home of Hurling  
Words and Arrangement Erin’s Own

Chorus

Tipperary, the premier county. We're on the way back up.
Tipperary, the home of hurling, we'll bring back the McCarthy cup

I

Well I often heard my father speak of the hurling men of old,
Their legend lives to this very today, and they wore the blue and gold.

He told me of Tubberadora, that glorious golden mile,
Where 89 All Ireland Medals were won with bravery and style.

Chorus

II

He'd talk of Thomas Semple, a great hurler of renown,
Who lent his name to that Hallowed sod in dear old Thurles town.

Of Hell's Kitchens Storied back line, men of Iron born to spoil,
And of our counties greatest hurler, the brilliant Jimmy Doyle.

Chorus

III

I remember that half forward line of Cleary, Leahy, Ryan,
And Nicky's haul on All Ireland day, still the greatest of all time.

And Tommy Dunne in zero one, he led a mighty team,
Each time O'Leary got that ball, he shattered Galway's team.

Chorus

IV

From Cashel's holy towers, to the slopes of Sliabh na mBán,
From the sandy shores of old Lough Derg, to the homes around Kilruane.

From Kickham's fabled Knocknagow, to the Galtee mountain's might,
Our Hurlers have come willing and are ready now to fight.

Chorus

V

So now it's time to rise again and take McCarthy back,
With 15 fearless warriors, to lead a fierce attack.

Liam Sheedy and his band of men will keep our dream alive,
We'll send Kilkenny packing and we'll halt their drive for five.
 
Chorus

Oh Tipperary the premier county, we're on the way back up,
Tipperary the home of hurling, we'll bring back the McCarthy Cup.

Tipperary the premier county, with that sacred sod and clay,
Tipperary the home of hurling, home to the GAA.

Oh Tipperary the premier county, we're on the way back up,
Tipperary the home of hurling, we'll bring back the McCarthy Cup

Ground Zero mosque controversy - A helpful comment

This is the most sensible thing I have heard since this controversy started: Check it out HERE

Parody of Mega Church - Very clever!

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

President Josiah Bartlet is coming to Borrisokane

After years of rumours it is finally confirmed. Not only does our parish look forward to a visit from President Barack Obama, now we can also look forward to that other great president of the 21st Century paying us a visit and making a movie in Borrisokane this October. Not his first visit mind you, Martin Sheen whose mother hails from these parts is a regular visitor. As a recent convert to the West Wing I am looking forward to an opportunity to maybe meet this great actor. What is it about this parish? - Next we will discover we have Bush connections! Actually that is a nightmare and if it came true I would be burning all the records I could find ;)

This from today's London Sunday Times:

Low-budget movie brings a Hollywood Sheen to Borrisokane
West Wing star to play a priest who questions his vocation as he attempts to establish a rural cinema despite opposition from the church hierarchy
Eithne Shortall
Published: 15 August 2010

From the West Wing to Borrisokane: actor Martin Sheen is to play an Irish priest in a low-budget production being filmed in the North Tipperary town where his mother was born.

Sheen, best known for his roles in Apocalypse Now and as President Josiah Bartlet in The West Wing, is to play Canon Barry, a priest who questions his vocation as he attempts to establish a rural cinema under opposition from politicians and the Catholic church hierarchy in the 1950s.

Stella Days, which is based on a self-published book by a local bank official, will be directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan, who made Ordinary Decent Criminal. Stephen Rea, star of The Crying Game, and Atonement’s Romola Garai will also feature.

The movie was due to shoot in 2007 but was postponed due to legal and financial issues. Filming, largely in Borrisokane, has now been confirmed for the end of October.

Sheen, a devout Catholic, has remained committed to the low-budget project for five years. He was first approached about it while visiting the birthplace of his mother, Mary Ann Phelan, in 2005.

“Martin is very interested in Catholicism. The appeal was a combination of playing a priest who was questioning his vocation and the story’s setting,” said O’Sullivan.

The director said the movie’s theme is Barry’s battle with bishops and politicians who have a “de Valerian attitude” to the cinema and think it will lead to foreign influences. Sheen’s character is based on a real-life Canon Cahill, a local priest who was the driving force behind the opening of the Stella cinema.

Michael Doorley, the bank official from Borrisokane, who is now living in Bray, wrote the book as a hobby and published it himself on a modest scale. Maggie Pope, a producer on Stella Days who worked on Into the West, came upon it in a Dublin bookshop.

“If people think we’re in a recession now, Ireland in the 1950s was 10 times worse,” said Doorley. “The Catholic church ruled the roost and it was a very reactionary country. They were almost condemning Hollywood from the pulpit, it was that bad. This is definitely a recession movie.”

The Irish Film Board has provided €600,000 in funding and the production will also avail of Section 481 film tax breaks.

Sheen, 70, has visited Ireland frequently since 1973. He has cousins in Tipperary and studied at NUI Galway in 2006.

An inspiring life! - needs no expalnation

Leaving Christianity - I know how she feels!

"Twelve years after she converted from atheism, [Anne Rice] author of Interview with the Vampire abandons Christianity over its attitude to birth control, homosexuality and science" (The Guardian) Read More HERE

This has really got me thinking - No I am not about to do likewise but I do know how she feels - So much that is done and said in the name of Christianity leaves me despairing.  Rice does draw the important distinction between Christ and Christianity and declares herself still a follower of Christ but she sees the institution as all too often an obstacle rather than a vehicle of redemption.

Others have said the same before her including Dan Kimball whose bestselling "They like Jesus but not the Church" tells the stories of many people who have found the hypocrisy of the Institution impossible to reconcile with the person of Jesus Christ.

In some ways this is not unrelated to the ongoing Religion vs Spirituality debate which seeks to purify faith of its various material incarnations in a quest for pure Spirituality. Of course such is impossible for us to achieve, as all of our experiences are mediated and thus shaped and interpreted by the medium of that experience. However does this mean they must be so distorted as to render them unrecognisable from that which gave birth to them?

It will be interesting to see where Anne Rice's journey will take her. It is early days and far too soon to judge but I hope that she will continue to challenge 'Christianity' from without as she has from within. Hers is a valid critique and she should not be dismissed just because she has 'left'! It could be argued after all that what she has left is not the totality of Christianity but rather a distorted and pale imitation thereof.

Someone who faced similar issues was Barbara Brown Taylor, an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church of the United States of America (ECUSA / TEC) who though never formally renouncing 'Christianity' did leave parish ministry and in so doing experienced a liberation and a new lease of life while remaining a priest in good standing with her church. I reviewed her book 'Leaving Church'  in an earlier blog post and I found it the singularly most helpful book I have ever read in seeking to understand and deal with the tensions of being an ordained priest/minister. Read the review HERE

To end on an encouraging note a supporter of Anne Rice's has posted this video as a reply to some of the more negative and vitriolic responses to her 'leaving Christianity'


The following is a message from the video's author/creator:
In support of Anne Rice, and a host of other people who haven't stopped loving God but are having trouble fitting in with the church (aka organized religion). This is my official video response to the video "Anne Rice Rejects Christ Goes to HELL" posted by stopgoing2hell.

Regarding the song playing in the background, it is Bride Song by Brian Healey / Dead Artist Syndrome. Here are the lyrics:

Jesus, I love you, but don't understand your wife,
She wears such funny make-up, and she always wants to fight,
Every time I turn my back she's waiting with a knife,
In my world of black and gray she argues shades of white.

Jesus, I love you, but I don't understand your wife,
She wears such funny make-up, and she always wants to fight,
Jesus, I love you, but I don't understand your wife,
She wears such funny make-up, and she always wants to fight.

She loves capital punishment, and nuclear arms,
Then screams about the right to life and the Grand Old Party's charms,
She's always burning bridges, even ones she's standing on,
When I try to tell her, she says, "to you, I don't belong."

Jesus, I love you, but I don't understand your wife,
She wears such funny make-up, and she always wants to fight,
Jesus, I love you, but I don't understand your wife,
She wears such funny make-up, and she always wants to fight.

You're always hearing me complain, and you're listening once more,
I know everything your bride's against, but I don't know what she's for,
So, don't mistake my anger for bitterness and strife,
'cuz on bended knees I'm begging you please "Jesus, talk to your wife!"

(The New Testament refers to the church as the "Bride of Christ" --- thus the song title and content.)

Becoming Protestant - The story of a reluctant convert

I have always been one of a breed of southern Irish Protestants who are unhappy with the word ‘Protestant’ as a description of our denominational affiliation. To me it was always a negative word which conjured up images of hardened anti-Roman Catholicism. It was I though more descriptive of those who on principle believed the very opposite of what the Roman Catholic Church taught; the kind of Protestants more typical of certain enclaves in Northern Ireland or indeed parts of rural Ireland where the wounds of Ne Temere were yet to heal.

I had always felt that my identity as an Anglican Christian was determined by who and what I believed in rather than that which I stood against. And in any case I didn’t and don’t find myself in conflict with the vast majority of my brothers and sisters in the Roman Catholic Church – I didn’t see a need to protest about their faith (and I still don’t) in order to affirm mine. I believe that God is big enough to encompass our differences and diversities. Indeed I think that our very diversity can be a source of mutual enrichment and support. There are elements of Roman Catholicism which I really value, most especially its broader concept of the Sacraments which I think acknowledges very effectively the sacramental nature of the totality of our lives.

So to me this title of ‘Protestant’ or ‘Protester’ sat uncomfortably and lumped me in with people of other traditions and churches whose antagonism towards Roman Catholicism was and is a constant source of embarrassment. I cringed recently when the representatives of the First Minister of Northern Ireland refused to attend the funeral of Cardinal Daly the former head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland and I feel genuine pain for a great many priests and religious who find 21st Century Ireland so hostile to their vocation that they are uncomfortable wearing their collars or habits in public. As a Protestant this is not something I want to be associated with.

On the contrary, like many in both our traditions I have long believed that ecumenism is not so much an option as an imperative. I believe it to be a scriptural norm and the thing that Jesus prayed for so earnestly.
I ask…that they may all be one. As you Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17:21-21)

I don’t believe though that the unity Jesus envisaged was one of uniformity, but rather one that allowed Christians to be different and distinct and yet share unity in their participation in building the Kingdom of God on Earth. Again and again in his earthly ministry Jesus demonstrates an inclusive concept of God’s love and embrace which allowed men and women, Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free, prostitutes and tax collectors to call themselves disciples – He could not have surrounded himself with a more diverse and in many cases disreputable body of followers but in him and through him in God they became a community of faith. Their Unity is based on their participation in the Divine unity not earthly rules which are to serve that unity for which Jesus prayed, not define it.

So in the light of the Gospel precedent, the differences between Roman Catholicism and my own Anglican tradition seem relatively minor, and such differences as there are, though at times painful, can be tolerated in an atmosphere of mutual love and respect which is typical of inter-church relationships in Ireland today. However something is happening at the highest levels of the Roman Catholic Church which threatens to set us back generations to a time when fear and suspicion characterised the relationships between our churches. It is something that is making me realise that perhaps there is a value in being a ‘protesting Protestant’.

The publication of Dominus Iesus at the turn of the millennium was the beginning of the Ecumenical winter which is blowing colder by the day. In that document (drafted by Pope Benedict, then Cardinal Ratzinger) Pope John Paul II declared that the Protestant churches were not churches in the proper sense but rather ‘ecclesial communities’. The then Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, denounced it as unacceptable and he spoke for millions of Anglicans throughout the world who were gravely offended at this gratuitous insult. There has been no backtracking from this position however and Pope Benedict reaffirmed it emphatically in 2007 saying that:
"It is nevertheless difficult to see how the title of 'Church' could possibly be attributed to [Protestant communities], given that they do not accept the theological notion of the Church in the Catholic sense and that they lack elements considered essential to the Catholic Church."
Those of us committed to ecumenism in both our traditions are increasingly disheartened by this negative and pejorative language being used to belittle the Protestant churches in particular. It is hard to recognize the generous and inclusive expression of God’s love as modeled in the person of Jesus Christ in what has issued from the Vatican in recent years. But bad and all as the situation is, it just got worse, a whole lot worse.

The publication this week of the Vatican Canon law document, ‘NORMAE DE GRAVIORIBUS DELICTIS’ heaped further gratuitous insult on the Protestant churches when the offence of celebrating the Eucharist with members of ‘ecclesial communities’ (Protestants) was given an equivalence to “the taking or retaining for a sacrilegious purpose or the throwing away of the consecrated species.” In other words celebrating the Eucharist with Protestants is the same as chucking the consecrated host in the bin!
I protest! This cannot be defended as ‘ecumenical honesty’ or ‘speaking the truth in love’ – this is quite simply sectarian and hateful language and has no place in any document which claims Christian provenance.
But there is more – As if that were not enough, sharing equal status with the sacramental crime of celebrating the Eucharist with Protestants is the further sacramental crime of attempting to ordain women to the priesthood and the moral crime of Pedophilia! All of these are described as grave delicts.

I protest! I protest again, but this time not just for Protestants, but for all women who are told that their feelings of vocation are a sacramental crime and that those who would ordain them will like them be excommunicated.
I protest for the children whose horrendous suffering is put on a par with either a Eucharistic irregularity or a misguided sense of vocation.
I protest against the subversion of Love to the Law.
I protest against those who would seek to defend the indefensible.
I protest against those who would dress up prejudice in doctrine.
I protest against those who say that this is the will of God.
I protest against those who think that for God to Love them he must hate others.
I am a Protestant and I protest!


Addendum
It has been pointed out to me from a number of sources that my hang up with the term 'Protestant' is actually unfounded in that its origins are entirely positive.
It was in 1529 at the Diet of Speyer that the word 'protestatio' was used for the first time and it was used positively and not negatively as signifying a positive witness to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and not in terms of anti- anything. This if anything makes me even more comfortable in my Protestant shoes.

I also had a letter on same subject printed in the IRISH TIMES today 20th July

Check out the following blogs who have refrenced this post:
Enlightened Catholic
and
Nihil Obstat

Diego Maradona's homecoming song & the Buenos Aires hurling club

DIEGO MARADONA GOT A WARM WELCOME HOME TO ARGENTINA……..Shay Healy and the Corrigan Brothers mark the occasion in Song

SEE IT HERE

The Pocket-Rocket Argentinean superstar, Diego Maradona, received a warm
Welcome home to Buenos Aires, even though his team was vanquished in
the quarter -finals of the World Cup.

Diego was cheered by the news that the anthem composed and recorded
for him by The Corrigan Brothers, Pete Creighton and Shay Healy is
Being played on South African radio station ALGOA FM in Port
Elizabeth and from today we hope it will go into heavy rotation on
Pop radio across Argentina.”

Back in Port Elizabeth, where Argentina played against Nigeria, the
Members of The Old Grey Sports and Social club have formed a Diego
choir. Soren Christiansen and his Irish son-in-law Jim O’Neill, have
taken it upon themselves to preserve the memory of Diego’s visit and
Soren said today “we loved having Diego come to our town and any time
he wants to return, every member of our club will be out to greet him
with open arms.

Ger Corrigan, from the Corrigan Brothers who got 6 million hits on You Tube with his
song, “There’s No One as Irish as Barack Obama, said today “it is a
great pleasure for us to show in this song, the affection that the
Irish have´for Diego. We all love a bit of a devil like Diego and he
has been entertaining us for over twenty years with his antics, on
and off the field.

Eurovision song writing winner, Shay Healy said, “We won’t stop until we are singing “O O O Diego” at the famous Buenos Aires Hurling Club.’

World Cup Interlude: Ooooh Diego - The original 'Hand of God' works his magic - Shay Healy & The Corrigan Brothers

Press release: Ireland –July 01- 2010

From Hero to nearly Zero and back to Hero again- Diego Maradona

Ireland’s Corrigan Brothers who had the international hit (six million you tube hits too) with “ There’s no one as Irish as Barack Obama” have teamed up with Eurovision song writing winner Shay Healy (What’s another Year) to bring you the NEW song “Oh Oh oh Diego, Diego Maradona”

You tube Link to the Chorus of the song- Complete video in production currently

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRM325ZVNBk

The Lyrics

Oh oh oh Diego- Diego Maradona

From Boca Juniors
To Napoli
It was Diego
They came to see.
Soon he became,
A superstar
Until he went
A bit too far

That old cocaine
It wrecked his head
So he quit the blow
And he ate instead
He got so fat
We all thought that he
Was heading for
Eternity

oh oh oh Diego
they said you were a goner
oh oh oh Diego
Diego maradona
oh oh oh Diego
they said you were a goner
oh oh oh Diego
Diego maradona

The pint sized wizard
Argen ten ian
Has been to hell
But he’s back again
He got in shape
Cleaned up his act
You should see the babes
That this man attracts

oh oh oh Diego
they said you were a gonner
oh oh oh Diego
Diego maradona
oh oh oh Diego
they said you were a gonner
oh oh oh Diego
Diego maradona

He’s a comeback King
Like the great Ali
Diego says
Don’t mess with me
I beat the booze
And I beat the coke
They sing my name
Like I’m the Pope

oh oh oh Diego
they said you were a goner
oh oh oh Diego
Diego maradona

oh oh oh Diego
they said you were a goner
oh oh oh Diego
Diego maradona

BUT MOST OF ALL
WE WONT FORGET
ONE SPECIAL GOAL
FLYING TO THE NET
HE SAYS FROM HEAVEN
HE GOT THE NØD
AND HE BANGED IT IN
WITH THE HAND OF GOD

oh oh oh Diego
they said you were a goner
oh oh oh Diego
Diego maradona

oh oh oh Diego
they said you were a goner
oh oh oh Diego
Diego maradona

Winners and Loosers

To be a human being is to be in conflict! It may not be how the Creator intended but again and again we human beings define ourselves by what we are not.  From our very beginnings we have set ourselves up as distinct and above the rest of Creation, a fallacy that is only now beginning to dawn on us as we see the result of our arrogance towards the Environment made manifest in catastrophic global warming and climate change.

And yet despite all this we continue to reinforce our own status by undermining the status of others. Sadly the Christian tradition is no exception and may even be seen as a driving force in this perversion.  This is a culture of ‘winners and losers’ and it cannot conceive of God’s approval of one group without a simultaneous divine condemnation of another. This attitude is typified in the recent response of the Roman Catholic Bishops to the proposed Civil Partnership legislation where the concern is expressed that the extension of rights and protections normally associated with marriage to same sex couples will undermine the institution of marriage. To be fair, the Roman Catholic hierarchy are not alone in putting forward this argument – it is also very prevalent within our own Anglican tradition and symptomatic of the current division in worldwide Anglicanism over human sexuality.

As a married man and a father I really don’t understand this argument. I don’t see the prospect of same sex couples being afforded the right to register their partnerships and seek legal protection for their rights therein as any threat to my marriage! Without getting into the minutiae of biblical interpretation it does seem to paint God into a very narrow corner with little room left for the generosity of Grace.  On the contrary the Bill does not provide legal recognition for same-sex couples who are co-parenting children. Children in these families are seriously disadvantaged by being ignored in the proposed legislation.

I recall the same argument regarding the threat of same sex unions to Christian marriage being used when my good friend Bishop Gene Robinson (an openly gay man in a long term monogamous relationship) was consecrated Bishop of New Hampshire, and he quite validly pointed out that Brittney Spears heterosexual behaviour was far more undermining of the institution of marriage than his own exclusive and committed same sex relationship with his partner of many years.

The bishops and others will argue ‘but what about same sex parents’?

Nobody answers this question better than Spencer Burke, a contemporary American theologian who in his ‘A heretics guide to eternity’ comments: ‘If you’re a child, is it better to live in a home with a single dad-or even two dads-who really love you than with a mum and a dad who abuse you? Really, what’s more important: that your family “fits” or that it functions?’ 

This same winners and loosers mentality was evident in the depressing response of Gregory Campbell, a DUP Westminster MP to the recent Saville report on the Bloody Sunday killings, declaring it a waste of money and creating a hierarchy of victims. The implication of his statement was that the justice finally afforded to the innocent victims of Bloody Sunday undermined and threatened justice for those who had been killed by republican paramilitaries in Derry. In what parallel universe is the recognition of the truth of a grave injustice to one group of people an obstacle to the uncovering of further truths for others?

           

So where do we go from here? Surely we have to rediscover  a new openness to the truth that will set us free from the tyranny of former ages. Our world does not have to be about winners and loosers! God’s Grace does not conform to our mathematical formulae but rather a Spencer Burke puts it: “God’s Kingdom was made up not of one particular group of people but rather of all peoples who will gladly respond in mercy and compassion to the strangers they meet. Jesus established the the idea that God, not God’s people, determines who is of God and who is not.”

Is this the End for Enda?

Yes - hot off the mixing desk the lads have done it again!
Corrigan Brothers & Pete Creighton (There’s no one as Irish as Barack Obama) bring you “you won’t shaft Enda Kenny” – a song for the difficult times in Fine Gael.

The biscuit thief

I came across this wonderful story (Source: Brett Blair) while preparing a sermon for Sunday next (2nd after Trinity) - Incidentally I will now not be preaching this Sunday as our son Aaron is participating in the Special Olympics Ireland National Games and my Parish Readers (Lay liturgical leaders) are covering me so that I can be with my wife cheering him on trackside. The Gospel for the day which inspires the story is Luke 7:6-8:3

The Biscuit Thief
A woman at the airport waiting to catch her flight bought herself a packet of biscuits, settled in a chair in the airport lounge and began to read her book. Suddenly she noticed the man beside her helping himself to her biscuits. Not wanting to make a scene, she read on, ate biscuit, and watched the clock. As the daring " biscuit thief" kept on eating the biscuits she got more irritated and said to herself, "If I wasn't so nice, I'd give him a slap!" She wanted to move the biscuits to her other side but she couldn’t bring her self to do it. With each biscuit she took, he took one too. When only one was left, she wondered what he would do. Then with a smile on his face and a nervous laugh, he took the last biscuit and broke it in half.
He offered her half, and he ate the other. She snatched it from him and thought, " this guy has some nerve, and he's also so rude, why, he didn't even show any gratitude!" She sighed with relief when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate, refusing to look at the ungrateful "thief." She boarded the plane and sank in her seat, reached in her bag to get a book to read and forget about the incident. Next to her book was her bag—of biscuits.
The biscuits they ate in the lounge were his not hers. She had been the thief not him.
The biscuit thief story reminds us, as we see in today's gospel, that it often happens that the one pointing the accusing finger turns out to be the guilty one, that the complainant sometimes turns out to be the offending party. In the biscuit story, the woman believed she was such a wonderful person to put up with the rudeness and ingratitude of the man sitting beside her. In the end she discovered that she was the rude and ungrateful one and the man was wonderfully friendly. In the gospel the Pharisee thinks he is the righteous one who is worthy to be in the company of Jesus and that the woman was the sinful one unworthy to be seen with Jesus. In the end Jesus showed each of them where they really belonged and the woman was seen as the one who was righteous and more deserving of the company of Jesus than the self-righteous Pharisee.