Podcasting to the Irish Abroad

Just recorded a podcast called The Craic with Ian Dempsey (Today FM) and Breda Brown (Q102) about the whole Moneygall/Obama link. You can find the audio here. Its also on itunes here.

A Premature President! In her dreams!

Nothing to do with the US election for a change. I have just been listening to FF Senator Mary White announcing her intention to stand for next President of Ireland! It was also covered on the front page of today's Irish Times. The only problem is that the next presidential election isn't till 2011! But not only is she more than a little previous she is also so far up her own you know what that she is in danger of digesting herself! (One can but hope)
I have rarely heard such a ME ME I I moment. It was hugely offensive to the current worthy incumbent of the presidential office and one can only hope that the general public will nail this blatent ego trip at the earliest opportunity! UUGGHHH!

It's not over yet!

Borrowing a phrase from Star Wars: The force is strong in this one! Slowly it seems to be dawning on America that there is another way to do politics and that the only person who represents that way is Barack Obama! The momentum is gathering and I for one believe that this CAN happen! The politics of fear and partisanship have got us in deep trouble! Let us HOPE that real vision and inspiration triumph over more of the same!
Watch Obama's speech on the night of Super Tuesday and as the US telly-evangelists used to say:
"Touch the screen and feel the power" :-)

We believe in one God but we are “At two with Nature!”

When it comes to the current fascination with Global Warming, Carbon Footprints and Peak Oil I must confess to being a recovering sceptic. I say recovering because I am emerging from that scepticism to a realisation that beneath all the hysteria generated around these issues is something fundamentally true and worthy of attention. We (the human race) have become disconnected from the rest of the created order and we behave in a way that threatens rather than compliments the rest of Creation. Such has been my scepticism until recently that I have steadfastly avoided watching the much acclaimed “An Inconvenient Truth” and have rejoiced in any scientific opinion that has rubbished the theory behind this film and the Green movement in general. Some of the criticism is justified and only feeds the scepticism of the likes of myself. Food miles are a case in point and an article in last weeks Sunday Times by Richard Woods exposes the myth that local is always the best option. However, bad Science and simplistic analysis apart I am coming round.

So what has changed? Well believe it or not my ‘AH HA’ moment came while reading an article which my wife drew to my attention in the January 2008 edition of ‘Red’, a glossy UK women’s magazine! The article entitled “Have you found Green?” by Anna Moore investigated the phenomenon of Green living as “the religion of the 21st century”. In the course of her research Moore interviews a number of women who have adopted the Green lifestyle and discovers a common thread of ‘religious’ language in the way these women articulate their new outlook on life.

She talks to Jacqueline, a lapsed church-goer who feels that “going green gives her something religion no longer provides: a strong sense of purpose, rules to live by and a firm belief that, if we repent and change our ways, we’ll save ourselves….The church doesn’t give me that message.” OUCH!

Moore comments that where church attendance is falling year on year, ‘finding green’ is filling a spiritual gap because we still need to believe in something.

Tracy Neil is a 38 year old from Manchester who has exchanged God for Green. “I have a church background”she says, “but I’ve been so frustrated with its lack of interest in the environment…To me, being green connects me to the planet, the people I know and my brothers and sisters in the poorer parts of the world, who’ll bear the brunt of our selfishness. In that sense, it’s spiritual.” Isn’t that what the Church is supposed to be about?

Another interviewee is Marian Salzman, an advertising executive who says “With 9/11 and the war in Iraq, there’s a feeling that the world isn’t safe any more. People are looking back to a time when it seemed safer – when you knew your neighbour, you had home cooked Sunday lunch and a ready made community at the church or synagogue or mosque. We want that security, that anchor. Eco living provides a set of dos and don’ts and dogmas and beliefs to fall back on, and a community of like-minded people.” There’s another thing the Church is supposed to be doing: building community.

Finally Louise Taylor is 34 and building her own eco home with her husband. Why is she doing this? “I’m not doing all this because I want to go to heaven. I’m doing it because I want my children and their children to have a future on this earth.”

I think perhaps this last comment is the most significant. Is part of the reason for the Church’s disconnect from Green issues an old and flawed theology which concentrates on escaping to Heaven from this worthless and sinful World? ‘Evacuation theology’ as Rob Bell calls it robs the Earth and the rest of Creation of any real value if it is only seen as a springboard to Heaven! This is a theology that ignores one very significant phrase in the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven”

It’s crazy but it took this article from the most unlikely of sources (I know I’m prejudiced) to help me realise something that is both implicit and explicit through Scripture from Genesis to Revelation: Everything is Spiritual. Incidentally this is also the title of a new Video from Rob Bell which demonstrates this same truth that the Church has buried in centuries of evacuation theology!

Another contemporary theologian, Sr. Joan Chittister in her wonderful compendium, “Becoming fully human – The greatest glory of God” presents some wonderful pearls of wisdom:
“Cows know that it’s a good idea to stand with their backs to the wind. We insist on figuring out how to redirect the wind. I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do. Who, us? ” (Willa Cather)
“Environmentalism is not an option. It is an exercise in self-understanding.”
Sadly we are inclined to be more like Woody Allen who once said “I am at two with nature”.

YES WE CAN........HOPE!

On the Eve of Super Tuesday this says it all!

Sky News comes visiting!

The above video shows PaddyAnglican, the well known historian & genealogist! ;-)

Obama 08 - Advance party arrives and finds the natives are friendly

Today in Moneygall (Ollie's pub to be exact), we welcomed members of the Irish Americans for Obama for a celebration of the Iowa caucus. Led by Diamond Ebs, (in photo with Paddy Anglican) they joined locals in a enthusiastic celebration of the 1st Primary of Election 08. As I write it is abundantly clear that this was no statistical blip. Polls show Obama a full 10% ahead of Hilary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary which takes place on Tuesday next. New Hampshire is one of the few parts of the US I am familiar with and having a small insight into their independent spirit I can honestly say I am confident that they will give Obama another well deserved endorsement.
I am very conscious that a lot of people think this is just another Ballyporeen moment and that would be a shame. Obama represents the best hope for an America that has tragically lost its soul during the Bush regime. This great country which once represented the abundance of hope and possibility is now blighted by a regime that trades on fear and prejudice. The effects of this are being felt throughout the world and for my money Obama is the only candidate who has the vision and the passion to change this descent into disaster. "Fired up! Ready to go!"