Archive for the ‘Catholic Church’ Category
Saving Sodomy from Ulster – Public professions of Christianity frequently mask horrible crimes
Slugger O’Toole is a politically liberal site based in the 6 county bit of Ireland. One of its writers observes :
One of the great lessons in life is that the more someone publicly professes to be a ‘Christian,’ the more unchristian their private life is.
Years ago, I met one of the leading figures in the Save Ulster From Sodomy Campaign. I have a surprisingly good gaydar for a straight guy, and it was pinging off the chart. This guy had spent much of the 70s and 80s persecuting gays while himself being as gay as Eurovision. I felt sorry for him; he was a product of his upbringing. To live your life as a lie and with such self-loathing must be very tiring on the soul.
https://sluggerotoole.com/2024/03/30/public-morality-private-hypocrisy/
The Save Ulster from Sodomy campaign was a vicious anti-gay operation run by the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) and the Reverend Ian Paisley’s Free Presbyterian church. Paisley, a busy man, was leader of the DUP, and moderator of his church.
An effective counter-campaign, Save Sodomy from Ulster, was the brainchild of Tarlach Mac Niallais. Link : CoVid-19 Has Taken Tarlach Mac Niallais From Us in New York – A Courageous Fighter from North Belfast who “Saved Sodomy from Ulster”
In Ireland, Christianity took over public life after the partition settlement of 1922. The Catholic Church controlled key parts of the state in the 26 county southern bit. In the North the Orange State was a Protestant State for a Protestant People.
Read the rest of this entry »Piety and Politics of the Democratic Unionist party in the Six County bit of Ireland – with the fall of Sir Jeffrey Donaldson “It feels like the end of days now”
In his final public sighting as DUP leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson was at Stormont for a Christian Easter service.
It was Wednesday evening and there was a feel-good sense in Parliament Buildings. The DUP and Sinn Fein had been working together harmoniously for eight weeks, and now politicians were coming together for an uplifting ecumenical concert.
With Donaldson in the audience, prayers were said for political leaders, and at the end the relaxed DUP leader went to have his photo taken with Eurovision winner Dana, who was singing at the event.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP and his wife Eleanor are scheduled to appear in court on April 24 in connection with serious criminal charges (described below). In the next weeks and months we will see how this story unfolds. The context is important – what effect will this have on the the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) which Mr Donaldson led until Good Friday 2024?
In a context where extreme right forces are on the march in most parts of the world, it is useful to add some Irish cross-border detail to Jeffrey Donaldson’s “final public sighting as DUP leader”. Sir Jeffrey was pleased to pose for a photo with Eurovision winner Dana (Rosemary Scallon) who attempted (and failed) to revive the religious far-right in the 26 County bit of Ireland. In the late 1990’s Scallon had some brief electoral success in a Presidential election, and won a European Parliament seat. However by 2011 Scallon’s political green-devil comet crashed and burned. The extremist Catholic far-right had become deeply unpopular. Most people in Ireland had turned against the Catholic Church, deeply implicated in a succession of child abuse scandals and hatred of pro-feminist causes such as the legalisation of abortion , divorce, same-sex marriage, contraception and gay rights. Shrewder right -wing politicians such as Fine Gael Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny saw the writing on the wall ; In the Dáil (parliament) this leader of the Dublin government stated that the Vatican was responsible for the “torture” of Irish children.
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The March 8 2024 Referendums in Ireland – A few final thoughts – Vote Yes/Yes
A few final thoughts.
An Irish Times letter-writer offers good advice :
“The arguments made against the proposed constitutional amendments are akin to the owner of a 30-year-old banger, which keeps breaking down, refusing a 10-year-old car as a replacement because they were really hoping for a brand-new model.
When the perfect choice is not on offer, reasonable people take the best option available.
Vote Yes on March 8th to consign a few antiquated bangers to the scrapheap, where they belong. – Yours, etc,
JOHN THOMPSON,
Dublin 7.”
A number of left wing activists calling for a No vote in the Care Referendum are making a classic ultra-left mistake. They are not guided by a concrete analysis of the question on the ballot paper. As a result they advocate keeping reactionary, sexist, and partitionist wording in the Irish Constitution.
Read the rest of this entry »The March 8 2024 Care and Family Referendums in Ireland – Which is better : the existing wording or the suggested replacements?
Let’s keep it very simple. These 2 constitutional provisions are symbolic.
The basic information is provided here : Electoral Commission Explanation of Care and Family Referendums in Ireland. We are concentrating on the Care Referendum, as some people on the Irish left are advocating a No vote, meaning that the existing reactionary sexist wording in DeValera’s 1937 Constitution will remain in place.
In any referendum you are only voting on the question you are asked – not on the question you would like to be asked.
Voters should ask themselves : Is the existing wording worse than the proposed changes?
Yes or No?
Any objective left-wing and feminist reading of the relevant texts can only come to one conclusion : The proposed changes are better.
Read the rest of this entry »According to Ireland’s constitution, a woman’s duties are in the home – but a referendum could be about to change its sexist wording
Eamon DeValera’s 1937 Irish Constitution contains symbolic sexist wording – the “woman in the home” clause. Laura Cahillane explains why almost everyone on the Irish and feminist left is advocating a Yes vote.
Laura Cahillane, University of Limerick
On March 8 – International Women’s Day – Irish citizens will vote in a referendum on whether or not to replace the so-called “woman in the home” clause in the Irish constitution.
This clause, which dates from 1937, specifies that: “The State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved.” It goes on to say that: “The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.”
Originally, the purpose of the provision was to acknowledge the importance of care in the home, which was then provided almost exclusively by mothers. The purpose was to ensure that mothers could remain in the home and would not be forced to work due to financial reasons.
However, the state help implied by the wording was never actually put into practice – women were never supported to provide care in the home. Worse, the constitution was often used to bolster arguments that a woman’s place was in the home and that policies which excluded women from work were acceptable.
Now, as part of a double referendum, Irish citizens will have the chance to change the constitution to a more gender-neutral wording. This is alongside another vote on whether to change the constitution’s definition of “family” to expand it beyond marriage.
Read the rest of this entry »Did British Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer say “Israel has the right” to cut off food water and electricity to 2 million people in Gaza?
A resident of Great Britain advises these posters are appearing in an English city. The correspondent observes “Someone is sailing very close to the wind with electoral law even if it is an accurate account of what he said. This is the latest and biggest of a series of these that have popped up locally.”
Has anyone seen these posters in other parts of the British state, including the bit styled “Northern Ireland”. I am guessing the posters would be popular in Scotland and Wales. They could catch on!
A correspondent wondered “And of course it’s not what he said!” – so the blog team looked it up.
Read the rest of this entry »Sinéad O’Connor – Political and Musical Tributes
I think this photo was taken in August 1989 at a FADA (Forum for a Democratic Alternative) march outside the RDS, Ballsbridge, Dublin. It was a protest marking the 20th anniversary of British troops taking over the streets of the six counties after the 1969 Battle of the Bogside. Other speakers included Eamonn McCann. Sinéad O’Connor is singing, flanked by Joe Kelly who chaired the meeting. Thanks to Niamh Kelly, Joe’s daughter, who supplied the photograph.
Sinéad O’Connor understood, better than many others, that the partition of Ireland is a 32 county problem – it is not just about the north. This letter was published in the Irish Times edition of Tuesday, July 30, 1996.
John Meehan August 8 2023
Sinéad O’Connor’s funeral tribute in Bray Co. Wicklow – where she spent many happy years in a house on a promenade beside the sea – was led by a beautifully decorated old van, almost vintage :
Mandy La Combre’s Tributes
Mandy la Combre is a feminist and trade union activist.
I really wanted to be in Bray today to say a final farewell to Sinéad but unfortunately I’m working in Belfast so couldn’t make it. This made me sad. I also haven’t really seen any of the coverage of this morning but I have it recorded at home to watch on my return.
It still feels like a gut-punch to lose this priestess, political agitator, and gifted songwriter, who had an otherworldly voice like an angel and who inspired so many of us teenage girls growing up in grim 1980’s Ireland. What a terrible loss for us all.
It seems fitting that a giant installation honouring Sinéad was unveiled on Bray Head, Co.Wicklow, as she too was a giant. It reads ‘ÉIRE LOVES SINÉAD’ and is located where the recently rediscovered World War Two ‘ÉIRE’ navigational landmark is, also close to Sinéad’s former seafront home at Strand Road, Bray.
I love the below images. Sinéad indelibly marked into the Irish landscape as she should be, and a wonderful happy picture of Sinéad at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1990 – long before she was battered at the hands of the press and the world.
If I was religious I’d say something like I hope she’s sleeping soundly now in the arms of her boy, but unfortunately I’m not, and I’ve a hard time believing that to be true.
So when you don’t know what to say….
“Where words fail, music speaks”.
Thank you Sinéad, for everything. 
Written on August 8 2023
It’s taken me 24 hours to post anything about Sinéad O’Connor. It was actually quite a shock to hear the news.
I’ve enjoyed Sinéad’s music since the 80’s. When she rocked out onto the scene with her doc martens, rolled up jeans, shaved head and a screeching voice like an angel – she was quite the firebrand. Relentlessly willing to stand up for her beliefs even when they were not popular, and they so often were not.
As a teenage girl I wasn’t that many years younger than her and consumed her debut album ‘The Lion & The Cobra’ mercilessly. Playing it for years long after its release date. In fact when pregnant, the first time my son kicked inside my womb I was listening to ‘Troy’ on my Walkman, and so it was set in stone that would be his name. Over 30 years later the album still resonates, it’s a timeless work and an astonishing debut…and Troy still has the coolest name.
I’ve seen Sinéad live only a few times in my life; once in the 80’s in the Olympic ballroom where she looked incredible flouncing around the stage in a black tutu like a beautiful angry nymph, once in the 90’s in Giant stadium in New York, where she headlined an Irish music festival and she filled the stadium with her voice singing a capella literally stopping me in my tracks. And later in the 00’s singing on stage with Gavin Friday with whom her stunning performances with her iconic voice and attitude always complimented Gavin’s shows.
I met her briefly on two occasions and she was always polite. One particular occasion she appeared particularly quiet, shy and unassuming gripping Gavin’s arm for moral support as she navigated the nightclub trepidatiously as if worried that people would start looking at her – even though she looked just beautiful.
Last year I read her book ‘Rememberings’ and saw the film about her life ‘Nothing Compares’. Both fantastic pieces of work, both I seriously recommend to get a real insight into Sinéad’s character and talent.
The book is a brutally honest account of Sinéad’s life in her own words and the film is a stunning portrayal of a celebrated rise to fame and quick exile from mainstream music as a result of her outspokenness and activism. I was delighted to see I had a two second accidental cameo in the latter, it made me giggle in the cinema. Also, my abiding memory leaving the viewing was walking away thinking what a remarkable woman she really was.
You will see a multitude of platitudes to Sinéad in the coming days and weeks, most sincere, and some by those that used, persecuted, and mistreated her while she was alive. But if you really want to remember and celebrate Sinéad, get her back catalogue. That is where the real magic lies. The music and her unique voice speak for themselves. That is where she really shone.
Yes, she was a trailblazer, a feminist, an activist, a moral character that relied on honesty and was always true to herself – but she was also damaged and dreadfully hurt and her songs are an expression of all that she was, not faux, but genuine, and oftentimes in your face. That’s why we loved her and that’s what we should remember.
Right now I really feel for her children, her family and her friends that loved her so much, it must be an unbearable loss. But I also extend condolences to those fans that never wavered and always held Sinéad in their hearts through thick and thin and all the ups and downs. We’ve lost a true talent, and Ireland has lost the best female voice this country has ever produced.
Her work was such a gift.
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O’Connor, rest in power.
You have been loved. 
Written on July 27 2023
Sinéad O’Connor reached back to a powerful Irish ballad, “The Foggy Dew”, and produced a haunting new version with the Chieftains in 1995 :
Twas better to die neath an Irish sky than at Suvla or Sud-el-Bar
Tributes to Adolfo Gilly August 25 1928 – July 4 2023 – A Mexican revolutionary who visited Dublin in September 1979
Adolfo Gilly has passed away.
Suzi Weissman drew our attention to the tribute below, written by Olivia Gall :
Today Adolfo Gilly, a great among the great historians of the revolution and the post-revolution in Mexico, passed away.
Our beloved teacher has also gone. The first time I took class with Gilly was when he came to Mexico from Italy to give some classes at UNAM, before the Mexican government decided to grant him naturalization. The Faculty of Economics class was crowded. Every time he referred to something very critical about Mexican politics he told us “if I say this they’re going to apply the 33″…….. but, he laughed, “there they go.”
Later I attended, over several semesters, his Seminar on the History of the Mexican Revolution at the postgraduate degree of the FCPYS. Adolfo was a great teacher, perhaps the best of all the teachers I had back then and ever had.
Today also left Gilly my mentor, who accompanied the process of my doctoral research on Trotsky in Mexico very closely. I was fortunate to have his wisdom, his irremediably critical spirit, his ironic gaze, his strong passion for history and politics, his rigorous opinions, his scorn, and his relentless recommendations and warnings.
Years later, when Adolfo was talking about Friedrich Katz, he referred to him as “my Katz commander.”
Last time I saw him I mentioned his Argentinian origin. He reprimanded me: “Argentinian me? Ain’t no way I’m Mexican! ”
Dear Adolfo, we’ll miss you a lot, we’ll always miss you.
Adolfo Gilly in Dublin, September 1979
On August 27 1979, on the same day:
- The IRA killed 18 members of the British paratroop regiment at Narrow Water County Down
- The IRA killed a British Royal Family member Lord Mountbatten, in Sligo.
A tsunami of ruling class condemnation blitzed across the world’s media. Pope John Paul II joined the chorus. The Narrow Water ambush was not universally unpopular in Ireland.
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Tomás Ó Flatharta 