After traveling from New York to Boston and then to Ireland, the Fighting Irishmen boxing exhibition, which details nearly 200 years of Irish fighters, is now open for viewing in Phoenix, Arizona, in the recently opened McClelland Irish Library. The Phoenix opening for “The Fighting Irishmen: Celebrating Celtic Prizefighters 1820 to Present” paid special tribute to Muhammad … [Read more...] about Fighting Irishmen Exhibition Opens in Phoenix
New Edward M. Kennedy Prize Celebrates American Drama
Columbia University and Jean Kennedy Smith have inaugurated a new award, the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History, or the EMK Prize. This year’s prize is actually shared by two playwrights: Dan O’Brien for The Body of an American, and Robert Schenkkan for All the Way. The two inaugural winners will divide the award of $100,000 endowed by Jean Kennedy … [Read more...] about New Edward M. Kennedy Prize Celebrates American Drama
200 Years of People v. Philips and Religious Freedom
1813 brought the first test of the right of free religious practice and expression in the United States. The famous case, People v. Philips, which eventually solidified the priest-penitent evidentiary privilege that protects the privacy of information given during confession, was argued in New York City on behalf of the growing Catholic population by the exiled Irish Protestant … [Read more...] about 200 Years of People v. Philips and Religious Freedom
St. Brigid’s Catholic Church in the East Village Reopens
After more than a decade of closed doors and legal battles, St. Brigid’s Roman Catholic Church in New York’s Alphabet City is restored and open again for worship. Built between 1848 and 1849, St. Brigid’s, on Avenue B and Eighth Street, is among the earliest surviving works of famed architect Patrick Keely, a Tipperary native, who carved the reredos, organ case, and the … [Read more...] about St. Brigid’s Catholic Church in the East Village Reopens
The Fight to Save Chicago's St. James Parish
Parishioners and friends of historic St. James Parish, founded in 1855 on Chicago’s South Side by Irish immigrants who’d escaped the Great Starvation, spent Easter in a prayer vigil in front of their padlocked church, imploring the Archdiocese (and the Pope, via his Twitter @Pontifex) to stop the wrecking ball, due in only a few days, from destroying their unique church and … [Read more...] about The Fight to Save Chicago's St. James Parish