Just when I think I have my dad all figured out, a new snippet of info comes to light, and June always finds me thinking more about him than usual. It’s Father’s Day month, his birthday was the 3rd, and my parents were married on June 16th, now celebrated globally as Bloomsday, the day Leopold Bloom wandered through Dublin in Ulysses by James Joyce, Dad’s favorite author. June … [Read more...] about Sláinte!: Irish Wedding Traditions
Kevin Cahill: A Healer on a Global Mission
A TV mini-series could be made about the adventures Dr. Kevin Cahill has had in the various countries he has worked in. (After his wife died in 2004, he calculated that he had worked in 65 countries. She had been to 45 of them with him.) On a number of occasions, his life was in danger. Caught up in the civil war in southern Sudan in the late 1960s, he received a telegram that … [Read more...] about Kevin Cahill: A Healer on a Global Mission
The First Word: Celebrating the Far-Flung Irish
When I was young, a visit by two Frenchmen caused great excitement in our house. They were distant cousins – descendants of Oliver Harty who was born in Knockainey, Knocklong, County Limerick in 1746 and left for France as a lad of sixteen. Like many young Irishmen who had lucrative careers in continental armies since the 16th century, Oliver left for France in 1762 to serve … [Read more...] about The First Word: Celebrating the Far-Flung Irish
GAA Marks Its 125th Birthday
The Gaelic Athletic Association staged a spectacular fireworks dis- play at Croke Park in Dublin to commemorate its 125th anniversary since being founded in 1884 in Thurles, Co. Tipperary. Association president Nicky Brennan rejected criticism that the 500,000-euro spectacle was inappropriate in a time of economic hardship. “In the past we have been criticized for not doing … [Read more...] about GAA Marks Its 125th Birthday
IrishCentral Launches Global Site
The goal of IrishCentral.com is nothing less than putting a nation’s heritage online for the first time, and to reach the 70 million people around the world who identify themselves as Irish. It is a spectacularly ambitious mission that we hope will grab headlines around the world as easily as it has drawn prominent investors to its side in record time,” says Kevin Hayes, … [Read more...] about IrishCentral Launches Global Site