Jack Finucane 1937 – 2017 Father Jack Finucane, who co-founded the Irish humanitarian organization Concern Worldwide with his brother, Father Aengus, died in June at the age of 80. The Limerick-born priests first came to international prominence for their selfless humanitarianism during the 1960s when they began famine relief efforts by shipping food to starving Beafrans … [Read more...] about Those We Lost
Reading West Cork
A trip to the West Cork Literary Festival turns into an unexpected and inspiring look at Bantry Bay and the people who call it home. In the words of Man Booker Prize-winner Anne Enright, “Ireland is a series of stories that have been told to us.” For me, Enright’s words couldn’t have rung truer. My father’s stories of growing up in Country Cork, told to me as a child, had the … [Read more...] about Reading West Cork
What You Didn’t Know
About Typhoid Mary
By Rosemary Rogers, Contributor
She was the original Patient Zero, a healthy and asymptomatic carrier of a deadly plague. Baptized in Ireland in 1869 as Mary Mallon, she was re-baptized in America as Typhoid Mary, a name conjuring evil and purposeful contagion, a name that carries a peculiar legacy – the notice in restrooms demanding, “Employees must wash their hands before returning to work.”
Orphaned as a … [Read more...] about What You Didn’t Know
About Typhoid Mary
The Celtic Curse
Coming to terms with hemochromatosis. When I began researching hemochromatosis for this story, I knew only the basic facts: that hemochromatosis is a genetic condition that causes the body to store high levels of iron; that the body has no way of getting rid of that excess iron; and that, if left untreated, it can accumulate in the liver, heart, pancreas, and other organs, … [Read more...] about The Celtic Curse
“Molly, you have Alzheimer’s”
A grandmother’s legacy lives on in the work of Muireann Irish, whose research has shown that people with dementia don’t just lose the ability to remember the past, they also lose the ability to envisage the future. ℘℘℘ One of my favorite memories of my grandmother, Molly Lowney, is calling in to her house every day after school to chat about the day over a cup of tea. On … [Read more...] about “Molly, you have Alzheimer’s”