How many Saints do you know who Wore Converse and Hipster Glasses?
"We choose to go to the moon."
I had forgotten the excitement I felt about the Apollo Moon landing in 20th. July 1969. I was 11 years old. It was gripping even in 105 Doorly Park. I worried for the three men so far out in space if something went wrong. Michael Collins, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
It all came back to me when I listened to 13 Minutes To The Moon, a wonderful BBC podcast presented by Kevin Fong. All the skepticism about a staged moon landing in a film studio fell away completely as I listened to astronauts, technicians and flight controllers recounting their stories of the incredible moon landing.
John F. Kennedy had delivered on his promise at Rice University on September 12, 1962:
"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard....."
And they came back safely. I was so relieved. Their tiny space capsule landed in the Pacific Ocean and the astronauts were taken away, sprayed with disinfectant, and quarantined for two weeks.
Such an adventure.
The greatest voyage of exploration ever undertaken by mankind.
President Kennedy's goal had been achieved.
But he had not lived to watch it himself. The 35th president of the United States was assassinated at 12:30p.m.on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas.
JFK was an energetic, charismatic young president proud of his Irish ancestry. He was the epitome of the Irish emigrant success story. The fact that he was a great grandson of an emigrant from New Ross, County Wexford meant he really was seen as symbolizing Irish success in America.
His good looks, charm and beautiful wife did him no harm either!
His ascent to the pinnacle of US politics was an ‘Irish’ success story to be proud of and often his portrait could be found beside that of the Pope in Irish homes long after he had departed from the island.
Ireland had claimed him as their own.
His four day visit to Ireland was the best overseas trip of his presidency. This foreign head of state was greeted by nearly the entire population of the country as a son returning home in 1962.
I was just 5 years old and could not appreciate this emotive and poignant joyous visit.
Our neighbour in 104 Doorly Park, Kathleen Connolly sometimes brought me in to her sitting room to listen to Kennedy's speeches on long playing vinyl records. (LPs).
I liked the album covers but the speeches were way over my head.
John F. Kennedy was the first person to be so jubilantly received by the Irish people since the country seceding from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1922.
Some time later I cycling to the Allied Irish Bank building in Stephen Street, Sligo to see a display touring Ireland following the Apollo 11 moon walk. I might have been 12 years old and I am sure I must have still been in primary school.It was daunting for me to go in to a bank but I was on a mission of my own.
There in a large, crystal clear, plastic globe was a piece of moon rock. It was grey, about the size of a walnut and mounted centrally on a narrow, vertical chrome plinth. I had a good look at it and examined it from all sides.
I was surprised by its ordinariness and in awe of its journey.
The Northside of Dublin has an extraordinary and almost forgotten link with the Apollo space programme.
A different piece of moon rock had been presented to Ireland. It was encased in a small, transparent plastic ball and mounted on a wooden plaque with the Ireland Tricolour attached. The Irish ‘goodwill’ Moon rock – which was collected by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the historic first Apollo 11 mission – was kept on display in the Meridian room at Dunsink Observatory in Dublin.
But in the early hours of the morning on October 3, 1977, disaster struck when a suspected electrical fire broke out in the basement under the room.
The fire brigade arrived within 20 minutes of being alerted but the room along with other parts of the observatory was completely destroyed.
The precious rock was unknowingly taken along with the rest of the debris across the road to Dunsink tiphead and was never found.
A former NASA employee Joseph Gutheinz, estimated the rock was worth $5 million.
There is now a virtual pot of gold under a dump in Finglas.
President Kennedy identified as Irish all his life.
And he was Catholic.
In Ireland Catholicism and Nationalism were intertwined. Ireland’s history as a Catholic nation dates back to the 5th. century. Despite the best efforts of English monarchs to make Ireland take up the new British Protestant Faith the Irish clung to their religious beliefs, customs and practices.
This was not only because of their faith but also because it became a symbol of their identity and a statement of of defiance to British imperial policy.
Ireland emerged from the 1916 Rising and War of Independence 1919-1922 as The Irish Free State.
It aimed to to preserve the Irish language and promote Irish culture in a modern independent setting. However the new Irish Free State was financially bankrupt. It may have had the highest of ideals but the funds were not there to finance them.
The Catholic Church stepped in and played a central role in the subsequent State-building project by providing schools, hospitals, and social services across the nation. This special relationship between the Catholic Church and the Irish nationalist elites flowered and culminated in the visit of a second visitor to Irish soil.
Pope John Paul II
1978 was the year of three popes.
Pope Paul V1 died on 6th. August.
He was succeeded by Pope John Paul 1 who we all were very fond of. He was the Smiling Pope but died after only being in office for 33 days. We were in Birmingham, England at the time of his death and were very sad to hear of his passing.
On October 16, 1978 white smoke rose from the Vatican chimney to proclaim to the world that a new Pope had been elected. The Polish cardinal Karol Wojtyła stepped out onto the papal balcony and spoke to the huge gathering in St. Peter's Square. He took the name of John Paul II which we thought was a great touch.
Mary and I got married the day before Halloween.
He was the first non-Italian Pope to be elected in four centuries. That was new. It piqued our interest straight away. As time passed we came to know John Paul II and there was something about this man that made him extraordinary.
He had a passion for the theatre as a teenager. As a priest he had enjoyed outdoor activities like kayaking and hiking. Sometimes he celebrated Mass on an overturned canoe. He travelled to more countries than any other pope. He helped bring communism to its knees. He was shot and lived to tell about it. He suffered a debilitating disease heroically. He inspired millions around the globe to pursue and live the teachings of Jesus Christ.
He seemed ordinary, even approachable to me and I was very happy to have a Pope that I could relate to and be very proud of, for the first time.
Yet, there is one more more achievement than can be added to his long list of incredible accomplishments:
He was cool.
How many saints do you know who wore converse and hipster glasses?
In November 1978 I was appointed sexton of The Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin and St. John the Baptist, Sligo.
Mary and I were the first Roman Catholics appointed to the post and our approval was rubber stamped at a Select Vestry committee meeting that we were asked to attend.
Looking back I am impressed the committee afforded us the opportunity. I had two more years of study to complete, we were both so young, inexperienced, with no income and a child, Jeremy.
We had the house rent free as payment for the duties of taking care of the cathedral, its grounds and the adjoining church hall.
Our coal and electricity bills were also paid. Our expenses were few. No car. No television. No phone.
I was enjoying my final year as an art student in Sligo Regional Technical College.
The following year I had to do my teacher training year in the National College of Art and Design, Kildare Street, Dublin.
In the meantime we enjoyed the frequent visits of family and friends to our house in the town. We bought some furniture, made some furniture and decorated our first home. It was cosy and comfortable with a nice open fire in the living room.
Rev. Cecil Browne was Dean. We had a lovely warm relationship. In a fatherly way he guided me through my duties and trained me in the many roles I was to undertake. Every week and new event was like the turning of a page in an exciting new book and I am sure the Dean enjoyed my youthful enthusiasm.
I loved the house in 22 John Street and I enjoyed the day to day duties pertaining to being sexton.
I worked as a sign painter
In the following months we opened and closed the church daily and cut the grass in the graveyard. Mary and our younger family members helped to polish the brass plates and altar railings with Duraglit. (Mary says it was Brasso and she is probably right).
They vacuumed everywhere and dusted everything.
I became familiar with the names of the people in the congregation and enjoyed finding out about the Church of Ireland and the religious ceremonies in the cathedral every Sunday. I stood in the porch before each service, opened the door and greeted each person as they entered.
In my final year of study at Sligo RTC I researched and wrote the History of St. John's Cathedral as my thesis. I ended it by saying that I hoped the hammer of the bell would soon be repaired so that its tintinnabulation would be heard throughout Sligo town and beyond.
After being broken for years it was repaired and I became the bell ringer every Sunday morning before the service.
I don't know when it was announced that Pope John Paul II was going to make a three day Papal visit to Ireland between Saturday, September 29 and Monday, October 1, 1979.
The country came alive with excitement and pride.
It would be the first visit of a Pope to Ireland.
Ever.
Not since a young president named John F. Kennedy in the summer of 1963 had visited Ireland was there a similar momentous occasion when the nation flew its brightest colors. And the Vatican flags would soon be seen everywhere.
Well maybe not in St. John's Cathedral.
We attended the Youth Mass in Ballybrit Racecourse in County Galway. We travelled at night by bus The weather was dry and all along the route, houses were festooned in yellow and white flowers, bunting and banners.
There was a palpable sense of heightened expectation in the air, nothing like I had experienced previously.
When he had disembarked at Dublin airport, the pope kissed the ground. It was a gesture that melted our hearts.
300,000 of us travelled from across the country to see this Polish pontiff who made us all feel our time had finally arrived. It was the first occasion in our history that we able to celebrate being free Irish people and proud to be Catholics.
We trekked along paths and fields until we arrived at our designated pens. It was dark but we could see we were so close to the huge platform where the Pope's Youth Mass would be celebrated.
We could not believe our luck.
Everyone wanted to be as close to Pope John Paul II as possible.
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The wait for hours in the dark and cold was long but it was exciting to be out and about in the middle of the night among thousands arriving in the dark. We tried to sleep. As dawn broke and the Sun rose we realized we were at the very back of the altar. But we were still happy enough, just to be there.
He arrived in a red helicopter very close to our pen.
The crowd were ecstatic.
Everyone cheered.
Flags were waved frantically.
We could see him dressed in white waving to us. He was smiling as if he too was happy to see us.
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Nearly three million people turned out to welcome the pontiff at five venues: Dublin, Drogheda in Co. Louth, Galway, Limerick, and Knock in Co. Mayo.
But our Mass was special.
"Young people of Ireland, I love you," turned out to be the most memorable line of his visit. When he uttered these words in his endearing English with a Polish accent we all cheered wildly and felt so valued. Afterwards he travelled throughout the congregation on the Pope-mobile and we all pressed closer.
It was a slow journey home.
The roads were backed up with traffic.
We were tired but it had been great.
I could not have been more happy. Even If Jesus himself had arrived in Ballybrit, and sang Whiskey in The Jar with Thin Lizzy.
It had been one of those moments in a life.
Why did Pope John Paul come to Ireland. For many reasons.
For years Monsignor John Magee was private secretary to three successive popes.
He was the son of a dairy farmer from just outside Newry and as a child he had helped his father herding their cattle.
He was the gatekeeper
Magee was at the heart of the Vatican and in a position of great influence in the papacy of Pope John Paul II.
He had the ear of the pope and probably was the person who planted the seed there to travel to the Island of Saints and Scholars.
He decided who could and could not talk to the pope to a very great extent.
He was the doorkeeper.
The visit by Pope John Paul II to Ireland in September of 1979 marked the high point of 1,500 years of Catholicism in the Ireland. Afterwards the influence of the church in this country waned. It was beset by scandal, failure of leadership, and loss of moral authority.
I continued
as gatekeeper
and doorkeeper
in St. John's Cathedral
until
November 1983.
One Sunday morning I had been chatting to Dean Browne in the Vestry before Morning Prayer. The sun spilled in through the Gothic arched windows. It was going to be a nice day. The Dean became very animated and reached into his pocket and took out a small picture.
Smiling coyly he handed it to me.
"I thought you might like this," he said. " It was given to me by a friend of the Pope's secretary, Monsignor John Magee.
I looked down. It was a small picture of Pope John Paul II.
How lovely, I thought.
I turned it over and there written in the man's own hand was his signature in Latin,
Totus Tuus (Totally Yours)
Joannes Paulus PP II
9 - XI - 1978 (9th. November 1978)
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No, it's not a print.
How ironic.
Who would have thought a young Catholic sexton be given Pope John Paul's signature in a Church of Ireland vestry by an Angiclan priest.
The pontiff died on April 2, 2005. He was 84 years. He was beatified in St. Peter's Square on May 1, 2011, by Pope Benedict XVI, and canonized on April 27, 2014, by Pope Francis.
I am the very happy owner of a trinket of such
a much loved Pope
and...
The Coolest Saint Ever.
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