Letter: Nice to see a good Belfast Protestant defending Blessed Virgin Mary
Catholic priest welcomes condemnation by Wallace Thompson of sectarian chant
Fermanagh-born Fr Sean McManus is president of the Washington-based Irish National Caucus
By Letters to the Editor
September 25, 2024 at 6:00am BST
It was very nice seeing a good Belfast Protestant, Wallace Thompson, standing up to defend the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit – “Godless fools don’t deserve to be called Protestants” (September 19).
It breaks my heart and wounds my soul any time I see the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Our Most Holy Redeemer, insulted and blasphemed against. And one can be sure that it deeply offends Jesus Christ Himself. It is such an awful assault on the foundation of the Christian faith – the Blessed Trinity and the incarnation – that I feel the only word for it can be “satanic”. Because how can anyone, especially Christians, utter such depraved and diabolical language against God’s revealed plan of salvation: that the second person of the Blessed Trinity/God’s Son/God’s Word had to become human – had to be incarnated – and the only way, in God’s plan of salvation, that could happen was for His Word to be born of a human woman by the power of the Holy Spirit… And of all the wonderful women in the world, God chose the Virgin Mary to be the mother of His Son – giving Mary a unique and indispensable relationship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Mary was the first Christian, the first follower of Jesus (even though it was Jesus who ‘followed her around’ for nine months in her womb, and later as a toddler and young boy)…How could anyone hate the Blessed Virgin Mary? Only Satan can because Satan hates Jesus Christ, Son of God and son of Mary.
A statue of the Virgin Mary at Medjugorje, Bosnia
If you reject Mary – remove her from the picture, so to speak – you reject God’s plan of salvation, as the Gospel beautifully and plainly reveals.
It is obvious from everything I’ve said that Mary was human, which dismisses the big lie that Catholics worship Mary as if she were God. Nothing could be more outrageously, ridiculously false. If Mary were not human, the incarnation could not have happened – the Word would not have been “made flesh”.
Finally, I should mention it is also important to realise that the Blessed Virgin Mary was not some weak, timid, servile person (as some Christian art can imply) but a strong, fearless woman of great faith, justice and solidarity.
Her famous Magnificat powerfully proclaims God as a God of social justice. The Catholic Dictionary of Fundamental Theology says it is the strongest canticle/song in the entire New Testament and describes it as the first song of liberation in the New Testament. This same dictionary declares: “Our age needs a theology of freedom and liberation that will faithfully echo Mary’s Magnificat as preserved in the memory of the Church.”
Geordy P. Austin passed away at home on September 21, 2024 after a brief illness, with his lovely Diane at his side. Geordy was born December 15, 1939 to Patrick and Maggie Magee Austin in Belfast, North of Ireland. While he started work at age 10, by the age 14 Geordy left school to help support his family of thirteen. With his father’s influence as a member in the Irish TGWUnion he became a Belfast Dock worker. Geordy relocated to the USA in 1981 and eventually settled in Syracuse in 2000 with Diane. Geordy’s life in Central New York was highlighted with his passion and commitment to Irish causes, particularly the AOH Freedom For All Ireland Committee. He was an active member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a founder of both the CNY Irish Cultural Society and the CNY Irish Coalition. Geordy’s life long passion was civil rights, truth and justice for all. His musical talent included singing and playing many instruments. His passion for Irish history and his quest for a united Ireland were his priorities. He encouraged others to learn the Irish language, their heritage, and the true history of Ireland.
Geordy is survived by his wife Diane L. Menzies and his sons Patrick of Urrugne, France and Martin of Belfast, Ireland. He also leaves his sisters Margaret Cambell and Sheila Freeburn, brothers Jim, Joseph, Jerry, and Tony, three sister in laws Laurie, Leslie, and Lizabeth, as well as many extended family. He is predeceased by his sister Mary, brothers Patrick, Brian, Sean, and nephews, and many colleagues.
Calling hours are at 10:00 am on September 28 at St Patrick’s Church, Tipperary Hill in Syracuse, NY. A Mass will follow at 11:00 am. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made in Geordy’s memory to The Pat Finucane Centre in Derry, Ireland and to the Hospice of CNY.To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Geordy Austin, please visit Tribute Store
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The freshly unearthed photographs show the IRA hunger striker taking part in a protest against the withdrawal of prisoners’ political status
Protest platform party in Dunville Park includes (left-to-right): Billy Donnelly (trade unionist), Bobby Sands, Kevin Carson (former prisoner), Jimmy Roe (deceased; former prisoner) and Geordie Bennett (deceased; former prisoner). Next is Máire Drumm, one of the speakers at the rally, Sinn Féin member Aindrias O Callaghan from Dublin,, the late Jimmy Drumm (husband of Máire) and Joe Stagg. Below Joe Stagg is Danny Morrison, then editor of Republican News.
Fresh photographs of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands have emerged after almost 50 years.
The images from August 1976 show the then 22-year-old taking part in the first protest against the withdrawal of political status for prisoners in Long Kesh.
Sands is photographed carrying a flag as the protest makes its way down the Andersonstown Road in west Belfast.
Mrs Drumm, the then vice-president of Sinn Féin and one of the speakers at the rally, was arrested shortly afterwards and jailed for 18 days for taking part in an illegal procession.
Pictured next to her at the rally is Sinn Féin member Aindrias O Callaghan from Dublin, who would give the oration at the leading republican’s funeral in Milltown Cemetery.
Bobby Sands, bottom right, taking part in a republican protest in 1976
He was arrested in October 1976 and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Along with other republican prisoners, he spent several years ‘on the blanket’, protesting against the withdrawal of political status.
The protest would culminate in the 1981 hunger strike in which he and nine other prisoners died.
He was scanning negatives of photographs donated by Lelia Doolan, a keen photographer and friend of Fr Des, who chronicled life in Ballymurphy between 1974-77, while studying for a PhD in anthropology at Queens University.
Cork-born Doolan, who turned 90 earlier this year, photographed many scenes in Belfast, including Sandy Row.
A close-up of Bobby Sands
She later became the head of light entertainment at RTÉ, artistic director of the Abbey Theatre and directed ‘Bernadette: Notes on a Political Journey’, the acclaimed documentary about Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey.
When cataloguing the negatives, Mr Cahill first recognised Máire Drumm. When he developed the images, he recalled similar photographs by French photographer Gérard Harlay which were discovered and published in 2019.
Both sets of images are of the same protest, the first of many against the British government’s withdrawal of political status.
Danny Morrison, secretary of the Bobby Sands Trust, said: “These photographs, from almost 50 years ago, are quite evocative, especially when one considers the tragic fates of Máire Drumm and Bobby Sands.
“I had forgotten that I was covering the protest for our newspaper and it was a surprise to see my younger self, then 23, but even then we instinctively knew that the attempt to criminalise the struggle for Irish independence, as in previous periods, would ultimately fail. However, we had no idea of the magnitude of the suffering to come, inside and outside the prisons, for all those entrapped by this British policy.”
Families supported by their legal team and Amnesty International at the Appeal Court on Friday
Allison Morris
Today at 02:40
We have reached an important juncture when it comes to dealing with the legacy of our past.
An Appeal Court ruling on Friday, delivered by Lady Chief Justice Siobhan Keegan, was a damning indictment on the former government’s mechanisms to deal with unsolved Troubles related killings.
The ruling was lengthy and detailed but the shorthand version of the judgment is that the Troubles Legacy Act gives the government too much veto power over the disclosure of sensitive material to the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).
The commission, headed up by former Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan, has already started investigating killings after requests by families.
However, the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal in its judgment, in a case brought by bereaved relatives, found that the veto over disclosure seriously impeded the commission’s ability to carry out human rights compliant investigations.
As we know this legislation was passed by the previous Conservative government
We can debate at length why they went down this route, but we know this was done over the heads of victims and without local political support.
I was always sceptical of the new Labour government’s manifesto pledge to repeal the legislation.
It seemed much more likely that they would tinker around the edges of it rather than scrap it completely.
A previous court has already ruled that a controversial measure to give an amnesty to suspects was not legally sound and would not stand up to judicial scrutiny.
The Lady Chief Justice said the legislation gave whoever the Secretary of State was at the time “the final say” on disclosure of sensitive state information to the ICRIR, adding that this would risk undermining public confidence in the body.
Sir Declan Morgan
Sir Declan Morgan said in response that the Secretary of State needs to “respond to the judgment”.
“The Commission has already welcomed his proposal to further enhance our independence and would welcome additional steps by him to address the issues identified by the court,” he added.
However, solicitor Gavin Booth, who represented a number of families in the appeal said, “there is only so much lipstick you can put on a pig”.
His message is clear, that tinkering with the ICRIR will never satisfy those families who have difficult and complex cases, involving layers of allegations of collusion and state intransigence.
The problem going forward is what could help those families who have been failed by successive governments when it comes to legacy and delivering truth and justice in their loved ones murders?
Many had hoped the inquest process would be the answer to decades of waiting.
A positive example of this was the inquest ruling in the case of the Ballymurphy massacre that vindicated those families who had lived with years of stigma that was attached to the deaths of their innocent loved ones.
But with the former government determined to end all legacy inquests that process was less successful for others.
The relatives of those murdered in the Kingsmill atrocity were left disappointed that the inquest did not name any of the suspects involved in the 1976 IRA attack.
When the coroner delivered his finding earlier this year Alan Black, the only survivor of the attack said the inquest had “left us all so dissatisfied”.
“As we progressed through the inquest our questions have not been answered and our concerns have grown.”
Saint Pius of Pietrelcina, commonly known as Padre Pio, was a Franciscan friar who lived during the first half of the 20th century. He received the stigmata, the wounds of Jesus’ crucifixion, and manifested other supernatural signs of holiness during his life.
Padre Pio was born in 1887 in Pietrelcina, a small town in southern Italy, and baptized with the name Francesco. His parents were deeply religious—they led the family to daily Mass, prayed the rosary every night, and fasted from meat three times a week in honor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Although his parents couldn’t read, they memorized Scripture faithfully and told stories from the Bible to their children.
Francesco was immersed in a world of faith—he dedicated himself to Jesus at the age of 5 and reportedly related to Jesus, Mary, and his guardian angel as close friends. When he was 10, he met a Franciscan friar who was traveling the countryside asking for donations and he told his parents that he wanted to do the same with his life.
They took him to a nearby Franciscan community to see if the friars would accept him. The friars said that Francesco was suited for religious life, but needed more education than his sporadic attendance at the local public school had given him. His father traveled to New York several times to find better work in order to pay for a tutor for his son.
When he was fifteen, Francesco entered the community and adopted the name Pius—or Pio, in Italian—in honor of St. Pius V, the patron saint of Pietrelcina. He began studying for the priesthood and was ordained in 1910.
In 1917, he was briefly drafted to serve in World War I but was discharged due to ill health. Throughout his life, Pio would continue to suffer from various illnesses.
Upon his arrival in the community, Pio reported seeing visions of Jesus, Mary, and angels. After offering Mass one day in 1918, Pio received a vision of Jesus. As the apparition ended, the wounds of the crucifixion appeared on Pio’s hands, feet, and side. The blood that seeped from these wounds smelled sweet and fragrant, like the perfume of flowers, and the wounds never became infected. Despite the examination of several doctors, the phenomena were medically inexplicable. The stigmata would remain on Pio’s body for the rest of his life.
Pio dreaded the attention the stigmata brought him, and he often wore bandages or mittens over his hands to cover up the wounds. Nevertheless, Christian faithful continually sought him out. Pio demonstrated other signs of great power and holiness—he was known to bilocate, that is, to be seen in two places simultaneously; he could read people’s hearts upon the first encounter, and his prayer was known to heal the sick. As a young archbishop in Poland, the future Pope John Paul II once wrote to Padre Pio to ask for his prayers for a woman with terminal throat cancer. Within weeks, the woman was fully healed.
These signs brought Pio an abundance of attention, and church officials struggled with managing the endless flow of pilgrims. The Vatican needed to be sure that the miracles surrounding Pio were authentic and wanted to reduce potentially dangerous publicity, so they forbade Padre Pio from offering Mass in public. They considered moving him to a different Franciscan community, but, upon hearing the news, the pious locals threatened to riot. Officials decided to let Pio remain where he was, as there were, regardless, few friaries available that were more remote than his.
By 1933, the officials made up their minds in his favor, and the Vatican began to promote Pio’s ministry. His day was filled with hearing confessions for more than twelve hours at a time. Pilgrims spent the night outside in line, waiting for the chance to confess to him and receive his advice. One of his famous mottos was, “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.”
Padre Pio received visitors in person and also corresponded with souls all over the world. After celebrating Mass and attending to correspondence, sometimes Pio only had a few hours to sleep every night. Around the time of World War II, Pio announced a plan to build a hospital near the Franciscan community, and his hospital was completed after the war.
In the 1960s, Padre Pio’s health began to deteriorate. On the fiftieth anniversary of receiving the stigmata, he fell ill and passed away a few days later, on this date in 1968. When his body was examined after death, the stigmata had disappeared.
Saint Pius of Pietrelcina—Padre Pio—you bore the wounds of Jesus’ crucifixion on your body—pray for us!
