The Summer 2019 edition of Archways, the quarterly magazine of the Archdiocese of New York, is now out. You can view or download it at archny.org/archways.
In his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, Pope Francis called for “a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet” and urged all Catholics to “cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation.” In our cover story, “Harvest of Faith,” we look at some of the ways Catholic organizations are working to preserve the integrity and beauty of the earth and feed their communities. Efforts in sustainable farming, land preservation and energy efficiency are sowing seeds of hope for present and future generations.
Elsewhere in the issue, you’ll find stories about:
• The Sisters of Charity and the legacy of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton • The Catholic chaplains of the New York Police Department • Reasons to Be Joyful – parishioners from around the archdiocese share their thoughts on faith and community • New York’s newest adult Catholics, baptized this spring through the RCIA • One-day pilgrimages to shrines around the archdiocese • The irresistible events of the office of Young Adult Outreach, suggested books for summer, notable events and more
Archways is published digitally four times per year; two issues per year are distributed in print to those who contribute to the Cardinal’s Annual Stewardship Appeal.
I hope you will find valuable information and inspiration in the Summer 2019 edition. Please look out for the next issue, Fall 2019, at the end of August.
Jamie Bryson on the ever increasing assault by the PSNI on freedom of inquiry.
It is reported that the PPS are to prosecute for the alleged offence of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office in relation to my appearance before the NI Assembly Finance committee in 2015.
I understand at least one senior QC returned the papers, unwilling to play any role in such a case. It appears the PPS have hawked the case around senior counsel until they found a legal opinion that would allow them to proceed with this flagrant assault on public interest journalism. It is designed as a ‘warning’ to anyone that dares expose political corruption. Perhaps some industrious journalist could ask the PPS how many QCs they went to over two-and-a -half years before they found one willing to indulge their assault on press freedom.
Conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office is a charge that was originally deployed following the Leveson inquiry and Operation Elveden, a police investigation into the payment of corrupt officials by journalists.
It allows prosecuting authorities to capture journalists within the sphere of misconduct in public office; despite the fact journalists are not themselves public office holders. It has been criticised by advocates of press freedom and required guidance to be issued by the CPS and Attorney General in England.
And so we come to the crux of this alleged case – the Public Prosecution Service would have to prove, to a criminal standard, that the publication of my evidence at the Northern Ireland Assembly Finance Committee damaged the public interest. I have been clear that I stand over the validity of all evidence provided; indeed much of it has been independently vindicated. Therefore it is my position that exposing political corruption is clearly in the public interest, regardless of how that information comes into the public domain.
We therefore reach the core point, how could the Public Prosecution Service prove damage to the public interest, unless they disprove the validity of my evidence. I look forward to Mr Robinson, Mr Cushnahan and all the other persons named in my evidence being summoned to the Crown Court to face cross examination, under oath, as to their role in Nama.
I am also aware that PSNI and the NCA are in possession of the Gareth Graham tapes and the John Miskelly tapes: this is all relevant disclosure given that one of the necessary elements of the offence is that the publication of the information caused public harm. And so, given the evidence contained on those tapes demonstrates the validity of my allegations, they are clearly relevant. If my disclosures were exposing corruption in the public interest, then it is impossible they could cause public harm.
A methodical examination of my evidence to the committee – much of which I had already published on my blog prior to the hearing and repeated in my book The Three Headed Dog – would demonstrate that the vast majority of information has since been independently verified, and other elements remain under active investigation by the National Crime Agency, for whom I have been classed as a witness, despite the fact I am unable to provide further information than that which is in the public domain, given that I have a moral duty to protect my sources.
The criminal complainant leading to this decision to launch a political show trial was initiated by Maurice Morrow of the DUP who claimed that my evidence had damaged the reputation of the DUP and so in turn damaged the institutions. It would be quite the achievement to damage the reputation of Mr Morrow’s wing of the DUP, especially given the recent RHI inquiry.
It is rather bizarre that on one hand the DUP argue that my appearance before the Nama inquiry caused grave public harm, yet no DUP MP voted against me being brought to Westminster to give public evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee.
This is however an extraordinarily dangerous precedent; here we have a section of a political party claiming their reputation has been damaged, and the PSNI and Public Prosecution Service treating this as the public harm element of an offence of misconduct in public office. If exposing corruption, which therefore damages the reputation of the political party alleged to be corrupt, is to be criminalised then we are truly living in an Orwellian state.
As for damaging the institutions, these are the institutions that are so flawed and so unstable that they haven’t sat in over two years. In a hypothetical situation any suggestion that I would have damaged the immoral structures of the Belfast Agreement is actually a rather pleasant compliment.
There is of course another key point. The PSNI originally treated me as a witness in this investigation, but when I refused to co-operate and hand over journalistic material they adjusted my status – without any further evidence – to a suspect, whilst accepting in writing and on interview tape that I was a journalist. What was the basis of this? It sends the message that if journalists refuse to hand over their journalistic material then they will be criminalised.
If we follow the logic of that then this opens the door to the blanket criminalisation of public interest journalism. It transfers political wrongs into criminal wrongs and this prosecution is of unique significance given it is to be the first of its kind per se in Northern Ireland, and the first of its kind in the UK that doesn’t involve payment to public officials in return for information.
If this is the new PPS charging standard then the leaking of documents by John Robinson with the approval of Simon Hamilton during RHI would also fall within this standard. Their actions may certainly have been a breach of trust and fall within the ambit of ‘dirty tricks’, but are we now going to prosecute political dirty tricks?
To use a recent example; this charge could have been used against Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey, or indeed any other journalist or legal professional, if it could be shown they knew that a public office holder was committing misconduct by leaking documents.
It means that any journalist that receives information from a public office holder, and if the leaking of information or the conduct of the official is a prima-facie case of misconduct in public office, then the journalist can be charged with conspiracy. This is an extraordinary situation.
In relation to the Nama inquiry, there were politicians from all parties in touch with me. I would go to jail before ever betraying the confidence of any of these people. However, there are other skeletons in the Nama closet. For example, a senior DUP Minister was ‘coaching’ an MLA from another party on the DFP committee as to how they could go about blocking me being invited to give evidence. This is especially serious given this DUP Minister was himself implicated in Nama and was, with the full knowledge of an MLA from another party, seeking to frustrate the inquiry.
Indeed it is also my understanding that aspects of the Jonathan Bell tapes relate to discussions around how to cover up Nama, what questions DUP members of the committee should ask Mr Robinson and Mr Wilson during his evidence and DUP links with MLAs in other parties who were on the DFP committee. The Bell tapes would therefore be relevant evidence for any political show trial, and that could prove very embarrassing for the DUP indeed, given I understand that the content goes far beyond RHI and strays into Nama. Of course if the court were to issue an order compelling the disclosure of the relevant tapes then they would have to be turned over in their entirety – to me.
There has been a false narrative perpetuated from 2016 that I was somehow ‘conspiring’ with Sinn Fein. This is patently and demonstrably false. Even within the PPS statement it is clear that the allegation is around the “alleged manipulation of the presentation of evidence”, there never was any allegation that I was ‘fed’ information by Sinn Fein and those who promoted this false narrative should apologise.
It is promoted, ironically in the majority of cases by pro-agreement voices who advocate Government with Sinn Fein, in an effort to smear me and undermine my anti-agreement stance.
To those people I would point out that I campaign against Sinn Fein every day of my life, I oppose the Belfast Agreement and the ‘peace process’ narrative that allows nationalism to use the structures of the agreement to advance their harmonisation agenda under the guise of equality and rights.
Neither Daithi McKay (nor any other member of Sinn Fein) provided me with any information in relation to Nama. Even a quick scan over what are alleged to be transcripts (I have no idea as to the accuracy of said transcripts) demolishes the false and politically contrived narrative that they did. The actual allegation was that there was guidance on how to present the evidence in a manner that would fit within the procedures of the committee- if this was true, and no concession is made on this point, then surely the public interest was best served by ensuring that corruption by public officials was exposed?
Indeed some would say that Sinn Fein were played like a fiddle and ultimately ended up as damaged as sections of the DUP by Nama, at a time when the structures of Stormont were blossoming under a DUP-Sinn Fein partnership. The ‘McKay scandal’ was the first rupture in that marriage of political convenience.
That scandal stems from public extracts of alleged messages. It would be for the prosecution to prove those are (a) real and (b) reach a credible evidential standard. As aforementioned however, there is no suggestion in any of these alleged messages that I was provided any Nama information by Sinn Fein.
In his book on Nama, best-selling author and journalist Frank Connolly claims that my sources included ‘powerful elements’ within the DUP. At no stage whatsoever is it ever suggested that Sinn Fein provided me any information on Nama. If indeed Mr Connolly’s analysis is correct then we would have the incredible situation whereby I was being prosecuted for disclosing public interest evidence allegedly provided to me by senior members of the DUP, on the basis of a complaint by a section of the DUP that the disclosures caused public harm by virtue of damaging their reputation corporately as a party.
There are no skeletons in my closet in relation to Nama. The allegations relating to alleged contact with a committee chairman have been well rehearsed and subjected to intense public scrutiny.
I would welcome an adversarial criminal trial to copper-fasten the facts around those allegations, none of which would be new to the public domain. It is other people who should be worried, because a trial of this sort would not only seek to criminalise public interest journalism, but would open a political Pandora’s box and the ultimate losers in that will be sections of the DUP and Sinn Fein, right at the moment they are seeking to put the institutions back together.
The Maurice Morrow wing of the DUP – which is the RHI part of the party – sowed the wind with their attempt to criminalise public interest journalism relating to the exposure of Nama corruption: they could very well end up reaping the whirlwind.
Will the NUJ back me as they have backed others? It matters little to me if they do, or do not. However, the principle at stake will affect all journalists, writers, authors and whistle-blowers.
The evidence I provided was accurate and true and I do not recant from a single word of it. My evidence to the committee and blogging before and after the event, along with my book, was public interest journalism that helped blow the lid on serious political corruption. I will never apologise for that or back down in the face of an onslaught orchestrated by millionaire property developers, their business partner lawyers or indeed political allies of this golden circle. That they have managed to persuade the state to aide them in this campaign is all the more reason why they must be resisted.
Gordon Brown has warned the future of the union between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is “more at risk” than at any time in 300 years.
The ex-prime minister said the United Kingdom risked “unravelling” due to Brexit and the “narrow nationalism” of the Conservative and SNP governments.
In a speech in London, he urged the “patriotic majority” to speak up against their values being “hijacked”.
Brexit supporters have dismissed claims it could hasten Scottish independence.
Scotland voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU in the 2016 referendum, as did Northern Ireland, while Wales and England voted to leave.
Boris Johnson, the favourite to succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader and prime minister, has pledged to bring different parts of the UK together if he wins power and address the economic and political disparities which fuelled the Brexit vote.
In a BBC interview, he said he recognised that parts of the UK felt “left behind”.
However, he insisted that he would be prepared to take the UK out of the EU without a legally-binding agreement on the 31 October deadline.ADVERTISEMENT
‘Patriotic test’
Speaking to the Fabian Society, Mr Brown said such rhetoric was a “recruiting sergeant” for the SNP – whose leader Nicola Sturgeon has signalled there will be another independence vote in 2021 if the UK leaves the EU against Scotland’s will.
A no-deal exit, he argued, was an “act of economic self-harm” which Mr Johnson and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage were determined to make a “test of true patriotism”.
Leaving without any mutually agreed basis for future co-operation would not only cause irreparable economic damage, Mr Brown said, but threaten the peace settlement in Northern Ireland and undermine the whole integrity of the union.
“Talking up no deal means renouncing the chance of a positive post-Brexit relationship with the continent and our major economic partners,” he said.
“It is yet another example of an inward-looking, isolationist and dogmatic approach that has no economic logic and runs counter to our long-term national interest.
“And yet those who do not go down that road are accused of not being true patriots and of betraying Britain. Our patriotism has been hijacked by a narrow dogmatic nationalism.”
Mr Brown played a key role in the No campaign in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
Criticising Mr Johnson’s record on and respect for Scottish devolution, he said the former mayor of London would be under pressure to “play the English card” at the next election to try and win a Conservative majority “even at the cost of harming the union”.
“It is right to warn of the SNP’s obsession with independence,” he said.
“It is right too for us to remind Labour that as a party of the union it can never and must never made a backdoor deal with the SNP.”
As a first step in rebuilding “trust” with Leave voters, he called for a series of citizens’ assemblies across the UK, modelled on those in the Republic of Ireland, to examine “very real problems” such as concerns over immigration, low pay and lack of new manufacturing jobs.
He also called for tougher laws to eradicate Islamophobia and anti-Semitism and more emphasis on teaching about community relations in schools.
With the very survival of the United Kingdom under threat, he called for “new defenders” of the union to make themselves heard and tackle the “threat from these new nationalisms”.
“I believe the union is today more at risk than at any time in 300 years,” he added.
The SNP’s former deputy leader Stewart Hosie said a no-deal Brexit would be “clearly contrary” to Scotland’s wishes.
He told Sky News that if Mr Johnson or another future PM “ignored” Scotland over Brexit, “it leads us closer to independence”.
John Herbert “Jackie” Gleason was born in Brooklyn, New York on 26 February 1916. His mother, Mae Agnes “Maisie” (née Kelly) came from Farranree, Co. Cork. His father Herbert’s father was an Irish immigrant, while his mother had English and Dutch ancestry. Jackie had one older brother named Clement, who died of meningitis when he was fourteen and Jackie was three. Gleason grew up at 328 Chauncey Street in Brooklyn, an address later made famous by his Ralph Kramden character. His father had a drinking problem and his mother was very overbearing. She raised him strictly catholic and never wanted him out of her sight. He once said the other kids would make fun of his Irish accent. His father, an insurance auditor; abandoned the family in December 1925 when Jackie was nine, forcing his mother to go to work as a subway attendant. After his father left, Jackie then began hanging around with a local gang, and hustling pool. He became interested in performing after participating in a school play at John Adams High School in Ozone Park. He put together a comedy act with his friends and got jobs as a master of ceremonies in local theaters. His mother died of sepsis in 1935, when he was nineteen. Jackie then began work as a professional comedian, working small clubs steadily. In 1936 he married Genevieve Halford, whom he met on the stage show circuit known as “vaudeville”. Gleason appeared in several films beginning with “Navy Blues” in 1941, while still doing standup as a sideline. He appeared in several shows including the hit musical “Follow The Girls” in 1944 on the Broadway stage in New York. His big break would come in 1949 in the new medium known as television. “The Life of Riley”, a radio comedy program was transplanted to this new medium. William Bendix, who originated the role was not available at that time, so in 1949 the role fell to Gleason. The show ran only a few months. Bendix would later revive the show in 1953 for a five-year run. Later in 1949, Gleason was then hired to host the DuMont Television Network “Cavalcade of Stars” on the strength of his nightclub performances. Gleason was so successful with “The Cavalcade of Stars” that he was contracted by the CBS television network in 1952 to move the show there and it was renamed “The Jackie Gleason Show”. His success came from presenting a good variety of entertainment. The comedy came from sketches performed with Gleason portraying several characters he had developed, many based on people he knew or observed growing up in Brooklyn. He would introduce the show with “…and away we go…” In 1955, Gleason had the idea to make a separate series of a popular recurring sketch on his show about a Brooklyn bus driver and his wife and friends known as “The Honeymooners”. The show was centered around Ralph Kramden; an everyman who works hard and dreams of “getting rich quick” to provide for his long-suffering wife Alice. She is quite sensible and often brings him back to reality, for which he idly threatens to send her “…to the moon, Alice!” before he realises “Baby, you’re the greatest!”. In these schemes, he often involves his dizzy neighbor Ed Norton; played by fellow Irish-American Art Carney. Norton is married to the kind and patient Trixie. “The Honeymooners” show and its characters are among the most iconic and beloved in the history of television. That year thirty-nine classic episodes of the show were recorded. Years later, Gleason released them in syndication and they are still widely shown today. In 2000, installed outside the Port Authority in New York City is a statue of Gleason’s Ralph Kramden, the bus driver from Brooklyn. Although the story lines in “The Honeymooners” drew a lot from Gleason’s experiences and observations in his Irish neighbourhood, the characters on the show are not “ethnic” characters. Their unseen neighbours and friends have Irish names like Grogan and Geraghty and also Italian or Jewish names. It is Brooklyn, after all. Earlier shows with identifiably ethnic main characters, including “The Goldbergs” (Jews), “Life With Luigi” (Italians), “Amos and Andy” (Blacks), even “I Remember Mama” (Scandinavians) and Bendix’s “The Life Of Riley” (Irish) were on the decline. Such shows were seen to have limited audiences. The push was for the broad appeal of shows like “Father Knows Best” or “Leave It To Beaver”. This also came with the push to move the show business industry away from the ethnic identities of New York. Carl Reiner’s proposed program about a Jewish comedy writer ended up becoming “The Dick Van Dyke Show”, starring a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. The Jackie Gleason Show ended in 1957. In 1959, Gleason returned to the Broadway stage in New York to star in “Take Me Along”, a musical based on “Ah, Wilderness” by Irish-American playwright Eugene O’Neill. The original stage adaptation of the play was by Irish-American show business legend George M. Cohan. One night at the Shubert Theater where the show ran for fourteen months, he met famous Irish writer Brendan Behan. The role won Gleason a Tony award for Best Performance By a Leading Actor In a Musical. In 1960, Hanna-Barbera’s animated prime-time TV series “The Flintstones” premiered. The show juxtaposes modern situations against the prehistoric Stone Age when it is set in the fictional town of Bedrock. The show is a conscious parody of various TV sitcoms (situation comedies) of the time, but is quite noticeably based on “The Honeymooners”. Even down to Fred and Barney’s men’s club or lodge being like Ralph and Norton’s. Gleason considered suing. When his lawyer asked him: “Do you want to be known as the man who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air?”, he relented. In 1961, Gleason appeared in a serious dramatic role as professional pool player Minnesota Fats in the movie “The Hustler” which starred Paul Newman. Gleason made his own pool shots in the film, utilising skills he learned in his Brooklyn Irish neighbourhood. In 1962, Gleason starred in the film “Gigot”, a screenplay he wrote himself about a mute, simple, misunderstood Parisian janitor. The movie, of which he was very proud; was directed by fellow Irish-American Gene Kelly. Throughout the 60’s, he had a secondary career releasing long-playing record albums of instrumental “mood” music. He believed and insisted that there was an audience for this. Gleason couldn’t read or write music, but he came up with melodies that were transcribed and arranged for orchestras. He had composed the themes to his show and “The Honeymooners” in that way. His first album “Music For Lovers Only” stayed in the Billboard charts for 153 weeks. He revived The Jackie Gleason show in 1962 with a new catch phrase “How sweet it is!”, which became his trademark. It reflected his reputation as a bon vivant. He was known as a man with huge appetites; for food, especially drink, and sex. He was also a heavy smoker and a notorious spendthrift. The show ran until 1970. That same year his wife divorced him. Ten days after his divorce was final, he married Beverly McKittrick. In 1975, he married a third and final time to Marilyn Taylor. Her sister June Taylor was the choreographer for the dancer’s on Gleason’s variety shows. Gleason’s next big movie role was in 1977’s “Smokey And The Bandit”, starring Burt Reynolds and Sally Field. Gleason played Sheriff Buford T. Justice of Texas. Sheriff Justice takes the law itself and The Bandit absconding with the woman who jilted his son at the altar quite personally. His efforts are endlessly frustrated by the Bandit’s craftiness and wide popular support and his own dimwitted son, “Junior”. Director Hal Needham encouraged him to improvise, which results in him stealing all his scenes. He also starred in the movie’s two sequels. In 1985, Gleason starred with his old friend Art Carney in “Izzy and Moe” about two famous Prohibition Agents in the ‘20’s when alcohol was illegal in the US. In 1986, he starred with Tom Hanks as his character’s estranged father in the movie “Nothing In Common”, a critically acclaimed performance that would be his last. Jackie Gleason, dubbed “The Great One” by Orson Welles died 24 June 1987 at his home in Florida. Kevin Rooney
