JFK, Marty Walsh- strong, deep Irish ties with Boston

Ed Forry
By Ed Forry
December 2, 2013

The ancestral bonds that will forever link the town of Boston with the Emerald Isle were in great evidence last month as Ireland’s citizenry and its media were riveted with two huge stories from our city’s Democratic politics.

The first, of course, was the anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination, an event that even today occasions spasms of tears from the Irish. In New Ross, where JFK had greeted his cousins just months before his death, a special commemoration was held on Nov. 22.

Strong base and key alliances fueled Marty Walsh’s win over John Connolly

By Bill Forry
December 2, 2013

It was a long time coming. Many skeptics thought it would never happen. And, yes, it could prove fleeting. But for one day in November 2013, residents of the city’s largest neighborhood put aside long-standing differences to elect one of their own to the most powerful job in Boston and, arguably, the state.

Marty Walsh didn’t win white Dorchester. He didn’t win black Dorchester. He won Dorchester. Period. And he did it in convincing fashion, carrying more than 60 percent of the vote in his home neighborhood.

Mayor-elect Walsh opens up on immigration, Secure Communities

By Matt Murphy, SHNS
November 26, 2013
Matt Murphy, SHNS

By Matt Murphy, State House News Service
Nov. 26, 2013
Hoping to meet in the next few weeks with other new mayors from around the country to discuss immigration, Boston Mayor-elect Marty Walsh on Tuesday said if he could "get around" enforcing the Secure Communities Act he would.
Walsh attended the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition's annual free Thanksgiving luncheon and spent some time serving mashed potatoes before dishing on how immigrants would have a "friend" in City Hall.

In sit-down, Mayor-elect Walsh talks Election Night to chief-of-staff

By Gintautas Dumcius
November 8, 2013
Gintautas Dumcius

By Gintautas Dumcius
Nov. 8, 2013
Marty Walsh arrived at the Park Plaza Hotel around 6 p.m. on Election Night and headed up to the 15th floor. For the first time during that day, he was nervous. West Roxbury, Beacon Hill and Back Bay, friendly turf for his opponent, John Connolly, had seen a high number of voters turn out.

Fiddler of Dooney (Boston) is an artist of the Midwest

By Sean Smith
October 31, 2013
Sean Smith

Irish literature fans know “The Fiddler of Dooney” as one of W. B. Yeats’s most famous works, with its memorable opening lines: “When I play on my fiddle in Dooney/folk dance like a wave of the sea.” But the poem also is the namesake of a venerable Irish fiddle competition in Sligo whose winners have included such luminaries as Seamus Connolly, Kathleen Collins, Seamus McGuire, Paddy Glackin, and Cathal Hayden.
And now, the Boston area has its own Fiddler of Dooney.

Confronting doubt about God’s existence

By Ed Forry
October 31, 2013

BY JAMES W. DOLAN
SPECIAL TO THE REPORTER
It would be disingenuous not to question the existence of God or the validity of those institutions that purport to represent him. To be “born again” into a complete and permanent acceptance of God, while perhaps comfortable, seems more emotional than rational.
Doubt is the natural product of an inquisitive mind. Courage is overcoming fear – without the one, the other is suspect. So, too, faith is the affirmation of hope – without doubt, it is blind acceptance.

John Boyle O’Reilly exhibit to open at BC on Tues., Nov. 12

By Ed Forry
October 31, 2013

The John J. Burns Library and The Center for Irish Programs at Boston College in collaboration with The John Boyle O’Reilly Society of Ireland, The Charitable Irish Society, and The Eire Society of Boston will be opening an exhibit entitled “John Boyle O’Reilly, His Life and Work” on Tues., Nov. 12, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Burns Library. Opening remarks will be made by the Honorable Richard Culhane, Lord Mayor of Drogheda and President of the John Boyle O’Reilly Society of Ireland. A reception will follow.

ICCNE to host Mass. Memories Road Show on Sat., Nov. 16

By Ed Forry
October 31, 2013

“The Irish Immigrant Experience”
The effect on viewers was immediate…“Stop, I need to take a closer look!” The photo accompanying this article greeted visitors at a recent Irish festival. The 1939 study of Roxbury’s Emerald Isle Orchestra elicited many comments:
Older folks remembered the Irish dance halls in Dudley Square; some recognized band members in the photo; younger viewers picked out other details – the two girls who must have been sisters; and one twenty-something musician commented on the group’s slogan “For Music That Satisfies – Call Prospect 1046-J.”

Abbey Theatre leaders cite Boston connection in asking help for Irish icon

By Ed Forry
October 31, 2013

BY ED FORRY
BIR PUBLISHER
Leaders of Ireland’s legendary Abbey Theatre visited Boston last month for the second in a series of annual visits to develop support for Ireland’s national theatre.
Irish Senator Fiach Mac Conghail, who serves as the Abbey’s director (“Stiúrthóir”) was hosted by Tom and Shelly O’Neill, who together chair a Boston chapter in support of the Abbey Theatre Foundation. The O’Neills were joined by Mac Conghail and Abbey Theatre chairman Bryan McMahan at a dinner for some 40 guests at #9 Park on Beacon Hill.

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