Former UMass President Bill Bulger was guest speaker last month at a community breakfast hosted by Mt. Washington Bank. Speaking to a gathering of some 300 local business and civic leaders, Bulger used the occasion to voice a lament for the current tone of public discourse in public issues. Here’s an abridged version of his remarks:
Times change and trends and fads come and go in Ireland as they do everywhere. With that in mind, I've found that when you visit the Emerald Isle, you really can't go wrong visiting some of the tried and true attractions and events.
The actress and singer Mary Callanan is currently appearing in the campy and colorful off-Broadway hit, "The Great American Trailer Park Musical" at SpeakEasy Stage. When the curtain comes down at the end of the month, she'll move on to star in the one-woman show "Sophie Tucker: The Last of the Red Hot Mamas" at New Rep.
Remembering An Gorta Mór- the Irish Famine
On Sunday May 16 from 12:00P.M.-12:05P.M., wherever you are take the
time to pause and reflect. in union with the Irish people around the
world in remembrance of An Gorta Mór
On Sunday May 23 from 2:00P.M. at the Boston Famine Memorial, there
will be a remembrance of those who suffered during this tragic time
in Ireland,. with prayers offered by Father Peter Nolan.
On Tuesday May 25 there will be a brief observance at the Memorial
First, just to dispel any rumors or urban folklore that may be percolating: No, Hanneke Cassel has never played with U2, in concert or anywhere else.
"I wish!" laughs Cassel, a native Oregonian who has been living in Boston for the past several years - that is, when she's not bringing her special brand of Scottish fiddle music to almost all corners of the earth.
Maybe it's because Gerry Adams has had some recent personal setbacks along with his party's electoral hopes, but the call for the voice of the Provos to end their parliamentary abstention is growing louder. The new leader of the SDLP, Margaret Ritchie, has openly suggested to the republicans that it might be time for elected Sinn Fein representatives in the House of Commons to start actively representing their constituents instead of playing hard to get.
Giving new definition to irony, Rob O'Leary's academic pedigree in the spirited arena of Boston politics reads like one from central casting: Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire; The School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University where he rubbed shoulders with a young Bill Clinton; a master's in public policy from Harvard; and a PhD in history from Tufts. The state senator serving Cape Cod and the Islands, with his trademark Kennedy good looks, was the first Democrat to represent the region in the state Legislature since the Civil War.
What will my church do to confront the continuing scandal associated with the sexual abuse of children? In an effort to avoid scandal, church leaders were complicit in efforts to cover up not only serious crimes but also grievous sins.
Concerned more about perpetrators than victims; more about scandal than truth; and more about image than justice; the church allowed the evil to continue. In doing so, it undermined its moral authority and caused many Catholics to look elsewhere for spiritual guidance.
The results of the upcoming British Parliamentary elections will have a profound effect upon peace and understanding amongst the conflicted people of Northern Ireland. The people of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, will elect 650 members of the newly constituted Parliament, which will rule the country for the next five years unless the new government fails to maintain its majority.
BELFAST - While the party leaders who have the most at stake in this month's British election are named Brown, Cameron, and Clegg, the leaders of three of Northern Ireland's four main political parties also have a lot riding on the outcome of the Westminster vote.
On the surface, a British parliamentary election does not mean as much in Northern Ireland as it once did. With the Northern Ireland Assembly up and running and with most governmental power now in the hands of Assembly ministers, much of the action has moved from London to Belfast.