Monthly Archives:

October 2009

News

Bring Your Legal Problems—Help is Free

Have an immigration problem? A landlord dispute? Any messy legal situation you don’t know how to deal with?

The Irish Immigration Center is offering a free Legal and Immigration Clinic with the help of the Brehon Law Society and Drexel Law School every fourth Tuesday of the month, starting on October 27, from 3 to 6 PM.

Criminal and family lawyers are also available on request.

You need an appointment for these confidential clinics. Call 610-789-6355 to make one. The Irish Immigration Center is at 7 South Cedar Lane in Upper Darby.

October 23, 2009 by
Music

Review: “Music of North Connacht” by the Innisfree Ceili Band

If you’re a dancer, you’ll love the Innisfree Céilí Band’s “Music of North Connacht.” And if you don’t dance, you’ll wish you did. Well, you can still tap your toes.

The always busy Teada fiddler Oisin Mac Diarmada is the driving force behind the Innisfree Céilí Band. (Thanks, Oisin, for providing the CD.) There are three Mac Diarmadas in the band in all, also including Cormac on fiddle and Maire on flute.

Innisfree won the 2008 All-Ireland Senior Céilí Band competition. It’s easy to see why. In its 12 tracks, “Music of North Connacht” seeks to encapsulate the musical traditions of counties Sligo, Roscommon and Leitrim. It succeeds brilliantly.

In his liner notes, MacDiarmada pays tribute to the flute and fiddle pairings North Connacht is known for and he honors the memory of those superb musicians, such as South Sligo’s Michael Coleman and James Morrison, whose early crackling and hissing 78s captured and preserved the tradition.

Innisfree’s 11 musicians—three fiddles, four flutes, two accordions, piano and drums—play with huge energy, discipline and clarity.

The CD opens with an energetic set of reels, “The Real Blackthorn Stick” and “Trim the Velvet,”and it sets a driving pace for all that follows.

I’m a big fan of the fourth track, a set of marches (“O Domhnaill Abu” and the venerable “Jamesy Gannon’s.” For whatever reason, it put me in mind of a Friday night céilí at the Philadelphia Irish Center. That, and I just like “Jamesy Gannon’s.”

Track nine, is another standout, a set of jigs featuring “Geese in the Bog” and “I Was Born for Sport.”

I have to give props to the drummer, Sligo’s Daragh Kelly. Every céilí band needs a living, breathing human metronome, and Kelly fits the bill.

I also greatly appreciated the detailed little notes on the track list. Each track provides an encapsulated history or the tunes and where they came from.

If you’d like to acquire these splendid tunes for yourself, the CD is supposed to be available at www.innisfreeceiliband.ie, but when I checked, the site wasn’t up yet. That’s how new this CD is. Indeed, the CD release party is scheduled for tomorrow, October 17, in Gurteen, County Sligo. Keep checking.

You can also visit their Facebook page.

October 13, 2009 by
Music, People

Review: “Dig With It,” a New CD from Randal Bays

By Frank Dalton

Under my window a clean rasping sound

when the spade sinks into gravelly ground:

my father, digging. I look down.

By God, the old man could handle a spade,

just like his old man.

My grandfather could cut more turf in a day

than any other man on Toner’s bog.

The cold smell of potato mold, the squelch and slap

of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge

through living roots awaken in my head.

But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.

Between my finger and my thumb

the squat pen rests.

I’ll dig with it.

—From Digging, by Seamus Heaney

Nobel Prize winning Irish poet Seamus Heaney knows that unlike his father and grandfather, he is no farmer. His often-quoted early work ‘Digging’ is meaningful for Randal Bays, whose own working man father “had a hard time watching his son go down the road towards the life of a musician.”

Randal is an American fiddler who has mastered the genre of Irish traditional music to a point where he now plays as well as any native. He has a number of successful recordings to his credit and has played and toured with many of the great names of the music, like fiddler Martin Hayes, button accordionist James Keane and guitarist/singer Daithi Sproule.

Randal’s amazing skill at the Irish style has been honed by more than twenty-five years of fiddling and listening, and the sharing of many a late-night session with the finest traditional musicians. Last winter Randal sat down in the studio again and recorded “Dig With It”, an impressive collection of jigs, reels, hornpipes and marches, and two beautiful slow airs.

The opening track on this thoroughly enjoyable CD, “Master’s Degree March,” is an original composition, as is the reel “Friday Harbor.” The remaining tunes are mostly traditional, or every bit as good as traditional, having been originally crafted by the likes of legendary tunesmith Ed Reavy, fiddler James Kelly, and East Galway fiddler and accordion player Tommy Coen.

“The Blue Whale” is the work of Willie Bays, who appears on that track with his proud father. The accompaniment on the CD is tasteful and unobtrusive throughout, supplied by Canadian musician Dave Marshall (guitar, tenor banjo). Randal himself displays not only his great prowess on the fiddle, but also his talent on the guitar and harp.

The Cork Examiner (Ireland) has called Randal Bays “a rare beast, a master of the fiddle”, while here in America Fiddler Magazine says he is “among the best Irish style fiddlers of his generation.” Randal has clearly earned recognition on both sides of the pond as a musician of uncommon talent.

October 13, 2009 by
News

Irish Represented at This Week’s Immigration Rallies

Sarah Conaghan at Monday's Philadelphia rally.

Sarah Conaghan at Monday's Philadelphia rally.

He was eight when his father left home, reluctantly leaving his family behind to travel thousands of miles across the ocean to America to earn money to support them. He was 16 when he next saw his father. It was, he says, the meeting of two strangers.

“When he left, I was little. When I next saw him, I was taller than my father. And he was not familiar to me. He was shocked when he saw me too.”

It could be any immigrant’s story, this old familiar tale of desperation and families torn apart. But in this case it belongs to Xu Lin, a young man born in China’s Fujian Province whose father is now trapped in America without a green card.

“My grandmother passed away two years ago and in our tradition, the oldest son should be there to send his parents away,” Lin told a crowd gathered for an immigration reform rally in the shadow of Philadelphia’s City Hall on Monday, October 12. “My father is the oldest son in the family, but he could not go because of his immigration status. I feel really sad for my dad and grandmother.”

The rally, organized by the group Reform Immigration for America, was a send-off for a handful of local people who were traveling to Washington, DC, the next day to attend a larger rally at the Capitol to demand action on immigration reform before the end of the year.

Nearly 8,000 people—including representatives from Philadelphia’s Irish Immigration Center—spent the day lobbying in congressional offices and massing on the Capitol lawn to show support for new programs that will make it easier for immigrants to become citizens and for the abolition of old programs that make them criminals.

One of those local representatives was Sarah Conaghan, a Delaware County woman whose father, Tom Conaghan, founded the Irish Immigration Center. She stressed the need to “put a different face” on immigration, one that reflects the true diversity of immigrants “who come from Ireland, Honduras, Poland, every country you can imagine.”

The Pennsylvania group met with aides for Bucks County Rep. Patrick Murphy, Delaware County Rep. Joe Sestak and Senators Bob Casey Jr. and Arlen Specter, though their lobbying was preaching to the converted. Those lawmakers are on record as supporting immigration reform.

Among the proposed laws immigration reformers would like to see passed is the Reuniting Families Act, set in play by New Jersey Senator Robert Menedez, New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and the late Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. The bill would end lengthy wait times for foreign-born relatives of US citizens and permanent residents to be granted visas. There is currently an immigration processing backlog of 5.8 million people, or about 20,000 people a year. Supporters say that the US economy takes a hit as a result: Many of these people are at retirement age when they finally arrive so are unable to join the workforce or pay taxes.

While the rally was going on in Washington, Siobhan Lyons, executive director of the Philadelphia Irish Immigration Center, was in New York with a coalition of Irish groups meeting with Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin. Martin was doing the rounds of national lawmakers to take a read on the future of the reform bills now on the table. “He said that there’s a small window at the beginning of the year where we need to get comprehensive reform in,” says Lyons.

In past years, the Irish got a special pass. “The Irish have benefited from special visa programs and there has been a hope in the Irish community that we’ll get this again, but it’s not happening,” says Lyons. And, she says, it shouldn’t. There are an estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish in the US. There are millions of Hispanics.

“The whole coalition of Irish immigration organization is planning a push—it might be a postcard campaign—to make sure that the entire community gets behind comprehensive reform that applies to everyone, with no ethnic group singled out.”

She says she’s hoping the Irish have long memories. “Not long ago, the Irish were met with signs that said, ‘No Irish need apply.’ We were once the immigrants no one wanted. We know what it’s like to be the people everyone hates. It all turned out great for us. . .and everyone else.”

For Conaghan, the current immigration situation has a “there but for the grace of God go I” component. It’s personal.

“I’m the daughter of two immigrants and when they came here in the 1970s, there was a road to citizenship then and they took it,” says Conaghan. “Since 1996, our community been devastated something called the Illegal Immigration Reform Act, which removed every legal road and bridge for Irish immigrants to become citizens. It eliminated the path to legalization. Their punishment: Those who remain 180 days after their visas are up can be barred from returning to the US for up to 20 years. The result of all this is that people who remained because they had put down roots—they settled down and had kids—have been trapped here, living in the shadows for over 15 years. I know some of these families and they haven’t been able to go back to see grandparents who live in Ireland.”

Roughly 20 percent of Pennsylvania’s population has Irish roots, with a million Irish and Irish-Americans living in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

“Yet our historic contribution to this country has been ignored,” says Conaghan. “This is such an important issue for our community locally, and every community. Our country was built by immigrants.”

October 13, 2009 by
Columns, How to Be Irish in Philly

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

It’s beginning to look a lot like ball season. The Cavan Society is having theirs (the 102nd) on Friday night at the Springfield Country Club, with the Vince Gallagher Band providing the music. Next up, Mayo, followed by Donegal, but there’s still a little time to drop five pounds to fit into that dress. . . .they’re not rocking till next month.

A couple of benefits this Saturday: AOH/LAOH Division 87 is holding its annual scholarship fund golf outing at Juniata Golf Course in Philadelphia. And in Delco, the group Misty Isle is providing the music for the Be True to Your School Beef and Beer, which raises money for Catholic grades schools (and you get to choose your own school as beneficiary), at the St. Denis parish gym in Havertown.

Also on Saturday, wear your scariest costume. Or not. But the Irish Club of Delaware County is holding its Halloween party at McGilllicuddy’s on West Chester Pike in Upper Darby.

On Sunday, the New Castle, DE, Irish Society is running its 16th annual Irish fest at the Irish Center on Rodney Street in Wilmington. It starts at 11 AM with mass, and entertainment by the Seven Rings Band and the Willie Lynch Band follows at noon, along with homemade baked goods and “tae”—that’s tea to you—and a raffle for great prizes, including a two-night stay at a Chesapeake Bay B&B. There will also be Irish vendors, so you can get some of your Christmas shopping done. Remember, Irish sweaters save energy costs.

Gloucester City, NJ, resident Ken Doyle, co-author with his brother, Patrick, of “Mother From Hell,” a shocking memoir of their horrific abuse as children at the hands of their mother, will be at the Irish Center in Philadelphia at 4:30 PM to speak and sign copies of the book. If you haven’t read this Irish bestseller, you should. You won’t soon forget it. Read our interview with Ken Doyle.

We added a new session to our session finder this week—Monday night at the Rocking Stone Bar & Grill in Paulsboro, NJ. Local musicians Fintan Malone and Kevin Brennan are the anchors.

On Wednesday, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, daughter of Robert Kennedy, will be at the Church on the Mall in Plymouth Meeting to talk about her book, “Failing America’s Faithful: How Today’s Churches are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way.”

Don’t forget the jive and ballroom dancing classes at the Irish Center on Thursday nights. Isn’t it about time you learned to shake your groove thing? And consider watching the baseball playoffs in the comfort of the center’s Fireside Room. They just installed three 42-inch plasma TVs and are offering free food (hotdogs, popcorn, and pretzels). You’re allowed to cheer for any team you want. Within reason. Don’t forget to tip the bartender.

If your group is having an event, you can list it on our calendar for free. You can even put it up there yourself. Click on Events on the upper left hand of the home page, then on the highlighted phrase “Notify us about your Irish events,” and follow the instructions. If you need help, just hit the “contact us” button and one of us will get back to you. Our calendar lets your prospective attendees add your event to their e-calendar, send them an email, or even a text message reminding them of the date and time. If your event is on our calendar, we mention it in our weekly “How to Be Irish in Philly” feature. You may have to put up with some snarky comments, depending on our mood, but you get what you pay for.

October 13, 2009 by
Arts

Look Out! Irish Comedy Tour Heading This Way

Comic Pat Godwin was the song parody guy on the old Morning Zoo radio show in Philadelphia. (Not a mug shot.)

Comic Pat Godwin was the song parody guy on the old Morning Zoo radio show in Philadelphia. (Not a mug shot.)

Did you ever sit around with your Irish-American friends, cracking each other up with stories from your childhood? The crazy relatives. The wise-cracking relatives. The relatives who never met a mixed drink they didn’t like.

Pat Godwin and Derek Richards did, and even though they grew up in different Irish Catholic neighborhoods—Godwin in Wilkes-Barre, Richards in Detroit—they found they lived on common ground. “We all realized we had relatives with drinking problems—I know, go figure, who saw that coming?” quips Richards. “The funniest thing though was when we all realized we had mug shots. We’d all been arrested at some point. It was not like we’d ever hijacked an armored car, but we’d all been in the situation where we’d had too much booze with the wrong people.”

Then, they took this conversation on the road.

Godwin (you may remember him as the song parodist from the John DeBella Morning Zoo and later the Howard Stern radio shows) and Richards, along with Jim Paquette and Mike McCarthy are the comics that make up The Irish Comedy Tour (‘they’re Irish, they’re American, and they’re not holding back”). Godwin, Richards, and Paquette will be bringing it to the Sellersville Theatre on Sunday, October 25.

The four met on the comedy circuit, and one thing led to another. Listen to Richards and see if any of this sounds familiar:

“We were sharing stories over some Jameson and some beer and we started noticing a common thread in personal backgrounds. And I thought, can we take what we talk and joke about here and bring it to stage?”

They could. The Irish Comedy Tour started in 2005 as a one-off St, Paddy’s Day thing. This year, it’s taking its nose-bashing, (you have to check out their website to get that one) Irish-pubby sense of humor from Michigan to Key West. “It’s kind of like an Irish pub and comedy show that you put in a food processor,” says Richards, who was a semi-finalist in Comedy Central’s Open Mic Fight.

Paquette and Godwin are both musicians as well, so there are some tunes in that comedy Cuisinart too. “Pat does a hilarious song about the lack of birth control in the Irish community called ’13 Kids and Counting.’ He also does a version of ‘Black Velvet Band,’ with a comedic twist,” Richards says. (Few songs deserve it more.)

If you saw “Last Comic Standing,” you saw judge and “Cheers” alumn John Ratzenberger nearly swallow his mustache when contestant Godwin started singing that pre-K favorite, “Bingo (was His Name-O)” as Bono (“this is for all the dogs in shelters!”). “That was funny,” Ratzenberger said as Godwin left the stage.

In fact, Godwin started as a musician before he turned to stand-up and acting. “I was playing down at Smokey Joe’s at Penn and it was pretty clear what they wanted was cover songs and things they could sing to. But I was talking in between the songs, satirizing rock and roll stars and singing funny stuff, and that turned into my act. [Philadelphia comedian] Todd Glass saw me and suggested I do an open mike and that’s how I was hired to do the DeBella show.”

When the Morning Zoo was shuttered, Godwin turned to the guy who was to blame, Howard Stern, who hired him to churn out topical song parodies for his pre-satellite radio morning show. “I left there and moved to LA,” Godwin says. “I didn’t do any more songs. I had a few failed pilots, knocked around LA with my girlfriend at the time, wasn’t successful at much of anything. I failed in LA once as an actor at 18, then as a songwriter at 26, then again as a comedian. It’s LA 3, Pat Godwin, zero.”

But now he’s on the Irish Comedy Tour, and things couldn’t be better. Both he and Richards say this is the most fun they have all year. They get to reach deep back into their childhoods and bring up the funniest bits, even the ones that weren’t funny at the time.

“For me,” says Richards, “a lot of it is the sense of humor I grew up with. My grandfather was my biggest comedy influence. Growing up, down in the basement in my mother and father’s house, myself and my brother would listen to Dad and Grandpa trade the most wrong jokes ever. (Even though it’s an adult show, we won’t be doing any of those.) As long as we never told our mother and grandmother, we could stay down there and listen.”

Godwin, who is a descendant of the writer Mary Shelley (“Frankenstein”), grew up with “the drinking thing.”

“I mind my Ps and Qs with alcohol, because I’ve seen a lot of smart, creative people ruin their lives,” he says. “On the road I drive for those two wackos so they can tear it up after the show.” But he’s found a way to give it a comic spin. “I wrote a song called, ‘Switch to Beer,’ about the way some Irish people handle their drinking problems—putting down the whiskey and switching to beer. It came from seeing the Irish actor Richard Harris in the Bahamas, completely bombed, after he’d been on the Letterman show a week before talking about how he’d solved his hard drinking problem. I went up to him at the roulette table where he was completely trashed and I asked him about it. He said he stopped drinking the hard stuff. He switched to beer.”

So, by now you’ve figured out that the Irish Comedy Tour isn’t the place to take the kiddies. “This sense of humor is part of our upbringing, which might be a little off-color and politically incorrect, but it’s not dirty,” says Richards. “It’s all in good taste.”

And, he says, it might remind you of sitting around with your pals at a pub, sharing a frosty one and some memories. “People come up to us after the show, even people right from Ireland, and tell us this is everything they talk about,” he says. “It’s a fun party atmosphere. It’s a party—that’s the best way to describe it.”

October 13, 2009 by
News, People

“One of the Greatest Experiences of My Life”

All the Marys in Dungloe--that's Philadelphia's Mary second from the right, second row.

All the Marys in Dungloe--that's Philadelphia's Mary second from the right, second row.

Emily Weideman didn’t expect to win when she entered the Mary from Dungloe competition last year. A program sponsored by the Philadelphia Donegal Association, Mary from Dungloe is a pageant open to young women of Irish descent who compete for the international crown in the town of Dungloe (pronounced Done-low) in County Donegal every summer.

But she entered, won the right to represent Philadelphia in Dungloe, and in the essay she shares below, apparently had the time of her life.

A little about Emily: The Montgomeryville native is an area coordinator for Holy Family University and holds a BA in political science from Arcadia University and an MA in global security from Keele University in Stoke-on-Trent, England. She studied in Dublin, Ireland while an undergrad and interned in Dail Eireann in 2004. She does volunteer work for the Irish Immigration Center.

By Emily Weideman

I was crowned the Philadelphia Mary from Dungloe back in November, 2008, so I thought I was more than ready to head off to Dungloe for the International Mary from Dungloe Festival in July. Nothing, however, could have prepared me for the experience of being a Mary. I can now say that I have fifteen amazing friends with whom I shared one of the greatest experiences of my life.

The Mary from Dungloe Festival in Dungloe, County, Donegal kicked off on Saturday, July 25, but it was the Introduction of the Marys on Wednesday, July 29 in the Main Street that started the week for fifteen young women representing many counties in Ireland, the six Northern counties, London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bayonne, and Philadelphia. At the head of the group was the 41st Mary from Dungloe, Una Rooney, from County Armagh.

The sixteen Marys spent five days together traveling throughout Donegal, with stops at Glenveagh National Park, Gweedore, Ballybofey, Donegal Town, and of course many appearances in Dungloe. The Marys also made a quick afternoon trip to County Fermanagh to visit the Belleek Pottery Factory. We greatly enjoyed it—each of us was presented with Belleek jewelry as a keepsake of the week in Dungloe after the crowning on Sunday night.

A favorite stop for all the Marys was a visit to the Angle Day Center in Dungloe, a day facility for the handicapped. One of the escorts (all the Marys have an escort), Mark Gallagher, provided the music and the Marys spent the morning dancing and singing with the Angle’s patients.

On Thursday night, the Saw Doctors had Dungloe and all the Marys dancing away at their concert on the Main Street in town. The music and weather were fantastic. The evening culminated with the Saw Doctors joining local band, The FlyBys, on stage at the Midway Pub after the show. On Friday, The Fureys had the Marys and escorts dancing to such songs as “One More for the Road” and “My Father’s House”. Amazing music was also provided by Gary Gamble, Philomena Baddeley, Georgette Jones, the Glasgow Mary, Lisa McHugh, Daniel O’Donnell, and many other amazing artists all week long.

The week seemed to fly by and before we knew it, we were on stage Sunday night giving our public interviews. Questions included ‘Where do you see yourself in five years?’, ‘What was your favorite moment from the week?’, and my personal favorite, “What exactly is a cheesesteak?” All of the Marys gave wonderful interviews and the party pieces were superb.

Finally, the Marys were on stage waiting for the 42nd International Mary to be announced. After a carefully designed pause by the Compare, Gerry Kelly from UTV, 25-year-old Kate Ferguson of Derry was named the winner. We were all overjoyed.

Kate is a trainee solicitor who lives in Dublin and just completed working with the Ryan Commission which was set up to investigate child abuse in Irish institutions. She is set to begin her final legal apprenticeship and once it is complete, will be a fully qualified lawyer. . .who plays a mean clarinet (she played the “Derry Air” as her party piece).

While all of the Marys were thrilled with Kate’s win, the true highlight of the week was sharing the experience and creating lasting relationships with one another. The group became very close and, along with Carol Kiernan, the Marys Coordinator, created lasting memories. We all plan to visit one another and we’re already talking about a reunion. I am sure that the 2009 Marys will remain great friends for a long time to come.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Philadelphia Donegal Association for the opportunity to represent them, as well as the City of Philadelphia, at this year’s Festival. It was an experience like no other and I will remember it fondly for the rest of my life. Thank you for all of the support throughout this year!

On November 28, 2009, the 2010 Philadelphia Mary from Dungloe will be selected at the Donegal Ball hosted by the Donegal Association of Philadelphia and held at the Commodore Barry Club. Young women of Irish descent and between the ages of 18 – 27 are invited to join in the evening by competing for the Philadelphia title and the trip to have the experience of a lifetime in Dungloe. For more information and the application, please visit the Donegal Association’s website, www.philadonegal.com.

October 9, 2009 by
News

A New Way to Help St. Malachy School

By Kathy McGee Burns

“I have faith in myself
I have faith in my teachers
I can learn if I study hard
I will learn because I will study hard
I respect others and seek their respect
I have self-respect
I have self-control
I love myself
And loving myself I will be myself
And know myself
I am the one who is talking.”

This is the creed said every morning, after prayers, by the students at St.Malachy School in North Philadelphia. Many of these students are from public housing, most are poor, and most aren’t Catholic. On Fridays, they go to the church for a weekly service, not for Mass, but to experience the splendor and richness of that lovely old church. Father John McNamee, the now retired pastor, often says that sometimes the students need beauty even more than they need bread.

St. Malachy School, named after the 12th century Irish Bishop from Armagh, was opened in 1860, in North Philadelphia, shortly after Irish immigrants and the Sisters of Mercy founded the church, once called “the church in the woods” because of its location outside the 19th century city limits. Its purpose was to educate working-class immigrant children and many Irish-Americans in the Philadelphia area can trace their roots back to St. Malachy’s. My own great-grandparents, Timothy and Bridget Clancy Callahan, were members of the parish and they baptized seven daughters at the church. My grandmother, Mary Josephine, along with her sisters, attended the school.

Among Philadelphia’s schools, Catholic and public, St. Malachy’s has been a remarkable success story. Of its approximately 200 students, 99% are African American and 1% are Latino. Twenty five students graduate in the class of 2009 and and are all going on to excellent schools, including LaSalle, Roman Catholic, Merion Mercy, Hallahan, Charter School for Architecture & Design, and Central. And there’s no selective admissions policy at the school.

St. Malachy’s manages this miracle without taking any money from the Archdiocese. The school runs strictly on donations, some of it from the descendants of those immigrants who founded the school more than a century ago.

This year, a number of local Irish organizations have formed a committee to help coordinate funding for the coming year. It intrigued me that so many busy people decided to take the time to ask their friends and associates to support a school in North Philadelphia. So I asked!

Jim McLaughlin, president of the Irish-American Business Chamber and Network said he is involved because he thinks its important to maintain a Catholic educational presence in the inner city. Keeping a beacon of light alive reflects the Church living its values to both students and neighbors.

Anne O’Callaghan, executive director of the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians, an immigrant resource organization, told me that she thinks that the best gift we can give children is a good education. Inner-city Catholic schools that were once the salvation of Irish immigrants and are now providing a unique, faith-based education that breaks the cycle of poverty. She cited a study that found that 100 percent of St. Malachy’s graduates go on to graduate high school, compared to only 54 percent in the city’s public schools.

In the last 25 years, St. Malachy’s School has empowered thousands of students to realize their potential, forge brighter futures and allow them to enjoy the lifelong benefits of a holistic experience. Anne believes that it is a privilege to contribute to provide this opportunity to children who would otherwise be denied this advantage.

Theresa Flanagan Murtagh, immediate past president of the Donegal Association and member of many organizations, says she welcomes the opportunity to work together with these Irish leaders for a common goal, to support a very worthy cause, and help a parish which was initially founded by Irish Immigrants. She and her husband, Paul, are committed to supporting schools that not only produce academic excellence but also build Christian values and promote Catholic faith.

Rich Brennan, AOH Division #1(Dennis Kelly) credits the spirit of his late Great Aunt, Sister Mary Basil, who taught at St. Malachy’s, for inspiring him to volunteer. Rich attended St. Joseph’s University where he learned and now practices the teachings of the Jesuits: Cura Personalis (total care of the entire person) for the (greater good) Magis. He believes that there is a wonderful opportunity to work beside others who support its mission and assist with achieving its goals. Rich is a great example of the success of Catholic education and the desire to give back to others.

Ed Keenan was drawn to the committee by his experience as a longtime St. Malachy’s volunteer and his devotion to Father McNamee, who is known as Father Mac. Ed told me he loves St. Malachy’s because he feels at home there. It is a “welcoming” place, the most Catholic, that is, “universal” church that he has ever attended.

And me, well, I sense Mary Josephine Callahan there and I think she would want me to share the fruits of my education, success and upbringing—the same things St. Malachy’s provided for her when she was a student there in 1886.

So we, the Committee, are asking you to help support the work of St. Malachy’s School by becoming a sponsor of the major fundraiser of the year, a concert by “Mick Moloney and Friends,” which is usually a standing-room-only event scheduled this year for November 1.

There are several sponsorship levels:

The “Father Mac” Sponsorship: $5,000
Official underwriter of concert and reception
Full page recognition in event program
Name on inside cover of event program
On-site event signage recognition
Verbal recognition at the event
Reserved front row seating at the event

The Emerald Sponsorship: $2,500
Official underwriter of printing
Full page recognition in event program
Name on inside front cover of event program
On-site event signage recognition
Verbal recognition at the event

The Shamrock Sponsorship: $1,000
Official underwriter of event program
Half-page recognition in event program
Name on back cover of event program
On-site event signage recognition

The Claddagh Sponsorship: Up to $500 Level
Official friend
Business card logo in event program
Name on back cover of event program
On-site event signage recognition

To become a sponsor, contact Jim Martin at 215 850 4084 or jimart40@mac.com, or Kathy McGee Burns at 215 872-1305 or mcgeeburns@aol.com

October 9, 2009 by