Father Sean McManus of the Irish National Caucus
Father Sean McManus will be reading from his new autobiography, “My American Struggle for Justice in Northern Ireland” and signing books on Saturday, October 15, at 2 PM at the AOH Div. 87 Hall, 2171 Wakeling Street, in Philadelphia.
Father McManus is president of the Irish National Caucus, a Capitol Hill-based organization which in 1984 initiated and launched the MacBride Principles – a code of conduct for companies doing business in Northern Ireland and. Those principles, which, among other things, call for fair employment practices, have also been passed into law by the US Congress as the standard for economic aid and investment. All recipients of the International Fund for Ireland—to which the US contributes almost $20 million a year—must be in compliance with the principles.
Father McManus was born in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, in a parish that was divided by the North-South border (part is in County Cavan). “England not only divided my country, but my parish as well, for Heaven’s sake, you don’t have to be a political genius to figure out why I have such an abhorrence for the injustice and absurdity of partition,” he told the Irish Echo in 2009.
He lost his brother, Patrick, in 1958 when the IRA bomb he was transporting exploded. Father McManus was arrested during an anti-internment demonstration in 1971. A Redemptorist, he served a parish in Boston before moving to Washington, DC. He started the Irish National Caucus in 1974 to lobby for peace and justice in Northern Ireland.
Admission to the book signing is free and copies will be on sale.
Also on Saturday, enjoy an evening of Irish music and dance at Bucks County Community College in Newtown, featuring the Martin Family Band.
On Sunday, the inimitable Timlin and Kane will be appearing at The Shanachie, Timlin’s pub in Ambler.
And in Coatesville, the equally inimitable Oisin MacDiarmada will be flying solo with his fiddle—he’s usually part of the remarkable group, Teada, which has appeared many times in the Philadelphia area, always to large crowds.
Monday is theater night. At Villanova, one of Ireland’s leading theatre directors, Patrick Mason, will talk about new Irish theater. And Philly’s own Inis Nua Theatre Company—which brings that new Irish (and UK) theater to the US—is staging a reading from British playwright Joe Penhall’s play, “Landscape with Weapon,” at Inis Nua’s new digs at the First Baptist Church at 17th and Sansom Streets in Philadelphia.
There are also two house concerts this week of note: On Tuesday night, Winnie Horan and Mick McAuley—two-fifths of the super group, Solas—will be in Ambler and Andy Irvine will be in Philly. It looks like both are sold out, but Irish Philadelphia will be there so we’ll share some pix and maybe even a video with you next week.
House concerts are a great way to hear a performer. So are concerts in businesses, a new thing to us. Next one up is the John Byrne Band at Cherubini Yachts in Delran, NJ on October 22. It’s part of the ongoing Circle of Friends concert series. Tickets are $15, BYOB.
