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Denise Foley

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

The Mayo Ball is Saturday night at The Irish Center. They’ll be laughing and dancing and having, well, a ball, for the 110th time since the Mayo Association was founded. They’ll also be selecting Miss Mayo 2016. It all takes place in the ballroom starting at 8 PM. Entertainment will be provided by Vince Gallagher and his band, DJ John Shields, and the Rince Ri School of Irish Dance.

Also on Saturday night: Designer Bag Bingo to benefit the Cummins School of Irish Dance at the Holy Martyrs Church Hall in Oreland, and the Glenside Gaelic skating fundraiser at Old York Road Skating Club.

There are two events on Sunday where you can enjoy some Irish music and craic: First is the AOH Ceili, known as Veronica’s Ceili, at the hall in Swedesboro of the AOH Notre Dame Division 1. Jimmy and John McGillian and Tom McHugh will be producing the music to dance to. Second, the AOH/LAOH Annual Freedom for All-Ireland benefit will be held at the FOP Lodge #5 in Northeast Philadelphia. Proceeds from the event will go to charity and community organizations in Northern Ireland.

November 6, 2015 by Denise Foley

History, News, People, Photos

Spooky Tales–And Storytellers–at The Irish Center

There was a full house on Mischief Night at The Irish Center in Philadelphia for an evening of original, ghostly tales from five writers who composed them just for the event.

The authors, who came in costume, included Marita Krivda, author of the historical book, “Irish Philadelphia,” who also organized the evening’s entertainment; Marian Makins, PhD, who teaches critical writer at the University of Pennsylvania and is a singer; Thom Nickels, the author of 11 books, the latest of which is the soon-to-be published “Literary Philadelphia;” Gerry Sweeney, and Lori Lander Murphy, a librarian, genealogist, and writer and photographer for www.irishphiladelphia.com.

Lori agreed to share her story of young love and death with us so you can feel like you were part of the evening.

November 6, 2015 by Denise Foley

How to Be Irish in Philly

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

The beautiful 19th century St. Malachy’s Church in North Philadelphia will be the setting on Sunday, November 1 for the annual Mick Moloney and Friends concert to benefit the church and school founded by Irish immigrants and the Sisters of Mercy.

Limerick native Moloney, who is both a musician and historian, first started the concert more than 25 years ago when he was living in Philadelphia and working at the University of Pennsylvania. The catalyst for the concert was his friendship with then pastor, Father John McNamee, whose book, “Diary of a City Priest,” chronicled his years ministering to the poor in North Philadelphia.

Moloney has been credited with renewing interest in traditional Irish music in the Philadelphia region. McNamee turned a small Catholic parish school into a showpiece for the benefits of a Catholic education: Most of its graduates go on to higher education; even its kindergartners test out at 10 percent above grade level in reading.

October 30, 2015 by Denise Foley

How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish In Philly This Week

Before Halloween meant going from house to house in costume demanding candy, it was Samhain (Sah-win), a Celtic festival that marked the end of the year and, most important, a time when the curtain between the living and the dead, the flesh and the spirit, grew thin enough to permit passage between them. Ancient Celts left food for their dead ancestors and participated in rituals to honor the dead and any protective spirits hovering nearby.

It’s a harvest festival, the remnants of which remain in our carving of pumpkins and bobbing for apples (does anyone really do that anymore?).

October 23, 2015 by Denise Foley

How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

It’s the beginning of Ball season in Philadelphia, an Irish tradition started by the various county societies to raise money for causes at “home” dear to the immigrants’ hearts. This Saturday, the Cavan Society starts it off with music and dancing at the Irish Center. You might see the Philly Rose of Tralee, Mairead Comaskey, there. She traces some of her roots to Cavan.

The Cavan event is followed by the Mayo Association Ball on November 7—which includes the selection of Miss Mayo—and the 129th Donegal Ball on November 28, which incorporates the crowning of the next Mary from Dungloe who will compete for the international title in Dungloe, Donegal next summer.

If you’d like to compete in the Miss Mayo Pageant, open to young women 17-27, contact Eileen Barrilli at 215-205-3221. The Mary from Dungloe pageant is open to women of Irish descent 18-29. For more information, contact Meghan Davis—herself a former Philly and International Mary from Dungloe—at 570-574-7966.

October 16, 2015 by Denise Foley

News, People, Photos, Videos

Tribute to Kevin McGillian

Dozens of people crammed into the tiny MacSwiney Club last Saturday night to pay tribute to Kevin McGillian, who has been playing Irish music on his button accordion at ceilis far and wide since he arrived from Tyrone in the 1950s.

The Comhaltas Ceoltiori Eireann Philadelphia-Delaware Valley Division gave McGillian its lifetime achievement award, appropriately during a break in a ceili at the Jenkintown club. Playing button accordion in the ceili band was Billy McComiskey, a four-time all-Ireland champion who drive up from Baltimore to be part of the event. Later in the evening, he gave McGillian his accordion to hold and the octogenarian, who has been battling cancer, coaxed a tune out of it. McGillians sons, Jimmy and John, also joined in the music making.

October 16, 2015 by Denise Foley

News

The Gathering Lived Up to Its Name

There was a cozy fire crackling in the fireplace, music coming from everywhere, dancing, a pipe band, step dancers, and Irish comfort food involving several different kinds of much-talked-about potatoes from the Irish Center kitchen and the Irish Coffee Shop in Upper Darby.

No wonder no one wanted to leave the Irish Center on Sunday for the third Annual “The Gathering.” Billed as a fundraiser, it was far more. “It was a good day, a happy one,” said organizer Frank Hollingsworth, who is on the board of the Commodore Barry Club, aka The Irish Center. “We’ve wanted to bring back the people who haven’t been to the Irish Center and those who haven’t been there. I spoke to and gave mini-tours to three families who had never been there. They came for the Irish breakfast and just stayed.”

October 9, 2015 by Denise Foley

Music, News, People

St. Malachy’s Annual Concert Honors Its Fallen Hero and Longtime Supporters

By Kathy McGee Burns

Musician Mick Moloney will be returning to St. Malachy’s Church in Philadelphia for his annual concert on Sunday, November 1. The event raises money for the operating costs of St. Malachy’s School, a mission school and “beacon of hope” in North Philadelphia that serves mainly low-income children.

But this year, something is different. Sr. Cecile Reiley, SSJ, will not be there, physically, to guide us. She passed away on April 24, 2015. She and Mick worked on this event for 28 years and, as Mick said, “Sister Cecile was one of the loveliest people I have ever known. A living Saint, really. The most gentle of souls but with a calm inner strength that was extraordinary.”

Sister Cecile, a native of Pottsville, joined the Sisters of St. Joseph as a young woman in 1957. She double majored in music and art at Chestnut Hill College and later got an MS in pastoral counseling. She was a teacher and an immigration counselor in the Diocese of Allentown and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. She was a member of the Catholic Peace Fellowship which has met at St. Malachy’s—her ministry up until her death—for more than 30 years.

October 9, 2015 by Denise Foley

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