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Remembering Bloody Sunday

Father Ed Brady displays the H-Block memorial medal.

“Some bonds can never be broken.”

Those words were etched into a small gold-colored medal struck for a 2011 reunion of former prisoners of the notorious H block of Belfast’s Long Kesh Prison—site of the 1981 hunger strike in which 10 Irish prisoners died. The commemorative medal came into the hands of Father Ed Brady through the good graces of a friend, and he chose a particularly meaningful occasion on which to share it.

Father Brady celebrated Mass at the Philadelphia Irish Center last weekend in observance of the 40th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday massacre in which 13 unarmed protesters—mostly teenagers—were killed by elements of the British army in the Bogside district of Derry, Northern Ireland.

Plain white poster-board crosses hung from light fixtures throughout the Irish Center’s dining room, where the Mass took place. Each cross bore the name, etched in indelible ink, of one who died. Close to 60 Irish and Irish-American worshippers filled the room. The Mass was sponsored by the Sons and Daughters of the Derry Society.

Just before Mass began, Father Brady spoke of the Bloody Sunday dead, but he also recalled the sacrifices of the hunger strikers. He opened the little box in which the medal was held and he passed it around then room. Their shared sacrifice, he suggested, “is what’s it’s all about.” Later on, in his homily, he returned to the theme, recalling that the Bloody Sunday victims used non-violence in pursuit of their goals. “The easiest thing to do is to take up arms,” he said, “but the peaceful way is what triumphs in the long run.”

After the Mass, the Derry Society’s Bill Donahue said it’s only natural to remember the Bloody Sunday victims, even after all this time. “They made the ultimate sacrifice, not only for Derry but for the aid of Irish freedom. You always remember that.”

January 27, 2012 by Jeff Meade

History, News, People

Remembering “Those Persecuted for Righteousness”

Liz Hagerty Leitner leads the group in a response.

Msgr. Joseph McLoone had to look no further than the latest CNN report on unrest in Egypt to find an analogy for his sermon on “Bloody Sunday,” the incident that occurred on January 30, 1972, when British soldiers opened fire on protesters in Derry’s Bogside neighborhood, killing 13 and touching off decades of fighting in Northern Ireland.

“We see what’s happening in Egypt, we see people standing up for their rights, for democracy,” he told the 60 people who gathered in the Irish Center dining room for a Mass of remembrance on Sunday, January 30. “We see what happens when people are in power for so long that they forget the human person.”

The men who died on Bloody Sunday are unlikely to be forgotten. Although there will no longer be marches on January 30 in Derry, Bill Donohue, president of the Philadelphia-based Sons and Daughters of Derry (called “the Derry Society”), said that this annual religious ceremony in Philadelphia will continue “in perpetuity.”

One of Philadelphia’s last large waves of Irish immigrants come from Northern Ireland, many fleeing the violence and religious bigotry that dominated the landscape in places like Derry, Belfast, and Tyrone.

Just last year, the British government, after 40 years, released the Saville Report in which they admitted that the shootings that day in Derry were, as British Prime Minister David Cameron put it, “unjustified and unjustifiable.”

Most of the people killed and wounded were teenagers. On Sunday, their names and ages were written on white crosses placed around the wall of the Irish Center dining room.

“Let us remember,” said Msgr. McLoone, referring to the eight beatitudes of Christ, “that those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness will be received in heaven.”

See photos from the Mass here.

February 4, 2011 by Denise Foley

People

Derry is Back!

"Irish" Joan Reed gets into the spirit with a cheek shamrock.

It’s been almost a decade since the Derry Society held a social, and if Sunday’s event at the Irish Center was any indication, they were sorely missed.

The family “party,” which featured the Shantys and Bare-Knuckle Boxers, face-painting and kids’ games, Irish dancers, and a buffet, was packed. “There ought to be more of these,” said Tim Murphy of the Bogside Rogues, who was just enjoying the music instead of playing it. “This is just plain fun.”

You can see how much fun everyone was having in our photos.

April 30, 2010 by Denise Foley

News, People

Ireland’s “Immigration Bishop” Visits Philadelphia

Derry Bishop Seamus Hegarty with his Phillies shirt, a gift from the Philadelphia Derry Society.

As he prepared to say a Requiem Mass for the souls of the faithful departed at Philadelphia’s Irish Center on Tuesday night, Dr. Seamus Hegarty, the Bishop of Derry, Ireland, paused to acknowledge the living who are far from peace.

The chairman of the Irish Episcopal Council for Emigrants, in Philadelphia briefly on a multi-city tour to meet with immigrants, was clearly moved by the stories he heard from undocumented Irish who had lost loved ones in Ireland and were forced to grieve alone, far from family and friends, because they could not return home. Illegal aliens can’t risk returning to their country of origin for fear that they will not be allowed back in the United States where they may have American-born children.

“It’s one of the things that really got to me,” said the Bishop, who has served the Derry diocese since 1994. “It’s a double tragedy for people who have lost someone and then aren’t able to go home and grieve with their families. I lost my own mother when I was seven, so I know how they feel.”

Bishop Hegarty spent part of the day at the Irish Immigration Center in Upper Darby. But not far from his mind were the immigrants he’d met in Boston. “They’re hurting very badly there,” he said. “I met many people who were bereaved and unable to go home and they were just devastated.”

He used the message of the Gospel to urge those in attendance to put pressure on the political powers-that-be to pass comprehensive immigration reform bills that would create legal pathways for the undocumented to become citizens. In Matthew 25:31-45, Jesus promised that those who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, welcomed strangers, clothed the naked, cared for the sick, and visited those in prison will sit to the right of him in heaven “because whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

“The attitude that ‘as long as I’m allright, I don’t care about you, is not the Irish way,” he said in his homily. “We had nothing and we shared our nothingness with each other. You need to forge a community here that carries out the message that the interest of one is the interest of all. Reaching out to people is a gift and certainly will not go unrewarded.”

The Philadelphia Donegal Association and the Derry Society participated in the Mass and the reception that followed. Bishop Hegarty also renewed old acquaintances, including Mary McHugh of Lindenwold, NJ, who knew the bishop as a youngster in Kilcar, County Donegal, where he was born. “I was born and raised in Scotland, but my mother grew up in Kilcar and my father was from the next village, so I spent my summers there,” she said. “The bishop is actually related to me through my mother. When you grow up in these little towns and villages, you keep the connections.”

Bishop Hegarty was on his way to Washington, DC, to meet with US legislators about immigration issues and was clearly aware of the effect the visit of one Irish bishop would have. “I’m sure they’ll be very gracious and as soon as I’m gone they’ll forget all about it,” he said to laughter. “That’s why you need to pressurize them. . . You can do something. We are all responsible for one another’s welfare. Use your voice in a responsible and constructive way to try to improve the welfare of immigrants.”

Siobhan Lyons, executive director of the Philadelphia Irish Immigration Center, was Bishop Hegarty’s host for much of the day.

“We were delighted to welcome Bishop Hegarty to Philadelphia.,” she says. “The Irish Apostolate has been a strong supporter of the Irish diaspora and we deeply appreciate the work they do on behalf of the Irish community in the United States. I particularly welcome their efforts in the campaign for comprehensive immigration reform and wish the bishop the best of luck in Washington DC.

“But Bishop Hegarty is right when he says we can’t sit back and wait for other people to solve our problems,” Lyons says. “We must use our voices and our votes to advocate for the most vulnerable in our community, and that includes the undocumented. I hope everyone will listen to his message and make sure their representatives know that the Irish community supports comprehensive immigration reform. “

November 4, 2009 by Denise Foley