Browsing Tag

Rose of Tralee

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

C.J. Mills with singer Kim Killen at American Celtic Christmas.

This is the week for Irish Christmas shows, so if you’re not in the spirit yet, you have multiple opportunities to get your holiday act together. By the end of this week, your “bah humbug” bad mood won’t have a chance.

For the third year, An American Celtic Christmas—an extravaganza of traditional and modern Irish music—will command the stage at Bensalem High School for two shows on Saturday, December 6.

The annual holiday show was started by two local musicians, Frank Daly and C.J. Mills of Jamison Celtic Rock and Slainte, and has quickly become a tradition for many families in the Philadelphia area. Through their production company, American Paddy’s, they also produce The Philadelphia Fleadh, a multi-stage festival held in the spring in Pennypack Park.

Along with Jamison, this year’s lineup includes John Bryne, Raymond Coleman, Bob Hurst of the Bogside Rogues, and more than 100 other performers, including three local dance troupes.

Also on Saturday, Irish fiddler Kevin Burke will be performing solo at the Coatesville Cultural Center in Coatesville, and the Philadelphia Theatre Company’s production of John Patrick Shanley’s “Outside Mullingar” continues at the Suzanne Robert’s Theater in Philadelphia.

On Sunday, bring the kids to meet both Santa and the International Rose of Tralee, Maria Walsh, for a Christmas themed afternoon at The Saturday Club in Wayne.

Also on Sunday, the Divine Providence Village Rainbow Step Dancers, a group of developmentally disabled women, will hold their Christmas show at the Masonic Lodge in Prospect Park.

And in Philadelphia, the top trad group, Lunasa, will be performing its Christmas show with vocalist Karan Casey, formerly of Solas, at the Zellerbach Theater on Sunday evening.

On Monday, the Irish Immigration Center and the Irish Center are hosting their annual Christmas luncheon for seniors at the Irish Center. Copies of the Immigration Center’s fundraising calendar—in which the seniors recreate scenes from 12 popular Irish movies—will be available for sale.

On Tuesday, December 9, two popular Irish musicians – Phil Coulter and Andy Cooney—join forces for an evening of Christmas music at the Keswick Theater in Glenside.

On Thursday, December 11, Oisin McDiarmada and his group, Teada, are bringing their popular “Irish Christmas in America” to the Sellersville Theater.

Also on Thursday, the Irish American Business Chamber and Network is having its 12th Night Before Christmas part at LeMeridien Philadelphia Hotel on Arch Street in Philadelphia.

And next Sunday, December 14, popular Irish performer Cahal Dunne brings his Christmas show—and likely some interesting outfits and lots of laughs—to the Irish Center.

December 4, 2014 by Denise Foley

News

There’s a New Philadelphia Rose of Tralee

Brittany Killion

There was formidable competition—this might have been the first year a globe-trotting chemical engineer was in the running—but Brittany Killion emerged Saturday night as Philadelphia’s new Rose of Tralee. A caseworker for Rep. Patrick Meehan, Killion made quite an impression on the audience—and with the judges, obviously—with her enthusiastic answers to emcee Jim Donovan’s many questions.

The festivities took place at the Radnor Hotel.

An effervescent personality probably doesn’t hurt in Killion line of work. And as with all of the Rose candidates, from one year to the next, her life is already filled with accomplishment. Among other things, Killion is a member of the Fair Housing Task Force of Delaware County, a volunteer member of the Youth Aid Panel in Marple Township, and a member of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians Division 4 in Delaware County.

Honors went to one other very accomplished woman—Denise Foley, co-editor of irishphiladelphia.com and an award-winning writer, editor and author. Foley accepted the Mary O’Connor Spirit Award, named after the original “Rose” of the famous song, annually awarded to an Irish-American woman who embodies O’Connor’s strength, humility, courage, and dedicated service to the community.

Looking out on all of the highly accomplished women in the room, and recalling so many of the smart, strong, courageous Irish women in the Philadelphia area whom she has met and befriended over the years, Foley made one key point: If ever you want to get something done, you know who to ask.

Ask a woman.

April 12, 2013 by Jeff Meade

News, People

One Remarkable Woman

Denise Foley

A reporter’s job is to cover the story … not to be the story.

For my longtime blogging partner and friend Denise Foley, the tables are about to be turned.

Denise is the 2013 winner of the Mary O’Connor Spirit Award. The Philadelphia Rose of Tralee Centre confers the award each year on an Irish-American woman who embodies the qualities of strength, humility, courage and service as exemplified by the heroine of the 19th century ballad who inspired the creation of the International Rose of Tralee Festival.

The O’Connor Award will be presented April 6 at the annual Rose of Tralee Selection Night and Dinner. Of course, the focal point of the evening will be the selection of the 2013 Philadelphia Rose of Tralee—an outstanding young woman of Irish descent who will represent the region at the Rose of Tralee International Festival in County Kerry, Ireland, in August.

For the Philadelphia Rose of Tralee Centre, the Mary O’Connor Spirit adds another dimension to the event, but it’s all part of the same theme: highlighting the contributions of smart, strong, involved Irish-American women.

Denise meets the criteria in spades. (And add “funny” to the mix.)

“Every year, we go through a list of women who are contributors to the community here in Philadelphia,” said Philadelphia Rose organizer Sarah Conaghan. “The Rose of Tralee aims to connect the global Irish community. Denise does that here locally in Philadelphia through irishphiladelphia.com. It really strengthens our community as a whole. She has always been a strong contender for this award. She’s a great supporter of various causes. She’s a role model for future generations of Roses.”

Choosing a Spirit Award winner can be difficult, Conaghan said, but it’s a good problem to have. “This award could go on forever because we’re blessed with so many motivational women in our community. We’re really lucky.”

When she first heard about her selection, by email from Sarah’s sister and fellow Rose organizer Karen Conaghan Race, Denise was taken totally by surprise.

“I thought it was just a reminder that the Rose was coming up and to ask if I was coming to cover it, as I always do,” Denise recalled. “I know it’s a total cliche to say you don’t deserve an award and most of the people who say that don’t really mean it, but I do. In fact, I could come up with a huge list of people I’d give the award to. I’ve met some incredible people—incredible women—in the seven years we’ve been doing irishphiladelphia.com who deserve recognition more than I do, including Sarah and Karen! But to say that I’m honored is an understatement. If Sarah and Karen think I’m worthy, who am I to argue?”

As always, Denise said, she’s looking forward to the event, which shines a spotlight on so many remarkable young women. “I feel fortunate to count some of them—as well as some Mary from Dungloes and Miss Mayos—as my friends.”

Sarah Conaghan expected Denise to react with with her characteristic humility at news of her selection. “I believe she said she doesn’t deserve it, but that it’s something to live up to. That just goes to prove how humble she is.”

She also expected this year’s self-effacing honoree to feel just a bit discomfited to find herself on the other side of the camera. “Like I said, she’s very humble,” Conaghan said, laughing. “And she’s not going to like this article.”

The Philadelphia Rose of Tralee Selection Night & Dinner will be held at the Radnor Hotel, 591 East Lancaster Avenue in Wayne. Tickets are $55 per person. The evening’s events include music by Bucky Scott Entertainment. CBS3’s consumer reporter Jim Donovan will be the emcee.

Purchase tickets online here.

March 29, 2013 by Jeff Meade

People

One Remarkable Woman

Denise Foley

A reporter’s job is to cover the story … not to be the story.

For my longtime blogging partner and friend Denise Foley, the tables are about to be turned.

Denise meets the criteria in spades. (And add “funny” to the mix.)

When she first heard about her selection, by email from Sarah’s sister and fellow Rose organizer Karen Conaghan Race, Denise was taken totally by surprise.

Purchase tickets online here.

March 29, 2013 by Jeff Meade

News, People

Hundreds in Philadelphia Mourn Michaela Harte McAreavey

Father John McNamee offers a eulogy for Michaela Harte McAreavey, whose photo is in the foreground.

Ciara McGorman carefully set the large wedding photo on an easel at the front of the chapel at the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia. It showed her friend and neighbor, Michaela Harte McAreavey, from the little village of Ballygawley, County Tyrone, Ireland, beaming and radiant, as only a bride can be, in her wedding dress.

The dress in which the 27-year-old teacher was buried this week.

Friends, family members, and representatives from the organizations Michaela Harte McAreavey loved so much—the Gaelic Athletic Association, the Tyrone Society, and the Rose of Tralee—gathered at the Sunday evening Mass, concelebrated by poet-priest Father John McNamee of Philadelphia with Father Gerard Burns, formerly of St. Cyril of Alexandria Parish in East Lansdowne and now a parish priest in County Mayo, Ireland.

Michaela Harte McAreavy, married on December 30, 2010 to noted Down footballer John McAreavy, was found brutally murdered on January 10 while on her honeymoon in the Indian Ocean nation of Mauritius. She had been strangled in their hotel room, apparently after surprising hotel employees who used a key card to enter the room to burglarize it. Five men have been charged in connection with the killing of the only daughter of popular Tyrone senior football manager, Mickey Harte. Michaela McAreavy was buried on January 17th after a funeral mass at St. Malachy’s Church near Ballygawley.

Father MacNamee, pastor emeritus of St. Malachy’s Church in North Philadelphia, opened his remarks with a sigh. “This is the week that was,” he said, noting it was also the week the death toll from cholera was rising in Haiti and in which a 9-year-old girl, Christina Green, granddaughter of former Phillies Manager Dallas Green, was killed in Tucson, Arizona, along with five others in a shooting that wounded Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

Christine Green had been featured in a book on babies born on September 11, 2001. “Her parents had her as a sign of hope to all us in time of sorrow,” said Father McNamee. She had been “as innocent and fragile and vulnerable as the beautiful Michaela,” he told the more than 200 mourners who lined the chapel pew. “Life is a terrible beauty, as Yeats called it.”

Michaela was also eulogized by Sean Breen, president of the Philadelphia Gaelic Athletic Association, Angela Mohan, coach of the Mairead Farrells Ladies Gaelic Football Club; Mairead Farrell footballer Orla Treacy, whose father, Mick, is a friend of the Hartes; and McGorman. Music—including a heartbreaking rendition of Sarah MacLachlan’s “In the Arms of an Angel”—was provided by Karen Boyce McCollum, who, like Michaela, was an International Rose of Tralee contestant, as well as Roisin McCormack and Raymond Coleman.

Father McNamee twice quoted Irish poet William Butler Yeats in his eulogy, reciting from “The Stolen Child””

“Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.”

“The world,” he said, “is both a beautiful place and a tragic place. . .and more full of weeping than we can understand.”

Click here to see photos from the mass.

January 21, 2011 by Denise Foley

News, People

Mass Planned at Cathedral to Remember Michaela Harte

Michaela Harte shown with her father, Mickey.

She was a beautiful girl, a beauty queen described by a childhood friend as “elegant.” Earlier this week, Michaela Harte, 28, daughter of popular Tyrone Gaelic football coach Mickey Harte, was murdered in her hotel room in a resort on the Indian Ocean nation of Mauritius where she was honeymooning.

On Sunday, friends and family members from her hometown of Ballygawley, County Tyrone, members of the Philadelphia Gaelic Athletic Association and the Philadelphia Rose of Tralee organization will mourn her death at a mass at the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia. Father John McNamee, the poet-priest who is pastor emeritus of St. Malachy’s Parish in North Philadelphia, will celebrate the Mass which starts at 6 PM.

Ciara McGorman, a childhood friend who grew up with the Hartes in the small Northern Irish village near the Donegal border, has been helping to organize the memorial.

“We grew up in the same parish and I knew her and her brothers,” says McGorman, former manager of the Sligo Pub in Media and resident of Drexel Hill. “Her father Mickey was involved in everything before he became a manager. He had a shop locally, ran the youth club—he was part of everybody’s life. They’re a very close family, religious people with a great faith, and this is the only thing we can for them. It’s a heart-rending story and everyone wants to help.”

On December 30, Michaela Harte married John McAreavey, 30, a Down senior footballer. Bishop of Dromore, John McAreavy, officiated at the wedding of his nephew. Her husband of two weeks found the young woman’s body face up in a bathtub full of water. “She was a gift from God and I now have an angel,” he said in a statement. Three employees of the resort have been arrested for her murder. Published reports say that evidence, including skin tissue taken from beneath her nails, indicate that Michaela Harte interrupted the men as they were burglarizing her room and fought back. Death was caused by asphyxiation.

“The saddest thing is when we heard she had died on her honeymoon we all assumed it was natural causes,” says McGorman. “No one had heard why or how. When we heard what happened. . .it was just heart-breaking.”

Harte, says McGorman, had represented Ulster in the Rose of Tralee pageant. She taught Irish and religion to students aged 11-18 at St. Patrick’s Academy in Dungannon in County Tyrone.

The last time she saw her neighbor and friend was about five years ago, when the Hartes came to the US for a football match-up in New York and traveled south to Philadelphia to see friends. “I hadn’t been home in five years at that time so it was so good to see her again,” says McGorman who, with other members of the Philadelphia Tyrone community, is planning the music and readings for Sunday night’s Mass.

After the service, participants are invited to Con Murphy’s Pub, across the street from the Cathedral at 1700 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, for tea and sandwiches.

January 12, 2011 by Denise Foley

News, People

Santa Claus Visits the Irish Center

Santa's little helper, Sarah Conaghan, and the Big Guy himself.

Nobody pouted. No one cried.

These essential contractual preconditions having been met, Santa Claus came to town.

Even better than that, he came to the Philadelphia Irish Center on Saturday for a Christmas party sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Rose of Tralee Center.

Before the jolly old elf arrived, in the Nick of time of course, the many kids who crowded into the Fireside Room found plenty to help them occupy their waiting time. They crafted their candy cane bracelets with care. They colored. They glued things to other things. And they snacked. (They were joined by the many kids who had shown up for a feis in the ballroom, who seemed only too happy to help.)

We’ve several photos of the party. And remember, he sees you when you’re sleeping. Which, when you come to think about it, is kinda creepy.

Check out the pics.

December 10, 2010 by Jeff Meade

People

A Little Lunch With Her Friends

Immigration Center regular Kathleen Murtagh tries on Mairead Conley's new crown. (Click on the photo to view the slideshow.

The regular Wednesday Lunch at The Irish Immigration Center of Philadelphia had a special purpose and special guests this past week. The Center’s Deputy Director of Community Programming, Mairead Conley, was celebrated for her recent selection as the Midatlantic Rose of Tralee.

Karen Boyce McCollum, herself the 2005 Philadelphia Rose of Tralee, was on hand to graciously oblige the crowd by singing the song that started it all. While Kathleen Murtagh, who was one of the encouraging voices that convinced Mairead to enter her name this year, got a chance to try on the tiara.

And in keeping with Center Director Siobhan Lyons’ motto that “all are welcome,” 2010 Rosebud Grace Murphy brought her Dachshund puppy Daisy to help toast Mairead.

“We really do welcome everyone,” Siobhan laughed. “We’re here to help anyone who can use our services.”

Check out our photos from the afternoon, at upper right.

July 8, 2010 by Lori Lander Murphy

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