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TO THE SIX NATIONS RUGBY FAN GROUP:
By Bruce Lowe
On a slightly different note, now that we are done with the terrific 6N Tournament until next year, and since our great sport of Rugby is upwardly focused and culturally sophisticated, I thought that some of you might like to know about the upcoming classical music event with a notably Transatlantic connection which is being hosted in Cleveland later this month.
SAVE THE DATES:
ELGAR SOCIETY ANNUAL CONFERENCE APRIL 24-26 IN CLEVELAND
Edward Elgar (1857–1934) is now recognized as one of the greatest British and European composers. The Elgar Society exists to promote the appreciation of the music of Edward Elgar and an understanding of his life and the North America Branch of the Society will hold its 2025 conference at the Marriott Courtyard hotel, University Circle, Cleveland on 24-26th April. Elgar fans are welcome to attend – you don’t have to be a member of the Elgar Society.
Highlights of the conference are:
Thursday April 24: kick-off dinner followed by a keynote speech by Charles McGuire, Professor of Music at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music
Friday April 25:
Tour of the Severance Music Center including the orchestral archives with the Cleveland Orchestra archivist.
- A guided tour Cleveland Museum of Art’s British Art collection.
- Evening BACC reception followed by an organ recital at Lake Erie College by Ken Cowan (head of the organ program at Rice University, Houston) that will include Elgar’s Organ Sonata, Vesper Voluntaries, and other works.
Saturday April 26.
meeting with Maestro Kazuki Yamada (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s current Director of Music) exploring his views on Elgar’s music.
- Lani Spahr (renowned US oboist) – lecture on Elgar remastered
- a concert by the Cleveland Orchestra that includes a performance of Elgar’s Symphony No. 1 conducted by Kazuki Yamada (those who are non-members of the Elgar Society will need to arrange purchase of their own tickets at https://www.clevelandorchestra.com/attend/concerts-and-events/2425/severance/wk-23-Elgar/)
If you would like to attend the conference please email Bob Boyce at treasurer@baccohio.org for more details.
Wise Craics: One from Aunt Gussie
One from Aunt Gussie
Into a Donegal pub comes Paddy Murphy, looking as if he’d just been run over by a train. His arm is in a sling, his nose is broken, his face is cut and bruised and he’s walking with a limp.
“What happened to you?” asks Sean, the bartender.
“Jimmy O’Conner and me had a fight,” says Paddy. “
That little fella, O’Conner?” says Sean. “He couldn’t do that to you, he must have had something in his hand.”
“That he did,” says Paddy, “a shovel is what he had, and a terrible lickin’ he gave me with it.”
“Well,” says Sean, “you should have defended yourself. Didn’t you have something in your hand?”
“That I did,” said Paddy. “I had Mrs. O’Conner, and a thing of beauty she is, but totally useless in a fight.”
Brutal Honesty
Today, I asked my phone, “Siri, why am I still single?” and it activated the front camera.
The Best
My grief counselor died. He was so good, I don’t even care.
Keep Your Options Open
Two elderly friends, Colleen and Maureen, hadn’t seen each other in a while, but met while shopping. Colleen inquired, “And how is your husband?”
“Oh! Paddy died last week.” He went out to the garden to dig up a cabbage for dinner, had a heart attack and dropped down dead, right there in the middle of the vegetable patch!”
Colleen was shocked by the news and said, “Oh dear! I am so very sorry, What did you do?” Maureen replied, “I opened a can of peas instead.”
Right You Are
Murphy didn’t have long to live, and his four children were gathered around his deathbed. As the eighty-year-old widower seemed to doze off in a blissful sleep, the children started to discuss the plans for his funeral.
One of his children wanted to spend only a hundred Euros for a coffin. The second child thought that a plain wooden box would do, and the third was even ready to dump the remains into a paper sack.
ll of Murphy’s children agreed that there was no reason to spend much money, as their father would never know the difference. Just then, Murphy stirred. Having heard every word, he thought it was time to set the record straight. “Children,” he said, “I have never told you this and never wanted to, but I can’t go to my final resting place with this burden. My children, your dear departed mother and I were never married.”
His eldest son was aghast, “You mean we’re …”
“Murphy replied, “Right you are. And cheap ones at that!”
Out of Order
My wife left a note on the fridge that said, “This isn’t working.”
I’m not sure what she’s talking about. I opened the fridge door, and it’s working fine!
Facts
It turns out a major new study recently found that humans eat more bananas than monkeys. But, I can’t remember the last time I ate a monkey.
Home for the Holidays
A few days before Christmas, Flanagan, who lives in Ireland, calls his son in New York. He says “I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your Mother and I are divorcing. Forty-five years of misery is enough.” “
Dad, what are you talking about?” The son screams.
“We can’t stand the sight of each other any longer,” the father says. “We’re sick of each other, and I’m sick of talking about this, so call your sister in Chicago and tell her.”
Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone, “No way are they getting divorced!” She shouts. “I’ll take care of this.”
Immediately she calls Ireland and screams at her father, “You are not getting divorced. Don’t do a single thing until we get there. I’m calling my brother back, and we’ll both be there by Christmas Eve. Until then, don’t do a single thing. DO YOU HERE ME?” and she hangs up.
Flanagan hangs up the phone and turns to his wife. “Okay,” he says, “they’re coming home for Christmas and they’re paying their own way.”
Ready Kilowatt
When I was a kid, I was afraid of the dark. Now that I’m grown up, the electricity bill made me afraid of the light.
One from the Peanut Gallery
A woman got into a motor vehicle accident today. She told the police the man she collided with was on his mobile phone and drinking a can of beer. Police said he can do what the hell he likes in his own living room.
Oh Geeze
A man walks into a bar and says, “Give me a beer before the problems start!” He drinks the beer and then orders another saying, “Give me a beer before the problems start!”
The bartender looks confused. This goes on for a while, and after the fifth beer the bartender is totally confused and asks the man, “When are you going to pay for these beers?”
The man answers, “Now the problems start!”
Paranoia
I told my boss three companies were after me and I needed a raise to stay at my job. We haggled for a few minutes, and he gave me a 5% raise.
Leaving his office, he stopped and asked me, “By the way, which companies are after you?” I responded, “The gas, electric, and cable company.”
Respect Authority
A DEA agent stopped at a ranch and told the rancher: “I need to inspect your ranch for illegal drugs.”
The rancher, pointing over to the west, said: “Okay, just don’t go in that field over there.”
The DEA agent exploded, exclaiming: “Listen here, you bucktoothed hick! I have the FULL AUTHORITY of the UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT!”
“That may as well be,” said the rancher, “But you’d better stay out of my west 40 just the same.”
Reaching into his pants pocket, the agent removed his badge and angrily thrust it at the rancher.
“SEE THIS BADGE?!” He shouted, “THIS BADGE means I am allowed to go WHEREVER the HELL I want, ANYWHERE! NO QUESTIONS ASKED! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!!”
The rancher nodded politely, apologized, and went about his chores. A short time later, the old rancher heard loud screams coming from the west. He looked up from his work and saw the DEA agent running for his life across the pasture, being chased by the rancher’s prize bull.
With every step the bull was gaining ground on the agent, and it seemed likely that he’d sure enough get gored before he reached safety.
The officer was clearly terrified.
The rancher threw down his tools, ran to the fence and yelled at the top of his lungs: “SIR!!! YOUR BADGE! QUICK, SHOW HIM YOUR BADGE!”
Off the Shelf: Heart, Be at Peace
Heart, Be at Peace
By Donal Ryan
ISBN 9780-85-7525239 194 pp. Doubleday Press 2024
Review by Terrence Kenneally
It has been 10 years since Donal Ryan’s debut novel The Spinning Heart was written. In a small town in rural Ireland, County Tipperary, not a lot seems to have changed, or maybe it has. Economic collapse, lack of employment, toxic masculinity and how the actions of one man affected a community marked the town previously. The town’s main employer (a construction company) closed and the owner moved away without giving his workers their pay.
In Donal Ryan’s Heart, Be at Peace, we meet many of the cast from the past, as 21 voices, some years further on, with a new set of troubles affecting the community – drugs. Well financially, but not everyone is happy about the activities they are involved in and their loved ones who might be affected. Suspicion, mistrust, grief, and regret prevail, and all manner of connections have been formed and remade.
Bobby, the main character, connects each character and chapter. Many of the characters reflect on their own lives in relation to Bobby, who many consider the most moral and decent man in town.
Other characters include Denis (a self-proclaimed murderer who finds redemption through love and fatherhood), Millicent (a young woman trapped in a relationship with a drug dealer), Lily (her grandmother), Josie, Triona (Bobby’s wife), and a cast of inner connected characters from the small Irish town of Nenagh.
Heart, Be at Peace is its own book, and a different story, but its voices will be familiar to people who have read The Spinning Heart. From the way the novel is written, with short chapters from multiple character viewpoints, we can discern what happens next to some of those we meet along the way, as we imagine the implications of all that is revealed.
Heart, Be at Peace is a heartfelt, lyrical novel that can be read independently or as a companion to Donal Ryan’s multi-winning novel. The Spinning Heart was voted the Irish Book of the Decade. It is surely a TOP SHELF read.
Diet vs Exercise: Which One is More Effective for Weight Loss?
If you want to achieve and maintain a healthy weight, you need healthy habits, and that includes a nutritious diet and exercise. What if you don’t like working out?
It’s true that you can lose weight through diet alone, however I don’t recommend it. That’s because by cutting calories without adding exercise, you could be impacting your muscle mass and bone density. Plus, without the calorie burn of exercise, you might end up on an overly restrictive diet plan.
Instead, you want a strategy that not only helps you shed unwanted fat but will also maintain your muscle mass and strength, and doing this requires eating nourishing foods and regular movement. Complicating the matter: exercise can make you hungrier, and that can get in the way of your progress.
There are a lot of popular sayings when it comes to weight loss, like “weight is lost in the kitchen, not in the gym,” and “you can’t out-exercise a bad diet.” Another gem is: “follow the 80/20 rule to lose weight.” There’s some truth to all of these sayings.
While the numbers are not exact, you may find that most of your weight loss success can be traced back to what you eat. That does not make exercise unimportant when it comes to a long-term weight management plan, however.
To maintain a healthy weight, you need to eat the kinds of foods that keep you fueled throughout the day, providing you with the nutrients you need to feel your best. On the other hand, exercise helps burn excess fat that your body has stored, and it boosts not only your calorie burn, but your resting metabolic rate.
What Should You Eat
Over the years, there has been an endless supply of fad diets that usually don’t work at keeping weight off long-term. So, what should you eat to get that number on the scale where you want it to be while fueling those calorie-burning workouts?
What does work is following a well-rounded, time-tested plan like the Mediterranean Diet, which is packed with veggies, fruits, seeds, whole grains, lean protein and healthy fats and will help you to shed some pounds, and keep them off, long-term. More of a philosophy about eating that also emphasizes heart health more than your typical weight loss plan, the Mediterranean diet differs from other diets that banish entire food groups or focus on counting calories or macros.
Mediterranean Diet
Healthy fats: Extra virgin olive oil, avocados and nuts are all great additions to your plate.
Fruits and veggies: Make the produce section your go-to when grocery shopping. Tomatoes, broccoli, kale, spinach, cauliflower, bananas, grapes, melons, peaches and other fruits and veggies are all great.
Nuts: Almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, and most other nuts make a great snack or addition to any salad; they are heart-healthy and rich in nutrients. Beans: Legumes are especially beneficial because they are packed with fiber and protein, which keep you full longer. Make sure your diet includes black beans, white kidney beans, lentils, chickpeas and kidney beans.
Healthy starches: Many people think they must cut out carbohydrates to maintain a healthy weight. But nutrient-rich whole grains like oats, brown rice, and barley provide energy and keep you full, all while pleasing your palate. Squash, sweet potatoes, turnips and yams are also great options. Lean protein: For optimal weight management success, you’ll want each meal to include a good source of lean protein, such as fish, poultry, eggs, or Greek yogurt.
Water: Aim to drink half your body weight in ounces. While not technically an appetite suppressant, it can keep the food cravings at bay, since many people tend to mistake thirst for hunger.
It also helps flush toxins and cleans your internal systems. Other beverages: coffee and tea; both have natural properties that help promote healthy weight management.
While what you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner ultimately will have the biggest impact on your weight, you should make sure you are getting at least 30 minutes of exercise daily to get your heart pumping, while slimming and trimming your waistline. Physical activity helps increase the number of calories that your body uses for energy, rather than storing it as fat.
Walk: Walking is the easiest way to get active, especially if you haven’t been active in a while. It requires no equipment, plus, it is also low impact, meaning anyone, at any age or fitness level, can hit a walking trail.
Jog: Want to put a little more pep in your step? Take your walk to the next level and make it a jog. Jogging provides aerobic exercise that can help burn excess body fat.
Hit the Gym
With the right routine, you can shed some serious pounds and build muscle in the process. Even better news: compared to other forms of exercise, a strength training workout will continue to burn calories long after you’ve ended your sweat session by increasing your metabolic rate.
With an exercise regimen in place, assuming you’re not also increasing your calorie intake, you can expect to lose approximately 1-2 pounds per week, keeping in mind that a one-pound weight loss equates to a 3,500-calorie deficit. Ultimately, any type of movement will benefit your overall health and support your weight management goals.
Economic and well-being gaps between Ireland and Northern Ireland ‘widening’
From: IrelandLive Staff Reporter
15 Apr 2025 10:46 AM
The gap in economic performance and well-being indicators between Ireland and Northern Ireland is widening, a report has found.
The research found that Ireland is outperforming Northern Ireland in most areas, including labour market trends, living standards, economic structures, education, health and overall well-being.
New research, published by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and commissioned as part of the Institute’s research programme with the Shared Island Unit, Department of the Taoiseach, provides a high-level comparison of the economies of Ireland and Northern Ireland in recent years.
The research recognises that the economies north and south on the island are distinct in important structural respects.
To read the rest of the story: IrelandLive: https://www.ireland-live.ie/news/ireland/1778458/economic-and-well-being-gaps-between-ireland-and-northern-ireland-widening.html?utm_source=Newsletter%20Ireland%20Live&utm_medium=Newsletter%20Email&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_content=Economic%20and%20well-being%20gaps%20between%20Ireland%20and%20Northern%20Ireland%20‘widening’
Blowin’ In: Clarity
By Sue Mangan
“I feel at such a loss for words, but this place is a new place,
and new words are needed.”(Foster by Claire Keegan)
If only life were as simple as spring. One day, without announcement, sharp green swords begin to rise from the pocked, thin layer of snow covering the earth.
Winter is slow moving. Silhouettes of skeletal trees frame soft white clouds and cold blue skies. Tight buds of burgundy have barely begun to protrude from the overreaching limbs of the sugar maple tree.
Caught between winter and spring, the birds sense the need for a new herald. One of creation. One of hope. Nature speaks her own language.
Animals sense change before humans. Birds race from oak to towering pine prior to the onset of rain or the advent of storm. Cardinals curl into protective spheres, clinging to needles of fir, crimson feathers as bright as holly berries when rain crystallizes into snow.
When winter turns to spring, soil is the first to sense its arrival. Dense earth loosens in supplication to the merest degree of warmth. The air smells deeply of moss and minerals.
The journey toward spring begins in winter. Beneath the frozen earth, bulbs of hyacinth and narcissi leach onto nutrients, patiently waiting for the lengthening of sun-filled days.
While December bells toll for Christmas, shepherds in Ireland set rams into fields filled with ewes. Often the courtship is brief. Soon the ewes will be thick with the weight of their lambs.
The course of creation, the path of new life begins in the dark of winter, finally burgeoning in spring. Throughout the year, shepherds will move their sheep from pasture to pasture.
In Ireland, some sheep are bred for clinging to steep mountainsides. There they feast on samphire and wild herbs.
Close to the rugged strands, nutrient dense seaweed provides the sheep with a mighty feast. Salt spray clings to their thick coats of wool.
Other farmers lead their flocks of sheep to remote pastures to feed on sweet meadow grass and heather. Walking the isolated Bangor Trail in County Mayo, shepherd and dog steer the sheep to remote fields in the Nephin Mountains. Feeding on wildflowers, the pregnant ewes will nourish their unborn lambs.
Circle of Life
It appears nothing changes for the farmers and their sheep, yet everything does. Each season revolves around the course of nature: birth, life, and death. Cyclic, but everchanging.
When a ewe dies while lambing, the shepherd will often remove the hide of the dead mother, hanging it on the branches of a squat rowan tree. The hide will be used to wrap a lactating foster ewe in the hope that the orphaned lamb will suckle from her wet nurse, thinking it her mother.
There is a beauty to the connection between shepherd and animal, sheep dog and sheep. Imagine this life led by the wisdom of the seasons, the innate respect between living creatures: human and animal. All taking cues from the power of the earth and the gift of her seasons.
And so, new words will always be needed to describe the nuances that shade the course of life. We can anticipate dawn and sunset, the heat of summer, the fall of leaves. The journey will be paved with unique textures, flashes of precious color, and the challenge of unexpected trials.
Clarity arrives when an image is stripped of artifice. Like the haunting vision of sheep hide swaying from the branch of a tree in a remote Irish field, understanding might be masked by sadness and isolation.
Truth emerges from the darkness of winter, the sting of pain. Beauty is always there lying beneath the surface, waiting to suckle the warmth of sunlight, and rise with the fresh clarity of spring.
“A Home for Every Neighbor” Achieves Goal Months Ahead of Schedule as More Than 150 Unsheltered Individuals Now Have Homes
The City Had Initially Projected It Would Take 18 Months To Hit Its Goal, But The Dedicated Team Behind The New Initiative Helped Reach This Milestone Several Months Early
Mayor Justin M. Bibb, Councilwoman Stephanie Howse-Jones, and community partners announced the results for the latest stage of the City’s “A Home for Every Neighbor” initiative. To date, 154 unsheltered neighbors now have homes through the initiative. The City had projected it would take 18 months to rehouse 150 or more unsheltered Cleveland residents at the time the initiative was launched, but it achieved that goal much more quickly thanks to the efforts of numerous community partners.
“This proves that we can fix complex problems when we work together and affirms why Whole-Of-Community strategies are the right approach to solving larger issues that our city faces – whether that be homelessness, public safety, or economic development,” said Mayor Bibb. “Local government cannot right the ship alone. Everyone needs to chip in and do their part because when they do, you see amazing results like this.”
During this most recent stage of implementation, 42 highly vulnerable unsheltered neighbors who were experiencing long-term homelessness and dealing with untreated disabilities were successfully engaged and are now receiving ongoing support. The team behind the initiative focused on 32 target areas across twelve different wards for this latest stage of implementation. These target areas were much smaller – with most having one or two neighbors residing at each site – than prior stages of implementation.
“This initiative demonstrates the power of targeted, compassionate intervention. By focusing on our most vulnerable neighbors, especially those dealing with long-term homelessness and disabilities, we’ve not only provided housing, but we’ve also offered a pathway to stability and support,” added Councilwoman Howse-Jones. “The success of ‘A Home for Every Neighbor’ is a testament to the dedication of our community partners and the City’s commitment to ensuring no one is left behind.”
Last year, Mayor Bibb launched this brand-new initiative with the City taking on a lead role to provide more resources, increase options, and accelerate the housing process for unsheltered residents. Within just the first couple of months, a Request for Proposals was issued, multiple responses were vetted, and a consultant was chosen – who then refined the City’s strategy based on best practices from model cities and tailored it to Cleveland-specific strengths and community partnerships.
The finalized execution strategy included identifying geographic areas for targeted housing-focused outreach; documenting unique needs specific to each neighbor in these areas; recruiting landlords with signing bonuses and twelve months of guaranteed rental payments if the resident remains housed; aligning and collaborating with various partners for health, employment, transportation, and other services; intensive and compassionate engagement with neighbors during the transition process; and ongoing case management along with additional support following move-in.
The City moved forward with implementation over the summer launching a pilot where homes were found for all 12 unsheltered neighbors residing at sites in Canal Basin Park and near West Side Catholic Center. The success continued as an additional 56 unsheltered neighbors residing at five other sites were housed in the two stages that followed in the fall. The City then shifted its focus to smaller sites housing 44 more neighbors residing at eight additional sites by December. To date, 154 unsheltered neighbors across 47 different sites now have homes through the initiative – with approximately 70% of them experiencing chronic homelessness.
The initiative is supported by I’m In Ministry!, Frontline Services, Clutch Consulting Group, Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, West Side Catholic Center, Downtown Cleveland Inc., Cleveland Mediation Center, and Safe Spaces. These partners provide various services that include case management, outreach, strategy consulting, connections to mental health care and drug treatment, legal aid, funding administration, and facilitating charitable donations for furniture, clothing, and other items. The City’s Departments of Public Health, Community Development, and Public Works also provide support.
“The people I’m In Ministry served during the ‘A Home for Every Neighbor’ project thought it was impossible for them to achieve what they received, but we made the impossible possible for every participant,” stated Deacon Lou Primozic, President and CEO of I’m In Ministry.
The teams implementing the strategy are currently working on other site locations across the City and continue to look for ways to improve procedures and streamline processes so that unsheltered neighbors can get access to housing more quickly and maintain their housing.
Landlords who are interested in providing housing for “A Home For Every Neighbor” should contact Liam Haggerty, the City’s Housing & Outreach Project Manager for the initiative, by emailing LHaggerty@clevelandohio.gov or calling / texting (216)-857-1104.
Those who would like to donate items should contact I’m In Ministry! by emailing info@iminministry.com, calling (440)-502-1060, or submitting a pickup request form online. They accept various items and are always looking for volunteers as well. They are also seeking a box truck driver (CDL is not required).
A Legal Look: Thirty-Three Years Later: The SAS Killing of Four Provisional IRA Volunteers Ruled Unjustified
By Michael C. Mentel
On February 6th of this year, the Coroner’s Court of Northern Ireland handed down its judgment in the murders of Kevin Barry O’Donnell, Patrick Vincent, Peter Clancy, and Sean O’Farrell by the SAS. The “SAS” or Special Air Service is an elite special forces unit of the British Army and is trained to carry out special military operations. Information about the SAS is kept at a “highly classified” level by the British government.
SAS Intelligence
As early as the fall of 1991, the SAS and British military had received intelligence that the Provisional IRA was planning an attack on a security force base in Tyrone. The intelligence went so far as to describe the use of a truck in the attack.
On February 3, 1992, SAS intelligence identified the East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional IRA as carrying out reconnaissance of the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) security force base in preparation for an attack. The next day, more information was fed to the SAS. This information identified the Provisional IRA volunteers who would lead the attack, the specific location where the attack would occur, and the weaponry to be used in the attack: “A heavily armed gun team, armed with a 12.7 heavy machine gun and 3 AKM rifles, will attack Coalisland RUC station from the grounds of the chapel opposite the station.”
On February 16th, the day of the attack, the SAS received the following information: “[t]he attack planned by PIRA on Coalisland RUC station for 16/02/92 is to be mounted from Clonoe Chapel car park, Coalisland. The 12.7 heavy machine gun is to be mounted on a hi-jacked lorry [truck] and is to be fronted into Coalisland Chapel car park by [three] gunmen carrying AKM rifles. Several vehicles will be at the car park at Clonoe Chapel after the attack to convey the weapons and personnel to a safe house.”
The SAS had the names, dates, type of transportation, weaponry, and location where the attack would take place. A plan to arrest and capture the volunteers should not have been in question. What transpired was quite the opposite.
The Ambush at Clonoe
On the night of February 16, 1992, the four Provisional IRA volunteers carried out their attack. The volunteers fired sixty rounds from the 12.7 heavy machine gun at the RUC base along with rounds fired from the AKM rifles.
No one at the base was injured. Following the attack, the Provisional IRA volunteers drove the truck to the parking lot of St. Patrick’s Church in Dernagh, outside of Clonoe (pron. Klo noh), and began disassembling the heavy machine gun and readying themselves to withdraw from the area.
According to the findings of the Coroner, Mr. Justice Humphreys, the SAS had conducted significant planning to stage themselves in the parking lot in wait for the volunteers.
According to plan, twelve SAS soldiers hid themselves behind a hedgerow at the parking lot waiting for the truck to arrive. At approximately 11:00 p.m., 20 minutes following the base attack, The SAS opened fire on the Provisional IRA volunteers.
The coroner’s findings stated that, “[t]he soldiers opened fire on the occupants of the lorry [truck] and three other vehicles in the car park. The four deceased were shot dead shortly before 2300 hours [11:00 p.m.].
Father Kieran MacKeone administered the last rites at the scene. Life was pronounced extinct by Dr. Acharya between 0230 [2:30 a.m.] and 0243 hours [2:43 a.m.] on 17 February.”
The findings further revealed that the SAS fired between 514 and 570 rounds at the volunteers, killing them. There was no return fire from the Provisional IRA.
Sean O’Farrell was shot by the SAS several times in his left side. He was also shot in the face three times at close range while he was lying on his back. Patrick Vincent was shot numerous times and while he was “lying down” in the cab of the truck.
Peter Clancy was shot twenty-five times, with three shots hitting him in the back. His body was found in the grass outside of the truck.
Kevin Barry O’Donnell was stuck in both legs and his head. He was shot too in the back. His body was found face down in the grass outside of the truck.
Mr. Justice Humphreys concluded in his verdict that “[n]o attempt was made by the soldiers to arrest any of the members of the PIRA unit, even as they lay seriously injured and incapacitated either on the ground or in the cab of the lorry [truck]. I have found, in each case, that the soldiers concerned did not have an honest and genuinely held belief that the use of force was necessary to defend themselves or others. It follows that use of force cannot have been reasonable … The operation was not planned and controlled in such a way as to minimise [sic] to the greatest extent possible the need for recourse to lethal force.”
Criminal Offenses Likely Committed
Following his ruling on February 6, 2025, Mr. Justice Humphreys referred the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions (the DPP). He based the referral on his findings that the killing of the four Provisional IRA volunteers was not justified. The findings left Justice Humphreys no other alternative than to refer the matter to the DPP.
The solicitor representing the families of the murdered Provisional IRA volunteers, Niall Murphy, said that “[t]he only conclusion … which the judge has found today, [is] that all four of the deceased were unlawfully killed.” He further stated that “[w]e are going to carefully consider this verdict with regards to any prospect of prosecutions.”
Mr. Murphy added, “I think it’s also correct to observe that today’s verdict is the reason that the Tory government brought in the Legacy Act… [It was] … conceived and legislated to ensure that truths such as that published today could no longer be published, and that is why it is so vital that the Legacy Act be repealed in its totality.” The coroner’s verdict in the Clonoe ambush matter has pulled away the veil revealing the horridness of the British governments’ falsehoods. Regrettably, future inquests in to circumstances such as the Clonoe ambush will be impeded until the Legacy Act of 2023 is repealed. We, the Irish diaspora in the United States, must insist that our elected officials convey to the British government the necessity to repeal the Legacy Act.
Cleveland Irish: A Country Church
By Francis McGarry
July 4th was on a Monday in 1825. It was the day that ground was broken in Cleveland for the Ohio & Erie Canal. The ceremony included a fair amount of pomp and circumstance.
It signaled the beginning of a new era for our city, which at that time had a population of about five hundred. That number was doubled within twelve months, due mostly to the canal construction.
This increase of population in 1826 coincided with the arrival of the first Irish Catholics. Irish laborers sought and found labor on the canal.
It was during this year also that the first priest came to Cleveland. The Dominican Father Thomas Martin, then residing in Perry county. Father Martin was aware of the number of Catholics that were employed on the canal being built between Cleveland and Akron, and he made it his business to visit them.
Reverend Stephen T. Badin, the proto-priest of the United States, did the same a handful of times. There is no record of any other priest having come to Cleveland before Reverend John Dillon, who was assigned to Cleveland by Bishop Purcell in the early part of 1835 as the first resident pastor for the city.
Father Dillon was born in Drumcunny, County Leitrim, Ireland, in 1807. Dillon was ordained in Cincinnati with Father James Conlan by Bishop Purcell on September 20, 1834. Conlan was the first pastor of St. Patrick’s on Bridge, in 1853.
Father Dillion organized the first congregation, the members of which had their first Masses at “Judge Underhill’s office,” a small room on Spring Street. Cleveland Catholics then assembled in a large room, 30 x 40 feet, known as Shakespeare Hall. It was in the upper story of the Merwin building on Main Street, which today is OH-2. Then they met at the Farmer’s Hall in the Mechanics’ block on Prospect street.
Cleveland’s First Church
Dillon raised a collection for the erection of a church, which would become St. Mary on the Flats. Cleveland’s first pastor did not have the opportunity to begin the work on its first church. Father Dillion died of bilious fever on October 16, 1836.
His remains, at first interred in the Erie Street cemetery, were transferred to the Cathedral shortly after its completion in 1852 and entombed in one of the vaults beneath the main altar. In March of 1875, in compliance with the dying request of his close friend and classmate, Father Conlan, Dillion’s remains were taken to St. John’s cemetery and enclosed in the same coffin with Father Conlan. A monument marked their joint grave.
Saint Mary on the Flats, the only Catholic church in Cleveland, served as the as the Cathedral of the Diocese from October, 1847, until November 7, 1852. It was a parish with a membership of primarily Irish and some Germans parishioners.
Cleveland’s First Parade
Father Peter McLaughlin, born in Ireland in 1805, was Cleveland’s third resident priest. He organized a St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 1842.
McLaughlin also purchased four lots at Superior and Erie streets from Thomas May on January 22, 1845. Erie Street, today’s East 9th, was the edge of Cleveland’s development at the time.
Some of his parishioners at St. Mary were not pleased with his purchase “in the country.” McLaughlin spoke German but did not fondly describe his German parishioners in his letters to Bishop Purcell. He thought that they should not be in the pews built by the Irish. It is not clear if those displeased with him were German.
That being said, he was spot on with the land purchase. In 1848, the Diocese purchased an additional five lots from May, adjacent to the initial land purchase. The cornerstone of the Cathedral was laid on October 22, 1848.
The Cathedral was an Irish parish, with parishioners transferring from St. Mary on the Flats, that was soon assigned to the Germans. Cleveland Irish Catholics supported five parishes in the 1850s: St. John’s Cathedral (1848), St. Patrick’s Westpark (1848), St. Patrick’s on Bridge (1853), Holy Name (1854), and St. Bridget’s on East 22nd (1857).
The Cathedral was consecrated on November 7, 1852. The Cleveland Herald reported the services were witnessed by “a very large audience.”
Lake Erie storms prevented the participation of the Bishops of Boston, Buffalo and Detroit. The Cathedral was consecrated by the Most Rev. Archbishop Purcell of Cincinnati. Bishop M. J. Spalding of Louisville delivered a brief discourse, and High Mass was celebrated by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Rappe, of Cleveland, followed by Vespers in the afternoon and a sermon by the Rev. Mr. Luhr of Canton.
In the evening, Archbishop Purcell gave a talk on the progress of the Catholic Church, particularly in the United States and in Ohio. He referred to all the meeting locations and the dedication of the early Cleveland Catholics.
The Bishop mentioned the donation, by Cleveland non-Catholics, of the site for St. Mary on the Flats. He noted that it was the progress of the city’s first Catholic church that led to the building of this “splendid sanctuary.”
The prelate paid tribute to the self-sacrificing labors of Bishop Rappe; to his devotion in leaving his pleasant home in sunny France. That is also where the carved oak altar and statues were made. The slate roof was imported from Wales.
In 1878, the front of the Cathedral was remodeled and sandstone features were incorporated into the design. A year later, the spire was added, which some called the “handsomest spire in the city.” In 1884, the Cathedral was renovated and the interior was painted.
There is a Hibernian Mass on May 4 at the Cathedral. It is an opportunity to worship in the same “splendid sanctuary” that our early Cleveland Irish brethren worshipped in.
It is also an amazing place to hear Michael Crowley play his bagpipes. Please join us in celebrating and honoring our Cleveland Irish forebearers.
