The most difficult decision I ever made was in 1980 when I decided to take time out of ministry in the diocese of Clogher and spend some time in New York and the USA. It was a big decision but, in hindsight, I think it was the right one. I had been on the receiving end of a lot of stick from supporters of the status quo in the parish south of the border in which I was based for a few years. I decided to take time out in 1980 – for a rest and for a change of scenery.
It was in New York during almost 2 years that my mind was opened to a different model of Church. It was there that I met some of the most courageous people -priests and religious and lay members of the Church –all committed to building peace and justice in the world. They belonged to different Christian churches and some other religions and some belonged to no Church or religion. Some belonged to the Catholic Worker movement, founder by Dorothy Day and a French man Peter Maurin in the 1940s. I made friends with the Catholic Worker people in New York and Baltimore who have remained friends ever since.
These good people were prepared to suffer grievously for their commitment to justice, peace and to uphold the dignity of human beings. Many people in New York and throughout the USA were concerned about the dreadful situation in the north of Ireland -especially during 1980-1981 when Irish republican prisoners decided to go on hunger strike in Long Kesh.
The ancestors of these Irish -American had to emigrate to the US during the Great Hunger/Starvation. Some were relatives of my own from counties Cork and Fermanagh. My maternal grandparents met in Philadelphia in the early 1900s and got married there.
In 1980, the north of Ireland was in the news because Irish republican prisoners were on hunger strike to put pressure on the British government to accept them as political prisoners.
During this tense time, I met up with people like Daniel Berrigan SJ, and his brother Phil Berrigan, Ramsey Clark and the Ploughshares’ peace activists who changed my understanding of the Christian Gospel and what it means to be Christian –and indeed, what it means to be human.
In New York I decided to take a public stand for the prisoners in Long Kesh who were on hunger strike. I continued to support the prisoners in 1981 and I came home to support Bobby Sands in the election in Fermanagh/South Tyrone.
All of us who are baptised are called to make decisions every day. These decisions are either for the Gospel –for the poor and oppressed or against the Gospel. This world is a challenging place -especially now that two of the dominant leaders –Trump and Netanyahu are in power and want to engage in war and killing innocent people. The dominant culture in the Western world is capitalism and consumerism -which goes against the values promoted by Jesus Christ and those recorded in the Gospels. They go against the values of Pope Leo and the official teaching of the Catholic Church.
I am glad I took that decision to go to New York in 1980 and that I became friends with some great people there. They sustained me during a very difficult time in my life and in our history. In a way they changed my life for the better and so did the experience of living away from home in New York for a short while. I still believe that there are enough good people in America to bring about a change in the direction taken by Trump and bring about peace and justice.
It is nauseating to see the present incumbent in the White House show such disrespect for the leader of the Catholic Church –and not only that -so much disregard for human life both in the USA and around the world. Thank God for Pope Leo at this time.
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