by Pat Hennessy
Happy New Year!
New Year blessings for a happy, healthy and successful coming New Year extended to our readers and friends. A special thanks to our fine Editor, Cliff Carlson, and his all-star staff who make all our columns readable month after month.
To the readers who wrote or called during the year, pro and con, we thank you also. Hearing from readers is always the best part of attempting to write a column. So keep up the good work my good friends, even if do criticize now and then. Slainte, a cairde.
Beautiful Irish Christmas at Gaelic Park
Once again, record crowds of patrons at Gaelic Park enjoyed a beautiful and typical Irish Christmas in the midst of delightful decorations and lighting, inside and outside. Gaelic Park is noted for such family entertainment and has become the favorite meeting place on the southwest side of the city in beautiful Oak Forest. Irish favourite entertainers, Andy Cooney, George Casey, Kay Tobin Dance Troupe and others directed by the “old Maestro,” Brian “Bugs” Moran made this a wonderful evening and brought back fond memories of Ireland and the old turf fire.
Record crowds were also expected for Gaelic Park’s New Year celebrations timed for 4pm for the kids (with a sparking juice toast) and 6pm (Ireland’s midnight hour) for the adults with the usual drink. It should prove to be another memorable occasion. Slainte, a cairde.
Our humble thanks and congratulations are again extended to dynamic President John Griffin, and his hardworking Board of Directors, with charming Manageress, Marian Ryan, Harry Costello (the man for all seasons), and the lads at the Carraig, and the various committees who make such an event so enjoyable. Gur a mile mait agat, a cairde.
Chicago Firefighter Footballers in Ireland
Our congratulations are extended to the Chicago Firefighters Gaelic football team, who toured Ireland recently and played great games against Dublin and Ulster teams. This is wonderful news for the Gaelic Athletic Association, and hopefully, now this team will affiliate with Chicago GAA and okay in either the Junior or Senior championships during the coming season. The team should be capable of playing in the Senior play-offs, but then again, it might be better to begin with the Juniors and work up to the Senior stage.
With juvenile Irish-American kids now playing the games at Gaelic Park, and playing good skillful caman craft and football, plus the Firefighters team coming along, it offsets the lack of “new seed” players coming from Ireland because of restrictive U.S. immigration laws. Now, hopefully, more Irish American youth will be attracted towards hurling and Gaelic football. Tanum cun De (Thanks to God).
Welcome Back Brother McGovern
We are very pleased and thankful to God to welcome back Br. Donald McGovern from his hospitalization for spinal surgery. Br. McGovern is the hard working Province Development Director with the Edmund Rice Brothers. Donations for the many developments of the CB are being accepted at Rice Christian Brothers, P.O. Box 42903, Evergreen Park, IL 60805.
Long Awaited U.S. Immigration Reform
Hopefully when the long debated health bill being discussed in Congress and eventually signed into law by President Barack Obama, the long awaited immigration reform will be next on the his long agenda. The Irish Reform movement must be prepared for a long fight in order to prove the “unfairness” of the present law as it applies to the Irish and other western European countries like, Britain, France, and Germany, etc.
When the Rodina bill was passed in the House in the early 60’s, it covered “handicapped countries” with different patterns such as Irish, German, etc. For instance, the Irish for the most part immigrate as a single person, man or woman, whilst Asians and some others travel as whole families, father, mother and several kids. The Irish got one visa and others get five or six, depending on the number of children. Thus at the end, the Irish and others with a low amount, were forced to go to the bottom of the totem pole and got much less. The first year the present law went into effect, the Irish received a few hundred visas, whilst others received a few thousand.
Despite this “unfairness,” the Senate allowed the Rodina bill to “die,” with the result that the unfairness prevailed all those years without being corrected. In the 80’s, the Irish did receive over 60,000 visas in the amnesty deal, but that, no doubt, was to compensate for the “unfairness” of prior years. The “unfairness” continues and needs to be corrected. The Rodina bill allowed for that unfairness by establishing a floor of approximately 10,000 for the Irish and others. That has never been allowed, nor has the promise made by the Senate Department at that time to the effect that “no country shall be handicapped.”
Today’s young Irish that roam our streets are well-educated, hard working, and speak the language. No doubt the ones that are working are paying tax and obeying our laws. They would make outstanding citizens, if given a fair chance to live as good citizens. Eventually, when the country recovers from this recession, we are going to need a well educated labor force to keep up with our global competitors.
Without being boastful, our ancestors who came to our great country years ago, fought our wars gallantly, dug the railroad lines, and helped to build our great cities, and to reverse the flow of the Chicago River, so that our citizens could have pure water to drink. They were for the most part some of our best citizens, and to reject this generation of Irish is indeed being unfair and demands correction.
So let’s get together with our respective Irish Reform Movements, agree upon the bill that we want passed in Congress, inform our senators and respective congressmen on a national level, and above all, stay off the streets, waving flags and shouting.
Dan Hynes for Governor
That’s the best of living out of state, you can recommend candidates for any office to another state, provided that the Editor agrees. But joking aside, Dan Hynes, son of the familiar Tommy Hynes, well known former Cook Co. Assessor, and indeed the entire Hynes family, have close ties with the great County of Galway. The Hynes family are great supporters of St. Patrick’s Day parades, and the GAA Hurling and Gaelic Football at Gaelic Park. More importantly, Hynes receives highest marks for being an outstanding Illinois Controller. He has been cited numerous times for his ability to handle the important position of Controller. He will make a great Governor, a major change from the people had. He knows how the people’s money should be handled, and has proved upon several occasions that he is an excellent legislator. He should be elected on his splendid record, compared to others.
