Missionaries

TG4 has been showing an interesting four-part series on Irish missionaries  — Misinéirí Radacacha (Radical Missionaries). Fr Séan Coyle appears in the third episode, which focuses on the work of Irish missionaries in the Philippines during the Marcos dictatorship — to view go here, click on ‘Documentaries’ on the right-hand side (under ‘Archive’) and scroll down to the Misinéirí Radacacha episode dated 19.09.11. (The second and fourth episodes are also still available to view.)

Irish Hierarchy’s Statement on the Founding of Telefís Éireann

The Irish hierarchy issued the following statement in 1961 at their October meeting in St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth:

The forthcoming inauguration of Telefís Éireann [Irish national television service – Shane] is an event of great importance in our national life and we wish to avail ourselves of this opportunity to invoke the blessing of God on the new undertaking.

Television is a wonderful achievement of modern science. It has been described as a gift to man from the God Who is the Creator both of the laws of science and of the human minds which discover them. It has already proved itself a very powerful influence in human society. It is difficult to exaggerate its potentialities as a medium of healthy education, in the dissemination of truth, in the diffusion and encouragement of true cultural values and in the formation of high standards of public taste.

A Glimpse Back into 1930’s Ireland

The Revolution Triumphant: Irish Hierarchy’s June Meeting, 1965

The following press release was issued by the Irish hierarchy following their meeting at St. Patrick’s Maynooth on the 22nd-23rd June, 1965:

Among the matters discussed were:

SACRED LITURGY

In addition to proposals for more extensive use of the vernacular, draft texts of the “Prayer of the Faithful” and of the funeral service also were considered, and were referred to the Episcopal Liturgical Commission for revision.

A number of decisions also were taken to ensure the proper formation of the students of Maynooth in the doctrine and principles of the Constitution on the Liturgy. A Professor of Sacred Liturgy has been appointed and will pursue special studies at a liturgical institute before taking up his duties.

Liturgical actions in the college are to be carried out in conformity with the new liturgical norms. One of the oratories in the college is to be remodelled with an altar facing the congregation in order to familiarise the students with the new structure of the ceremonies.

Irish Society Before the Sixties: Insular or Outward Looking?

De Valera returning from the League of Nations. He served as president of the League’s congress in 1932 and of its assembly in 1938.

Editorial Statement,
Irish Foreign Affairs; April-June, 2008

“Every nation, if it is to survive as a nation, must study its own history and have a foreign policy” — C.J. O’Donnell, The Lordship of the World, 1924, p. 145

This is the first issue of Irish Foreign Affairs, a quarterly journal established to comment on foreign policy and on global affairs from an independent Irish perspective.

The Irish State was founded with a core foreign policy idea – the notion of the right of the Irish nation to have an independent state of its own and through that state to make a distinct mark in the world. The limits of this independence were necessarily first and foremost the ability of the state to develop and act free of British constraints.

Until the 1960s, Irish citizens took for granted that this was what the state was about. People knew the Proclamation of 1916 with its foreign policy position, and there was in general a remarkably high level of knowledge about foreign affairs. This knowledge of the world was not derivative of the British liberal media and was informed by commentaries from a uniquely Irish perspective in newspapers such as the Irish Press, various journals, and even in early RTE television.

Wings to Germany, 1950s

Patrician Year (1961): Missalette for Pontifical High Mass at Croke Park, 25th June

click above to read in full (pdf)

CLICK HERE to watch newsreel of the Mass.

CLICK HERE to listen to William Nelson presenting a silver trowel to His Eminence the Papal Legate. (“…a petition to Mary, the Mother of God, for her continued assistance in our struggle against atheistic communism…”)

The Story of Saint Patrick