Father Tom O’Donnell, AOH National Chaplain: Hunger Strike Mass Homily
admin | August 24th, 2010 | No Comments »So many times our National Chaplain, Father Tom O’Donnell, when given an opportunity is able to make a powerful analogy between past heroes, here the Hunger Strike Anniversary, and bring it forward to the Peace we have today in the North of Ireland. His perception and passion are amazingly powerful as those who witnessed his Homily at the National Convention in Cincinnati, where he spoke of his family’s resistence to British Rule, can attest he certainly can deliver.
Here he links the heroism of the Hunger Strikers to the Good Friday Agreement and todays politics turning Long Kesh into an International symbol of Peace and Reconciliation.
He calls on us as members of the AOH and indeed Irish American Catholics to continue to focus and seek a United Ireland as the AOH Constitution and By Laws requests.
AOH National PEC
Hunger Striker’s Mass-2010
Pittsburgh, PA
Today we commemorate the 29th year of the Hunger Strikers of 1981, who sacrificed their young lives for the cause of freedom, justice, peace and reconciliation. These ten Irish martyrs – Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes, Raymond Mc Cresh, Patsy O’Hara, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Rom Mc Elwee, Kevin Lynch, Keiran Doherty, and Michael Devine were all martyrs for the sake of their Catholic faith and freedom for all Ireland. These heroes were confined in the H-Blocks of the Maze prison, more infamously known as Long Kesh. These ten Republican prisoners went on a hunger strike with five demands, the most potent being that they refused to be treated as criminals. After the hunger strike was completed these ten brave Irishmen had made the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives for what they believed in – that they had the right to be free Irishmen.
In some ways the sacrifice and death of the Hunger Strikers has now been somewhat vindicated. Within the past several weeks some good news came out recently with regard to the Maze prison, more infamously knows as Long Kesh. Martin McGuiness, the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland announced recently “The Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister will shortly submit a European Union funding application for a Peace Building and Conflict Resolution Facility on the site of the Maze, Long Kesh prison.” “It is anticipated that the center will be a world-class facility of international importance designed to strengthen our peace-building expertise and to share our experiences with others throughout the world.”
Finally this prison of torture and horror where the Hunger Strikers gave their lives will be turned into a positive sight for peace and reconciliation not only for Ireland but the rest of the world.
However, in addition to Hunger Strikers of 1981 let us also remember the many thousands of other Irish martyrs who have died as a result of British tyranny – We also remember the Bloody Sunday martyrs of January 30, 1972. On that Bloody Sunday a dark cloud descended over Derry City and remained for thirty eight years until Tuesday, June 15, 2010. On that day, about one month ago, the ghost of the British Army was banished from the streets and the dignity and pride of the people of Derry returned as the Lord Saville report exonerated the Bloody Sunday martyrs of any wrongdoing. Prime Minister David Cameron offered an extraordinary apology for the 1972 killings of the unarmed demonstrated by the British soldier saying that the long awaited judicial inquiry left no doubt that the Bloody Sunday killings were both unjustified and unjustifiable. Mr. Cameron went on to relate that there was no justification for the shooting of the civilian casualties. One of the most damaging sentences in the Saville report stated that one of the victims was shot while crawling away from the soldiers and another while he was lying mortally wounded on the ground.
Although there has been some measure of justice and peace now for the martyrs of Bloody Sunday, it must be remembered that in Ballymurphy six months earlier the same Para-Military Regiment – shot dead 11 innocent victims and in Springhill five month later they shot dead 5 more. Justice peace must still be given to the families and the victims of the Ballymurphy and Springhill murders.
In the past thirty eight years since Bloody Sunday, and in the past twenty nine years since the death of the Hunger Strikers there have been many significant gains and progress towards the freedom for all Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 and its further implementation during the past several years is one step in the right direction.
Unfortunately, sometimes with a measure of success, there also comes apathy. Some may think that the struggle for a peaceful reunification is over. However, we must remember that the dissidents will continue to fight to prevent and derail the unification process. Therefore, it is of prime importance that we as Irish American Catholics continue to have a new strength and purpose. We must continue to lobby our politicians on the National, State, County and Municipal levels to support the United Ireland Resolution, so that, God willing, we will have a United Ireland in 2016, the 100th Anniversary of the Easter Rising.
If we are going to achieve true peace, justice and reconciliation in our beloved Ireland, in addition to lobbying the politicians on the worldly level, it is even more important that we continue to lobby and pray to our Father, Christ and Holy Spirit in Heaven for that peace that only God can give.
In the Old Testament book of Isaiah we read: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
The vision of Isaiah is not simply a kind of justice that is imposed upon us. It rather fills the soul of each person and emanates out. There is justice socially because each person is filled with compassion and meets the needs of those around them. When the writers of the gospel looked back on the life of Jesus and remembered the prophecies of Isaiah, the called him the ‘Prince of Peace’. At the heart of the message that Jesus came to deliver us, is the gospel of peace. It is not just a footnote, nor an editorial comment in the margins, it is central. When Jesus sent out his disciples, in the gospel of Luke, they carried no physical protection, not even a purse or a bag for support. And he tells them, to each house you enter, say “Peace be upon this house and if a child of peace lives in that house, your peace shall rest upon them.” In the gospel of John, just before he is arrested, Jesus speaks to his disciples, summarizing everything that he wants to tell them. There, he speaks of the importance of dwelling in love and then he says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you, not as the world gives… Let not your hearts be troubled, neither be afraid.”
And so as Irish American Catholics, every one of us is called to bring the message of Christ, his message of peace and reconciliation to all the world but especially to our brothers and sisters of Northern Ireland. The simple prayer attributed to St. Francis describes the spiritual disposition that all of us should have as we pray for peace and reconciliation not only in Northern Ireland but throughout the whole world. .
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred . . . let me sow love
Where there is injury . . . pardon
Where there is doubt . . . faith
Where there is despair . . .hope
Where there is darkness . . . light
Where there is sadness . . .joy
Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled . . .as to console
To be understood . . .as to understand,
To be loved . . . as to love
For it is in giving . . .that we receive,
It is in pardoning, that we are pardoned,
It is in dying . . .that we are born to eternal life .
May the ten Hunger Strikers of 1981 as well as all the Irish martyrs who have died for the cause of peace, justice, reconciliation and freedom for all Ireland, continue to find eternal peace and rest.
