The weather in Ireland is never predictable.   We have had very little rain, which is unusual. However, it has been very cold. Even the people here in NEWPORT/CASTLEBAR/WESTPORT are complaining!   At this time of the year, the sun shines almost all day. yesterday, the sun was up at 4am. At 10pm, it was still as bright as NOON!

  Thurs morning, we went to visit the home where my grandmother, ELLEN MULC(H)RONE was born. We still have family living there. We had a great visit with Mary Mulchrone whose memory was fantastic.   From there, we drove west towards the Atlantic Ocean and the island of ACHILL.   The land (and weather) are very harsh and dramatic.

 Yet, we saw amazing sights of the ocean pounding againt the high cliffs.  We needed a "tea break" after that.   Last evening, I celebrated Mass in the church of St. Patrick in Newport with family and relatives.  This was the church where my grandfather, peter, had worshipped as a young boy.  It was very emotional. Afterwards, we headed back to the house of my cousin, where  a number of the family had returned. We talked about family and Ireland for several hours. I went to bed at 10:30pm, and the sun was still shining!!!!!!!!

We left Dublin early Tuesday morning, to drive west across the country. Ireland has a new set of high speed highways, the "N" highways; great for driving. WE stopped for coffee(and tea, of course!) at Mullingar. Then, later we stoppd in the town of FOXFORD, where one of the great wool factories is. My sister in law and daughter went shopping; my brother and I had more tea!
Finally,we arrived in Ballina. We got our hotel rooms, then drove to Bonniconlon to visit our cousins, the Jordan Family. That evening we celebrated the 25th anniversary Mass of my cousin, Fr. Michael Jordan. His mother, Nora, and Fr. Michael's brothers and sisters were all there. Afterwards, we went to the one place big enough in this tiny town for a celebration, the pub! Everyone was there: family, priests, altar servers, all of us!!!!! Sandwiches and plenty to eat and drink all night.
Wed. morning, we stopped by the family farm one more time. We said good-bye, and I knew it would be my last time to be with Nora who is 84 and weak. Sad for us all.
Our next trip was an hour drive to NEWPORT, COUNTY MAYO. We visited a number of cousins at their homes, most of them still living on farms. We stopped to pray at the cemetery where my great-grandparents are buried. A good day.
The weather has been very good: cool, but the sun shining most of the time. We will stay in the WEST of Ireland a few more days. More later.

We (my brother Laurence, wife Karen, daughter Kristen, and I) left Chicago Sunday evening at 6:30pm on a full flight to Ireland.  We arrived into Dublin airport at 7:30am to a bright, sunny day.  (The day before it had poured all day!)   We got our rent a car and off we went.   The driving here is on the right side of the car, so all the signs say "think left" because we are driving on the opposite side of the road.   We got to our hotel,a small, simple building, but near downtown Dublin.
   My brother and family went off to sight see.  I jumped into a cab to attend a meeting at Noon.  The meeting was with the staff for the Eucharistic Congress which will be held in Dublin next June 2012. They wanted to meet with me to discuss plans for the participation of the deaf community.   FR. GERARD TYRRELL is the national Catholic chaplain for the deaf in Ireland. He was at the meeting, too.   We met over lunch for almost two hours.  It was an excellent meeting(I don't always say that about meetings!!!!!). We discussed many different topics, and I felt that the people there had more understanding re: how deaf people will share in this wonderful event.  Afterwards, Fr. Gerard and I met to talk about some other deaf matters.
  He gave me a lift back, but I decided to walk the last mile to the hotel. It was a glorious, sunny day,THOUGH COOL!, in Dublin! (This does not happen often!!!!).   As I was walking near the hotel, I suddenly noticed a sign on a building that said DeafHear.ie   Of course I was curious, so I stopped in. This is the office of the organization that is like Chicago Hearing Society, but for Ireland!  Two deaf men sitting there looked at me, and I signed "good afternoon".  They almost fell out of their chairs.  They started to sign to me in Irish Sign-Language(very different). Luckily one of the Irish hearing staff were there, and so he interpreted. We had a wonderful conversation.  I could not believe it; a block from my hotel was this office!  As I left, I looked up to heaven and said, "okay, mom, you took care of me once again!"
  Back at the hotel, I found a message that the Holy Father appointed FR. ANDREW WYPYCH, our pastor, an auxiliary bishop. Wonderful, wonderful news!!!!!!!!!!
   That evening I met my family for dinner.  By now, 6pm, we were all quite exhausted, and the lights were out at 8pm!
   Today, we drive to Bonniconlon, Ballina for the 25th anniversary Mass of my cousin, FR. MICHAEL JORDAN.

This past month, I celebrated the 40th anniversary of my ordination to the Catholic priesthood. I was ordained May 12, 1971. At that time, American soldiers were dying in Viet Nam. So were thousands of innocent civilains caught in the war. The politicians in Washington,DC, told us that this war was necessary "to stop Communism." (Interesting, no politician during that entire time lost a loved one in that war.) Forty years later, our country does millions of dollars of business with "Communist Viet Nam". On the anniversary of my ordination, forty years since 1971, American soldiers are dying in another war, in Afghanistan.(Our soldiers are still dying in Iraq!) Again, thousands of innocent civilians are also dying. This time, the government tells us that we are fighting "to stop the terrorists."
We have sacrificed the lives of too many of our young men and women. We have over twenty-thousand (20,000) of our young adults PERMANENTLY DISABLED because of Iraq and Afghanistan. Over 100,000 innocent people (many of them women and children) have died and continue to die in these countries. We did not "win" in Viet Nam. We are not "winning" in Afghanistan. I don't even know what it means to "win" when all we see is more death, more people permanently disabled, more people hating us for fighting on their soil.
Forty years of priesthood, and the world has not changed. We still think the only way to "win" is to kill enough people whom we label "the enemy". It is time for our soldiers to come home to their families. It is time to leave Iraq and Afghanistan. If the politicians insist on fighting, then have them send over THEIR children to fight these wars. Most of the people in the Congress who want us to stay in Iraq and Afghanistan have never served in the military, never had anyone shoot at them.
I was once young. Some of the people I went to school with died in Viet Nam; their names are on "the Wall" in DC. I am older. I do not want to see the names of my family members, their young friends, your students, your children or grandchildren or godchildren on some other monument sometime in the future. Give this message to every person in the Hosue of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, the White House: BRING OUR TROOPS HOME...NOW!

the world ends this Saturday? Some pastor, somewhere, has predicted that "the end", or "the rapture", or "God's judgement" will happen this Sat., May 21st. (The Mayan Indians have supposedly predicted the world as we know it will end in 2012.) A few thoughts:
1 People have been predicting "the end of the world/God's Final Judgement" for at least 2,000 years. (The Jehovah's Witnesses have predicted the end of the world 7 times since 1917!) A couple of years ago, a supposedly "Christian evangelist" told all the people in Korea that the world would end on a certain date. The people sold everything they owned, went to the mountain to wait for the end, and nothing happened. They ended up broke and beat up that preacher. There have also been some very dangerous people - James Jones, David Koresh, and others - who have convinced people that they are"chosen by God" to lead people to "the Promised Land." These were truly "false prophets" who were interested in sex and power, not God. All they have done is get a lot of people killed in Jonestown/Waco, TX.

2 Jesus predicted that the world would end, but Jesus told us that only Father God knows this information(Matthew, chapter 24). Knowing when the world will end means nothing. Being ready whenever our "world"(life) ends is what matters. So, Jesus tells us how we ought to be prepared. Read Matthew, chapter 25:31-46. Jesus teaches us that everyone dies. Even Jesus died, on the Cross! The point is not the WHEN & WHERE of death. It is HOW we lived with the time we had. HOW did we use the gifts (skills, talents) God gave us to be of service to those who cannot repay us?
So this Saturday, I plan to drive to Milwaukee, WI to witness the Ordination to the Priesthood of CHRISTOPHER KLUSMAN, a deaf young man, who will become a priest for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. I hope the sun is shining. I will thank God to see another deaf person pledging his/her life to serve God's people. And, somewhere on the drive back, I will stop and buy an ice cream cone. Why? Because if, by chance, my "world" ends this Saturday, I want it to end with me enjoying one of God's great signs that He loves us.....ice cream!

The other day, I stopped by a local coffee place to get a cup of coffee. Another man and I both stood at the counter and asked for a regular coffee. The girl poured my cup, then poured his. He looked at my cup and immediatley started shouting at the girl that I had gotten more coffee than he had. I looked and did not really notice any difference. However, he became very upset that somehow the girl had given me more coffee than him. So, I simply looked at him and said, "here you go," and switched my cup with his. He didn't know what to say.
As I walked out of the store, I thought, "when is enough, enough?" We live in the richest country in the world. Most of us live in decent homes, have working heat/cooling/electricity/phones. Few of us are starving.We have plenty to eat, and enjoy great security. We drive cars that work, and have decent clothes to wear.We have the best medical care system in the world. Yet, we constantly seem dissatisfied. We complain about EVERYTHING. We want a bigger house, a newer car, more food and drink, different clothes, more free entertainment, and the list goes on and on and..... More than 80% - 80% - of the people of this world have less of EVERY THING than you and I have. Yet, when I travel to other countries like Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, I meet people who are MORE GRATEFUL than we ever are. They are so thankful for the little they have while we complain despite the great amount we possess.
The other day, I went to visit a lady in a nursing home. Because of her condition, she has not been able to take anything by mouth. She receives all her feeding from a feeding tube attached to her stomach. She does not complain. She is grateful for the care she has received. I asked her, "not eating or drinking, what do you miss?" She looked at me and simply said, "oh, I would love to taste just a sip of cold water." Her condition has taught her to value what is really important in life. She didn't want a fancy meal or expensive drink. Just "a sip of cold water." Are we grateful when we turn on the faucet in our homes and get a drink of clean, cold water? In the morning, do we ever stop to thank God for a hot shower? The list can go on and on. How truly thankful are we for ALL that we have? How often do I take time to thank people who are so good to me, who share so much with me? Or, am I someone who always complains, is always dissatisfied because he/she feels that I don't have "enough." So my question is, "when is enough...enough?"

Yesterday I was crucified with Him; today I am glorified with Him.
Yesterday I died with Him; today I am made alive with Him.
Yesterday I was buried with Him; today I am raised up with Him.
Let us offer to Him who suffered and rose again for us...ourselves, the possession most precious to God.
Let us become like Christ. Why? Because Christ became like us.Let us become Divine for His sake, because for us He became human.
He accepted the worst so that he might give us the better.
He became poor so that because of His poverty we might become rich.
He accepted being a servant so that we might receive our freedom.
He came down so that we might be lifted up.
He was tempted so that because of Him we might conquer sin.
He was dishonored so that He might save us.
He ascended that He could take to Himself us, who were thrown down through the fall of sin.
Let us give all, offer all, to Him(Jesus Christ) who gave Himself as Ransom and Reconciliation for us. We needed a God with us, a God put to death, that we might live. We were put to death together with Him that we might be cleansed. We rose again with Him because we were put to death with Him. We were glorified with Him because we rose again with Him.
A few drops of His Blood has given life to the whole of creation!
ST. GREGORY THE THEOLOGIAN

In the Gospel for PALM SUNDAY (Matthew 26:1-27:66), we have the scene in the Garden at Gethsemane. Jesus has returned from wrenching prayer, to find his favored Apostles asleep. Jesus knows what is about to happen; He has fully accepted His Father's will ("Not my will, but Yours be done"). Jesus says, "ARISE, LET US BE ON OUR WAY."(26:46). What lay ahead was rejection, isolation, denial, mockery, suffering, spit, crucifixion, and death. Jesus does not turn back nor run away. He goes the 'way' that His Father-God has given Him. Yet, Jesus believes that this way and only this way will lead to true and lasting life.
Each time we pray "The Apostles Creed", we say, "He(Jesus) was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again and...." The word "hell" is not an accurate translation. Jewish people of Jesus' time believed in SHEOL, a "place of shadows." The place where those who had died had some sort of vague existence. In the view of the Church, this was the "Hell" of the Apostles Creed. The Church taught that since God expelled Adam and Eve from Paradise, that the gates to heaven were closed. All those good people since the beginning of time: Abraham/Sara, Isaac/Rebecca, Jacob/Rachel; Moses, Samuel, David; Isaiah, Jeremiah,Ruth, Daniel, Ezekiel; Joseph-all these were in that "hell" waiting to be released and allowed to enter heaven.
And so, I thought of Jesus descending "into hell", coming before the throng of those holy people and announcing, "Arise! The darkness is over; death is no more; the gates of Paradise are open. Let us be on our way." To Mary Magdalene and Martha, Stephen, Peter and the others, Paul; Lawrence, Polycarp, Irenaeus, Agnes, Agatha; Augustine, Origen, Jerome; Patrick, Cosmas and Damian; Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure; Benedict and Bernard; Catherine of Siena, Clare, Francis of Assisi and Francis de Sales; Thomas Becket and Thomas More; Isaac Jogues and the North American Martyrs; Charles de Foucauld and the martyred religious of Algeria; Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day,Oscar Romero, and Cesar Chavez; to the priests and religious murdered in Iraq, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, and Guatemala; to the millions of silent, forgotten, faithful followers of the Lord; to your parents, spouses, siblings, godparents, grandparents, and mine: It is Jesus Christ who proclaims this message of hope and confidence, "ARISE! LET US BE ON OUR WAY to..GLORY, PARADISE, HEAVEN....HOME."

The headlines and news are full of stories, "Out of control spending", "Massive government debt", "Efforts to stop financial bleeding." Certainly, governments (city, county, state, federal) have spent more money than they collected in taxes. The federal government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, the politicians want to "reduce the debt", "curtail (cut back) spending", "save money." How? Last week, in Washington, DC, several politicians proposed the following:
reduce the amount of money for Medicare (meaning: do not pay for treating illnesses for senior citizens, people with disabilities);
reduce the amount of money for Medicaid (meaning: really cut back the money to help pay medical costs for people who are deaf and disabled);
try to get rid of the new Health Care Law( meaning: do not protect people who are born with a pre-existing condition; do not provide for people who suffer life-long disabilities; do not care for the poor and weak).
In other words: DIE. The people in Washington, DC want the people who "cost too much" - deaf, disabled, old people, sick/weak/helpless, mentally-ill - to NOT get the health care they need. Then, when they die, guess what? The government will have more money to spend...on wars!
Two-thousand years ago, someone asked Jesus, "Are you the Messiah (Savior) or should we look for someone else?" Jesus' answer was the following, "Go back and tell those who sent you...those who are blind, recover their sight;those who cannot walk, are able to walk; those with diseases of the body, are healed; those who are deaf, hear; the dead are raised to life; and the "have-nots" receive the Gospel."(Matthew 11:4-5). Jesus described the work of God as bringing "healing" to those who are sick and suffering. When people in power deny or refuse to provide healing to those in need, they deny that healing and help to God. In case ANYONE is unsure of that, please read Matthew 25: 31-46.

 Someone has used the name of the Catholic Office of the Deaf to email many people asking personal information: birth dates, marriage dates, etc. The Catholic Office of the Deaf will NEVER request this information  through the internet.
If you have received such a message, please do the following:

1) do NOT respond to this at all; do not give  any personal information.

2) please forward whatever requests you have gotten to cathdeafch@archchicago.org   so we may turn this over to the police.

Thank you.

Fr. Joseph A. Mulcrone