Listowel Connection

This blog is a personal take on Listowel, Co. Kerry. I am writing for anyone anywhere with a Listowel connection but especially for sons and daughters of Listowel who find themselves far from home. Contact me at listowelconnection@gmail.com

Tag: Fr. Pat Moore Page 7 of 9

River Feale, some Listowel people, Flavins, Female T.Ds and an uplifting story

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On December 8, 2015

In Uncategorized

After Storm Desmond


I took the following photos on Sunday Dec 6 2015

The flood of Saturday had abated but there was still a lot of water in The Feale.

 I didn’t venture on to the walkway under the bridge.

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 Some People I met on Sunday Dec 6 2015


Kieran Moloney was out for a Sunday morning stroll.


On Church St. Clíona and I met Liam and Anne Dillon chatting to Mossie Kelliher and Mrs. O’Sullivan.

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Today’s blast of Nostalgia

photo;Irish Abroad

Does this take you back? This was the very first mixer tap, invaluable for shampooing the hair or washing the dog. This was back in the days before showers when everyone took a bath.

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 Flavins of Church St.: A Family Business for Generations




Vincent Doyle sent me this cutting of Dan Flavin and his son, Michael, at the door of the shop . The photo was taken some time in the 1950s

When I popped in to my local newsagent’s last week, there were 2 lovely ladies to help me out. Flavins’, still going in 2015. Long may it continue!

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Kerry’s Female T.D.’s

The first woman to be elected
in Kerry was Kate Breen in 1927. She was the first of five. Next to be elected
was Mary Crowley, nee Boland, who succeeded her husband, Fred. Fred Crowley was
fifty years in the Dáil. Mary served from 1945 to 1966 as a F.F. T.D in South
Kerry. Kathleen O’Connor Fitzgerald succeeded her late father, Johnny O’Connor
in a by election in 1956 and served as a Clann na Poblachta deputy until the
general election of 1957. Kit Ahern, nee Liston served as a Fianna Fail T.D.
from 1971 to 1980. She later served as a senator. Breda Moynihan Cronin
succeeded her father, Michael Moynihan, when he stepped down. Breda, a Labour
T.D. served in Dáil Eireann from1992 to 2007. 


(Source; Knocknagoshel Despatch) 


Will there be another name to add to the list in 2016?


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I believe in God even when she is silent


photo; Michelle Crean

Fr. Pat Moore shared this great story that he found recently

In a mother’s womb were two babies. One asked the other: 


“Do you believe in life after delivery?” The other replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.”

“Nonsense” said the first. “There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be?”

The second said, “I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths. Maybe we will have other senses that we can’t understand now.”

The first replied, “That is absurd. Walking is impossible. And eating with our mouths? Ridiculous! The umbilical cord supplies nutrition and everything we need. But the umbilical cord is so short. Life after delivery is to be logically excluded.”

The second insisted, “Well I think there is something and maybe it’s different than it is here. Maybe we won’t need this physical cord anymore.”

The first replied, “Nonsense. And moreover if there is life, then why has no one has ever come back from there? Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery there is nothing but darkness and silence and oblivion. It takes us nowhere.”

“Well, I don’t know,” said the second, “but certainly we will meet Mother and she will take care of us.”

The first replied “Mother? You actually believe in Mother? That’s laughable. If Mother exists then where is She now?”

The second said, “She is all around us. We are surrounded by her. We are of Her. It is in Her that we live. Without Her this world would not and could not exist.”

Said the first: “Well I don’t see Her, so it is only logical that She doesn’t exist.”

To which the second replied, “Sometimes, when you’re in silence and you focus and you really listen, you can perceive Her presence, and you can hear Her loving voice, calling down from above.” 

– Útmutató a Léleknek


#Mother Mother Earth News

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From 1868

Breda Breen posted this photo on Facebook recently

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Christmas Baking


It’s that time again!

Lislaughtin,Rattoo Mural and a Presentation Mystery

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On September 3, 2015

In Uncategorized

Historic Ballylongford


My good friend, Breda Ferris recently took a group of us on a mini tour of Ballylongford. We visited all the places Fr. Pat Moore visited on his first day out.

I will first let you read Fr. Pat’s Caring Bridge account of his day and then I will add my photos from my excursion to the same locations.

An update from Fr Pat Moore.

Today is Wednesday!! August 25th. A Slow move out!

By Fr. Pat Moore

Yesterday was a day of difference and newness. In the morning it rained, monsoon like, as it did last night. Yesterday afternoon, the sun shone and transported us into a different world, every place dry and bright. After lunch, Debbie, Sr. Kathleen and myself ventured on a small tour. We drove up along the Shannon, into Ballylongford Creek via Killelton and stopped first at Carrigafoyle Castle. It has now become a very busy hub for tourists and locals judging from all the entries on the visitors book. The Wild Atlantic Way has made a difference. The two women took the 104 steps to the top of the Castle and later we sensed its history back until its destruction in 1583. On we journied to Ahavallin Graveyard where our family are buried. Around the ruined Church where Lord Kitchener of Karthoom was baptised we remembered so many family and neighbours among ” the unforgettable dead”. We connected through prayer with” those that had gone before us marked with the sign of faith”. 

On to Lislaughtin Abbey with its sad history. There we prayed over neighbours and friends like Michael Linnane.

“Flashing starlings twist and turn in the sky above my head

While in Lislaughtin lie the packed anticipating dead.

Silent generations there that long had been the knee

Endowing the Shannon with the grace of reaching to the sea. Brendan Kennelly.

Back to Ballylongford and to St. Michael’s Church where I was ordained to priesthood in 1982. There in the grounds of the Church is the bust of our local poet. There is an extraordinary quote there, words that hung in his brothers garage for years from “The Crooked Cross”. “If the life of little places dies, greater places share the loss. Life if you wish, may not be worth one passing game of pitch and toss and yet a nation’s life is laid in places like the Crooked Cross”.

As we travelled home through the storied countryside we had travelled less than 15 kilometres, feeling into the past yet there is a great sense that the countryside is emptying out. “The silence of unlaboured fields stands like a judgement in the air”. Though we met people, moved among fields that each held a story, there is a sense of rural depopulation. Some have ” fled the fields that lied them down”, so many of a certain age have gone to work elsewhere. The changes of the past are a reminder that ” to live is to change and to change often is to become perfect”  as J.H. Newman said.

This iconic window at Lislaughtin Abbey is one of the strongest symbol of Ballylongford. There are several more beautiful windows and other features here in what was once the finest Franciscan Abbey in all of Europe.

There are graves everywhere within the Abbey and in the adjoining graveyard. The big memorial above is to the O’Rahilly family.

We also visited the 5 story high Carrigafoyle Castle, an O’Connor stronghold.

Next stop Saleen pier…lovely spot. The old boat below added a touch of mystery to the place.

From peaceful Saleen we could see Lislaughtin in the distance.

This is the Moneen, a kind of mudflat that is at times submerged.

On to Ahavallen and the tomb of the reviled Sandes family

Our last stop was St. Michael’s church. The grounds of this church are beautifully maintained with sculptures and plaques recounting Ballylongford’s history. There is also a beautiful parish centre and a a little rock garden. The recently unveiled bust of Brendan Kennelly is another milestone in Ballylonford history recorded here.

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Rattoo Mural at Ballyduff Post Office

Bob Scott; Artist

all photos; Bridget O’Connor

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Presentation Girls

I posted one of these photos before and got no replies. I’m posting a slightly better image this time along with another photo taken in the same classroom on the same day. They’ re definitely taken in Pres. Listowel, not sure primary or secondary school. Surely someone recognizes someone or remembers the day.

An American wedding, Lyre, Ballybunion and Kissane Photo Gallery opening

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On August 7, 2015

In Uncategorized

“Ireland unfree shall never be at Peace”




This photo from the National Library is of Padraig Pearse delivering his famous speech at the graveside of O’Donovan Rossa, one hundred years ago.




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Anne MacNamee of Paper Hearts took this lovely wedding photo of an American bride who returned recently to the hometown of her ancestors to get married. The wedding in St. Mary’s Listowel and The Listowel Arms was featured in this article in  The Irish Independent

Wedding of Corey and Shannon

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A Party in Lyre


The good people ofLyreacrompane had a party and they put the photos up on Facebook. I’ve copied a few for you and I’ve printed here the reflection, Fr. Pat Moore, their parish priest sent to them. As Fr. Pat continues his recovery, his parishioners are never too far from his thoughts. He shares with them the valuable life lessons he is learning, lessons that are deeply personal but have a universal application.

His flock have got to know their shepherd a lot better in these past few months.


THE UNANSWERED CALL

I now realise I have felt it all my life. Again and again I find myself going down to the shoreline, negotiating the last few steps where the road meets the strand. We always called it the pinch. Breathe in the air, feel a bit of warmth in it. I turn west along the strand, by Dexter’s Rock where the Englishman who deserted his army, read his newspaper. The soft carpet of sand beneath me, ground stone taken from cliff. Nothing is permanent, rock and land to sand and the rock rises out of the sea. Listen, listen to the conversation between the sea and the shoreline – the taking and the giving. It is now enforcing the lack of permanence for things are always changing. At a deep level there is nothing to hold onto.

Yet the voice of the sea speaks to the soul. I am walking in the shadow of faith. Believing,I now realise is not seeing. Where is my frantic activity bringing me, bringing us, in our world? How do I keep my zest for life? What helps me value building family and community? What I hold onto brings me within, through the heart to grasp something to hold onto, something that lasts. I have sensed it as an invitation and the response I have hitched my wagon to is in and through Christ. The zest can’t come from myself, it comes from beyond.

Is it God that gives me the impulse to want God and that sense of permanence I seek?


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A Few more Listowel ads from 1960


Both of these businesses are still going strong today.



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Rough Summer in Ballybunion

The sea is cold and rough, the beach is deserted. I have pity for the poor people who depend for their income on the tourist season in seaside towns in Ireland this summer.



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Kissane Photo Gallery Launch

Eamon, Eily and John at the opening of the Kissane Photo  Archive in The Horseshoe Gallery on Sunday August 2 2015.

The archive is an extraordinary collection of photographs of three Kissane families, of Lacca, Kilcox and Kilgarvan, all descended from the same ancestor. Eily Walsh has done trojan work in researching the family tree. Eamon OMurchú, whose mother was a Kissane, did the work on the photographs, editing, mounting and captioning them. They have done their families a huge service.

Jimmy Deehihan performed  the launch. He was mightily impressed with the exhibition and he will be using it as an example of what can be done. This family has many high achievers in its midst and the younger generation of high flyers was well represented on Sunday evening.


The gallery is open to the public. Do drop in while the Kissane photos are in situ. You will be amazed at the beautiful black and white photos and the extraordinary story they tell.

Summer weather, Áras Mhuire and a Grotto in Cork

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On July 16, 2015

In Uncategorized

Lovely photos;  Shame about the weather


One day in July Elizabeth Brosnan photographed the weather story of summer 2015 in North Kerry.

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A Close Call


Photo: Timothy John MacSweeney

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A Presentation at Áras Mhuire



Last week I visited Áras Mhuire for the occasion of the presentation of a bequest from a long time resident of the retirement home who had passed away recently.

Seán Collins had lived in Áras Mhuire for 18 years. He had made his home there and he was among friends. The outstanding memory everyone has of Seán is usually his piety and his devotion to The Holy Rosary. It was fitting that his statue of Our Lady, adorned with rosary beads. should be the symbol to represent him at the little ceremony.  Trish Joy, Person in Charge at Aras Mhuire, accepted the donation from Eilish Dillane (sister of the late Sean Collins) and her husband Michael gave a lovely little speech outlining Sean’s time in the home and expressing the family’s  appreciation of the care he received there. John O’Keeffe represented the Board of Management.


John O’Keefe, Eilís Dillane, Trish Joy and Michael Dillane.

Some of the care assistants I met .

Some of the residents who were present.

I met an old friend, Eileen Fitzgibbon. She is pictured here with Claire Carmody who organized my visit.

James Gould took me to the  oratory and showed me the fittings which had come there from Listowel’s Presentation Convent Chapel.

This was the side altar in the convent chapel and the prayer stools came from the convent as well.

The Annunciation  and Presentation Windows once adorned the Pres chapel as well.



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A Peaceful Oasis in Cork


For my Cork family reading this, be assured, I’m only touching that flag out of politeness. The other flag bearer, Fr. Pat Moore is a proud Kerry man and well on his way back to The Kingdom. I found Fr. Pat in great form, definitely on the mend and only looking a little the worst for his recent ordeal. They say that faith can move mountains. Fr. Pat is living proof.

He is convalescing in a lovely spot, Mount Desert.

Cork is located in a valley and appropriately enough, Fr. Pat’s new abode looks down on that valley.

Just down the road from the gate of Mount Desert is this entrance to a magnificent shrine, a feat of engineering set back into the hill.

This extraordinary heart shaped  thing on top of the grotto  looks like it might light up at night. Should be worth seeing.

I looked this effigy up on Google and this is all I could find;

“Set of twelve freestanding rectangular rosary stations, erected 1952, comprising carved limestone plaques with incised pictures and lettering. Located at intervals against wall to roadside marking decades of the rosary and terminating in grotto to west. Grotto comprises stepped structure housing statues with limestone boundary walls and wrought-iron railings. Dedicated to Our Lady.

Appraisal
Marking decades of the rosary and terminating in a grotto, these plaques are a very unusual feature to the roadside. The plaques have been executed to a high standard by skilled craftsmen. Opened on Assumption day 1952 the grotto and plaques play an important role in both the religious and social fabric of the area.”

I spotted those “rosary Stations” alright. I’ll have to go back for a closer look. As they say on Facebook…..feeling fascinated.

More Horse fair photos, Craftshop na Méar and Listowel Military Tattoo

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On July 14, 2015

In Uncategorized

Here are some sellers and buyers at the fair on Thursday July 2 2015

In this following sequence of pictures a young boy gets a leg up on to a horse and rides off bareback.

Some people seemed very relaxed and were enjoying their day at the fair.

People were fascinated by these pigs.

These ladies gathered to take a look.

Within sight of the superloo, plenty of poo on the street.

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A Trip to Craftshop na Méar



Here is a taste of crafts available in Craftshop na Méar, Listowel these days


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Why is there a Military Tattoo in Listowel?


This often asked question was well answered on Facebook by the people who organize the tattoo.

“Here is a very short and small snippet of why we do it:

2 of the 3 most famous fighter pilots in the RAF during WWII were Irish!
The 2 famous airborne divisions of the US Army during WWII, the 82nd Airborne and the 101st Airborne were commanded by 2 first generation Irish Americans!
The fighting Irish US army division of WWI were led ‘over the top’ by a Ballyduff man!
The founder of the Argentinian Navy was an Irish man!
The inventor of the submarine was an Irish man
And the most highly decorated US Army helicopter pilot of the Vietnam war was a Tralee man!
That’s only the tip of the iceberg- reason enough???”



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A Visit to  Friend



Yesterday I visited Fr. Pat Moore in his new temporary home, Mount Desert.

I took a big risk and smuggled in a Kerry flag behind enemy lines. Fr. Pat’s friend, Fr. Jim Kennelly took a bigger risk by posing with it before returning to his parish, Boherbue in Co. Cork.




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