42 Comments

• Seanmor | May 13, 2013, 05:58 PM EDT

  It does NOT surprise me in the lest to learn that Jackie had negative feelings toward Catholics, but these feelings seem pale when compared with those of some of my U.S.-born cousins toward Catholics who were raised in Ireland. In their 'enlightened' opinions, we native Irish Catholics are ridiculously old-fashioned and incredibly superstitious. However, during the last quarter century I have never noticed any negativity toward Catholics, Irish or otherwise, in any of my wife's relatives or friends, the vast majority of whom are her fellow Methodists.

• AbeGoldstein | Sep 15, 2011, 06:29 PM EDT

  I think you people ought to go have a pint!

• lonejourney1 | Sep 15, 2011, 05:38 PM EDT

  Jackie O hated the Irish because her husband JFK was Irish and ran around on her constantly. Her words and behavior were purely passive aggressive.

• mcwindisch | Sep 14, 2011, 10:20 PM EDT

  Jackie O was a Catholic I believe . When she was at her N.J. horse farm she attended Mass at my parish. By the way it was built by a wealthy Irish man with the last name Brady. It is a replica of his church in Ireland. It has ancient statues from his childhood parish. St.Brigid's is very beautiful.Jackie received the Sacraments in the same place I do. I hope not to be judged by others so harshly and I will not judge her.My Lord is the only who can do that.

• Obsydian | Sep 14, 2011, 02:06 PM EDT

  I believe a Quote from a great Christian applies here: "The problem with Christianity, is not that it has been tried & found wanting, BUT, that it has been found difficult & Not Tried At All" !! - GK. Chesterton. Ahh ! The Gauntlet has been Thrown ! Very well…… If any of U on this blog, wish to debate the veracity of the Holy Catholic Church & her Love for Jesus Christ our God & King, & Head of our Church (not his servant the Holy Father the Pope ! – as some of U think) - then by all means come & either debate us, or find out the TRUTH of what we actually DO believe & Teach – & not what some other deluded 10th-hand protestant says about us ! It is virtually impossible to defend Several Thousand years of Judeo-Christian Theology, Philosophy & History on a forum such as this. So why don't U all come & debate us in a forum, that would allow it, & give justice to it. goto: BIBLICAL EVIDENCE FOR CATHOLICISM: socrates58.blogspot.com lumenverum.org ourcatholicfaith.org Please Come & Debate us, - if U have the intellectual & intestinal fortitude ! goto: forums.catholic-convert.com/index.php BRING IT ON ! :-) To Quote Bishop Fulton Sheen: “There are not over a hundred people in the United States (World) who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church, — which is of course, quite a different thing….”

• valeryod | Sep 14, 2011, 08:53 AM EDT

  Having read and lisitened to Jackie O she is a disgrace, how dare she say this against the Irish, we build America and came with nothing since the Famine. She married an Irish Americana man if she had such a problem with Irish she was only after the power and the glory. No wonder her bad luck followed her family and wiped out her son in plane crash it all came back to destroy her even the assination. Her bad thoughts of the Irish followed her to her death.I am an Irishwoman born in Dublin highly educated and lived in USA Irish people came from nothing and worked hard every where in the world and deserve more respect that what JO says about us.Irish and be proud.

• montour | Sep 14, 2011, 05:55 AM EDT

  spent a number oy years in a catholic seminary, the experience came close to my mental and physical ruin. though a few years this irish priest asked for forgiveness i gave him forgiveness though he will have to pay the price in the next qorls

• Woodman | Sep 13, 2011, 09:41 PM EDT

  It's hard to put Jackie's statement about Rose in context. Not sure what she was really referring to. It seems to be specific to Rose Kennedy. Anyway, Jackie is kind of boring. When will those FBI Martin Luther King orgy sex tapes be released? Those might be worth a listen.

• francis11024 | Sep 13, 2011, 08:41 PM EDT

  The headline for this article is a complete fabrication. Jackie Kennedy never said she disliked Catholics. She was commenting on her mother-in-law always wanting to know whether someone was Catholic or not. It may have gotten on her nerves, but it does not in any way suggest that she did not like Catholics. This is sloppy jounalism at its worst.

• dv727dv | Sep 13, 2011, 05:52 PM EDT

  I'm not Irish, nor Catholic, but I've never viewed either of those traits as a negative. Whether I agreed or disagreed with John or Bobby Kennedy's politics or not, I've never regarded them as part of some "dislikable" class, the way Ms. Bouvier-Kennedy-Onassis apparently viewed things. (As an aside, I had no respect for Edward, but that had nothing to do with his last name or ethnicity.) Disliking someone because of a "soft mouth," or their ethnicity or religion, or because someone thought pallbearers almost dropped a coffin is not "Camelot" or "regal" or anything positive. At best it is typical snobbery from someone who was apparently smaller-minded than the PR/Press portrayed her to be. At worst, it is bigotry. Money and family names, be they birth or married names, can't guarantee class. The half-century fraud is finally over.

• turzovka | Sep 13, 2011, 09:37 AM EDT

  What is wrong with feeling persecuted? Is it preferred that we Catholics feel superior? .... I have no strong feelings on Jackie Kennedy one way or another, but if you want to find faults in another person in order to dislike them, that is a rather easy task. To error is human, to forgive is divine.

• Kilsally | Sep 12, 2011, 05:02 PM EDT

  eiramach says "My Irish ancestors feared Protestants because Protestants had persecuted them." oh dear crusades, inquisition, protestant reformation, 1641 massacre in ireland, st bartholomews massacre in france ....plenty of persecution `form` in the Roman church..sorry gearoid4 but Christ is not confined to a denomination and Christ not the Pope is the head of the church and he is in the midst whenever 2 or 3 are gathered in his name.

• maryosullivan | Sep 12, 2011, 12:39 PM EDT

  Why is the opinion of this person worthy of anyone's time ? A socialite ,hell bent on snagging a rich husband or two, is hardly a repository of worthwhile ideas, especially sweeping views on the many thousand Irish American. Perhaps it's the people with whom SHE associated is where the suspicious Catholics are, also suspicious Baptists ,suspicious Buddhists and suspicious Protestants . It would be quite foolish to be otherwise when one is in the company of someone living by their wits

• warlocks | Sep 12, 2011, 02:00 AM EDT

  Well in my opinion there are Catholics & there are Catholics in Name only I call myself a catholic because i was Born and Baptised a catholic from birth and i attened Catholic schools through High school and Maried a Catholic Girl and Raised my 5 Children Catholic they also attended Catholic Schools because I always believed their schools were the best for giving a good education. but for the last 25 years i find myself Doubting the Catholic Religion you see My Brother left the Jesuit Order After 36 years Because its becoming a Den of vipers. its corrupt from the Pope Down The Vatican has known about the Pedophile Priests for over a century its been a way of life with most. and the Vatican is no exception with priests having sex with eachother.he Left the Jesuit order and said he had a load taken off his back.and said the cover up is still going on . my Brother Peter left the jesuit order in 2008 he now works for a Medical Research Company

• Pittsburghkid | Sep 11, 2011, 08:01 PM EDT

  Rose Kennedy was born in the late 19th century. As late as the 1840's Irish were mass murdered in Philadelphia. My family never went to the St Patrick Day Parade in Pittsburgh. My family lived in Pittsburgh from the 1840's to present. Growing up my dad and aunt had a strict code of conduct outside their home. When they walked down the street, they looked straight ahead. They never were permitted to look directly at people along the way. If something was said, they were told to ignore what was said. They went to church regularly. They survived some of the toughest streets of Pittsburgh.

• PatriciaMarya | Sep 11, 2011, 01:29 PM EDT

  Stay with us, Stiofain, we have also been noted the amount of pure hatred that comes out when no-one has to be identified. Cowardice in the time of Technology. As I have been listening to the Naming of the Names behind me from Ground Zero during this 10th Anniversary, it is to those who are brave that we stay in the open. Stay with us, Stiofain, the good outweights the bad. They are not as badly stupid as the commenters on Yahoo if I may say. I do have a theory: the louder the shouter, the lower the IQ!

• Collette2 | Sep 11, 2011, 12:42 PM EDT

  I can't believe you believe that wanakbranan. Surely another conspiracy story, Israel always seems to be the scapegoat, even America as history has pointed out, that's what I would call persecution and as Catholics, we take some beating on that point and have done so for centuries not only against Jews but Muslims too.

• jamthecat | Sep 10, 2011, 06:11 PM EDT

  Nothing new about the hatred exposed by commenters on this site or many others, Stiofain. They honestly can't understand why everyone doesn't hold the same low opinion of other races, political beliefs and creeds that they do, especially those on the right-wing side of the aisle. It's vile...but this is the internet and those people get to speak their filth without fear of honest retribution so off they go. And God help you if you disagree with one of them; they turn into the worst sort of little fascists you can imagine.

• StevieVirginia | Sep 10, 2011, 06:02 PM EDT

  Brian O'Connor the head coach of the University of Virginia baseball team...a good man. This Brian O'Connor...a horses ass!

• eiriamach | Sep 10, 2011, 05:59 PM EDT

  Stiofain, yes, they are mostly American and their bigotry is not limited to anti-Semitism. They wouldn't know a Connolly/Tone Irish Republican from a whirling dervish. Don't let it drive you away. I've seen too many leave in disgust.

• Collette2 | Sep 10, 2011, 05:24 PM EDT

  S.Connolly: maybe she surrounded herself with Jews, rich or otherwise, because they couldn't be absolved of anything they did wrong though the confessional. We still see that today.

• Stiofain | Sep 10, 2011, 05:19 PM EDT

  I've only been a been a member of Irish Central for less then two weeks and I can't believe the amount of anti-semitic remarks (this time S. connolly). There must be few Irish Republicans, of the old school (Connolly/Tone)that are members.

• Gearoid4 | Sep 10, 2011, 04:27 PM EDT

  @Irishphotograph, You are ranting on in a illiterate, fundamentalist, protestant style about "false christian church" etc. Christ passed the keys of authority to his St Peter(Matthew 16:18) and this lineage has been continued down to the present day. Can that be said about the sect that you belong to? I am surprised that Jackie Kennedy would refer to Irish-American Catholics in such an offhand manner as she had clear Irish links on her maternal side. Possibly she thought that devout adherents were particularly hyper-sensitive with regards to perceived hurts or people in their company who were not Catholic.

• eiriamach | Sep 10, 2011, 03:41 PM EDT

  The Irish in the US, as Niamh Flanagan wrote, "still wear the weights of their ancestors many generations later" (Quoted by Tom Hayden in "Irish on the Inside"). Jackie saw that, just as my Irish immigrant ancestors saw American Protestants still wearing the weights of their ancestor Brits. My Irish ancestors feared Protestants because Protestants had persecuted them. That's history, but it doesn't need to be the future unless we refuse to leave it in the past. Hayden also quotes Jackie's poem to JFK: "But he was part of an alien breed / Of a breed that had laughed on Irish hills / And heard the voices in Irish rills / The lilt of the green land danced in his blood / Tara, Killarney, a magical flood...." (p. 87) It wasn't the Boston Yankee in JFK that Jackie loved; it was the Irish in him.

• S.Connolly | Sep 10, 2011, 02:18 PM EDT

  suspicious of Catholics...so she surrounded herself with Jews...wealthy ones and married ones. Maybe because they had the best diamonds, etc., which she surely coveted.

• pilib04 | Sep 10, 2011, 01:29 PM EDT

  surprised Jackie was not aware of the ghetto mentality of ethnic Catholics in general and Irish Catholics in particular.

• Irishphotograph | Sep 10, 2011, 01:23 PM EDT

  Etighe Nor for London, Brussels or ROME!... Roman rule in my beloved Ireland must come to an END. It is a false Christian church that promotes dead religion. Where Irish Catholics haven't a clue of the Christian faith. Ireland does not need Rome in Irish Affairs. Ireland does not need external influences both political & spiritual coming from other nations. And this RCC the 1 true church is a LIE from Satan.

• Sherdru | Sep 10, 2011, 01:19 PM EDT

  Probably not true since she was Catholic hersself from French stock

• slainte9 | Sep 10, 2011, 12:04 PM EDT

  Understandable, Jackie's French and didn't have relatives who were locked by the British or harassed at Princeton because they were Catholic. The French have their own issues by the way.

• PaulFagan | Sep 10, 2011, 11:45 AM EDT

  My reading of the article is that Jackie disliked those Catholics who felt persecuted. I agree with Jackie that Catholics who feel persecuted are difficult to tolerate. The headline writer is either incapable of reading or decided to avoid reading the article. Disgusted with the Irish Voice - no quality control on headline writers!

• etighe1130 | Sep 10, 2011, 11:43 AM EDT

  "Irish Central" hates the Catholic Church with a passion, so it never surprises me that they always take the low road where the Church is concerned.

• Susan514 | Sep 10, 2011, 11:39 AM EDT

  And one more thought. It isn't just an inaccurate headline. It is the lead in the email sent to everyone on Irish Central's mailing list this morning, designed to drive traffic to the site. Who among us hasn't expressed reservations about the Church - particularly in the last decade of revelations of child abuse. Would we want a headline sent out saying we "hated Catholics" long after we were dead?

• Susan514 | Sep 10, 2011, 11:24 AM EDT

  I agree with all those here who find this headline cheap, misleading and exploitative. A low blow, and a cheap shot.

• McNamara31 | Sep 10, 2011, 11:18 AM EDT

  First I would like to say I admire Jackie as both a mother and as First Lady and widow of JFK. During the days after the assignation she led this country through a grief we had never known before. Jackie was different than the other Kennedy’s especially Rose. Jackie was indeed Catholic however had a very different experiences than that of Rose's family. Jackie was born into wealth and privilege. From birth because of that privilege she was accepted by all in “society.” On the other hand Rose was raised in a family who was prominent however where the memories of Irish persecution in the states was very fresh. If one had never experienced out right bigotry the Irish experienced because of their religion and their origins they would not have the full capacity to understand and see it as it is and might incorrectly view it as a persecution complex. It goes back to that old Indian saying “You have to walk in their shoes” and Jackie’s were designer from the very start.

• citizen69 | Sep 10, 2011, 11:06 AM EDT

  There are no quotes regarding Jackie not liking catholics in this article. Maybe it's just your persecution complex Mr. O'Connor! ;)

• SeamusMor | Sep 10, 2011, 11:03 AM EDT

  It must have been easier for Rose Kennedy to trust people whom she percieved to have the same moral grounding and values she learned from the Catholic Church.

• CitizenWhy | Sep 10, 2011, 10:44 AM EDT

  Jackie certainly was Catholic, French on her father's side and Irish on her mother's side. Her French ancestors were among the founders of Old St. Patrick's in New York. My Irish born and raised parents could not stand the obsession among some about whether someone was Catholic or not. This obsessions existed among some Irish-Americans but not among others. Poor Rose Kennedy may have developed this quirk because she wanted to go to good old Protestant Wellesley College but her Irish-American parents insisted that was no place for a good Catholic girl. Catholic-Protestant relations were much better in New York than in Boston, and Jackie was an old New York Catholic. Her mother, alienated for good reason from her father, wanted a divorce. So she divorced and became a Presbyterian, but she kept up close relations with a convent of nuns in Newport, and raised Jackie and her sister as Catholics. Jackie was quite attached to her wayward but Catholic father. She also had many cordial relations with Catholics and attended Mass regularly and died with the last rites of the Catholic church.

• GraydonWilson | Sep 10, 2011, 10:42 AM EDT

  Odd, that, since Jackie Kennedy was both Catholic and Irish herself.

• andrewjv | Sep 10, 2011, 10:41 AM EDT

  This is absolute nonsense. Mrs. Kennedy was a devout Catholic. She always had Catholics in her family and was friends with numerous Catholic Priests and Bishops. When her two children who died before or shortly after birth passed away, her first request was to call a priest to baptize them. When President Kennedy laid at rest in the White House, she insisted that two priests be there for every hour over night until his body was moved to the Capital Rotunda. The local clergy gladly volunteered to assume this duty. This is an old Catholic Custom called a "vigil." When he was shot, two Catholic priests showed up at Parkland Hospital and administered the Last Rites to the President and comforted Mrs. Kennedy. The Cardinal of Washington was with her when she saw President Kennedy in his casket (open) and was quoted in the poem: "she put her ring on his finger and kissed him good-bye." If she hated Catholics, why did she insist on the presence of so many priests and clergy in those first few days? She also kept a relationship with several Jesuit Priests from Boston University and Georgetown University (Both Catholic) in the days before and after the President's death....they supported her emotionally and spiritually.

• donal1951 | Sep 10, 2011, 10:01 AM EDT

  I agree with ellenfromcork. The headline is not supported by the story. Mrs. Onassis was referring to the Irish as having a persecution complex, not Catholics in general. I believe Mrs. O was a Catholic herself, although not Irish. And God be merciful for having Rose Kennedy as a mother in law.

• mcdolan | Sep 10, 2011, 09:51 AM EDT

  I agree with Ellen from Cork, this headline (and many others) are misleading. It seems to be an Irish Central style to hook readers. Not very flattering.

• ellenfromcork | Sep 10, 2011, 08:55 AM EDT

  Brian, it appears to me you have a misleading headline here. It is the Irish she talks about having a" persecution thing". To conclude she "disliked Catholics" from that statement is a bit odd, being she was one herself. It was more probable she was referring to Rose Kennedy.