Niall O'Dowd: As speeches go, it was one of the finest ever delivered at the American Irish Historical Society annual banquet. Fr. John Jenkins stood up as gold medalist and delivered a speech that reclaimed the Irish roots of Notre Dame in a way no other president of the university has. FULL STORY >
The great review in The New York Times on Monday for "The New Electric Ballroom," the new play by Irish playwright Enda Walsh, further reinforces the remarkable story of Irish success in New York in recent years. FULL STORY >
Cormac MacConnell: November is still the official Month of the Dead in Ireland. People go to their chapels and visit the peaceful graves of their dead, say a certain ritual of Hail Marys and Holy Marys and gain for the dead a plenary indulgence which releases them instantly from Purgatory and into Paradise like a shot. FULL STORY >
John Spain: There were lots of knock, knock jokes here this week. Or even Knock, knock jokes. Knock, knock, who's there? It's Virgin. Virgin who? Vergin' on the ridiculous. FULL STORY >
The real miracle at Knock was Monsignor James Horan, not the Virgin Mary. What the place needs now that a terrible recession has hit is Horan, not the Virgin Mary, to show up again. FULL STORY >