Remembering Morton Downey, Jr, the father of trash TV (IrishCentral)

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 05:19:26 PDT

The year is 1988. Probably. I’m getting older and the past is getting a little hazier.

All I know is I joined a bunch of excited friends and piled into a car and headed off to New Jersey. Were we going to a rock concert at the old Brendan Byrne Arena? A football game at Giants Stadium?

Father Andrew Greeley’s powerful faith - remembering the larger than life Chicago priest (IrishCentral)

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 05:04:14 PDT

The American Catholic Church has lost an iconoclast and a prophet.

Ireland’s rotten Apple scheme - two-bit operation need to pay their dues to maintain “civilized society” (IrishCentral)

Thu, 30 May 2013 05:04:15 PDT

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Sleazy secrets and the American Dream of Dublin born spy Kevin Richard Halligen (IrishCentral)

Sat, 25 May 2013 04:18:59 PDT

Kevin Richard Halligen

The dapper British spy living a life of luxury in the Washington, D.C. area had a secret.

That’s no surprise. Such a worldly fellow would surely have built up a few secrets while trotting the globe.

His name was Kevin Richard Halligen and, among other projects, he was offered $500,000 to help the family of Madeleine McCann, the English girl who went missing in Portugal a few years back.

'The Great Gatsby' author F Scott Fitzgerald’s death and burial another Catholic lesson (IrishCentral)

Fri, 17 May 2013 05:03:57 PDT

F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Atlantic)

It is true that F. Scott Fitzgerald wasn’t much of a Catholic.

Yes, he had strong Irish roots on both his mother and father’s side. But while his last name is as Hibernian as it can get, his full name – Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald – also reflects his family’s obsession with its Yankee Protestant roots.

Francis Scott Key, after all, was the famous author of the American national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner,” not to mention a distant cousin of Fitzgerald's.

Anthony Weiner running for New York mayor and the Italian mob and Irish Americans strong ties (IrishCentral)

Fri, 10 May 2013 05:33:46 PDT

Anthony Weiner (Richard Drew/AP)

The recent movie The Irishman told the story of colorful -- some might say deranged -- Irish American gangster Danny Greene, who saw himself as a glorious figure in a long line of Irish rebels.
Greene famously taunted the powerful Italian American mobsters who ran his native Cleveland.

The Irishman in this week’s story, however, seemed very much to enjoy his role within the Genovese crime family hierarchy.

It got him sent to prison. And, perhaps even worse, it got him linked to Anthony Weiner.

Victor Navasky lauds Thomas Nast - American cartoonist known for his racist Irish ape-like drawings (IrishCentral)

Fri, 03 May 2013 05:18:46 PDT

bigotry was quite clear.  Navasky’s latest book is entitled 'The Art of Controversy: Political Cartoons and Their Enduring Power,' published by the prestigious Alfred A. Knopf publishing company.

Navasky devotes a section of the book to Thomas Nast, arguably the most influential cartoonist of the 19th century.

As Navasky points out, while drawing for Harper’s in the 1860s and 1870s, Nast was savage in his depiction of New York’s Tammany Hall political machine. William Marcy “Boss” Tweed was a particularly favored target of Nast’s. Nast is widely credited with helping to topple Tammany Hall and getting Tweed sent off to prison.

Immigration is not the problem - history of anti-Irish behavior reflecting on the Chechnyan bombs in Boston (IrishCentral)

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 05:18:26 PDT

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The good old anti-British days - Margaret Thatcher haters and spats in New York during World War II (IrishCentral)

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 05:18:08 PDT

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Where the Church went wrong - “John F Kennedy and American Catholicism” (IrishCentral)

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 04:02:53 PDT

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Still battling over Bowery Irishman - right to shelter for homeless people in New York (IrishCentral)

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 04:33:02 PDT

Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

If only Robert Callahan could see the Bowery now.

These days The Bowery -- that storied stretch of asphalt on the East Side of downtown Manhattan -- has changed so much so fast, A-list celebrities like Martin Scorsese actually want to preserve some of the old character. They are against the rapid development of luxury condos and upscale stores invading The Bowery.

The Bowery that Robert Callahan knew was quite different. And as a result, Callahan and Irish American Robert Hayes, went to court three decades ago and launched a lawsuit that is making headlines once again.

Hard labor ahead of Christine Quinn - New York Mayoral hopeful to fight on topics of paid sick leave and NYPD’s “stop and frisk” policies (IrishCentral)

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 05:17:49 PDT

30 years on Irish barman Joseph Patrick Sullivan recalls gang murder of Queens bar owners (IrishCentral)

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 05:17:27 PDT

Why not a nun for a Pope? Demoralized Catholic Church needs serious change from the Vatican down (IrishCentral)

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 05:17:17 PDT

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Donnie Wahlberg's 'Boston’s Finest' - the Beantown police department then and now - VIDEO (IrishCentral)

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 05:47:20 PST

The Irish can’t win on race - Sanitation workers case on favoritism to the Irish post Superstorm Sandy (IrishCentral)

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 05:16:55 PST

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And the award for stupidity goes to....Quentin Tarantino for his comments about John Ford (IrishCentral)

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 05:16:46 PST

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9/11 first responder FDNY’s Martin Fullam’s death and the health damage the World Trade attacks cause (IrishCentral)

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 05:01:41 PST

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The Ed Koch years in the Bronx - 'Cut and Run in the Bronx' by John Liam Shea (IrishCentral)

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 06:46:23 PST

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A long journey into “night” - the Irish American author Jennings Michael Burch that still strikes a chord today (IrishCentral)

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 06:31:19 PST

Jennings Michael Burch

Sometimes, the students are the ones who teach the teachers.

High school students all across New York City spent last week taking their all-important Regents exams is subjects like algebra, global history and English language arts.

As readers of this column may know, I’m a high school teacher in Brooklyn. And so my job last week was to grade literally hundreds of those English language arts Regents exams.

The conspiracy theory that won’t go away - Robert F Kennedy and the secrets behind the assassination of JFK (IrishCentral)

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 06:01:23 PST

Robert F. Kennedy Jr

Early in Oliver Stone’s hyper-paranoid film JFK, Guy Bannister (played by Ed Asner) grumbles that he hates the fact that, by 1963, African Americans could more or less vote safely. He adds, “[Blacks] get together with the Jews and the Catholics and elect an Irish bleeding heart.”

According to the film, Bannister -- and a whole bunch of other people -- did something to stop that “Irish bleeding heart.”

Bannister and the mob and the CIA and Lyndon Johnson and perhaps even Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

'Gangster Squad', Whitey Bulger, the Westies and more - It’s prime time for Irish crime - VIDEO (IrishCentral)

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 05:30:59 PST

What now for the Catholic Church? Obama’s reelection and schools among questions that need to be answered (IrishCentral)

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 05:30:47 PST

Cardinal Timothy Dolan

When the Academy Award nominations are announced on January 10, Mea Maxima Culpa may or may not be one of the five films up for Best Documentary.

The film, about the sexual abuse horrors Wisconsin’s Reverend Lawrence Murphy is accused of, was on a shortlist of 15 top documentaries back in December.

Either way, the film directed by Alex Gibney has already made a troubling case not only against Murphy, but the Vatican as well.

Prediction for the New Year - what the world can expect from the Republicans, Catholic Church and more in 2013 (IrishCentral)

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 05:15:17 PST

The PJ Clarke’s Irish connection - ‘Tales from New York City’s Famous Saloon’ (IrishCentral)

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 04:46:45 PST

Helen Marie Clarke

From McSorley’s to the Lion’s Head, there is no shortage of classic New York bars with intimate Irish connections.

P.J. Clarke’s, at 3rd Avenue and 55th Street, is right up there with the best of them.

For well over a century, the squat brick pub and restaurant has welcomed both celebrities and the working class. Legendary Irish actor Richard Harris loved to quip that when he went to P.J. Clarke’s, he asked for “the usual.” Vinny the barman promptly lined up six double vodkas.

Immigration advice for Republicans - post election talk of reform seems superficial and desperate (IrishCentral)

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 04:46:34 PST

Irish strongest lead Hurricane Sandy efforts - NYC’s Sanitation Department on the front line (IrishCentral)

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 05:01:31 PST

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The most tragic Irish American Joseph Patrick Kennedy - for better or worse a product of the immigrant experience (IrishCentral)

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 05:31:22 PST

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No love lost among Irish immigrants for honest Abraham Lincoln - VIDEO (IrishCentral)

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 11:16:12 PST

Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln

Bill the Butcher is now Honest Abe?

Daniel Day-Lewis has made several trips to the Academy Awards playing Irish characters in films such as In the Name of the Father and The Boxer. In 2002 he even nabbed an Oscar nomination for playing the notorious anti-Irish bigot Bill “The Butcher” Poole in Gangs of New York.

Once again Hollywood is abuzz with Oscar talk for Day-Lewis, who is earning raves playing the 16th president in Steven Spielberg’s latest historical epic Lincoln.

Childhood Staten Island memories shattered by Hurricane Sandy -- Superstorm dubbed the Katrina of New York by locals (IrishCentral)

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 04:15:58 PST

Help ensure that communities such as this are not lost forever.

When Northern Irish civil rights activist Bernadette Devlin came to America - VIDEO (IrishCentral)

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 05:30:50 PDT

Bernadette Devlin

Earlier this month, the Irish Film New York festival showcased a series of provocative films from Ireland, including Bernadette: Notes on a Political Journey.

The 90-minute documentary explores the rise and evolution of Northern Ireland firebrand Bernadette Devlin, who famously rose to prominence in 1969 after the Battle of the Bogside in August which brought The Troubles to the attention of the international community.

Devlin is best known for being elected to Parliament at the ripe old age of 21 and for her ceaseless commitment to justice in the North.

The yuk of the Irish - Barack Obama and Mitt Romney to party with Al Smith and Cardinal Dolan in New York (IrishCentral)

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 05:45:19 PDT

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Religion and politics go perfectly together, but is the church closing their doors to possible parishioners? (IrishCentral)

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 05:32:51 PDT

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Tell it to the Irish Catholic nuns, Mitt Romney - Government funds vital to helping American people (IrishCentral)

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 05:47:35 PDT

Sister Mary Rose McGeady

Earlier this month, Sister Mary Rose McGeady died at the age of 84.

Back in 1990, Sister Mary Rose bravely stepped into what had been a media firestorm.

Sister Mary Rose was selected to run Covenant House, a highly respected charity which offered shelter to homeless youth. Covenant House’s original founder,

The high price of free speech - Muslim and Irish protests against hate (IrishCentral)

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 04:17:38 PDT

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The day that never ends - everyone was affected by 9/11 (IrishCentral)

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 05:32:14 PDT

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BBC America’s “Copper” - in search of New York’s Five Points (IrishCentral)

Sat, 08 Sep 2012 06:32:10 PDT

A still from BBC America's 'Copper'

Irish Americans shouldn’t need Hollywood or the BBC to tell them where one of the most famous Irish neighborhoods in New York used to be.

I was thinking about this last month, when I paid a visit to the great Old Town bar on East 18th Street, owned for the longest time by the Meagher family. It is a stalwart bar in an ever-changing city, and one of the few places you can still find an Al Smith campaign poster.

I was joined by writer and historian Kevin Baker, author of several excellent novels, including Paradise Alley, set among Irish immigrants in the old Five Points section of downtown Manhattan. Inevitably we began talking about the new BBC America series Copper, about an Irish immigrant cop, set in the Five Points.

Mitt Romney’s secret Irish Catholic Weapon - Senior Adviser Peter Flaherty (IrishCentral)

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 05:16:54 PDT

Peter Flaherty

Mitt Romney has a secret, Irish Catholic weapon in Tampa this week, one that experts say is key to him stealing away the Catholic vote from Barack Obama.

Timothy Cardinal Dolan? Nope. Paul Ryan? Nope.

His name is Peter Flaherty and he is a senior adviser to Romney, and prefers to keep himself out of the spotlight. Which is a little odd given that Flaherty has worked in both national politics as well as Hollywood.

Are the Irish liberal or conservative? GOP’s Paul Ryan meet Sister Megan Gillespie Rice (IrishCentral)

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 05:31:39 PDT

Sister Megan Gillespie Rice

Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, meet fellow Irish American Megan Gillespie Rice.

As the political world debated Romney’s pick – which means that for the first time, two Irish Catholics will be vying for the vice presidency –Gillespie Rice was doing some political work of her own.
Sister Megan, as she is known, is a Manhattan native and activist nun who has been arrested over 40 times throughout her busy career.

Now 82, her most recent action landed her on the front page of The New York Times this past Saturday.

The problem with Irish American racism (IrishCentral)

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 05:16:10 PDT

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When the Irish fought the Irish in the Mexican American war -VIDEO (IrishCentral)

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 05:46:17 PDT

Will the real GOP stand up? Republican’s stance on immigration is vexing (IrishCentral)

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 05:31:21 PDT

The real miracle of Bishop Fulton Sheen on his road to Sainthood -- Overcoming New York’s Cardinal Spellman was a true miracle (IrishCentral)

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 04:30:47 PDT

Tough time to be a patriot - musing on the belief 'from many one' (IrishCentral)

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 05:30:33 PDT


Congressman Richie Neal

I hate to say I told you so, but…

Last week, I wrote about ongoing tensions at the 9/11 Memorial in downtown Manhattan. I suggested that factions had to come together because, to many younger New Yorkers, the events of September 11 are as hazy as the events of

Pearl Harbor or Guadalcanal or Lexington and Concord.

Mission of 9/11 Memorial is to recall the day's events and honor those who died (IrishCentral)

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 05:30:25 PDT

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The Fighting Irish and evolution of ice hockey in the US (IrishCentral)

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 03:15:22 PDT

Now they want to blame the Irish for all of the fighting and violence we see in hockey?

Okay, so it’s not quite that simple. But there’s a theory going around that the Irish played a central role in the evolution of hockey, and in particular the sport’s infamous acceptance of violence.

It’s been a tough week for hockey fans in the New York area.

Don’t forget the Irish rabble rousers - 'Activist New York' (IrishCentral)

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 05:30:17 PDT

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Rockers and politics out of tune - Republican Jeff Fitzgerald versus Dropkick Murphy’s 'Shipping up to Boston' - VIDEO (IrishCentral)

Thu, 31 May 2012 05:30:47 PDT

Dropkick Murphys

When will they ever learn?

When will politicians figure out that they should never mix rock ‘n’ roll with their campaigns?

Sure, it makes them seem cool at first. But ultimately, it makes them look clueless.

The Catholic Civil Warrior - Patrick J Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society (IrishCentral)

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:45:10 PDT

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Movies, photos, posters, and literature - What objects define Irish America? (IrishCentral)

Thu, 17 May 2012 05:30:16 PDT

Billy the Kid

For celebrated writer Pete Hamill, you have to include a photo of Billy the Kid, “an Irish American from the Five Points who took Horace Greeley's advice and went west.”

ICBlog: Sidewalks