One of the joys of traveling for me as a Catholic priest is visiting Churches.  I love seeing what other faith communities are doing and if they have any good ideas that I can “steal”.  Since I ask you to bring home Church bulletins from your travels, over the next couple of weeks, I thought I’d share items from some of the bulletins that I brought home from Ireland.
 
This first is actually from an Irish Catholic newspaper, Alive, that I picked up.  The headline caught my attention.  In the fall (I don’t watch a lot of TV in the summer) I plan to run through my list of binge worth Netflix shows, because I will follow Msgr. Pope’s good example, if Netflix does in fact pull out all of its production from our state because of our laws upholding the sanctity of life: 
Pope cancels Netflix account  
Reported by Jack Walsh
A well-known Catholic Priest, Msgr. Charles Pope of Washington, D.C., has cancelled his Netflix account after the company announced it will work with the leftist American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to oppose the state of Georgia's pro­ life legislation due to come into law in 2020. 
 
According to Life Site News, Netflix will also reconsider its entire investment in Georgia if the pro-life law passes.
 
"This is an example of the commercial world imposing its will against the wishes of the people in the slate of Georgia, ex-pressed through their elected representatives. It is an example of naked commercial clout being used to oppose the will of the people," said John Wells, Spokesperson of Life Institute, Cork.  
For a few years Bishop Boland allowed me to serve on the National Board of the Ancient Order of Hibernians as Deputy National Chaplain.  During that time, I had the privilege of meeting Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.  And during my first year in the Seminary, Sean Poland roomed next door to me.  Sean was a young man from Derry who had been rescued from the troubles by Fr. Edward Daly who became Bishop of Derry and sent Sean off to the seminary in Philadelphia. 
 
These are “wee” connections to the sufferings of the Irish Catholics in the North of Ireland, but being of Irish ancestry, I feel them deeply.  I was moved to see last Sunday how all of Ireland rejoiced in seeing Shane Lowry from the Republic win the Open.  Sports in general, but golf in particular has been a healing bridge between Irish Catholics and Protestants.  Before the Good Friday Peace Agreement in 1998, it would have been unthinkable to have played the Open in Ireland.  So, I was excited to spend a night in Portrush three Sundays ago, to see where the Open was to be played.  The following morning, Fr. Herb and I drove the few miles to the next town, Portstewart, for Mass.  In their bulletin, I discovered they have the same problem that we occasionally experience when Mass is letting out:
 
DO THE SUNDAY BOY RACERS ANNOY YOU?
Portstewart Community and Traders' Associations met with the PSNI and the Policing and  Community Partnership  on 5 June to discuss the regular and increasing Sunday car related Anti­social behaviour. The PSNI informed us that resources are allocated based on complaints received and that in order to ensure officers are sent to the town we need to call 101 and lodge our complaints. If you are troubled by the noise or notice any anti-social or indeed dangerous car-related behaviour such as speeding, we would encourage you to lodge your complaint with PSNI on 101 and with Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council Environmental Health department on 028 2766 0257. We have had a 3-week trial of increased police presence which has made a huge difference to noise levels. We need further complaints  to retain these resources.    
I want to welcome to the Parish Staff Mrs. Delia Robinson who started working in the office this week.  She and Mary will work together for a little over a month before Mary heads off into the sunset in the direction of New Orleans.  That will be a sad day for our Faith Community, but praise God in Delia we have a super qualified person to continue Mary’s good work.
 
 
 Fr. Jerry Ragan