In Memoriam

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Last Friday (28/2/2014) I was down at the Raheny Market beside All Saints' Church when I noticed some unusual activity in the church grounds.

On further investigation it turned out that a small memorial garden was being created. It consisted, as you can see above, of a gravel pathway leading to a granite tiled circle with two granite benches and a celtic cross. There was also a memorial granite plaque with a prayer. There has also been some planting around the site.

The setting is really beautiful in the grounds of this fine historic church and those in search of serenity, particularly after the death of loved ones, may well find it here.

You can click on the image of the plaque to see a larger readable version.

The day I was there I met a lady who was very distrought. Her husband had died a year earlier and she was very affected after reading the plaque.

The celtic cross simply shows this year's date 2014. It is a replica of the Marie Hayes Cross which stands in the middle of Raheny Village. You can read up on Marie here.

All the granite on the site is Wicklow granite, the same variety as the church itself was constructed from. No doubt the passage of time will match them up. The church has been there since 1889.

Although there is a new Rector in place since last November, the memorial garden is part of the legacy of the much loved former rector, Jim Carroll.

Cui Bono

I have in the past been accused of being related to Bono. Fortunately I was able to disprove this claim, at least to my own satisfaction.

However, in disproving it I ended up chasing his people and mine and so I may know a little more about his background than some of his fans.

While following up another angle, the other day, I came across what appears to be an interview Bono gave to Lynne Kelleher, in 2006 and which appeared in the Irish Mirror. It reminded me that journalists should really be very careful about what they write.

She tells us how Bono's parents' mixed marriage put him off organised churches. She goes on

He said he felt his late Protestant father, Bob, was excluded from the family on Sundays when he and his brother would go to mass with his Catholic mother Iris.

While his parents did come from two rival Christian camps, it was actually the other way round. Bob was the Catholic and Iris the Protestant. [But see third comment below]

Both Bob and Iris lived on the Dublin Artisans Dwellings Company Estate at Aughrim St. My relations, who are also from that estate, told me that Iris was a looker, but because she was a Protestant the lads were told to stay away from her. Bob Hewson clearly paid no attention to that advice.

Bono's parents, Bob & Iris on their first marriage (5/8/1950)
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I imagine the mixed marriage did cause some grief in the respective families. Bob and Iris were first married in the Church of Ireland in Drumcondra on 19 August 1950, where the witnesses were from the Rankin (Protestant) side only. The couple settled in Haroldville Avenue in Dolphins Barn, where they were persuaded (quite likely by the local curate, Father Muleady) to remarry in the Catholic Church, which they did on 28 December 1950. The witnesses at this marriage consisted of one Hewson (Thomas Leo) and Father Muleady's housekeeper.


The two marriages of Bono's parents
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In his biography of Bono (2005), Mick Wall tells us about the wedding in the Protestant church in Drumcondra, and goes on to say that their union would "some years later, be blessed by a Catholic Priest". What he doesn't tell us is that this "blessing" was in fact a full marriage and so notified to the State by Father Muleady. I have been trying to find a word in the English language to describe this phenomenon, so far without success.

When his own turn came, Bono married in the beautiful All Saints Church of Ireland in Raheny.


All Saints Church, Raheny
I have titled this post Cui Bono, not very original I'll admit. The meaning is a question Who gains?. It seems to me that the winner here is Father Muleady, by a mile.