May 5 bl Edmund Ignatius Rice b. 1762, d. 1844 b. 1996

Thommy and John,

good morning, i love you

Edmund Ignatius Rice - almost a contemporary :) and only 150 years to his beatification [moving JPII in five years is super extraordinary]

Found of the Christian Brothers [not John Baptist de la Salle's Brothers of the Christian Schools].... Fr Johnston, of st henry's, his brother is the american [maybe world] leader of the Christian Brothers. i remember well fr johnston's making a big deal of his brother's order and the beatificaiton..... [we won't mention ole fr johnston's role/absencethereof in the saga of your parents' divorce and the subsequent overbrook efforts at exiling your father]

Edmund Rice's parents were prosperous farmers - not many of those in ireland in the 19th century.

Edmund Rice married and had a daughter.... not the usual route to the founding of a religious order [though, Elizabeth Ann Seton comes to mind....] after four years of marriage, his wife died. [how canonizable was he at that point? was his wife's untimely death that was the catalyst for Edmund Rice's enhanced generosity and his tuning in to a religous vocation? a priori we cannot know the meaning and value and purpose of an event in our lives. each experience is meant to bring us closer to know-love-serve God in ths world and live with him forever in heaven. how the death of a young wife plays out in God's plan is, well, known ahead of time, only to God. the rest of us must take the blows and the crosses and discern God's will, thy-will-be-done. sure, pray along with Jesus... Father, if this cup can pass, please take it from me; but, thy will be done.... the extensive prayer and education in the catechism based on the Pater Noster is worth your taking to prayer yourself - pray and study; meditate and contemplate, the Lord's Prayer....

Edmund Rice was a notworthy man of affluence and generosity in Waterford... more importantly, he was an example of the lay Catholic. what is our role, what is our place, how do we contribute to our saintliness and the salvation of those in our lives - whether son or daughter, husband or wife, lay or consecrated....

Edmund Rice focused his vocation on the premise that affordable education was the key to opportunity - - a value deeply ingrained in the irish/celtic soul since Patrick and brought to NYC by my four grandparents and inculcated by my parents - - you two also benefitted from this in an educatonal opportunity way beyond affordable which through the grace of God your parents could afford for you.

Edmund Rice saw education as a key to opportunity for the poor [and poor in spirit.... ever wonder why your mother opposed a Catholic education for you?].

Edmund Rice saw education as the best counter to the weight of anti Catholic legislation, the anti Catholic zeitgeist, the anti Catholic community... once your Catholic education was ended, what counter weight beyond 4901 did you receive, did you pursue in the midst of your anti Catholic environs?

Edmund Rice opened his first school in Waterford in 1803. Edmund Rice started his endeavor with the encouragement of the bishop and the pope. [the man did have the status and the moxie to start with the A--Team support. it is important whom you obtain as your benefactors and your mentors....]

As Edmund Rice developed his schools and his vocation evolved, he began with a nucleus of men... a religious order in the making. first he tried one set of rules and then another - by the 19th century, many Catholic groups had started and evloved their rules. no doubt, given his middle name, Edmund Rice studied the Jesuits' rule as well. he finally opted for a near contemporary's, a group doing similar work - la Salle's Brothers of the Christian School. [why he didn't just join up with them... oh well, we each have our vocation and it seems that Edmund Rice's was to start a religious order similar to but different enough from la Salle's.

The Irish Christian Brothers got started in 1821, with Edmund Rice as the first Superior General. Today there are over 300 house of ICBs throughout the world.

The Christian Brothers pioneered schools for delilnquents. [the movies don't tell the half of the challenges and the regrettable brutalilty. still, the started something for children others would just assume let rot on the street or dump in the gaols and let rot away.....

The Christian Brothers are especially active in educating Irish Boys in grammar and high schools....

i love you

dad