Jan 23 Colman of Lismore d. 702

Thommy and John,

Good morning
I love you.

There’s more sunshine today. And it’ll be warmer later. I’ve chosen Frost/Nixon [and, maybe, Defiance] for my weekend movie. I remember president Nixon - I remember when he was John F. Kennedy’s opponent in 1960 - which led me, and our history class, to research his and Kennedy’s history and for me to read Profiles in Courage [a book I recommend to you; not Caroline Kennedy’s update. Nor am I displeased that sweet, $100 million plus rich Caroline, did not step into the senate on her name. I was very unhappy when her uncle, carpetbagger Bobby ran for the senate in NY.]

A friend of mine from Camp Ponderosa/UA, Bill Taylor [a name your mother should remember, she spent the night before our wedding in Bill’s house], a Political Science professor, asks his students, what’s the first political event that you remember. The evolution of students made the first big developmental leap for him when “the assassination of Kennedy" meant Robert and not John.

Kennedy’s election is probably my first - remembered as much for his being the first Catholic [allegedly breaking the ‘religion barrier’] as for his killing the hat industry in the USA! I watched the official film of his inaugural just before the 2009 event. Look at all the hats - both men and women, including some morning coats and top hats. But, JFK did not wear a hat. He ushered in a new fashion for us men. Now, if BHO had worn a baseball cap backwards to the inauguration, maybe he’d be a fashion setter himself…. What is the first political event you remember. What stories will that help you tell my grandchildren? See, our separation costs your children as well as you….



Jan 23
Colman of Lismore d. 702

The blurb in Catholic online, is two sentences. Colman was abbot bishop of the monastery of Lismore. Colman succeeded St Hierlug in 698. And I couldn’t find anything more written for him through two iterations of google. But, there is a bunch written about the monastery, the city, the county - Irish are a people of history and, thanks to our bards, prehistory as well. Not unlike looking for information about you and having to find out about you by learning about Nashville…. [and the pictures and letters and diaries I’ve done for/to you]….

From .liosmor.com/mochuda.html.

Lismore, by name, place, and heritage goes back sixteen centuries. We can’t even count back sixteen generations - a familial challenge that we’ve so far failed. Know, though, that our family/clan, heritage, collective unconscious does track with Ireland’s. Seek and you shall find; you should seek to know from whence you came to know who you are….

Lismore was one of Ireland’s religious and scholastic centers - maybe like Nashville, the Athens of the South; being an anthens more than just for the Parthenon: a religious and scholastic culture from which you were prevented from immersing yourself; I’m sorry about that. Opportunity costs, [sins of] omissions are more deleterious than what you do or is done to you….

About 635, Mochuda, a Kerryman born about 564, arrived in Lismore. Mochuda’s religious heritage took flight at the great monastery of St. Comgall at Bangor [both the saint and place you should remember - biggies.]. Under whom we learn and where we do that learning matters - our choices of where to go for our learning should be a serious discerning process….

Mochuda went from Bangor to found the monastery at Rahan in Offaly. After forty years leading that center of religion and learning, the community threw him out. I didn't find the particulars but the story is clear, he was expelled. After forty years. Being expelled, therefore, per se, is not bad or wrong. Especially if the reason is tribal or monastic jealousy. And we pick up and contunue to serve in our pursuit of our vocation.

Machuda was over seventy when he arrived at Lismore and lived only another three years.

Colman became abbot about 698 - about two generations of monks after their founder’s death; and at the dawn of Lismore’s rise to prominence among the great Irish monasteries. Wherever you work, whatever job you take, root yourself in the institution’s founding, history, and genealogy - learn the stories, repeat them, embellish them in the great seanache tradition. Plus, see the potential of the place, the paradise that would be heaven for all you work with. Pursue that perfection, like Colman, rooted in Mochuda and seeing what places like Bangor anticipated….

I love you,
dad