Bowlers, Baroness Blood, and Basketball

Our morning correspondent is Justin Hamlin:

According to Martin Luther King, Jr., “Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict.” I chose this quote because it speaks to what is occurring here in Northern Ireland. To overcome oppression the people are pursuing nonviolence. Together they are bringing the violence to an end in a peaceful manner.

After breakfast this morning we headed into town for a lecture on the history of the Orange Order and their parades. We received a very informative and educational lecture from Dr. Bryan, the Director of Irish Studies Program, here at Queens University. Dr. Bryan is a very charismatic guy who brings passion and expertise to his teaching. He brought his young daughter with him to class today because she had the day off of school (yes she has school and it is July!!) His daughter came in to see what exactly it is her daddy does. She even drew us a picture of the parades because the DVD was not working.

The parades today consist of several different lodges, or groups who all have their own sashes and numbers. The Orange Order commemorates the Battle of the Boyne, which took place about sixty miles north of Dublin. In the battle King William of Orange, a Protestant defeated King James, a Catholic. The battle is portrayed as one of the most important battles in Ireland’s history, but in reality it had nothing to do with Ireland. It was a European war over who would control of the English throne. Protestant English aristocracy overthrew Catholic English aristocracy as a result of the battle. Oddly enough the Pope supported King William of Orange because he was at odds with King Louis of France. The result was disastrous for Catholic Ireland. Protestants set up a parliament in Dublin and enacted the harsh penal laws. These laws restricted Catholics rights for an equal education, rights for certain job holdings, and the right to go to mass. The Catholics were now under the yoke of Protestant rule.

The Orange Order, established in 1795, is comprised of lodges that have been a focal point in Irish history. The master of each lodge goes to an upper lodge and meets with other leaders. There are four levels to the lodge system. The lodges were initiated to celebrate the great victory at the Boyne. Initially mostly lower class and rural people took part in them. Over time lodges were introduced into the job marketplace for economic and political reasons. Protestants in particular joined these lodges because they provided a sense of job security. The “Twelfth of July” is when they hold parades throughout Ireland. In 1850 parades were banned because of violence. In 1872 parades were deemed legal again, and received a big boost in attendance with the introduction of public transportation. In 1912 the Orange Order became active in opposition to the Home Rule movement in Ireland. In 1921 the six of the nine counties of Ulster were partitioned by Britain from the thirty counties of Ireland, and a Home Rule parliament was established in Belfast. The Northern Ireland parliament was run by Protestants and came to be known as the “Orange State.”

Membership in the Orange lodge has changed over the years. Traditionally Orangemen took a vow of temperance to refrain from drugs and alcohol. Silver Bands and Flute, ‘Blood and Thunder’, bands were hired to play in the marches. The bands changed traditions with their drugs and alcohol. The lodges and parades served as a platform for businessmen. Lawyers met clients through parades, and farmers used them to sell their goods. In the 1960s the shipyard in Belfast and many other jobs simply went away; which brought chaos to the whole Orange Order. The economic decline of Northern Ireland led to a radical decline in membership in the order. This decline is often seen as the result of the Orange Order’s loss of its political and economic power because many working class Protestants saw no benefit of being in the order.

After our wonderful lecture we headed back to Queens for a nice lunch. The lecture today astonished me. I continue to be amazed by the complexity and hatred that is in Irish history. I can apply the knowledge of what we learned today to more greatly appreciate the Orange parades that we will see on the Twelfth of July. The Protestants parade to celebrate their victory at the Boyne over the Catholics and their control of the Catholics in earlier times. The Protestants and Catholics have differences with each other. By what D. Bryan told us today, the hatred and violence has greatly reduced and the two sides are more equal today, but things are still tense. Someday the Peace Walls may be torn down, but the most important walls are those that people hold within them.

Miss you Mom, Dad, and Irene!

Our afternoon correspondent is Bill Malley:

“The key to change.....is to let go of fear.”
-Rosanne Cash

After a few hours of free time everyone walked back to the Irish Studies classrooms at Queen’s. During the afternoon we had the chance to hear Baroness May Blood speak, as well as Rory O’Neal. Ms. Blood lived through the Troubles and became a powerful figure for women around the world and a strong voice for peace in Ireland. Rory is an alumni of John Carroll University and went on a similar trip to Northern Ireland when he was a student. Now Rory works for Peaceplayers International and has been living in Belfast for two years. Both of these people are working towards a peaceful and non-violent way to help bring the communities in Northern Ireland end the discrimination and violence aimed at one another.

Baroness May Blood, formally known as Baroness May Blood of Blackwatertown, grew up in Belfast with nine siblings in a two up, two down (apartment with two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room). At the age of fourteen she left school and began to work in the linen mill, in a “mixed” area, where she became an active member in the trade union fighting for the rights of workers; especially those of women in the mill. When the Troubles broke out, she said everything changed overnight. Baroness Blood is Presbyterian and was told that the Catholics that she has been working with for years and living among were now the enemy. Barriers were put up on the street and curfews were enforced. However, Baroness and many other women in her neighborhood began to help out their Catholic co-workers. The barrier was set up right between the two communities of Protestants and Catholics, but all of the shops and stores were on the Protestant side of the divide. Baroness and many other women in her neighborhood would go up to the barrier, collect money from the Catholic women, and then buy them the groceries that they needed. This small form of a protest showed that not every Catholic and every Protestant were against each other. It was inspirational to see Baroness become so successful.

Baroness shared with us the story of her life. After climbing the ladder in her trade union, working to involve women in the political process in Northern Ireland, she was offered a seat in the House of Lords. She accepted and is still holding her position as a representative for the Labour party. She is a strong feminist. She shared with us that she was once the only woman who had worked with twenty-four other men on a political committee. She said twenty-four men and her, “that’s about fair.”

Baroness Blood is currently trying to integrate the community through the schools. She believes that people must meet and come to know each other if there is to be peace. So far she has integrated about seven percent of all the schools in Northern Ireland, which accounts for about 22,000 children of both Catholic and Protestant background. If ignorance of your neighbor is erased at an early age, the day for peace throughout all of Northern Ireland will be here soon.

Right after Ms. Baroness May Blood left, Rory O’Neal came in to talk to us about the organization that he works for called Peaceplayers. Peaceplayers brings children from the two communities together and teach them to play basketball. They are set up in a few different spots around the world where conflict has been thriving. Here in Northern Ireland they take children from two different schools, one Catholic and the other Protestant, and put the kids through an eight week basketball camp. Through the camp they not only learn about the game, but they learn about each other and find out that there is very little difference between them. Rory told us a story about one girl whose father would not let her play, and he said that she went home and said to her dad, “Why? They are just like us!” It seems so complicated, but it is so simple, the little girl said it perfectly. Every day that the people in the Catholic and Protestant communities learn about each other, the internal walls that separate them are broken down. After the talk we walked home and had some time to catch up on our journals. We also had a delicious taco dinner at the dorm and would later reflect as a group on the day.

A Dwelling Place

Our morning correspondent is Chris Tweed:

“History remains live and active.”
~ Dr. Eamonn Hughes

As usual, we started off the day with breakfast from the university cafeteria; better known as The Tree House (I have a new addiction to potato farls). After a nice, brisk walk to the main campus at Queen’s University to start the morning off, we enjoyed two very interesting lectures by Dr. Eamonn Hughes. Dr. Hughes is a professor from the Department of English and an expert in Irish literature. It was really cool to see a typical classroom that students at the university would normally have class in. He first gave a basic introduction on the history of Irish Literature. One of the interesting things he said was that although Ireland is a relatively small country, its poets and authors has had a profound impact on the rest of the world. If you think about it, Ireland really is a small country compared to others, and yet its culture and art are vastly known throughout the world. Dr. Hughes then asked the question, “Why are people so interested in it if it is such a small country?” The answer to that question is in the question itself. Because the British Empire conquered and controlled all of Ireland for several hundred years, it seemed to be just another part of the British Empire. However, Ireland was one of the first places to decolonize and defy British rule. Because Great Britain was the strongest empire in the world at the time, this brought the spotlight to Ireland and its culture by making it an example for other countries to follow. Dr. Hughes then talked about what makes Irish Literature so unique and special. One reason for this is the collision between the British and Irish cultures. He told us that they struck sparks off each other, making the people even more independent in their thinking and culturally diverse. I think that this opened our eyes to just what makes Irish literature and culture so unique and special, and how much history affects the present.

I really enjoyed Dr. Hughes second lecture on Northern Ireland’s literature. Because we are staying in Belfast, it seemed to make the city more alive by bringing a deeper understanding about its people and past. One main point he stressed was that Northern Ireland is one place that is experienced and lived in different ways depending on one’s political, religious, and cultural groups. To me, this really provides a good perspective as to why there are such separations between Catholics and Protestants here. In Northern Ireland, Belfast in particular, there is certainly still segregation based on faith even though the Troubles are over. Dr. Hughes also stated that the main question in Northern Irish poetry is “Where and what is home if people are always under pressure to move?” Irish people for the past several centuries have been an emigrant people. In addition, there have been several waves of internal migration from rural to urban areas in recent Irish history, as well as the forced relocation's during the Troubles. Sense of place is very important to Irish writers, and they use this throughout their works. The part of his lecture that I found most interesting was when he explained some of the poems we heard by several of the authors last night. Seeing them being recited live was awesome, but getting a full explanation of what they meant by getting the poets background really brought them to life. Dr. Hughes had an interesting explanation of the word “dwell.” Not only is it to think or contemplate something, but to live as well. This theme occurs throughout Northern Irish Literature as the Irish people were constantly on the move and wanted to find a place to call home.

Overall, I really enjoyed Dr. Hughes’ lectures. After studying some Irish works in our previous classes, it is really interesting to see the places that were being written about. He gave us a clearer picture not only of Irish authors and poets, but the Irish people as well. I think that now we have a better appreciation for the city of Belfast as well as its people.

Our afternoon correspondent is Eileen Elliott:

"I get by with a little help from my friends."

- John Lennon

After lunch our group went to the Ulster Museum. The name of the museum can tell you a lot about the collection it contains. Ulster refers to one of the four historical provinces of Ireland: Leinster, Munster, Connacht, and Ulster. Northern Ireland was created out of six of the nine counties of Ulster; the counties with solid Protestant majorities to ensure a solidly unionist state.

The Ulster Museum is located next to the Queen’s University campus and contains many exhibits that tell the history of Ireland with a focus and emphasis on Ulster. There are a wide range of the exhibits, but we focused on the political historical section of the museum. We entered the history portion of the museum where we saw many photographs depicting the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Many of the photos showed the violence of the Troubles and took you through a chronological format. The picture that affected me the most was that of a young man who died on Bloody Sunday. Surrounding the young man was all of his family and friends. Considering the population of Northern Ireland it is easy to see how the Troubles affected everybody.

After we went through the history exhibit we could have free time until 5:30 pm. Since the rule is to travel in at least groups of three, a larger group of us decided to go to Victoria Square. We felt a little awkward roaming around because we felt, rightfully so, like tourists. Once we arrived, the girls and boys separated and parted ways. We decided not to shop today and quickly left Victoria Square. We walked a few blocks to city hall where they have erected a huge video screen that has been displaying events ranging from the Glastonbury music festival to Wimbledon. We joined in with locals to view Wimbledon which was playing today on the screen. The day was beautiful, and we enjoyed just relaxing outside. We returned “home,” most of us taking naps before preparing for our delicious dinner at a five star restaurant at night.

At night we all dressed up very nice for a three course meal at Menu, a restaurant at the FitzWilliam Hotel in the city center. All of us rode for our first time in Belfast taxis. We were really interested to be in a car that drives on the left side of the road with a driver who drives from the left, the opposite of us in the States. After a short drive through Belfast we arrived at the hotel. Gathering in the lobby, we waited for everyone to arrive so we could go upstairs for our scrumptious dinner. Our mouths were watering just imagining how great the food was going to taste! We had our own banquet room and an extremely long table for sixteen people. Last night, we had to choose one selection for each of the courses of starters, entree, and dessert. For my dinner I had salad, beef brisket, and strawberry shortcake. Everyone loved sitting around enjoying each other’s company and our friendships grew more than we could have imagined on the first day. This made me reflect on a Beatles song about getting through with friends by your side. We are all far away from home but knowing we have each other makes the distance easier to bear. Once we finished our dinner, Mr. Bizga surprised Stephen Sigmier and me with a birthday cake since my 17th birthday was June 28, and Stephen’s 18th birthday will be on July 2. Stephen and I were both surprised but were too full to eat the cake, and therefore had to pack it up and bring it back home.

Once we returned back to the dorm we changed and got ready for our reflection. Every night we have a group reflection and prayer session. We begin with a group examen of the day. This is similar to the one at school in a more extended fashion. The examen is a method of prayerful reflection on the events of the day in order to become aware of God’s presence. Our group began with the song “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye. It was interesting to listen to the lyrics stating that only peace can overcome the troubles of the world. Listening to the song showed how simple words could depict a much larger problem. We continued by reflecting how we got here today and why we chose to be part of this experience. Our gathering was told by Ms. Madden to reflect on what we hoped we would learn about ourselves and life in Ireland. Reflecting on this showed many of us a lot about ourselves. We are beginning to view the world differently. Once we were done with the reflection most of us went straight to bed to get rest for the next day.

Goodnight family and friends all over the world!

Parliament & Poets

Our morning correspondent is Laurie O’Riordan:

“Every few hundred years in Western history there occurs a sharp transformation. Within a few short decades, society- its worldview, its basic values, its social and political structures, its art, its key institutions- rearranges itself. We are currently living through such a time.”
~Peter F. Drucker, management guru

Today was yet another busy day in Belfast, Northern Ireland! We witnessed the ever changing political structure of Northern Ireland.

The early part of our day was spent at the Northern Ireland Assembly, also known as “Stormont”. The one mile long drive up to Stormont’s impressive building gives a spectacular view of all of the city of Belfast. The road includes a statue of Edward Carson which was erected in 1932. It was erected before his death; which is unusual. After a short trip through security and the Stormont gift shop, we toured the building. Interestingly in the past few days, multiple tour guides have mentioned that the size of a country’s Parliament building demonstrates the measure of its insecurity. Northern Ireland is approximately the size of the northeastern part of Ohio, yet the Parliament Building is massive. According to the guides the original plans for the Parliament were even larger! The designers planned on having two more wings added on and a dome placed on top of the building. However due to a recession in the 1920s, the plans had to be revised. The tour guide brought us into the Senate Chamber which is no longer used for Senate debates. The Assembly today is a unicameral body.

After the tour, Mr. Lennon guided us to the Sinn Féin meeting room where we met Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness. As leader of the Sinn Féin party, which means “Ourselves Alone”, Mr. McGuinness supports the idea of a united Ireland. He mentioned that at the time of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, Sinn Féin was the fourth largest party in Northern Ireland and it is now the second largest. He stated clearly that, “we don’t want to go back to the past… and I don’t have any difficulty moving forward on the basis of equality”. He spoke about working peacefully together with members of other parties such as the Democratic Unionist Party to help resolve issues in Northern Ireland. He clearly indicated that he feels strongly about each individual in Northern Ireland having equal rights and opportunities. His optimism about peaceful conflict resolution was truly inspiring, especially knowing that he formerly supported using violence as a means of advancing the Republican case of a united Ireland.

Shortly after we took a large amount of pictures with Martin McGuinness, we walked to the other end of Stormont to meet with Alex Attwood, a member of the SDLP, the Social Democratic and Labor Party. Right out of the gate, he told us that even though he is inspired by some Irish Republican figures such as John Hume, he greatly admires Robert Kennedy, the brother of President John F. Kennedy. He quotes Robert Kennedy every single day whether in a speech, a debate, or in everyday tasks. He said he can quote Robert Kennedy because his is perceived as neutral being from the US. He told our group that to realize what politics should be about, we should look at the life and teachings of Robert Kennedy. He quoted from different speeches of Bobby Kennedy including the speeches he made on April 4^th and 5^th of 1958 just after the assassination of the iconic Martin Luther King, Jr. He stressed that repressions will always lead to retaliation, so in order to bring about peace in Northern Ireland, the SDLP focuses on peaceful conflict resolution, such as the Good Friday Agreement. He stated that nonviolence is radical in today’s society and that to achieve an end to divides in Northern Ireland, the process by which people go about it must be nonviolent. He told each of us that above all, the character of the group matters, and that is why he is a proud member of the SDLP. He is proud constitutional Irish Republican.

So I will leave all of you with an Irish saying, “Ta inniu go hiontach! Feic sibh amarach. Slante!”, which means “Today was excellent, see you tomorrow, cheers!!” (This Irish was made available to all of those reading by my brilliant sister, Gina O’Riordan!)

Our afternoon correspondent is Brenna Haag:

“The task of leadership, the first task of concerned people, is not to condemn or castigate or deplore; it is to search out the reason for disillusionment and alienation of the rationale of protest and dissent –perhaps, indeed, to learn from it.”
– Bobby Kennedy

Greetings from Belfast! Our second full day here was filled with meeting important figures and other surprises. After meeting Alex Attwood of the SDLP, the group was invited to sit in on a live debate in Stormont. We were all very privileged to be offered this opportunity. In the debate room, we listened to the Minister of Education discuss budget cuts. This debate is very prevalent at home in our own society, helping us relate to issues in Northern Ireland. Afterwards, we met with Kieran McCarthy, a member of the Alliance Party. He welcomed us and devoted his short time slot to speaking of the neutrality of the Alliance Party and answering our questions. At this time, the Alliance Party is in charge of the judicial courts and policing in Northern Ireland. Mr. McCarthy discussed with us the importance of mediating between Sinn Féin and the DUP, Democratic Unionist Party. Mr. McCarthy also shared with us the important transformation of Reverend Ian Paisley. In the early stages of conflict, Paisley displayed demagoguery and a radically partisan attitude. McCarthy now describes him as a “lamb”, a key component in having the two major conflicting parties communicate. After this busy morning at Stormont, the bus dropped us off in Belfast to venture out and choose a place eat lunch.

This evening, the whole group was fortunate to attend a poetry reading in Queens University’s Senate Room. We departed from our dorms and walked together to Queens’ main campus. Inside, we listened to traditional toe-tapping Irish music and local poets share stories about their families and homes. Some of these published poets are Ciaron Carson, Leontia Flynn, and Sinead Morrissey. Sinead Morrissey performed last and gave a special shout-out to the students of Walsh Jesuit and St. Ignatius. She read her poem “Genetics”, a poem familiar to some of Mr. Bizga’s Bioethics students. Emma commented how “amazing” Sinead Morrissey’s voice sounded and how it enhanced her experience while listening. Her voice engages her audiences and captures their attention. As this poetry reading ended, so did the events of our second full day here in Belfast. We departed back for Queen’s Elms for our evening prayer and reflection. As the busiest day so far, all of the students are exhausted but hope to be ready for another exciting day!