Cobh

<h2>&nbsp;Carlow College Reunion 2022 Mississippi USA</h2>
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Tuesday the 11th of January was the first full day of the Carlow College Renion in Mississippi. It started with full Irish breakfast courtesy of Tommy Conway &amp; Co, at our mew abode this year at the SVD retreat house courtesy of Rector Fr Mike Somers.
After breakfast I went along the beautiful Gulf coast with classmate Jim Fennessy now retired and his Pastor in Atlanta Hugh Marron. The annual golf tournament was played on a lovely course and we were joined by PJ Curley, we were not much of a help to him in the team in a round of 64 gross which included 6 birdies and an eagle. We each received 100 dollars for our efforts. At 5 pm we were collected by the local undertaker Jason in his bus and brought to the new church at Past Christian Diamondhead about 3O minutes away for the annual reunion mass. The church newly constructed is a magnificent edifice planned and completed by the pastor Fr Paddy Mockler.
In January 2020 during my visit here the daily mass was in the parish hall, which also housed many other functions like bingo, where I scooped 150 dollars from my visit then. The new church was just at the planning stage, and in that less than in just a year entirely during Covid time, the work was done. I was truly amazed and more so when I entered the church.&nbsp;
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Fr Paddy as he is won't to do, took a back seat. His fellow parishioner from their home parish in Galway a legend in Mississippi, now retired back home Louis Lohan was the chief celebrant. He too with his brother and cousins had travelled from Ireland for the reunion. His church in Long Beach was completely destroyed in Hurricane Katrina and he travelled all over the States to raise funds for a church and ancillary buildings. We have had our reunion mass there a number of times.
He was flanked on one side by Cuddy O'Connell from Cork the President of the Carlow college reunion, after hurricane Katrina I went to the reunion and Cuddy had just got word, he was being assigned to the beautiful coastline resort in Waveland, what he had considered before the impact of Katrina would be his dream assignment. He had not seen the parish, since the hurricane and I travelled down with him and we were met with utter devastation, it was flattened to the ground.
After going back to Ireland, I was determined to raise some funds to help out. I got large prints of my best photographs and had them framed and sold them and raised over €5,000 it was a small help and I went back for our reunion mass in the new church built on stilts.&nbsp;
<h3>Uplifting</h3>
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This years reunion was such a wonderful uplifting occasion. On the other side of Louis was yours truly. Fr Paddy asked me would I give the homily, the latest bishop who had studied in Carlow, Paul Dempsey, was unable to travel from Ireland, so I was honoured to take his place.
As I walked up the centre aisle in a packed church, it was one of the most uplifting moments of my life. When the homily time came and I faced the audience, I was virtually speechless, but composed myself somehow, luckily I had taken a few small notes and I must have been inspired from above and was totally humbled to receive an ovation at the end, which forever will remain a highlight, etched in my memory bank. After words of wisdom from Louis and Cuddy including a synopsis of my life the "galloping" nickname included, we retired to the hall for a meal, fit for a king, for the 300 plus gathered.&nbsp;

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Meanwhile Fr Paddy responsible for everything, kept in the background and smiled in admiration at what wasting place. I was asked by some parishioners was I going back to the bingo on Wednesday and I said of course and look forward to staying a guest of Paddy until Friday. Today we were invited to the Silver Slipper casino for lunch. I am here 6 days, I invested 2 dollars in a bottle of water for the golf game, my colleagues paid the green fees and after receiving 100 dollars for the golf, I am 98 dollars to the good. I can honestly say I and truly blessed to have such amazing friends and colleagues. After lunch I travelled back to Diamondhead where I will be guest of Fr Paddy until Friday when I fly to Phoenix, Arizona for some golf and a visit to the Loreto sisters.&nbsp;
<h3>In depth look</h3>
Having a bit time on my hands I took an in-depth tour of the magnificent building that is the parish church dedicated to the Most Blessed Trinity. I was most impressed with the work that has gone in this parish since Fr Paddy arrived. He has spent over 40 years on Mississippi, having studied in Carlow with his late brother Fr Peter, who also ministered here until his untimely death and I marvel at the contribution they have made in spreading the faith here.
Looking at a copy of the cheques showing some of the major donations is also a testament of the generosity of the people, who are immensely proud of what has been achieved on their behalf. The church is just about paid for at a cost of over 5 million dollars. The fittings of the church magnificent seats etc were all donated.
<h3>Magnificent Painting</h3>
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The magnificent painting at the back, would have cost 100,000 dollars that was donated and the painting is made of parishioners dressed up, in contemporary garb the perceived fashion at the time of Our Lord. As far as I can gather the largest donation was three quarters of a million. But the contributions of everybody made for a magnificent example of what can be achieved by faith hope and love, to the tune of 5 million dollars plus.
I conclude this article on Thursday morning after attending mass at 8am.

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<h3>Morning Mass on Thursday January 13th</h3>
&nbsp;I preached again and Fr Paddy asked we to tell an Irish joke at the end of mass which I kind of did. The story of 2 friends who were always "slagging" each other to try and upstage each other, and on one occasion one scratched his head and proclaimed that a though had crossed his mind, and his friend in reply said "It didn't have to travel very far" By the way I had no luck at the bingo this time, but I enjoyed the 3 hours mostly the conversations I had with the good ladies who were trying to keep me up to speed. Fr Paddy at the conclusion of Mass "auctioned" me off to anybody who would like to bring me to lunch and dinner and the hands of most of the congregation, exceeding 50, raised their hands.I had a new experience I was invited to attend a "Quad"session after mass, it was a wonderful experience, many Parishioners meets every week in pods of 4 to discuss issues of faith, one of the group was missing. A larger group were going into a Legion of Mary meeting and they invited me along, I could not make the 2 but would have loved to because it was such a long time since I was actively involved in the Legion of Mary. I had so much admiration for the organisation and at one time visited Edel Quin's grave during a visit to Nairobi in Kenya. Mary Beth offered to take me to New Orelans in Friday Morning to catch my flight to Phoenix in the morning to continue my oddessy, I must say I have been so fortunate to get the opportunity to make at this particular point in time, a huge boost to be so uplifted and enriched by so many extra ordinary people, bless them.&nbsp;&nbsp;
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<h2>Just a fraction. of the generous donations</h2>

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Carlow College Reunion in Mississippi

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