Helping your PRC: Prayer

Today marks the 37th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision.

Over 50,600,000 children have been killed through legal, surgical abortion since that day.

Above all else: pray

Eternal Father, You are the Creator and Source of all life. Bless and protect all children threatened by abortion. Open the hearts of their parents and those who would seek to destroy their lives.

Strengthen all fathers. Make them mirrors of Your boundless love and protection so that they may defend and provide for their children.

Comfort all mothers. Reveal Your unmeasurable goodness to them so that they may place their trust in You and nourish the lives which You have entrusted to them.

Enlighten all lawmakers, doctors, and healthcare providers so that they may come to a deeper understanding and reverence for all human life, from the very moment of conception until natural death.

We ask these things in the name of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, Your beloved and only Son, Whom You sent to deliver us from the bonds of sin, and Who reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen.

March for Life 2010

The folks at AUL (Americans United for Life) have created something that deserves a prize. I'm just not sure which prize it deserves.

Now you have the opportunity to march online, alongside your fellow pro-lifers - even if you can't be in Washington. AUL Action is proud to host the first Virtual March for Life.

It will only take seconds, sign up, select your own "avatar" and then invite your pro-life friends and family to participate as well. It's the best way to "be there" even if you can't be there.

You can also check out the avatars of Leaders Marching for Life.

I think my favorite is Joe the Plumber:



I'm not sure what they were going for, but last time I checked, Our Man Joe didn't have yellow eyebrows:




For whatever it's worth, though, feel free to head on over there and join the throngs. When you're done you can find yourself on the Mall.



It's nice, and all that, but in a couple hours, I'm going to be boarding a bus along with many, many other Domers and making the 12 hour trek down there so I can be at the March in person!

By the way, in case you were wondering, Notre Dame is sponsoring 8 buses with a total of over 370 students (a record breaking year!) In addition, over 30 faculty and staff members will join them in D.C. along with numerous alumni and friends.

Go Irish, Save Babies!

Please keep us, and all marchers, mothers, fathers, babies, and lawmakers in your prayers.

Thank you.

Rhoades!

Yesterday it was announced in Rome that Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Harrisburg will be installed as the new bishop of the Diocese of Ft. Wayne/South Bend.

Our new bishop-designate is wasting no time in surveying his new charge. --Or maybe, dear Bishop D'Arcy is wasting no time in finally passing it on! The morning found the two bishops at the Cathedral in Ft. Wayne, the evening at the Vigil Mass at Notre Dame, and at night, vespers at St. Matthew's Cathedral in South Bend. (Ft. Wayne/South Bend is one of the few dioceses with co-cathedrals)

Yesterday was also the closing day of the Center for Ethics and Culture's 9th Annual Conference (this year entitled "The Summons of Freedom: Virtue, Sacrifice and the Common Good"), which brought the bishops to Notre Dame. Bishop D'Arcy was already scheduled to say the Saturday Vigil Mass in the Basilica for the conference. After the announcement of the bishop was made, the electrifying news quickly spread through conference attendees: Bishop D'Arcy would be bringing Bishop Rhoades!

One of my friends observed, as we were preparing for Mass: "A bishop's announced, and look at how many priests come out of the woodwork." Fr. Hesburgh was present to greet the bishops. Fr. Jenkins, surprisingly, was absent, but sent Fr. McDonald as his representative.

Bishop D'Arcy warmly welcomed not only the conference participants, but also members of NDResponse who had greeted him as he arrived at the Basilica.

At the end of Mass, Bishop Rhoades spoke for a few minutes. He graciously addressed the university, but more specifically the Center for Ethics and Culture (which, it should be noted, lost funding from the university administration earlier this year). He praised the Center, the conference and its participants for being good examples of positive contributors to the Church.

After the Mass, the Bishops stayed around to greet the congregation - again, mostly participants of the Center's conference.

Bishop D'Arcy introduces Sr. Ann Astell of the ND Theology faculty to Bishop Rhoades
Photo: me 11/14/09

On a personal note: Bishop Rhoades was delighted to hear I was from Maryland. He immediately mentioned Mount St. Mary's and his time as rector there - it seems he was quite fond of his time there. I'm glad. I'm sure that experience will be very useful in dealing with Our Lady's University.

And in other news, my friends spent a good part of the day and the closing banquet of the conference trying to figure out what "Kevin" is in Latin.


P.S. Some Articles on the News:

The South Bend Tribune

The Notre Dame Observer
Rhoades - on Whispers in the Loggia

Prof. Rice's Open Letter to Fr. Jenkins

Yesterday, ND Law Professor Emeritus Charlie Rice released a lengthy open letter to Fr. Jenkins:

The man does not mince words (and I've never known him too).

Since it's 5 pages long, I was only going to post highlights, but after trying to edit it, I realized it was better to post the entire piece.

Please read it.

September 21, 2009
Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.
President
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556

Dear Father Jenkins:

Professor Fred Freddoso has shared with me the response on Sept. 17th by Dr. Frances L. Shavers, Chief of Staff and Special Assistant to the President, to Fred’s email of that date to you asking that Notre Dame request dismissal of the charges against the persons arrested for trespass on the campus in relation to the honoring of President Obama at Commencement. Dr. Shavers responded on your behalf to Fred’s email because, as she said, “the next few days are rather hectic for [Fr. Jenkins].” I don’t want to add to the hectic burden of your schedule by sending you a personal message that could impose on an assistant the task of responding. I therefore take the liberty of addressing to you several concerns in the form of this open letter to which a response is neither required nor expected.

First, permit me to express my appreciation for the expressions of support for the pro-life cause in your September 16th “Letter concerning post-commencement initiatives.” I know, however, that in a matter as significant as this, you will appreciate and welcome a respectful but very candid expression of views. In my opinion, the positions you have taken are deficient in some respects.

In your Letter of Sept. 16th, you rightly praise the work of the Women’s Care Center (WCC) and of its superb leader, Ann Murphy Manion. I commend you on your statement that the WCC “and similar centers in other cities deserve the support of Notre Dame clubs and individuals.” Your praise of the WCC and similar efforts, however, overlooks a practical step that Notre Dame, as an institution, ought to take. That would be for you, on behalf of Notre Dame, to issue a standing invitation to the WCC to establish an office on the Notre Dame campus to serve students, faculty and staff if, in the judgment of the WCC, that would be desirable and effective. Such would give practical effect, right here at Notre Dame, to your words in support of the WCC and similar efforts.

Your Letter announced your formation of the Task Force on Supporting the Choice for Life. Rather than offer a detailed evaluation of my own, I note my agreement with the personal analysis of William Dempsey, ND ’52, President of the Sycamore Trust, calling attention to “the obviously deliberate exclusion from Task Force membership of anyone associated with the ND organizations that have been unashamedly and actively pro-life: the Center for Ethics & Culture and the ND Fund for the Protection of Human Life. Nor was the student representative chosen from the leadership of the student RTL organization or from anyone active in last year’s student alliance protesting the honoring of the President, ND Response. It is hard to resist the inference that this is as a move toward marginalizing the Center and the Fund, neither of which receives any University support the way it is…. Finally, it is unsettling but instructive that this announcement comes a day after Fr. Jenkins’ annual address to the faculty in which he described his goals for the year, which included increasing female and minority faculty representation but not a word about the most crucial problem facing the university, the loss of Catholic identity through the failure to hire enough Catholics to restore the predominance required by the Mission Statement. This is a striking falling away from [Fr. Jenkins’] wonderful inaugural address. The fact that ND did nothing to serve the pro-life cause until forced by the reaction to the Obama incident testifies to the fact that, without a predominance of committed Catholics on the faculty, any pro-life efforts launched under pressure will in time fade away. The risk, and surely it is real, is that this initiative and the publicity ND is generating about it will deflect attention from the fundamental problem besetting Notre Dame….But I return to where I began: A project that deliberately excludes from participation those who have courageously manned organizations standing against the faculty attitude toward the pro-life cause ought to be regarded with suspicion.”

My main concern in this letter arises from your statement in your Letter that “Each year on January 22, the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, the March for Life is held in Washington D.C. to call on the nation to defend the right to life. I plan to participate in that march. I invite other members of the Notre Dame Family to join me and I hope we can gather for a Mass for Life at that event.” I understand that Notre Dame students have invited you to participate with them in the March. The problem arises from an aftermath of Commencement. On this I refer back to Chief of Staff Shavers’ response to Professor Freddoso’s request that Notre Dame ask dismissal of the charges against those arrested. Dr. Shavers states that “these protesters were arrested for trespassing and not for expressing their pro-life position.” That is misleading. This is not an ordinary case of trespass to land such as would occur if a commuter walks across your lawn and flower bed as a short-cut to the train station. Notre Dame is ordinarily an open campus. Those 88 persons, 82 of whom are represented by Tom Dixon, ND ’84, ND Law School ’93, were arrested not because they were there, but because of who they were, why they were there and what they were saying. Other persons with pro-Obama signs were there but were not arrested and not disturbed. Serious legal and constitutional questions are involved, arising especially from the symbiotic relationship between the Notre Dame Security Police, who made the arrests, and the County Police. This letter is not a legal brief. Rather I merely note that it is disingenuous for Notre Dame to pretend that this is merely a routine trespass case.

The confusion is compounded by Dr. Shavers’ statement that “Under Indiana law, however, Notre Dame is not the complainant in these matters and so is not in any position to drop or dismiss the charges.” That sentence is half-true and half-false. Notre Dame is the complaining victim of the alleged trespass. Whether to dismiss the charges, of course, is for the prosecutor to decide.

Dr. Shavers states that “Notre Dame officials have been in regular contact with the prosecutor’s office on these matters, and, in consultation with the University, the prosecutor has offered Pre-Trial Diversion to those for whom the May incident was a first-time offense. As described by the prosecutor, this program does not require the individual to plead guilty or go through a trial; rather, the charges are dropped after one year so long as the individual does not commit another criminal offense. We understand that most of those arrested have chosen not to take advantage of this offer and obviously we cannot force them to do so. In essence, the choice of whether or not to go to trial belongs to the defendants.”

Pre-trial diversion could change their status as convicted criminals. But it is only because of the actions of Notre Dame that they are treated by the law as criminals in the first place. Notre Dame continues to subject those defendants to the criminal process. If they entered pretrial diversion they would each have to pay hundreds of dollars in costs, which would amount in effect to a fine imposed on them, with the concurrence of Notre Dame, for praying. Most of the 88 are in straitened financial circumstances. The imposition on them of such a fine would be a serious hardship. Instead, Notre Dame ought to state publicly that it has no interest in seeing those prosecutions proceed in any form and that it requests the prosecutor to exercise his discretion to dismiss all those charges unconditionally. Given the prospect of 88 or so separate jury trials, probably not consolidated, in cases involving potentially serious legal and constitutional issues, such a request by Notre Dame would surely be appreciated by the taxpayers of St. Joseph County.

Those 88 defendants were on the other side of the campus, far removed from the site of the Commencement. They are subjected by Notre Dame to the criminal process because they came, as individuals, to Notre Dame to pray, peacefully and non-obstructively, on this ordinarily open campus, in petition and reparation, as a response to what they rightly saw as a facilitation by Notre Dame of various objectively evil policies and programs of Notre Dame’s honoree, President Obama. Those persons, whom Notre Dame has subjected to legal process as criminals, are neither statistics nor abstractions. Let me tell you about a few of them.

Fr. Norman Weslin, O.S., 79 years old and in very poor health, was handcuffed by Notre Dame Security Police as he sang “Immaculate Mary” on the campus sidewalk near the entrance. He asked them, “Why would you arrest a Catholic priest for trying to stop the killing of a baby?” The NSDP officers put him on a pallet and dragged him away to jail. St. Joseph County Police were also there. I urge you to watch the readily available videos of Fr. Weslin’s arrest. If you do, I will be surprised and disappointed if you are not personally and deeply ashamed.

Such treatment of such a priest may be the lowest point in the entire history of Notre Dame. You would profit from knowing Fr. Weslin. Notre Dame should give Fr. Weslin the Laetare Medal rather than throw him in jail. Norman Weslin, born to poor Finnish immigrants in upper Michigan, finished high school at age 17 and joined the Army. He converted from the Lutheran to the Catholic faith and married shortly after earning his commission. He became a paratrooper and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the 82nd Airborne Division, obtaining his college degree enroute. After a distinguished career, he retired in 1968. As the legalization of abortion intensified, he and his wife, Mary Lou, became active pro-lifers in Colorado. In 1980, Mary Lou was killed by a drunk driver. Norman personally forgave the young driver. Norman Weslin was later ordained as a Catholic priest, worked with Mother Teresa in New York and devoted himself to the rescue of unborn children through nonviolent, prayerful direct action at abortuaries. In 1990 at Christmastime, I was privileged to defend Fr. Weslin and his Lambs of Christ when they were arrested at the abortuary in South Bend. One does not have to agree with the tactic of direct, non-violent action at abortuaries to have the utmost admiration, as I have, for Fr. Weslin and his associates. At Notre Dame, Fr. Weslin engaged in no obstruction or disruption. He merely sought to pray for the unborn on the ordinarily open campus of a professedly Catholic university. The theme of Notre Dame’s honoring of Obama was “dialogue.” It would have been better for you and the complicit Fellows and Trustees to dialogue with Fr. Weslin rather than lock him up as a criminal. You all could have learned something from him. His actions in defense of innocent life and the Faith have been and are heroic. Notre Dame’s treatment of Fr. Weslin is a despicable disgrace, the responsibility for which falls directly and personally upon yourself as the President of Notre Dame.

The other “criminals” stigmatized by Notre Dame include many whom this university should honor rather than oppress. One is Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff in Roe v. Wade, who has become pro-life and a Catholic actively trying to spread the word about abortion. Those “criminals” include retired professors, retired military officers, mothers of many children, a Catholic nun in full habit, Christian pastors, several Ph.Ds, and Notre Dame grads. They are, in summary, “the salt of the earth.” They came, on their own, at their own expense, and not as part of any “conspiracy,” from 18 states. They came because they love what Notre Dame claims to represent. They themselves do represent it. But one has to doubt whether Notre Dame does so anymore.

Clearly, Notre Dame should do all it can to obtain the dismissal of those criminal charges. This has nothing to do with one’s opinion of the tactics of rescue at abortuaries. It is simply a matter of you, as President, doing the manifestly right thing.

Please permit me to speak bluntly about your announced purpose to participate in the March for Life and to “invite other members of the Notre Dame Family to join me.” Notre Dame should have had an official presence at every March for Life since 1973. But until now it never has. Notre Dame students, with the encouragement of Campus Ministry, participate in the March but the University, as such, has not done so. To put it candidly, it would be a mockery for you to present yourself now at the March, even at the invitation of Notre Dame students, as a pro-life advocate while, in practical effect, you continue to be the jailer, as common criminals, of those persons who were authentic pro-life witnesses at Notre Dame. When the pictures of Fr. Weslin’s humiliation and arrest by your campus police was flashed around the world it did an incalculable damage to Notre Dame that can be partially undone only by your public and insistent request, as President of Notre Dame, that the charges be dropped. In my opinion your attachment to the March for Life, including your offering of a Mass for Life, could give scandal in the absence, at least, of such an insistent request to dismiss those charges. Your decision to present an official Notre Dame presence at the March could be beneficial, but not in the context of an unrelenting criminalization by Notre Dame of sincere and peaceful friends of Notre Dame whose offense was their desire to pray, on the campus, for the University and all concerned including yourself. If you appear at the March as the continuing criminalizer of those pro-life witnesses, you predictably will earn not approbation but scorn—a scorn which will surely be directed toward Notre Dame as well. As long as you pursue the criminalization of those pro-life witnesses, your newest pro-life statements will be regarded reasonably as a cosmetic covering of the institutional anatomy in the wake of the continuing backlash arising from your conferral of Notre Dame’s highest honor on the most relentlessly pro-abortion public official in the world.

In conclusion, this letter is not written in a spirit of contention. It is written rather in the mutual concern we share for Notre Dame—and for her university. I hope you will reconsider your positions on these matters. Our family prays for you by name every night. And we wish you success in the performance of your obligations to the University and all concerned.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Rice
Professor Emeritus
Notre Dame Law School

Yesterday Fr. Jenkins sent out this email to the Notre Dame Students:

Dear Members of the Notre Dame Family,

Coming out of the vigorous discussions surrounding President Obama’s visit last Spring, I said we would look for ways to engage the Notre Dame community with the issues raised in a prayerful and meaningful way. As our nation continues to struggle with the morality and legality of abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and related issues, we must seek steps to witness to the sanctity of life. I write to you today about some initiatives that we are undertaking.

Each year on January 22, the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, the March for Life is held in Washington D.C. to call on the nation to defend the right to life. I plan to participate in that march. I invite other members of the Notre Dame Family to join me and I hope we can gather for a Mass for Life at that event. We will announce details as that date approaches.

On campus, I have recently formed the Task Force on Supporting the Choice for Life. It will be co-chaired by Professor Margaret Brinig, the Fritz Duda Family Chair in Law and Associate Dean for the Law School, and by Professor John Cavadini, the Chair of the Department of Theology and the McGrath-Cavadini Director of the Institute for Church Life. My charge to the Task Force is to consider and recommend to me ways in which the University, informed by Catholic teaching, can support the sanctity of life. Possibilities the Task Force has begun to discuss include fostering serious and specific discussion about a reasonable conscience clause; the most effective ways to support pregnant women, especially the most vulnerable; and the best policies for facilitating adoptions. Such initiatives are in addition to the dedication, hard work and leadership shown by so many in the Notre Dame Family, both on the campus and beyond, and the Task Force may also be able to recommend ways we can support some of this work.

I also call to your attention the heroic and effective work of centers that provide care and support for women with unintended pregnancies. The Women’s Care Center, the nation’s largest Catholic-based pregnancy resource center, on whose Foundation Board I serve, is run by a Notre Dame graduate, Ann Murphy Manion (’77). The center has proven successful in offering professional, non-judgmental concern to women with unintended pregnancies, helping those women through their pregnancy and supporting them after the birth of their child. The Women’s Care Center and similar centers in other cities deserve the support of Notre Dame clubs and individuals.

Our Commencement last Spring generated passionate discussion and also caused some divisions in the Notre Dame community. Regardless of what you think about that event, I hope that we can overcome divisions to foster constructive dialogue and work together for a cause that is at the heart of Notre Dame’s mission. We will keep you informed of our work, and we ask for your support, assistance and prayers. May Our Lady, Notre Dame, watch over our efforts.

In Notre Dame,

Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.

I'm really not sure how a feel about this. Is it just a new cloak to cover up the commencement stain?

ND Right to Life has been inviting the university president, as well as other high ranking administrative officials and figureheads, to join them on the March for Life every year for the past few years. All invitations have been turned down.

Why now, Fr. Jenkins?

Had he accepted this invitation 2 years ago I would have been impressed (if that's the right word). And had he invited Obama to speak after he'd been on several of the Marches then maybe I would have believed that the invitation was truly in the spirit of dialog. But as things stand, I'm not sold.

Also, what's up with "The Choice for Life?" Is it a choice?

Despite the name, I hope the Task Force will accomplish great things. Maybe the Women's Care Center will finally open a branch on campus so as to actually, effectively serve ND/SMC students as it's founder Janet Smith intended. Goodness knows it's needed.

So, thanks for the shout-out, Fr. Jenkins.

Seriously and sincerely here: I really haven't given up hope on anyone or the university. And, for as critical as I might be sounding here, there is a lot of promise in this message and in the rumblings I recently heard.

Notre Dame, Our Mother, pray for us!

First Day

Once again a lot has happened since I last posted. My internet access has been rather limited for the last two weeks. I'm working on fixing that.

God works in funny ways, so - incredibly enough - here I am again at in the cluster of LaFortune, blogging. Darragh's missing and I don't have any homework (let alone a thesis).

I'm here, but I'm not a student. It's a strange feeling. I haven't decided if it's nice or not - just strange. I feel bad that everyone's running off to do homework and I'm just sitting around thinking "hmm what should I do now?"


What am I doing here?


Well, uninformed readers, today I started my new job here in South Bend. I'm now a pregnancy resource counselor.

I struggled with the decision to accept the position for a while - partly because of my own financial needs and partly because of the intense nature of the work. Thank you to everyone (especially Salt and Pepper, if either of you read this), for the prayers. I know I will continue to need them. My first day proved my concerns: a 19 year old highschool dropout expecting her second child, with visible scars on her face from her abusive older boyfriend who threw her out as soon as he learned she was expecting again. Hard. Very hard. But at the same time she also gave me assurance that even though there will be many losses this work will have it's rewards: she was resolute to be a good mother, to pull herself together and go back to school, to not let herself be abused again, to save herself for the man who will marry her.

...

God our Father, You were pleased to Bless the Virgin Mary with the gift of bringing Your Son into the world. Graced with the Word of God within Her, She brought forth Your New and Eternal Life to all creation.

We pray You that as You guided Mary, protect and guide all women who carry new life within them. May they be ever conscious of the great Dignity they have been given. May they turn to You in constant prayer and be ever thankful of the Gift they carry within them.

We pray this in the name of Jesus, who is Lord of Life, now and forever. Amen.

Most Rev. Loius E. Gelineau, D, D., Bishop of Providence

Notre Dame 3rd Annual Right to Life Conference

Coming up in a little over a month!
More details soon.

"A March to Remember"

Oh hurray! I'm on the University Homepage!
I tripped over my words a little bit in the interview.

____________________________________________________________

A March to Remember: ND Right to Life Goes to the White House
By: Julie Hail Flory
Date: February 5, 2008
University of Notre Dame Newswire
Source

It’s a yearly trip Mary Elizabeth Walter has made for most of her life. Growing up just outside of Baltimore, the Notre Dame senior joined in many family outings to Washington, D.C., for the March for Life, an event that draws some 200,000 people to the nation’s capital each year to rally for legal protection for the unborn.

Now in her second year as president of Notre Dame Right to Life, she has kept the tradition alive throughout her college career, traveling by bus to Capitol Hill each January with a group of students to participate in the march.

But this year was a little different.

“It was kind of a surprise,” Walter says of the day, about two weeks before the trip, when she learned that this would be no ordinary march experience.

The woman who coordinates the group’s stay in Washington had contacted some friends of hers – who happen to work at the White House – and arranged an opportunity of a lifetime. She wanted to know, would the students be interested in meeting a certain commander-in-chief?

“And, of course, we said ‘yes,’” Walter recalls.

It was Bill McGurn, a 1980 Notre Dame graduate and chief speechwriter to President Bush, and his wife, Julie, who set up the presidential visit for 25 members of the Notre Dame contingent, who first enjoyed breakfast at the White House.

“It was incredible,” Walter says of the experience, which she found especially significant as a history major. “We ate in the Red and Blue and Green Rooms, and those rooms are usually museum space, but there we were, eating breakfast while sitting on the couch that Dolly Madison sat on.”

The group then joined a small crowd of about 200, including about 50 students from nearby Christendom College, in the East Room for an up-close and personal address by the president, who shared his admiration for their commitment to the cause. “I see people with a deep conviction that even the most vulnerable member of the human family is a child of God,” President Bush said. “You're here because you know that all life deserves to be protected. And as you begin your march, I'm proud to be standing with you.”

Held each year to mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that required the legalization of abortion, the March for Life’s mission is to urge the adoption of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to overturn the decision.

The yearly Notre Dame trip is about more than just the march itself. Participants spend time exploring Washington and learning about the history and ideology of the pro-life movement.

“We try to set aside a day to explore the religious sites around D.C. – the National Shrine, the Franciscan monastery – all the sites that remind us why as Catholics, and as Christians, we believe in the right to life,” Walter said. “Then we take another day to explore the secular side; to try to understand why we as Americans, as humans, believe that we have the right to life.”

For the first time this year, the group also spent a day volunteering at various locations around the city.

But not too surprisingly, the highlight most certainly was the audience with the president, who left the crowd with some parting words of encouragement.

“As you give voice to the voiceless, I ask you to take comfort from this: The hearts of the American people are good,” he said.

Walter plans to continue attending the march, even after graduation. But she knows this year’s trip will be hard to top.

“Will we be disappointed that we don’t get to go the White House? Well, we’ll miss it,” she admits, even though future trips certainly won’t be lacking with the week of activities.

“It’s not everyday that the president says thank you and then shakes your hand and says, ‘Go Irish!’”