On St Patrick’s Day, emigrants have the ‘isle of home’ always on their minds
ICAN remember the morning well; it was 1983, I was 12. My family, in our Ford Escort, drove through Dublin City from Kildare (there being no M50 then). We were heading to the airport to drop off my sister who was on her way to the USA to begin a new life. As we stood at the departure gate, the tears began to well up within me and then started to flow. I wanted to be brave, but I couldn’t hold them back.
This was new territory – we were saying ‘goodbye’ to my sister, the first to leave home. After the hugs and the tears were shared, she went through the gate to set out on her new adventure in life.
Later that day, my mother walked the floors at home awaiting the phone call to deliver the news that my sister had arrived safe and sound. After a long wait, it eventually came, much to my mother’s relief.
The brief chat captured the typical Irish phone conversation of the time. It was permeated with questions… ‘How was flight? What’s the weather like?’ Then in conclusion, ‘This’ll cost you a fortune, we better let you go...’ and so the chapter of emigration had begun for my family.
Soon afterwards my brother and other sister would depart for ‘the States’ to join so many other young Irish in the 1980s. At that time they were known as ‘illegal aliens’ until the Donnelly and Morrison visas were issued.
This experience echoed those of many a family in the 1980s, and as far back as the 1950s. Due to poor economic circumstances, so many were forced to leave home to find a new life, mainly in England and the USA.
As they settled, many of them met in dance halls where the Irish gathered, a number of them married and had families. Some settled and remained, while others eventually came back home.
Today the experience is somewhat different. Many young Irish continue to emigrate, but now mainly to Australia, Canada and Dubai.
For some it is a choice, an adventure, a chance to see and experience different parts of the world. For others, even though they have good jobs, they are unable to afford housing, and find themselves exploring different possibilities abroad. Despite the revolution in communications with FaceTime, Skype, WhatsApp etc., the ache of separation still runs deep.
As we celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, our thoughts are very much with our loved ones away from home. The Irish Bishops’ Council for Emigrants serves the needs of a great number of Irish emigrants, many now ageing, having left our shores as long ago as the 1950s.
The Council is also there to support those who experience tragedy and cares for the needs of Irish people in prison throughout the world through the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas (ICPO).
In recent years I had the privilege of seeing this work in action during pastoral visits to the United States and London. During these visits I heard many stories from Irish people, tales of how they left home and started new lives in different places. Despite the years away, as I listened, I could still hear their passion for home.
On these visits I also saw firsthand the direct practical assistance offered to Irish people who are in crisis and are experiencing extreme hardship. This can be as simple as providing hot water bottles, electric blankets, furniture, and food to those who are most in need and struggling to keep warm and pay their bills.
There are also a number of support programmes promoting good health and wellbeing for those who are ageing or suffering ill health; assistance is offered with accessing statutory services as well.
Many of the Irish people we support need help navigating items such as housing and benefits due to digitalisation and lack of faceto-face services. Further to this, social and friendship supports are offered to those who are lonely and vulnerable. This work is made possible through the generosity of those who support the Irish Emigrants’ Collection taken up in many parishes across the country at this time of year, something that is deeply appreciated.
As I write these words, I am conscious of the issue of immigration in Ireland today; it is both sensitive and complex. However, as we celebrate our national patron Saint Patrick, a person who came from another land to live in our country, surely this must raise our awareness of the plight of those who have travelled from foreign lands to begin a new life in Ireland today.
Do they not deserve the same welcome that we wished for our own emigrants in the past and in the present day? This goes to the heart of the Christian message Patrick brought to us, as Christ reminds us in Matthew 25: ‘I was a stranger and you made me welcome.’
EMIGRATION has shaped us as a nation over the past couple of centuries, something captured in the words of the song Isle of Hope. It tells the story of a young Annie Moore from Ireland landing on the pier of Ellis Island in 1842. Her mixed emotions are captured in the chorus: ‘Isle of hope, isle of tears, isle of freedom, isle of fears; but it’s not the isle you left behind, that isle of hunger, isle of pain, isle you’ll never see again – but the isle of home is always on your mind.’
Today we pray for all our emigrants, no doubt home is on their mind on this day. We remember those who left many years ago and those who set off in more recent times. We remember their families and all who love and miss them. May our love and prayers warm their hearts this day. Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh.