IRISH CULTURAL WEEK UNDER WAY IN LOWELL
'This week invites everybody to be Irish'
LOWELL >> Irish Cultural Week kicked off in Lowell over the weekend in The Acre with hundreds in the St. Patrick Church for an opening mass Sunday followed by a parade to City Hall for the ceremonial flag raising.
Father Richard “Doc” Conway led the mass, and in it he declared that, while Lowell is home to many immigrant communities, in this week leading up to St. Patrick’s Day, all of them can feel free to feel Irish.
“This week invites everybody to be Irish, no matter what your last name is or what country you come from, everybody is Irish this week,” said Conway.
Conway looked back to the 1820s when Lowell was being founded, and how the Irish immigrants who first came to the city, and other cities in the early United States, were treated.
“As we remember how Irish immigrants were treated, we learn how we should treat immigrants today,” said Conway.
“Love the stranger, as you are descendants of strangers. I think every person in Lowell is the descendant of an immigrant.”
Irish Cultural Council member Kimberly Mcmahon followed, and recalled Conway creating the council in 1983, 40 years ago.
“Father Conway had an idea. He wanted to create an Irish Cultural Committee that would honor, preserve and celebrate the culture and heritage of the Irish men and women who built this beautiful church and this wonderful parish,” said Mcmahon.
The first Irish Cultural Week in Lowell took place the following year, in 1984.
After the mass, many in the crowd joined the opening parade, which marched down to City Hall for the raising of the Irish flag. There, Mcmahon spoke about the creation of Lowell Irish Inc., a nonprofit set up in part by the cultural council to raise funds for non-religious Irish cultural events.
“Our mission as Lowell Irish Inc. will be to continue to bring cultural programming to the Greater Lowell community and to support the parish of St. Patricks,” said Mcmahon.
Lowell Mayor Sokhary Chau spoke after, and said that the sermon at St. Patrick’s just before had been his favorite in terms of celebrating culture in the City of Lowell, which he said has been hospitable to many different immigrant groups over time.
“I think that type of hospitality in Lowell, of other cultures, that is what drives us forward, that is what makes Lowell the best city in the country,” said Chau.
Irish Cultural Week continues leading up to, and after St. Patrick’s Day March 17. On March 14 at 7 p.m. the Mt. Pleasant Country Club will host an Irish movie night for a screening of
“The Quiet Man.”
On March 16 the country club will host the Acre Forum and Anam Cara Awards, where Eleanor Dunfey-freiburger, author of the 2019 book based in Lowell “Counter Culture,” will be the featured speaker.
Irish Cultural Week will conclude the evening after St. Patrick’s Day on March 18 with a dinner dance at Lenzi’s Mill House in Dracut, with music by the Silver Spears Irish Band.