It was April 2nd 2005, on a Saturday morning, that the late Pope John Paul II passed away, and a quick look at The Southern Star just 20 years ago shows quite a different Ireland. Even then, it didn’t make the front page, but within the paper itself many of the contributors to the community pages remarked specifically on the passing of Karol Józef Wojtyła, with the Carrigaline notes saying how ‘every mass in the parish was well-attended’ over that weekend.
A special meeting was held of the Skibbereen Town Council to pass a vote of sympathy, and standing orders suspended at the Town Council meeting in Kinsale. The same week, the Model School in Dunmanway was officially reopened, and a minute’s silence held to mark the late Pope’s passing. That said, in 2005 there were many readers who would have attended (or endured) Pope John Paul’s visit to Ireland. Compare all of this with the passing of Pope Francis, who by all accounts was a relatively liberal pontiff. The fact that he had visited Ireland in 2018 is a dim memory for many people; no surprise, when you consider that that visit was attended by about 152,000, compared to the 2.5 million who had stood out for Pope John Paul II.
The passing of St Francis will be mourned by the faithful, and be a point of interest too for the public, but won’t possibly be marked with the same pomp and gravity that came with the death of former popes. Most of the curiosity around the passing of a pope lies in the mysteries of the Papal conclave. Who is to say what publicity, more or less, if any, that the death of a pope will be met with in 2045.
Greenways and open arms
While Cork County Council drive on with a second public engagement process on the planned Crossbarry – Bandon - Clonakilty greenway, it is heartening to read a section of the public submissions from the 245 people who took the time to express their thoughts. It is tiresome to hear, almost always from politicians, a braying of dissent when the word ‘Greenway’ is mentioned. In the Council’s report, what stands out is that people made reference to employment areas like the West Cork Technology Park and MSD Brinny, as well as the tourist destinations like Inchydoney. That people recognise a ‘Greenway’ is simply another way to travel is exciting, and that respondents are canny enough to recognise that if there’s money going to be spent on this project, they may as well be part of the ones capitalising on it.
Not all of the submissions were wholly positive, and that’s good too. It means someone cared enough to point out where they saw an issue, such as unsustainable tourist numbers on Inchydoney Island, or that green cover would be needed to shelter Whooper swans in the Bandon Valley. The dates for these works all seem in the far distance, but the world we wake up to is rapidly changing. Since the Covid pandemic, there is a perceptible uptake in the meas people have once more for their surrounds and their home communities. As air travel continues to be ethically (if not financially) problematic, and a manmade recession is predicted, it might be time to make our world smaller, philosophically, and look closer to how we can make our homesteads better and richer.
