U3A Benalla and District Inc.
  • Home
  • Benalla
    • Benalla
    • Benalla District
    • Who, What and Where? - Benalla Rural City
  • About
    • Our U3A
    • President's Page
    • Executive Committee
    • Convenors >
      • Convenors
      • Convenors A - Z 2023
    • Program Suggestions
    • Newsletter
    • Website
  • Groups
    • Groups A - Z
    • Recent Groups >
      • Armchair History
      • German - Beginners
      • Meditation
      • Russian Literature
      • Hot Topics/The News - Fact or Fiction?
    • Archived Groups >
      • A - M >
        • A Different View Of German History
        • Armchair Traveller
        • Booker Reading Group
        • Bushwalking - Mid-week Walks
        • Comparative Religion
        • Facebook for Mentors
        • Google Apps/TS Plus
        • History - An Introduction to Western Civilization
        • History - Moments in Australian History
        • Investment I (1996 -2015)
        • Legal Matters (Short Course)
        • Making the Most of the Internet
      • O - Z >
        • On Target - Learning to Shop Online
        • Opera
        • 'Over There'
        • Rail and Tourism
        • Tech Savvy Apple Devices - Intermediate
        • Tech Savvy Community Projects
        • Travel Group
        • Zoom Short Course
  • A-Col
    • A - COL
    • 'A Taste of Art'
    • Art Appreciation
    • Australian History
    • 'As Time Goes By' >
      • Home
      • 'Precious Objects'
      • 'Failure'
      • Our Stories - by topic
    • 'Be Connected'
    • Birdwatching
    • Brain Games
    • Bushwalking - Easy Walks
    • Cards '500'
    • Chat n' Chew
    • Coin Collectors
    • Collectors
  • Col-G
    • COM - G
    • Community Singing
    • Creative Writing
    • Demystifying Psychology
    • Enjoying the Internet
    • Exercises for Fun
    • Exploring the Universe
    • Family Research - Advanced >
      • Home
      • Family Stories
    • Family Research - Beginners
    • Film Discussion Group
    • Garden Appreciation
    • Garden Team
    • German >
      • German Home
      • Lessons
  • I - R
    • I - R
    • 'In the Lap of the Gods'
    • Investment
    • Jane Austen Book Club
    • Let's Talk Books
    • Lifeball
    • Meet and Mingle
    • Music Appreciation
    • Page Turners
    • Patchwork and Craft
    • Photography
    • Play Reading
    • Politics & Current Affairs
    • Recorder Group
  • S - Z
    • S -Z
    • Singing for Fun
    • Sky's the Limit
    • Stock and Land
    • Sustainability
    • Tech Advice
    • Tech Savvy Apple - 'Pages'
    • Tech Savvy Beginners - Android
    • Tech Talks
    • Ukes4Fun
    • Wine Appreciation
    • Wise Guys Book Group
  • Join
    • Join Us
    • Membership Application/Renewal Form
    • Program Guide 2023
    • Timetable - Month Overview
    • Full Timetable with Dates
    • New Courses 2023
    • Venues and Maps
  • News
    • News - General
    • March Newsletter
    • Calendar 2022
    • Monthly Calendar
    • Website & Facebook
  • FB
  • Gallery
    • Gallery 2022
    • Gallery 2021
    • Gallery 2020
    • Gallery 2019
    • Gallery 2018
    • Gallery 2017
    • Gallery 2016 >
      • + Christmas Lunch 2016
    • Gallery 2015 >
      • Christmas Lunch 2015
    • Gallery 2014
    • Lifeball Video
  • Links
    • Resources and References
    • U3A Network Victoria
    • Seniors Online Victoria
    • U3A Albury Wodonga
    • U3A Beechworth (Indigo U3A)
    • U3A Bright
    • U3A Wangaratta
    • U3A Goulburn Valley
  • Contact

'A Friendship Tested'

3/4/2018

0 Comments

 
​Ireland in the 1960’s was a place where skin colour wasn’t a big issue but religion was.  There were a few different protestant denominations but everyone was looked upon as either Catholic or Protestant and never the twain did mix (or very rarely).  There is a touch of Karma in this story.

I had met a very nice young man on holidays in England and come Christmas time he came over to Dublin to visit me and my family who lived in the country.  He was a Protestant.  I wrote to my Mother saying I would be bringing him home on Christmas Eve for the Christmas period.  She wrote back saying she didn’t want someone in the house who would not be going to Mass on Christmas Day.  I replied that my boyfriend was quite willing to come to Mass with us.  I got another letter from her saying “I won’t have a Protestant coming to Mass with us”.  My solution was to arrive home after Mass.

Sometime later a Protestant family moved into the house across the road from my parents and my father, Christy, and Fred, the neighbour, became great mates.  My father was not a big drinker but he liked a pint of Guinness or two and the mates would occasionally meet in the local country pub.

Then one Christmas Eve they met in town.  One drink led to another and then another, with some Scotches or Jameson’s in between.  By closing time they were very drunk.  When they had to leave the pub, neither felt like going home, so Christy suggested that, as Midnight Mass was due to start, they should go to Mass.  Fred agreed.

The Catholic churches in Ireland were very large because the majority of the population was Catholic.  On Christmas Eve they were packed with people.  Now if Christy went to Mass drunk and sat in one of the back pews, it wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow but no, the Catholic and the Protestant both staggered all the way up to the front of the church and sat in the front pew.

It was a great topic of conversation in the community over Christmas and for a long time afterwards.  My father was very sheepish about the affair, but it didn’t affect his friendship with Fred.

My Mother was mortified but, as I said in the beginning, it was Karma.
 

​Elizabeth Kearns
March 2018

0 Comments
    Our Stories

    Elizabeth's page

    Eilis Ui Ciarain, or Elizabeth Kearns, joined Writing Workshop in 2017. As well  writing in memoir form Elizabeth increasingly enjoys working creatively, writing stories set during the time in which she grew up in County Roscommon, Ireland.  Elizabeth also shares stories which reflect the adventurous spirit which led to her coming to Australia, and eventually to Benalla.    

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    'A Curved Ball'
    'A Cynical Look At Time'
    'A Family Ritual'
    'A Friendship Tested'
    'A Love Letter To Travel'
    'A Personal Challenge'
    'A Walk In The Park'
    'Car Story"
    'Challenged'
    'Childhood Memories'
    'Covid-19 Musings'
    'Crash'
    Creative Writing
    'Cringe'
    "Cutting The Turf'
    'Discovering Politics'
    Girley Bog
    'Grandparents'
    Houses
    Ireland
    'I Was There'
    'Jim McCormack'
    'Leprechauns'
    'Life Is Queer'
    'Lost In Music'
    'One Moment
    'On The Bog'
    'Out Of The Blue'
    Rebellion
    'Right Here
    Right Now'
    Saturday Nights...
    'Someone Who Shaped Me'
    Stock And Land
    'Taking A Risk And Winging It'
    'The Farm'
    'The Too Hard Basket'
    'Things I've Left Behind'
    'This Life'
    This Year' (2020)
    'Trim On The Banks Of The Boyne'

    Archives

    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    April 2020
    September 2019
    May 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    August 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017

    RSS Feed

We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay our respects to their elders - past, present and emerging.
Picture
News
​Newsletter
Facebook Page
​
Program Suggestions
​CO-VID Safety

U3A Benalla & District Flier 2023
​Membership Application/Renewal Form 
​
Program Guide 2023
Semester 1 Timetable with Dates 2023
Semester 1 Timetable Month Overview 2023
Developed and maintained by members, this website showcases U3A Benalla & District. 
​Photographs - U3A members; Benalla Art Gallery website; ​Weebly 'Free' images;Travel Victoria and State Library of Victoria