4/15/2009

On The Far Reaches of the Emerald Isle. By Uncle Monty.

On the Far Reaches of the Emerald Isle.
By Uncle Monty.

.
Letterfrack is a small 19th century Quaker setttle-
ment on the far reaches of the Emerald Isle at about
110 kilometers north-west of Galway. Letterfrack
is also called Leitir-bheac -in Irish Gaelic.
.
I am here not only to make my first visit to the West
Coast of Connacht, but also to learn more about the
horrors that existed at the stern and sex-perverted
hands of the Irish Christian Brothers at the Letter-
frack Industrial (Reform) School that was finally shut
down in 1974 after so much international news media
coverage that then exposed the ongoing abuse and
sexual crimes committed against those youngsters
put in "care" of such bad men
of "The Catholic Cloth."
.

.
My long standing interest and deep curiosity surrounding
the Letterfrack delinquent boys school stems from an odd
encounter with a young Irish man who I met at a Boston
prison reform conference in America a few years after
the Irish Christian Brothers had been exposed for their
wicked deeds against such hapless charges in their "care."

.

Great pity that Letterfrack didn't produce a superb
Irish writer like Brendon Behan (1923-1964) in his
1958 authorship of his book "Borstal Boy." For
Letterfrack deserves such treatment and insight
that only an Irish-born ex-British prison inmate like
Brendon Behan could master by the brilliant power
of his written and ringing literature of Britian's ogre
borstal system of juvenile reformation that came to
end in 1982. Incidentally, Behan's best-seller was
banned in Ireland on the grounds of obscenity.
.
As for the ex-Letterfrack inmate, he detailed the
horror of what the Christian Brothers had done to him
that included severe canings, whippings with leather
razorstraps , and physical beatings for the least little in-
fraction at Letterfrack that he was sent to when he was
only a mere lad of 13 or 14. He had committed no crime,
but was sent to the Christian Brothers because his par-
ents thought he needed strict and unyeilding discipline
to control his ill-temper and emotional outbursts at
home and also at church! He spent over 3 years
under the tyrannical sexual abuse, too, of certain
religious brothers that controlled the Irish reform
school like a "juvenile Alcatraz," he said.
www.paddydoyle.com/tobin.html
.

.
So all these long years later, I am now standing
right at Letterfrack and wondering whatever
happened to the young Irish ex-inmate who
chiselled in my mind the horror of what he des-
cribed to those of us at the U.S. prison reform
conference regarding the wickedness that was
perpetrated against him, and hundreds of other
Irish kids, at the perverted hands of the stern
and sick Christian Brothers at Eire's Letterfrack.
.

.
My deep interests in historical penology and state
criminological methods to stem juvenile delinquency
is summed up best in my desire to come here to
Letterfrack to try to understand how such children
in care could be so abused and mistreated by their
own carers, who seem to have betrayed everything
that we should expect to be good and proper of
them in such institutions like the Letterfrack
Industrial School.
.
I earned my B.A. degree in sociology and political
science on my then indepth thesis that chronciled
and analysed the rise and development of penal
laws against children in late 17th century Colonial
Ameria. My Master's graduate school studies ex-
amined the history and penological theories of the
religious rise and form of the first adult American
penitentiary at Philadelphia in 1789, by the dour
Quakers of Pennsylvania, to their eventual
relinquishment at the rise of state control over
such brutal penitentiaries that had now spread
all across America by the middle of the 19th cen-
tury. Along with the rise of the cruel state juvenile
reformatories that first began in 1876 at Elmira, at
upstate New York, which I have also visited. Letter-
frack is, therefore, much on my mind, right now.

.


.
I am here on the far reaches of the Emerald Isle
to also spend my time visiting further south to
Galway herself and then onto Eire's third largest
city of Limerick that is said to be a huge haven
for Irish Gypies or Romany Travellors. Tipper-
ery, Cork, and Waterford also beckon me. I
have no plans to hit Ireland's capital of Dublin,
since I've been there, done that, of long ago!
Rather, I will head even further south-east to
the Stena ferry at Rosslare Harbour on my final
leg back to sad Old Blighty. See you all then ...
.
So to you all from Eire, Uncle Monty.
+Easter Wednesday, 2oo9.

CORK, Eire. Arrived now at Cork, the second largest city of Ireland after departing from Galway and Letterfrack that has resulted in learning more about that horror of the Irish Industrial School to which I will write more about under my upcoming story title: "Letterfrack: The National Shame of Erin's Isle." My visit to The Letterfrack Industrial School cemetery was a hideous eye opener for me with 77 graves of boys age 8 to 16 who died at the cruel and murderous hands of the Irish Christian Brothers from 1881 until it was closed by public outcry in 1974. In the meantime, I am here at Cork to explore more during my extraordinary trip to the Western and now Southern regions of Eire. Thank you to those of my kind friends who have emailed me while here in the Republic of Ireland. I am well and enjoying every minute here despite the shame of Letterfrack. Yours, Uncle Monty. +Eve of the 1st Sunday after Easter, 09. After second thought, I will now call my upcoming story - "LETTERFRACT: The Irish Gulag."

> the same to you, dear father alexander.
hello father: a blessed and happy easter to you, too, father alexander!! very nice to hear from you. i'm in galway, ireland, right now and off to limerick tomorrow. have just been at letterfract on the far reaches of the emerald isle. you can read my intro story online about it at http://thebiggerissue.org. i have been following the delaration of the new archbishop of westminister to replace retiring cardinal murphy-o'conner. i was hoping that our wonderful bishop bernard longley might have been chosen, even though he was long shot on the short list. if you see him, please be sure to tell him that i send my fond anglican greetings to him. all is well and i hope you're well, too. i have stopped by at st. patrick's twice, but saw no sign of you even though i asked after you. perhaps next time??? sooner or later we'll see each other, father, if the good lord so determines one way or another. +faithfully, monty. +easter friday, 2oo9.
.
> what an indictment of gordon brown!! good morning frank: WELL SAID!!! i read yourpointed comments in the standard and agree totally with your viewpoint ... the problem is, your labour party is stuck with gordon brown just like the country is. new labour might as well "call it day" for the party is now over, as dame shirley bassey sang so many years ago in her wonderful style. hope you're fine, frank. i'm off to the emerald isle later today to visit letterfrack, galway, and limerick, for about a week. take care, monty. +easter wednesday, 2oo9. ps. have you considered defecting from new labour? To: Hon. Frank Fields, M.P. April 15th, 2oo9. 4.44am.

>> REPLY FROM FRANK FIELD, M.P. << Thanks for your encouraging message. I will keep trying to make a positive contribution so that Labour has a chance at the next election. I hope the trip in Ireland is good. With best wishes, Frank Field.

RE: what an indictment of gordon brown!! Date: Fri 04/17/09 08:46 AM.
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1 comment:

patty said...

do have a good visit while in ireland monty dear ... it's
patty, who else?