Print Issue: March 21, 2002

New York City's Finest Are Grand Marshals

Remembering 9/11 Marks St. Patrick's Day Mass And Parade

Three-year-old Colin Donnelly of St. Brendan's Church, Cumming, stands on East Paces Ferry Road waving as the public safety vehicles ride by with horns blowing and sirens screaming during the annual St. Patrick's parade in Buckhead. Kneeling at Donnelly's side is his grandmother Lilly O'Neil.

By Gretchen Keiser, Staff Writer

ATLANTA - Hearts that needed a lift got one on St. Patrick's Day as people prayed, feasted and cheered in Atlanta for Irish contributions to America, especially those who gave their lives Sept. 11 as firefighters, police and rescue workers in New York City.

New York firefighters Mike Moran and Tommy Woods, Jim McGrath of the New York police department, and N.Y./N.J. Port Authority Deputy Chief Len Mackesy were grand marshals of the parade March 16 and honored at the St. Patrick's Day Mass at the Cathedral of Christ the King that morning.

"We really appreciate how wonderful everyone has been," said Moran, whose brother, John, an FDNY special-operations battalion chief, was killed at the World Trade Center.

"Hopefully it won't be as emotional to be away," he said, of the opportunity to be in Atlanta rather than New York City for the holiday. In addition to his brother, he lost 12 fellow firefighters from his station, Ladder 3, over a third of their total manpower. "We lost the night shift and the day shift."

Mackesy, a permanent deacon at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Kearny, N.J., who came with his wife, Jane, said the Port Authority lost 37 people. "Thirty were Catholic and many were of Irish heritage."

He has been working at Ground Zero and doing memorial services. The trip is a break from 12-hour days, six days a week. But he has sensed God's presence throughout in the outpouring of people who came to cheer workers on, to bring food, to send cards, signs and prayers.

"It means so much to (the workers) to know the rest of the country is with them," he said. "It's what keeps them going."

Outside the Cathedral before Mass, many people spontaneously stopped to greet the uniformed officers and when they were introduced at the end of Mass, a wave of sustained and obviously heartfelt applause swept through the church.

During the parade, tributes by two groups of bagpipers, who played in front of the reviewing stand, brought tears to their eyes. But there was laughter as well, as high school bands, Irish step dancers, and even Irish setters wearing green top hats and kerchiefs marched along Peachtree Street in Buckhead.

The weather, which at times seemed bent on rain, held for the day's events, which began with a 9 a.m. Mass.

Msgr. Edward Dillon spoke on the importance of unity for the Irish and Irish-American community in his homily.

"It's probably fair to say that one of the most constant themes throughout Irish history is division-division among various tribes, kingdoms and political factions-division even in the face of a common enemy," he said. "That penchant for division and dissension, probably more than any other single cause, is one of the main reasons Ireland suffered so many centuries of oppression and occupation."

Monsignor Edward Dillon, pastor of Holy Spirit Church, Atlanta, far right, stands outside the Cathedral of Christ the King, Atlanta, following the annual St. Patrick's Day Mass, March 16. He is joined by (l-r) Mike Moran, a New York City fireman from Ladder #3, Leonard Mackesy, chief of patrol for the New York/New Jersey Port Authority Police, Rose Begley, St. Patrick's Day Mass coordinator, and James McGrath, a member of the emergency service unit of the New York City Police Department.

The good that came of it, he said, was the migration of millions of Irish to other countries, bringing their contributions and talents, especially to the United States.

Historically many became police and firemen, he said. In Atlanta, the first volunteer fire group established in 1850 was Irish. A professional fire department started in 1882 with an Irish chief. The Hibernian Benevolent Society, established in 1858, is the oldest civic organization in Atlanta. The Society started a St. Patrick's Day observance with an annual Mass, ball and parade, which is now in its 121st year and is the oldest and largest civic parade in Atlanta.

Recently five Irish organizations in Atlanta agreed to work jointly to "support one another and to help recent Irish immigrants to this area," Msgr. Dillon said. Among other things, the teamwork resulted in this year's parade being the largest ever, with over 200 units marching. He urged the congregation "to make sure this unselfish unity of purpose continues in the years ahead."

"Our prayer on this St. Patrick's Day celebration might be that the enthusiasm and vigor with which the Irish immigrants embraced America would become a characteristic of all our people, so that we would be not just in name, but in fact, 'one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.'"

He also noted the death March 14 of Msgr. Louis Naughton, who always took part in the St. Patrick's Day Mass and often read the message from the president of Ireland.

Sporting an Irish beret and red wig, Father Paul Flood, left, pastor of St. Michael the Archangel Church, Woodstock, kids around with Bernie Mooney, visiting from Dublin, Ireland. Father Flood, also a native Dublin, caught up with Mooney during the reception and Irish entertainment that followed the St. Patrick's Day Mass in the parish hall of the Cathedral of Christ the King, Atlanta.

This year's message from President Mary McAleese of Ireland, read by Dr. James Flannery, recalled Sept. 11, saying St. Patrick's Day "is a day to bring to mind memories, some of which lift our hearts and others that weigh us down with grief and sadness."

"The tragic memory of Sept. 11 still haunts our minds and thinking back to that dreadful day we can see clearly how much we needed the strength and comfort of friends, how much we depended on each other for reassurance that we would and could transcend this darkness and again find the light of hope," she said. "Today . . . we turn our hearts and minds again to each other across seas and continents and we affirm our deep bonds of affection and care for one another, bonds which time and tides cannot weaken."

St. Patrick's message from over 1,500 years ago has "a remarkable timeless integrity," she said, that the virtues of "love, patience, forgiveness and tolerance . . . could work miracles in transforming human relationships from conflict to harmony. May his generous spirit inspire us today and every day."

Harpist Debra Peterson and cantor Sam Hagan, accompanied by organist Alan Brown, provided music, including an Irish blessing. Girls from the Cregan-O'Brien School of Dance in Roswell, dressed in shamrock green, distributed programs and brought up the offertory gifts.

After the Mass, in the Cathedral parish hall, the dancers performed, Jessica Kirslis, 15, a freshman at St. Pius X High School, Atlanta, sang "Danny Boy," and Mass-goers feasted on various Irish soda breads and scones homemade early that morning by Rose Begley, Bridie O'Connor and Eileen McGing.

"I've been making bread since I was 9 years old," laughed Begley, the coordinator of the Mass, and a native of County Monaghan. "We never went to the stores to buy bread. We made two or three loaves every day."

Students, parents and staff of the Solidarity School, Sandy Springs, roll by on their float during the March 16 St. Patrick's Day parade.

She appreciated the homily on unity, recalling her father's words when she, at 19, and her two brothers were sent alone by boat to the United States to begin new lives. "He said, 'Wherever you go, whatever you do, stick together and don't hold grudges.'"

"I loved the monsignor's homily today," Begley said. " I thought that was very, very meaningful."

Mary Coulson, president of the Hibernian Benevolent Society of Atlanta, sponsors of the Mass, said she also sensed a new spirit of unity.

"Since 9-11, I've seen people pull together so amazingly. We're all playing as a team. We're all conscious of how precious life is," Coulson said. "It is wonderful to see our New York heroes, too. That ties it all together."

The parade committee is made up of representatives from the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Clan Na NGael, Firefighters Emerald Society of Metropolitan Atlanta, Hibernian Benevolent Society of Atlanta, Irish Information Center of Atlanta and the Metropolitan Atlanta Police Emerald Society.