Sunday 16 August 2009

Rathkeale worshippers stumped by act of vandalism

You will, of course, be aware that today is the blessed Feast of the Assumption. Even as I write, you are probably on the way back from Rathkeale, Limerick, where the big day was celebrated with gusto by worshippers who flocked to the sacred field containing a tree stump in the likeness of “the Virgin Mary holding a baby”.

Council workmen discovered the miraculous qualities of the stump last month after they felled some trees adjacent to a schoolyard. Since then, it has become a regular focus for the devout, who say rosaries in its presence.

So far, so Father Ted, only this is not a sitcom, this is Ireland – though sometimes the boundaries with Craggy Island get more blurred than Father Jack’s vision after a good feed of Brasso.

However, it seems that nothing is sacred to the heathens who vandalized Ireland’s real “class-A relic” last weekend. Apparently, worshippers arrived at the sacred stump last Sunday morning to “have a bit of an old pray” only to discover that the Devil’s spawn of Rathkeale – indifferent to the risk of divine retribution - had sprayed it with paint.

“This was an action carried out by mindless morons who have nothing better to do”, local shopkeeper Thomas Hogan told the Irish Times. "It’s extremely disappointing to think that something like this could happen on sacred ground”.

Fortunately for the worshippers, a group of Rathkeale women wooden let the vandals spoil the big Assumption Day show, and restored the stump to its former glory (be to God) for the hundreds of people turning up at the field today to offer thanks and prayers.

We won’t make any remarks about “mindless morons with nothing better to do”, as that would be a cheap shot.

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6 comments:

Harry said...

I was in Limerick today. It certainly wasn't for this... The people who signed the peition to save the 'holy stump of Rathkeale' are the same sort of people who vote FF because

'the family has always been Fianna FaĆ­l and sure who am I to question John O'Donoghue's expenses, sure the money was only resting in his bank account and it was all for the good of the country and sure you can't expect them to be staying in guest houses when they're off in 'Merica and sure 'twas only a few million they wasted there, sure 'tis only a drop in the ocean, and sure that's not where the problem is, do you know where the problem is? It's all those Polish/African/Chinese who come over here taking out children's jobs, sure my little Paddy hasn't been able to get a job this past 10 years apart from the odd nixer and sure why would he declare it anyway, sure 'tis only a few quid and sure doesn't he deserve it, he's white and Catholic and Irish and bone idle like his father before him and his father..."

I'd love to feel sorry for these people, but their parocial, superstitious, insular ways have this country in it's current predicament.

The Gombeen Man said...

Yep BP... think you could well be right. It's all part of the one malaise.

Bernd said...

Small niggle ... the Feast of the Assumption is on August 15th. By the way, it was only made official in 1950 by Pius XII, a.k.a. "Hitler's Pope".

Der Wanderer said...

A fundraiser will provide the money for a proper safety case, so these people can pray their rosaries at the stumpf for the next decade.

Anonymous said...

http://news.uk.msn.com/odd-news/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=148035088

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25329094-5013016,00.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8071865.stm

The Gombeen Man said...

Great Anon. I'm going to keep chomping the Mars Bars in the hope of seeing Jesus!!!!!!!!!