Clare campaigner to host virtual Féile Bríde event

LAHINCH’S Ruairí McKiernan will host a special event this weekend to celebrate the feast of St Brigid.

The event, on Saturday afternoon, will hear from a Nobel Peace Laureate, as well as a man the Dalai Lama described as a ‘hero’ at a Virtual Féile Bríde event.

Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Richard Moore will join the conversation which will explore issues relating to peace and justice in the modern world.

The virtual Féile Bríde event, hosted online last year for the first time, was a huge success with hundreds joining from around the world and while it is expected to return to Kildare next year, this year the virtual option remains very popular.

To date, registrations for Saturday’s event have come from people in Brazil, Guatemala, South Africa, North America, and Vietnam.

McKiernan is a Lahinch-based campaigner and the author of Hitching for Hope. He will moderate the event involving special guest Belfast’s Mairead Corrigan Maguire.

Ms Corrigan Maguire won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 in recognition of her work as a founder of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement, later renamed as Peace People.

Mairead shared the prize with Betty Williams, a woman who witnessed the killing of Mairead’s sister’s three children, a tragic event which led to the founding of the Peace People movement.

In recent decades Ms Corrigan Maguire has remained a committed peace campaigner and a staunch critic of war and the weapons industry.
In 2006 she co-founded the Nobel Women’s Initiative. She has also been active in support of the Palestinian people and in June 2010 she was part of the flotilla of boats that attempted to break the blockade of Gaza.

Derry man Richard Moore is also due to speak. His uncle was one of those who was killed on Bloody Sunday in 1972. Later that same year, a ten-year-old Richard was on his way home from school, when he was blinded for life by a rubber bullet fired by a British soldier. The horrific incident marked the beginning of a remarkable story of forgiveness and compassion.

Despite losing his sight in such a traumatic way, Richard returned to his old school, went on to university, successfully ran his own business, became an accomplished musician, married and had two children, and went on to found the international development organisation Children in Crossfire.

Mr Moore is known as an inspirational voice for peace and compassion after choosing not to hold bitterness towards the soldier who shot him.

In 2006, he met that soldier and they became friends. His work for change has been recognised by the Dalai Lama, with whom he has become good friends. At the tenth anniversary of Children in Crossfire the Tibetan leader described Richard as his hero and “a wonderful son of humanity”.

Other speakers include Abjata Khalif, an acclaimed journalist and a development worker from Kenya, who is also Chair of the Kenya Pastoralist Journalist Network; Ciara Murphy from the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice; and former UCC Professor John Maguire.

The event will be opened with the annual lighting of a flame by Rita Minehan, co-founder of Solas Bhríde Centre and Hermitages in Kildare. Legendary County Down folk singer Tommy Sands will also perform.

Afri coordinator Joe Murray says the event this year comes at a particularly appropriate time and aims to celebrate the work of peace while challenging the violence and aggression in the world.

“I am mindful of the recent tragic death of Ashling Murphy in Tullamore and the many other victims of violence in our society,” he said.

“We must challenge images of maleness that celebrate aggression and dominance and instead promote kindness and compassion as strengths. This for me is the message of Brighid of Kildare.

“We must challenge the culture of violence and oppose it in all its forms. This includes opposing the Irish government’s new efforts to encourage weapons production in Ireland and to significantly increase military spending and military hardware.

“We are fortunate to have incredible voices of peace joining us on Saturday – some of whom know the reality of war and violence at first hand.

“I would encourage everyone who can to register for what is sure to be a timely,  uplifting and hopeful event as we move into the springtime.”

The online event runs from 3pm-4.30pm on Saturday (February 5). Registration is free but donations are welcome on Afri.ie.