Was reading just now in the newspaper that Pope Benedikt has informed that Limbo ( Limbus ), the place where the souls of unbaptised children rested for all eternity, does not exsist. I cannot imagine how people of my Grandmother,s generation would react to all these changes were they still living.
Donald

Donald, too late for me. At fourteen, I told Father Lynn in the confessional that I doubted this 'mystery', and was told to go home and pray. That led to my final disillusionment with the Church, culminating in the Abervan disaster.

And, since we delve into deper waters, have you read Heaney's poem?

Dabbler
Not yet but I will,
I remember Father Lynn ( or was it Breen ) doing a very heroic deed in St Joseph,s hall on Sunday night over 50 years ago, I experienced, during a concert he repeatly cuffed an 10 year old boy, who in the heat of the moment got carried away and accompanied the band on the stage rubbing his empty lemonade bottle against the radiator, then grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and forcibly ejected him from the hall. Such heroic deeds must be recorded and kept on record for future generations
Donald

Now yer talkin'!

No doubt you mean this one Dabbler, Do you know when he wrote it?
Donald

Limbo

Fishermen at Ballyshannon
Netted an infant last night
Along with the salmon.
An illegitimate spawning,

A small one thrown back
To the waters. But I'm sure
As she stood in the shallows
Ducking him tenderly

Till the frozen knobs of her wrists
Were dead as the gravel,
He was a minnow with hooks
Tearing her open.

She waded in under
The sign of the cross.
He was hauled in with the fish.
Now limbo will be

A cold glitter of souls
Through some far briny zone.
Even Christ's palms, unhealed,
Smart and cannot fish there.

Donald
Just quickly, before I get stuck into other things, like getting the MOT done:
No, I don't know when he wrote it, but it's a fine piece. He is SO Irish.
On this Lisburn forum I like to find, or write, a bit of nostalgia, stories of the old days, with a wee bit of humour to lighten things up.
'An Exile' writes knowledgeably about social history, which is interesting, but could relate to any part of the British Isles. His 'soul' is missing.

Got a few jobs to do as well, am installing a light and socket in the Garage and hope to get one of those fancy motors for the up and over door. Then I have to give my neighbour a helping hand setting up a programme to print visiting cards. Then tomorrow pick up 2 Paddies from the airport, bring them to their hotel as they are coming for the Construction Exhibition. I was given a free ticket so I may go on Thursday. leaves just Friday for my hobbies, beer and crumpet.
Donald

Back from MOT - one new wiper and pass, but advisory note on rear tyres, rims. Plus a barely discernible oil leak.
You sound like a busy man, Donald. I could do with a fellow like you here, if you're cheap enough.
It's all fun in the real world, eh?

Donald , I heard said that at the beginning this is what happened when God founded his Church. He said to Peter,"Thou art Peter & upon this rock I will build my Church. Whatever u shall loose upon Earth it shall b loosed also in Heaven" The Man who said that meant it. That is what our grandmothers would have said!!!!!Mine would also have said "What r u bothering ur head about all that for. You will find out one day Maybe then u will get a quare merrycuranter. "

What was wrong with telling u to pray, Dabbler? He did,nt say u were not maybe right? The way people thought years ago would amaze one today but then we all have to think for ourselves & use a bit of commonsense. Pat Burns.

Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church. I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven. Whatsoever thou shalt loose upon Earth shall be loosed also in Heaven. Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep.
Nothing there about belting boys round the ears.

Dabbler, I was replying to Donald,s of 23rd.
But as u mention it, many,s the wet dish-cloth I got round the legs & the back of the neck in my young days, by my Ma when I gave back-cheek. Sometimes threw out into the rose bushes in my grannies, if me & my brother were fighting, to cool our heels. As far as I know it was the done thing in those days. Nowadays we r afraid to look sideways at the young ones. U can, win.

Thank goodness our kids and grand kids mean so much to us we don't allow everyone who feels like it to slap them around. I remember in the late 1950s old Pat Toman from Hilden, a retired army man so he must have been born around 1890 telling us when he as a boy in Hilden ventured at night to the corner of Bridge St Hilden where the men congregated after work you were slapped around by anyone who felt like it and upon going home and telling your parents you got another hiding from them because you listened to the men's conversation. What were children's feelings worth in those " good old "days?
Donald

Hi Donald. Do you remember me? Having a glass of wine here. Reading all the mail from "exiles". "Dabbler" seems good craic. Wonder who he or she is.

Ann
Dabbler,s identity is one of the Forum,s best kept secrets. No one knows, look in the website at Exile,s poems and you will find some of his there.

Pat, answering your earlier post, I didn't say there was anything wrong with him telling me to pray, and pray I did, but when I realised I was talkin' t' m'self, I started reading philosophy, other religions, and finally decided that Darwin's scientific answers suited me best.
Ann, if you're real, and not just here to pull my leg, - though that might be a treat- I was a tiny wee skinny bugger. You wouldn't have looked at me long enough to find out that I had a gsoh.
Donald, I've done a bit of painting round the gates - it should have been ON the gates, so I got in trouble for that. So I looked in here for a bit of company, but yiz'r all doin' somethin' sensible.

Goodnight All!

Dabbler
The Missus , Grandchild ,Kilian and I were in the Beergarden together with 2 Paddies who are here for the Building exhibition, nothing more sensible than that
Donald

Donald
Couldn't resist a look in before a day out to visit a castle and lake with neighbours. You're a nice man and a good laugh.
Joe