Day of National Mourning

T

tobo

Guest
Bertie has decided that the nation will not have a Day of National Mourning to mark the passing of Pope John Paul II.

I would like to know the criterion by which this decision was made, as I am confused as to why Ireland observed such a day after the 9/11 attacks but not upon the death of the spiritual leader of the predominant faith in this country (possibly the world?) and a truly remarkable man.

Does anyone else share my contempt for this decision?
 
I think it is even worse that we didn't have a National Day of Mourning for the 1/4 of a million or more people killed by the Tsunami.


Murt
 
The reason that we had a day of morning for 911 is that it was imposed upon us by the US - plain & simple - we 'dared' to work 'cause it would have offended them.
ninsaga
 
RTE quoted a govt source this morning who said that the idea of a Day of Mourning was rejected for protocol reasons - if you have a DOM now for the Head of State of the Vatican, then questions would be asked if we did not do the same on the deaths of future Heads of State of other countries. I can see their point.

There is also a valid argument that this would be also an issue on the death of any future British monarch (head of the Anglican Church, to which the Church of Ireland is affiliated) or even Dr. Ian Paisley (as head of the Free Presbyterians). The govt surely dont want to go down that road.

According to RTE, Poland and Italy are the only European countries to declare a DOM.
 
For many people this is a time of grief as one of the great men of the last 50 years passes on. Everyone should remember his key contribution to the defeat of communism and the impact he had on so many of the people who saw him in the 120 odd countries he visited.

I would be in favour of a national day of mourning if I thought for one minute that even half of those who claim to be RC and got the day off would go near a church.
The reality is that the churches were not packed out all weekend and would not be next Friday if it were given as a day off.
Those people who wish to take the day off at their own expense should be accommodated by their employers but getting an extra days paid holidays to go to the local shopping centre would not be appropriate in this situation.
 
Ok so we had the day of mourning for 9/11 and an official minute (or was it 3?) silence for the tsunami and nothing for the Pope. For once i agree with Bertie but i feel an official period of silence should at the very least be observed.
 
As an employer, I would consider a National DoM unacceptable, as I considered the DoM for 9/11 unacceptable.

Sorry.
 
300,000 died in tsunami including several Irish tourists. 3000 died in 9/11.
100 times more people died in tsunami yet there was no mention of national day of mourning. Why ? Because the lives of Americans are a hundred times more valuable than the lives of Sri Lankans, Indonesians, Thai, Indian etc.....

If the death of 300,000 people or JPII does not warrant a day of national mourning, then what does ?
 
“Because the lives of Americans are a hundred times more valuable than the lives of Sri Lankans, Indonesians, Thai, Indian etc.....”

No, it was because the Americans invest hundreds of times more money in this country than the Sri Lankans, Indonesians, Thai, and Indian etc

Ditto the Vatican city.
 
tobo said:
the spiritual leader of the predominant faith in this country (possibly the world?)
Click to expand...

Wikipedia has some interesting statistics on the number of followers of different world religions.

I doubt that I'll be getting the day off but if I do I will certainly not be going shopping. I'll probably go to the Zoo instead.
 
I dont think the Americans got any official time off to mourn around 9/11 and I know that many American companies in Ireland did not let their employees have the day off for the Day of National Mourning.

The 9/11 day of mourning was the big mistake and it set a precedent which the government are trying to ignore.
 
Bertie has decided we should have a national DoM, or maybe not. Well, maybe it is, then again maybe it's not.....schools have the option to close (great, now parents will have to make arrangements at short notice to have their children minded for the day). And employers should let their staff go to reflect, but they don't have to.....or maybe they do......Jeez, Bertie, either it is or it's not, if Bertie sees a fence, he can't help sitting on it.
See ireland.com Breaking News.
 
Wonder how they'll mark his passing at tonight's Longford Town FC versus Linfield FC game in the Setanta Cup! Should be fun... Maybe for parity of esteem they could burn an effigy of him while observing a minute's silence?
 
On the suggestion that the Americans made us have a DOM for 9/11, this is completely untrue. The Americans didn't have a DOM, didn't care if we had one and only noticed when contacting any Irish colleagues they there was one.

If we have a DOM now does that imply we insulted the memory of previous popes by not having DOMs for them, maybe we could backdate some DOMs - for the good popes at least. Some of the coverage indicated that there may be an elderly pope picked now as a sort of interim after JPII so maybe we'll need another papal DOM in a relatively short time.

And if we do one for the tsunami, why not for the 2M who die every year for malaria, the 3M who die from aids etc.. Or should we restrict DOMs to one off televised events only?

Several countries have called periods of mourning, I'm only guessing but some of those periods must be largely symbolic. Can't see Egypt shutting down for 3 days.

Bertie's wishy washy compromise isn't the worst, partially close the public sector for the day, the economy that pays their salaries may be able to struggle on without their trojan efforts for a few hours.
 
The widely voiced argument (e.g. on the radio all day today) that people need time off to go to mass seems to be a bit of a red herring. My father used to attend mass most days before going to work and he started at 8AM. A priest on the radio earlier on pointed out that closing down for a day of mourning was unnecessary and that people can pray anywhere. Mind you, I'd still enjoy a day off to go to the Zoo because I haven't been in ages.
 
Re: Day of National Mourning for the Class Act of the 20th C

I had no idea of the stature of Pope John Paul but what I learned from watching (Sky, BBC) has left me in awe. Already it is being suggested he should be called Pope John Paul the Great. If so, he will be only the third pope in history to be so honoured. Honouring and respecting him would not set a precedent.

What I learned was that throughout his papapy he never ceased to work for justice for every human regardless of race, creed or colour. He apologised to the Jewish people and met with Muslim leaders on our behalf. That was long overdue. He didn't visit South Africa until Mandela was released. While I didn't always agree with his viewpoint on some issues, there is no doubting the respect and admiration that is being shown towards him by world leaders both political and religious. In spite of failing health he continued to represent all the voiceless peoples of this fragile earth by ceaselessly using his influence on their behalf in persuit of justice and peace. Clearly a giant of a man.

Prince Charles has postponed his wedding and Tony Blair his general election and we are doing......nothing. Bertie, the consumate ditherer, has done it again. The people of this country have to depend on our leader to do the right thing by us. IMO he has let us down. A Day of National Mourning has little to do with religion - it's about acknowleding to the world an exceptional human being.

People don't have to go to a Church or pray or 'reflect'. They are free to do as they please on the day. What would be so terrible if commerce stopped for just one day? Or is this our way of showing just how materialistic we have become? We were on our knees in 1979 when he visited us. Now we are rich and it doesn't seem to become us.
 
Re: Day of National Mourning for the Class Act of the 20th C

sherib said:
He apologised to the Jewish people and met with Muslim leaders on our behalf.
Click to expand...
I presume you mean on behalf of Catholics? Please bear in mind that not all of "us" are Catholics. Thanks.

sherib said:
We were on our knees in 1979 when he visited us. Now we are rich and it doesn't seem to become us.
Click to expand...
Ditto.
 
ClubMan said:
Wonder how they'll mark his passing at tonight's Longford Town FC versus Linfield FC game in the Setanta Cup! Should be fun... Maybe for parity of esteem they could burn an effigy of him while observing a minute's silence?
Click to expand...
Strangely enough:

  1. Linfield wore black armbands as a mark of respect
  2. Longford did not and
  3. the FAI allegedly instructed Longford not to have a minute's silence before kick off.
 
Prince Charles has postponed his wedding and Tony Blair his general election and we are doing......nothing.
..I don't think that we have any national event of significance that warrants postponement (although I wonder why Bertie didn't give the Dail an extra weeks recess as he was at it!!)

I also don't think that the DOM is going to come about now.. certainly though the event should be marked - with a minutes silence at a minimum. But why wait for the government to declare it? Why not have the church declare it?

ninsaga
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top