Striking gold at the end of the Irish rainbow

Miss Maureen O'Connell, the late owner of "O'Connell's Pub" in Galway, Ireland, died in 1998. That is, she did not die 1000 years ago. No, she died in 1998. That means that if she had wanted to bequeath her estate to a homosexual-activist cause, she could have done so freely.

Instead, she decided to put in her will that proceeds coming from her estate (her pub, eventually sold in 2006) would be allocated to the Irish section of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SVP), the great foundation of Blessed Frédéric Ozanam for assistance to the poorest in society. In Ireland, the SVP is not, in strict legal terms, under the control of the hierarchy. But its self-identification is clear: "The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is an international voluntary Catholic Christian organisation." And they have no qualms about being a "Catholic" organization when they lobby the Irish government for more funds... Or when they ask Irish Catholics for donations for their "charitable" activities.

So what does the SVP do with the proceeds coming from Miss O'Connell's estate, now the hefty "Maureen O'Connell Fund"? Well, for instance, it chose to make a 45,000-euro (58,000-dollar) grant to "Amach! LGBT Galway" so it can build its "resource center", which the group defines in its website as an "alcohol-free" "venue for social networking" (that is, in plain words, a dry homosexual bar) for the homosexuals of Galway.  (more...)

Striking gold at the end of the Irish rainbow

And then, there's...

The Saint Patrick's Day Massacre