Sisters Cecilia and Patricia Moloughney will be the Grand Marshals of the 27th Greenwich,Connecticut St. Patrick's Day Parade to be held Sunday, March 11th.The picture was part of a front page story in the Greenwich Time on February 5th.The article traced their careers and their many years of dedicated service to the people of the Greenwich area. CONGRATULATIONS SISTERS we are all proud of you....
Photo by Helen Neafsey,courtesy of Greenwich Time
Following are the accounts of those of us who "marched" at the
demonstration on February 15. As you will read, our accounts are quite
positive. We were thwarted in our plans to walk together behind our
banner and to join the Eastern Province for a total Ursuline presence,
but we were not injured or dissed.
Since the march we have heard of problems with the mounted police and
arrests but that was not our experience. Also, since the march, there
was a virtual march which took place on Wednesday, March 26. E-mail
reportss indicate that some 200,000 persons signed up to phone, fax and
e-mail our DC representatives against the war. Catherine Talia, Regina
Delaney and Valerie did one or a combination of calling our elected
officials including one of the NYC Council members, who chairs the
committee considering a NYC resolution against war with Iraq.
Our accounts follow. Below them is an excerpt from a CT virtual marcher.
There will be many other demonstrations and marches. One is scheduled
by women in DC on International Women's Day, Saturday, March 8. The
rally is at 11:00 am Malcolm X Park at 15th and 16th Streets, west of W.
Street NW. The March/Pageant is at 1 p.m. The march will proceed down
16th Street to encircle the White House in pink. A second, in the
planning stages--rather creative, too, so described below--is tentatively
planned for April 4-5 on the West Side of Manhattan.
Catherine Talia and Lisa Bergeron
Cathy (Talia) and i were there! We left Bellerose at 10:05 and caught
the LIRR train into Jamaica station where we changed to the E-train.
Changed at Lexington to the 6 train (where the escalators were not
working, and we had to climb that VERY LONG stairway to get to the 6
station). When we got out at 42nd (around 11:30), the police steered us
to 40th, where we were "promised" we could walk through to 1st. We
turned left onto 2nd, but were not allowed to go anywhere near the
church, so continued up 42nd with the growing crowd.
At each cross-street where we had been promised to be let through (49th,
then 52nd, then 62nd) the police had erected barricades. By the time we
passed 52nd, the crowds had taken over the entire street -- including
sidewalks on both sides. The police stopped us at 63rd -- could not walk
any further north, and were not allowed to go down 63rd. We remained
stopped there for about 30 minutes, the crowd chanting (among others):
"Whose street? OUR STREET!" and "LET US THROUGH!" Marchers had climbed
atop phone boths, light posts, fences.
Finally (unbelievably!), the police removed the barricades at 63rd, and
we marched down to 1st Avenue; we moved as far ahead as 62nd. We could
hear (and sometimes see on the large projection screen) various speakers
-- including Bishop Desmond Tutu, Holly Near. Finally, around 2:30 p.m.,
the crowd seemed to get tighter and closer together, and Cathy and i
decided to head back to Queens.
People were still arriving as we left. We saw one young man arrested
(for what reason, we could not fathom), but the day had been remarkably
free from violence, touched by great humor and respect (routinely, we
were pushed together, and routinely people apologized). We were struck
by the wide diversity of ages -- middle-aged, old, families with young
children, teen-agers, college students, young adults -- as well as ethnic
backgrounds.
During our wait at the barricades on 63rd, we spoke with a middle-aged
African-American woman, who carried a poster: "Support our Troops. Send
them Home," to which she had affixed a photo of a young black man in
Marine uniform. Cathy asked if the young man were her son, which she
affirmed, telling us his name was Edward, and that he had already been
deployed. We said that we would pray for him. I remained mindful of
Edward and his mom whenever the cold, the crowds, the wait started to get
to me.
As did Valerie, we found the people in the crowd mostly pleasant,
respectful, in good humor, and the feeling charged against any sort of
war.
We are both glad that we participated.
_______________
Valerie Heinonen
