News

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    St. Patrick’s Athletic Club at Allianz Field in St Paul

    Show your Irish roots at Allianz Field on Wednesday, March 20th, as MN United Football Club takes on St. Patrick’s Athletic Club in an International Friendly! Here is a link to purchase tickets for the international friendly MNUFC versus St. Patrick’s Athletic. Below from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Jan 10, 2024 By Jerry Zgoda Star Tribune Photo: Renee Jones Schneider, Star Tribune Minnesota United will play Irish club St. Patrick’s Athletic in an international friendly at Allianz Field on March 20, three days after the Dublin-based team commemorates St. Patrick’s Day itself in the Twin Cities. It will come during a FIFA international break taking place after the Loons’ first…

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    Ethna “Essie” McKiernan – Honored Alum

    Minnesota poet and social advocate, Ethna McKiernan was honored this past summer by her High School – Visitation School, Mendota Heights, MN. Excerpt from Visitation School Vision! newsletter: The Visitation Alumnae Board honored Essie McKiernan ‘69 posthumously as the 2023 Distinguished Alumna on August 11, 2023. Essie’s sister Nuala McKiernan Rosensteel ‘66 spoke at the event, celebrating Essie’s legacy as a poet and an advocate for the homeless. Essie shared her heart and talents with the world in the everyday moments of life. She had a strong and lasting relationship with Sister Peronne Marie; the two shared a great love of poetry. Essie offers to us an example of what it means…

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    Tribute to Des

    We lost a special friend and vital member of our Irish community this past January 2023. Board member, Des Keogh passed away at home on 1/5/23 surrounded by his loving family and wonderful wife Pat. Des was always the gentleman, an inspiration and role model to all of us. He showed us how to live and enjoy life fully. Irish Network MN remembers him in our sorrow and happy memories. Go ndéana Dia grásta ar a anam dílis.

  • Events,  News

    Planning for a New Year

    Irish Network Minnesota met recently to discuss and plan for 2023. We discussed our history and what we would like to accomplish in the coming year, 2023. IN MN is looking forward to hosting our Bloomsday Festival along with the Irish Network Bloomsday Literary Award again in June. We are also planning other events celebrating St Bridget’s Day (Feb 1st), St Patrick’s Day (Mar 17th) and multiple other local Irish cultural celebrations. More information to come in 2023.

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    Tribute for Ethna McKiernan

    From the Celtic Junction Facebook post 4/12/22 For those of you that knew her, read her and/or loved her, we have been asked by her family to announce that there will be a Memorial Service for Ethna McKiernan on May 14, 3pm at Spirit of St. Stephens – 5011 31st Ave. South, Minneapolis, MN. Ethna passed away this past December from an aggressive form of cancer. Her obituary in the Irish Times covers much of her life and history: as fifth of nine children to Eoin McKiernan, as proprietress for Irish Books and Media, as a fearless champion for the homeless and as “a beautiful poet with an amazingly generous…

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    Book Review

    4/12/22 – Review by Mary McFarland Indestructible – Reclaim Control and Respond with Confidence in the Media Crisis By Molly McPherson Published by Mandala Tree Press, 2021 While many of us were deciding what color trainers to wear during the pandemic, McPherson summarized her considerable public relations experience into a factual, accessible crisis communication’s guide regarding the ‘cancel culture’ that we find ourselves in. Indestructible is a must-read for business owners and communicators to understand how reputations are destroyed or restored in an instant. McPherson outlines the current social media toolbox available to businesses and organizations and all who have a network to keep engaged. The author has an enviable resume as…

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    Bloomsday News Release

    Bloomsday News Release ST PAUL, MN,  June 16 is observed around the world as Bloomsday, a celebration of James Joyce and his epic Ulysses, a novel that has been called everything from masterfully moving to hilariously obscene. Hosted by Irish Network-Minnesota for the fourth year, St. Paul joins cities around the world from Australia, New Zealand, Croatia, Italy and throughout the U.S. in getting the Bloomsday party started. Whether you like the novel or not, whether you think it is the greatest book ever written or not, after 97 years Ulysses is still being read, enjoyed, discussed, reinterpreted and rediscovered,” said Patrick Coleman, Acquisition Librarian, Minnesota Historical Center, “a Homeric achievement!”    The virtual…

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    Celtic Junction Virtual Tour

    Join Irish Network Minnesota in supporting Celtic Junction Arts Center (CJAC). The Celtic Junction was created in 2009 to celebrate and nurture thriving Celtic Arts in Minnesota by supporting local artists and facilitating the education of those arts to the local community. In the link below, CJAC Executive Director, Natalie O’Shea and Board of Directors President, Cormac Ó Sé bring you on a tour of the Arts Center and it’s programs. Enjoy the virtual tour of this wonderful facility along with an introduction to Celtic Junction Arts Center. Visit Celtic Junction’s support page to make a donation, volunteer or be a sponsor! Photo and content courtesy of Celtic Junction Arts…

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    2020 Distinguished Irish Women

    The Saint Paul St Patrick’s Association has many dignitaries, Mr Pat, Miss Shamrock and the distinguished Irish Woman of the year. The 2020 Distinguished Irish Woman is actually four remarkable local women, Jane, Brigid, Kate and Rita-the McDonald sisters who are mainstays in local activist circles. They have been working on behalf of peace and social justice for the past 50 years. For decades, they helped keep the weekly Wednesday night protests on the Lake Street Bridge going. Remarkably, despite being in their 80s and 90s, all four were in attendance opening night at the History Theatre play documenting their life: Sisters of Peace. Among 11 siblings born on a Minnesota…

  • Events,  News

    Visiting Professor

    Tim Stone, Professor of Political Theory at Xavier University in Cincinnati Ohio, recently met with Jim Brooks and Mary McFarland from Irish Network MN at the Center for Irish Studies conference in Saint Paul. The Center for Irish Studies at the University of St. Thomas advances teaching and scholarship in Irish Studies between the university, Ireland and the Irish-American community.