While I attended Moyne during the years 1962-1967, I kept the names of the fifth years in each year while I was there. They are subject to correction, particularly in the matter of spelling, but here they are as I wrote them at the time.

Fifth years 1962- 1963

Patsy Brady

Sean Farrelly

Paddy Lynch

Mike Joe Reynolds

Luke Kelleher

Mickey Lennon

Peter Brady

Gerry Brady

Joe Hourican

Kieran Smith

Tommy McGahern

Alex Roche

John Grimes

P J Harte

Fifth years 1963- 1964

Leo Dowling

Éamon Brady

Phil McKeon

Aidan Walsh

Tom Greene

James McTiernan

Peter Curran

Joe Doonan

Augustine Mulligan

Frank Grimes

Con Sorahan

Eugene Reilly

Frank Kiernan

Dermot McGuinness

Sean Brady

Fifth years 1964- 1965

Phelim O’Rourke

Sean Luby

Liam Sexton

John Owens

Pee McIntyre

Tom Farrell

Micheál McNally

Noel Rawle

Barry (Not sure of first name)

Éamon Smith

John Daly

P J Flavin

Fifth Years 1965 – 1966

Bernard Brady

Tom Durkin

John Greaney

Tom Cully

Brendan Masterson

Sean Rogan

Denis Byrne

Mike Byrne

Gerry O’Brien

Michael Brady

Tony Harton

(Sean Robinson)

(Mattie Lennon)

(Don’t know why I had brackets after the last two. I presume it is because they didn’t finish

NB

For the organisers of this web site:

It is impossible to get into this site.
I had to put in my User Name and Password ten times at least. It keeps saying “Incorrect Password” or “Incorrect User name”. There is something wrong with it.

The class of 1962 to 1967

I started attending the Latin School in 1962 and there were 42 beginners. Not all of them started the first day and not all of them finished the year. The following were the 42.

First Years of 1962-1963

John Murray                             Pat Corrigan

Fintan Daly                               Gene Dowling

Gerry Masterson                      Martin McGurk

Brian McGlade                        Thomas Croghan

Peter Lee                                 Brendan Grimes

Mark Reilly                              Noel McGlade

Michael Cully                           Ciaran O’Rourke

John Lee                                  Liam McNamee

Éamon Maguire                        John F McManus

Michael Kiernan                        Pat Lennon

John A Shields                          Michael McAdden

Donal Brady                             Vincent Tierney

P J Harton                                Patsy Foy

Gerry Lyons                             Michael Morris

Oliver McNamee                    Pat Redahan

Pat Mulligan                             Seán Lynch

J J Masterson                           Gerry Reilly

Benny Cumiskey                     John F Murtagh

Leo Reynolds                           Pat Lennon

Tom Grey                                 Dessie Hughes

Dan Halton                               Seán Sullivan

Of the 42 above, my notes from the time say that Halton and Hughes only came two days. Dessie Hughes was from Coalisland, Co Tyrone and won a Minor Championship medal playing midfield with Colmcille in 1963. I cannot understand how a lad that young could be midfield on a minor team in 1963, but maybe he was older than the rest of us.

Grey stayed only a month. Gerry Reilly finished at Christmas. Reynolds and Mulligan finished before the summer exams. The following had been in first year the year before: F Daly, P Lee, Shields, Brady, Tierney, Mulligan, Lynch, G Reilly and Gray. Mark Reilly started the Christmas before.

The five teachers in First year were

            Fr James Faughnan (Principle) – Maths and History

            Fr Phil McGee – English – and Geography

            Fr James Bland – Irish

            Fr Dan Kelly- Greek and Christian Doctrine

            Sean O’Reilly- Latin (sometimes Geography)

The first four teachers mentioned above are all now deceased

The only pupil above that I know to be deceased is Patsy Foy from Miltron, Aughavas. However there are many of them that I do not have any information on now.

Second Years of 1963 – 1964

There were 21 pupils in second year, just half of the number that had started in 1962. The following remained in First year: Murray, Corrigan, Daly, McGurk, B McGlade, Croghan, Cully, McManus, McAdden, Harton, Morris, O McNamee and J J Masterson. Michael McCabe joined us having been in second year the previous year

The second year class was as follows:

Gene Dowling                           Sean Sullivan

Pat Lennon                               Michael Kiernan

Pat Redahan                             Mark Reilly

Peter Lee                                 Noel McGlade

Brendan Grimes                       John Lee

Patsy Foy                                 Michael McCabe

John F Murtagh                        Liam McNamee

Ciaran O’Rourke                     Benny Cumiskey

Sean Lynch                              Donal Brady

Gerry Masterson                     Éamon Maguire

Gerry Lyons

Noel McGlade only stayed a month in Second year. Sean Lynch finished after Christmas. There was therefore 19 at the end of the school year.

The same five teachers operated during 1963-1964

Third Years of 1964 –1965

Brendan Grimes and Mark Reilly did not return at the start of the school year. John Dermody came from the Convent in Granard at the beginning of September. There was therefore 18 in third year as follows:

Gene Dowling                           Sean Sullivan

Pat Lennon                               Michael Kiernan

Pat Redahan                             John Dermody

Peter Lee                                 Donal Brady

John Lee                                  Gerry Lyons

Patsy Foy                                 Michael McCabe

John F Murtagh                        Liam McNamee

Ciaran O’Rourke                     Benny Cumiskey                                

Gerry Masterson                     Éamon Maguire

Patsy Foy left before Christmas

The same five teachers operated during 1964-1965

Fourth Years of 1965 –1966

Apart from Patsy Foy, the same group were in fourth year as in third year. There was therefore 17 in fourth year

Gene Dowling                           Sean Sullivan

Pat Lennon                               Michael Kiernan

Pat Redahan                             John Dermody

Peter Lee                                 Donal Brady

John Lee                                  Gerry Lyons

Éamon Maguire                        Michael McCabe

John F Murtagh                        Liam McNamee

Ciaran O’Rourke                     Benny Cumiskey                                

Gerry Masterson       

For fourth year there was one new teacher. Fr Bland left to teach in St Mel’s at the start of the 1965-1966 year and he was replaced by Hugh McDonald from Nenagh, Co Tipperary.             Bhí sé ag muineadh Gaeilge.

Fifth years of 1966 – 1967

Pat Redahan went to Good Counsel, New Ross, Co Wexford at the beginning of school year. That left 16 in the class.

Gene Dowling                           Sean Sullivan

Pat Lennon                               Michael Kiernan

Gerry Masterson                      John Dermody

Peter Lee                                 Donal Brady

John Lee                                  Gerry Lyons

Éamon Maguire                        Michael McCabe

John F Murtagh                        Liam McNamee

Ciaran O’Rourke                     Benny Cumiskey

Hugh McDonald, teacher, left and he was replaced by Frank Heslin a native of Scramogue, Co Roscommon

July 17, 2008

To: thelatinschoolmoyne.org Past Pupils’ Website “Authors”

From: Website Administrators

Re: Posts

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Bishop Colm! My Latin School Brothers and Sisters! Women and Men of Moyne!

It was indeed an inspired decision, as we can see today, the decision of the three Moyne men, Pat Brady, John Joe McNamee, and JJ Smith, golden jubilarians of the Latin School this year, to have chosen this weekend for our celebrations – for the first ever general Reunion of Moyne. Inspired, because (and this doesn’t sound right) the focus of the first reading of our Mass from Zechariah (9: 9-10), is the value of a donkey in God’s work. Secondly, because the Gospel from Matthew (11: 25-30) brings us the most comforting words in all of Scripture: Come to me all you who labor and are heavily burdened and I will refresh you. We Latin School people have been on the road of life for a long time. Two of the longest are Longfordmen, Msgr. John V. Sheridan (Corrick and Malibu, California,) who was 93 on December 19, 2007 and Father Tommy O’Reilly (Moyne and the Diocese of Leeds, now residing at St. Mary’s Manor, Edgeworthstown,) who was 92 on October 16, 2007. The youngest alumnus is 48. May God refresh every Latin School person here today and everyone not here. And eternal rest and peace to every Moyne man and woman gone before us.

Did I say that the first reading from Zechariah is a good one for us Latin School people? I did. It speaks of the King, the just savior coming to us meek, riding on an ass. There is something about the Latin School men and women, something of simplicity, honest to God character, a mix of humility and dignity and decency in the way they were and are; people of dogged effort and down to earth wisdom that connects in a way to that reading from Zechariah. M’asal Beag Dubh: we all remember the endearing qualities. One could be called worse. Listen to G. K.Chesterton’s Donkey:

Fools, for I had my hour;

One far fierce hour and sweet

There was a shout about my ears

And palms before my feet.

Jesus picked the donkey for many reasons…what it stood for in society: the ridicule it often gets and the common sense it often has.

In the house where I was born in Rossduff, in the parish of Colmcille and Colm O’Reilly, the gable wall was in a neighbor’s field that belonged to Felix Doyle and Pat. Two bachelor brothers, long dead before my time. They had a fire on the hearth and an ass in the field that was, as they said: a terra for praetis. She would open the gate where the potatoes were kept, burrow through the clay and rushes and eat her fill from the heap. The brothers took action. They dug a hole and buried all the potatoes, covered them with rushes and clay. That night, a terrible storm came, with wind and rain and when morning dawned, everything looked the same and they couldn’t remember the exact spot. So, they had to swallow their pride, go get the creature and that ass found the potatoes immediately.

n Zechariah, the ass is chosen. Banish the chariot, God says. The chariot of upper mobility. Banish the horse from Jerusalem. The horse was the sign of power and dominance, both repugnant to God. There are not many granite asses on the monuments of the world. No, but the horse, the rider and the sword are up there. Banish the warrior’s bow, which is the bitter consequence of pride. The bow, the arrow, the bomb, every bomb from the hand grenade to the nuclear exterminator of the earth. Banish them all. Humility is never the source of these. Learn from me, says Jesus, because I am meek and humble of heart. The alumni of Moyne have learned…most of them. If Jesus came to Moyne today, he wouldn’t come in a SUV. Look at the arrogance of pride in the US today where I have spent forty-nine years. Look at the deception that gives us meaningless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, taking life and limb and costing 500,000 dollars a minute. Would that the down-to-earth wisdom of the old Latin School would overcome such arrogance and stupidity. In St. Peter’s, Wexford, there was The Moyne Walk, a path for Moyne men only. I’m not sure of its value but maybe we could say there is “a Moyne way,” a humility that has a good chance of truth. A courage that has a good chance of perseverance. A sense of sacrifice that bears with the difficult and a down to earth sort of wisdom that keeps life on track. Indeed a love of the land we had, because to the earth we were related by blood. There often was enough clabar on our boots entering school to build a swallow’s nest.

Long before the Episcopate of our beloved Colm O’Reilly, the men of Moyne were not accepted for the home diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise. They were up for export from day one. All over the world they were asked the reason why they left Ireland. It was a long answer. Ultimately, a short one: the will of God.

In this Mass, we salute them all, clergy and laity, ordained or not ordained, priests who changed course on the journey, the men and women of Moyne’s long history, those who went far afield and those who never left their field. All who tried to follow “the Moyne way.”

What we thank God for, this weekend, is not a place around here or a building on Duignan’s rock since 1897, whatever name we give it. No. We celebrate the spirit of a small area of Ireland, a well of life-giving water, a “tubber” Patrick that overflowed with vocations for a century and a half. Nearly 600 priests. As Fr. James Morris of Fihora and California (ordained in 1912) used to say: “this area was a modern version of early monastic settlements which included not only the monks, the priests, and sometimes nuns but also the families in the area of the monastery; they all joined in the masses, prayers, and devotions.” And had, I would add, a sense of mission to the ends of the earth. Between 1831 and 1973, the Latin School of Moyne in all its locations sent 172 priests from Dromard, where it is located, to the missions of the world. 103 from Colmcille. Many from every local parish. The well is low at the moment but God’s goodness is never low.

Let not the lure of riches and power drown out the gentle call of Christ: Come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you and I will divine where the spring water of life and service is hidden. My yoke is easy.

In this Mass, let the lives and work of everyone who ever went to the Latin School in kitchen, barn, byre or schoolhouse be lifted up, the lives of every teacher who ever struggled to instill values and a smattering of Latin and Greek, the lives and hopes of all connected to the Moyne Community School that rose out of a cutaway bog in 1973 to carry on a noble tradition of learning. Let it all be elevated on this altar of the Holy Eucharist. Let it be blessed. Let it be magnified. Let it be preserved forever.

Thanks be to God for Moyne…for every man and woman who ever darkened the door of the Latin School to brighten up the face of the earth. Thanks be to God for all that it was and is and will be for the glory of God, forever and ever. Amen.

Michael Doyle, Rossduff, Parish of Colmcille, County Longford.

Latin School 1948-1953. Ordained 1959 in St. Peter’s Seminary, Wexford.

Pastor of Sacred Heart Church, Camden, New Jersey.

On this significantly long day with a long technological hurdle now vanquished, I announce the birth of an Interactive Blog Website that belongs exclusively to us, the past pupils of the Latin School at Moyne:http://www.thelatinschoolmoyne.org. It invites you to “SHARE YOUR MEMORIES; WRITE HISTORY”.

To use the site, it is necessary to register with a User Name and your e-mail address. A password will be e-mailed to you. For this writer and for my colleague Michael Doyle whose generosity and many friends helped bring the website to birth, the gestation period has been an exciting journey in which we learned that, like learning to swim, one learns by doing! If you are computer literate, you will handle the site with ease; if you are a novice like we were, be assured that the use of interactive features is not complicated.

One feature of the site deserves a special mention. The 1979 “Moyne Latin School Book” by Canon Boylan and Fr. Frank Gray is digitally reproduced in its entirety on the site. Another feature is the ability of the site to carry photos. Use the GALLERIES features. To date, there are a few photos of the “old” school of recent vintage – wonderful to behold.

In two weeks from today, the long-awaited Reunion of Moyne past pupils will be taking place in Moyne and Arva. It is inclusive of anyone who attended the school at any time and is promoted by those who did the Leaving Certificate 50 years ago. Hopes are strong that you will be present or vicariously part of it according as its memory, photos and history will become part of this new technological marvel.

Slan!

Patrick J. Brady, Class of 1958