hello 2010. i’m going to be moving, temporarily, to london at the end of the month for a few months. should be pretty fantastic.

jónsi & alex – daníell in the sea. (perhaps i am a little bit biased, but its still one of the most wonderous things i’ve ever heard)

christmas eve, hietaniemen hautausmaa (hietaniemi graveyard / sandudds begravningsplats).

large portions of the graveyard were lit only by candlelight, placed there by loved ones, the church or people who want to commemorate something or someone. most headstones had a candle in front of it, in a little well dug out of the snow. the candle light reflected off some of the headstone that had a polished finish. passing through groups of people one could hear numbers and family roles being mentioned over and over. “kuus vuotta” “mummi” “fem år” “veljeni”. some people standing in silence, some people standing in a group remembering or praying.

in the quiter parts of graveyard a strange inversion took place – the candles lit up the headstones causing them to become alive in a way, in the background people, wrapped up to protect from the cold, moved in a ghostlike fashion.

two things stood out as i read through the irish times today.

dozens sympathise with sex offender

about 50 people, mostly middle-aged and elderly men, queued yesterday to shake hands with the convicted man and hug him tearfully after he was brought from the cell to the dock, before judge mcdonagh entered the courtroom.

before passing sentence, the judge criticised a character statement made by castlegregory parish priest fr seán sheehy. the priest had said foley was always “respectful of women”, but foley’s actions “gave the lie” to fr sheehy’s statement, the judge said. (link)

five serving bishops mentioned in report

the bishop of limerick, who resigned today, was one of five serving bishops criticised in the dublin diocesan report for their handling of cases of abuse in the dublin diocese between 1975 and 2004.

there can be no doubt that of the five bishops who – up until this morning were still in office – and who were dealt with in the report, the most vulnerable was the bishop of limerick, donal murray.

this vulnerability was added to when the family of a man who alleged abuse, and who died tragically in 2006 following a meeting with representatives of limerick’s catholic diocese, called for his resignation.

peter mccloskey (37) was found dead on april 1st, 2006, two days after mediation talks with diocesan representatives. his brother joseph said he had been “devastated” by the mediation process with the diocese. (link)