The Quiet Man

When the Irish students at Holy Cross discovered that Clarence Thomas and Ted Wells had formed a Black Students Union, they felt left out.   The British were long gone from County Clare, the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland was still just a twinkle in Bernadette Devlin's eye, and the Bloody Sunday Bogside Massacre was four years off.   The Catholic Church had done it's darnedest to drill into us "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and unto God what is God's."   But we were all reeling from the assassinations:  Kennedy, King, Kennedy.  The Vietnam war was a bad dream that wouldn't go away (and still is), spoiling what was left of our little honeymoon at Holy Cross before getting on with life.

Little IRA signs started appearing around the campus.  They should have read Sinn Fein, but with the Jesuits more interested in teaching Latin and Greek and, with few Gaelic speakers among the students, few would have gotten the message.

Not long after, a bunch of freshmen marched on Mulledy Hall, the junior and senior residence, rumored to be the headquarters of the Holy Cross chapter of the Irish Republican Army.   IRA!  IRA!  IRA! They chanted.   We cowered at the windows, watching them, looking at each other, wondering what would happen next.   A large fellow, a tackle on the football team who didn't say much, appeared and asked what the commotion was.   "They think this is IRA headquarters and won't leave."   He thought about this for a moment and said, "Okay, I'll take care of it."

He went outside and invited the demonstrators in.
"Thank you for coming, Lads."
"Please take a seat on the floor and I will share with you our plans."
"Ireland is yet not free!"
"Brits out of Ireland!"
"HOOORAY!!!!!" shouted the freshmen
"We oppose tyranny and oppression wherever it may be!"
"HOOORAY!!!!!" shouted the freshman
"We are behind the blacks students 100 percent in their fight against tyranny and oppression!"
"HOOORAY!!!!!" shouted the freshmen
"When they take over the ROTC building, we'll take over the greenhouse!"
"HOOORAY!!!!!" shouted the freshmen
"We are a secret society.   Here's what I need you to do."
"HOOORAY!!!!!" shouted the freshmen
"Go back to your rooms and don't say a word about our meeting to anyone.  Not even your confessor."
"HOOORAY!!!!!" shouted the freshmen
"We are never to be seen talking together in public again."
"When I need you, I will call on you."
"HOOORAY!!!!!" shouted the freshmen
"Now leave by different doors, by one's and two's."
"Be careful you're not followed.  There are informers among us."
The freshman drifted off into the night.