The Kennelly Family Lives the Gospels

I raise money for a Catholic High School. We have an Alumni and circle of massively hearted friends who pump dollars to fuel a Catholic education for young men in Chicago.  I am in awe of them

One of Leo High School's historical athletic and bragging rights rivals is Mount Carmel High School.  Their Alumni is awesome.

The families who send their sons to Mount Carmel make huge sacrifices - they, like every Catholic school family in Chicago, pay for Public Schools and huge tuition bills so their sons can grow in the Catholic Faith and learn 2,000 plus years of shared truth.

I am awed.

Yesterday, a family in my neighborhood, having gone the path of so many Chicago families of having to say goodbye to a son and brother, performed an act of love, so out of place in our age of Kardasian and Pat Hickey self pity and direction, that I am stunned in awe.

The family of a Chicago teenager who was killed by a "sucker punch" during an alcohol-fueled beach brawl in Northwest Indiana in 2011 has agreed to a settlement of $1 million in a civil suit against the man charged with delivering the fatal punch.
Jean and Kevin Kennelly, the parents of the victim Kevin Kennelly, said the lawsuit "was never about the money." On Wednesday, they announced they will donate the entire $1 million settlement to Mt. Carmel High School in their son's name.

I learned of this from a neighbor and later listened to a news report as I drove to Chicago's Riverwalk to catch the Skinny & Houli Show at Lizzie McNeill's. I was meeting a local Chicago jazz diva and we planned to enjoy a nice supper and watch Jim Sheahan and Mike Houlihan grill Irish American News Publisher Cliff Carlson.

I sat near the recording booth after being patted down for contraband beverages by Special Olympics Tough Guy William Tang, who acts as Jim Sheahan's muscle and makes popcorn runs for Mike Houlihan. William allowed me near the radio set-up, but told me to 'park it' behind the speakers at table further removed from the Stars of Saturday's Airwaves from 3-4PM on AM 1450.

Park it, I did.

I rubber necked the flow of the Chicago Riverwalkway and saw the exquisite Miss Terry Sullivan making her way my way from McClurg Court.  When I brought Terry to the table, I noticed that seated next to me were Kevin and Jean Kennelly.

I was so moved by the act generous and loving goodness this most Catholic of couples performed that day at Mount Carmel that I nearly bawled like the whiner I am.

I explained to my dinner guest the five years of suffering and anguish Jean and Kevin had endured and the act that these true Apostles had done for young men at Mount Carmel High School.

The Kennelly's donated every nickel of a 'settlement' - the 2016 word for a money miracle that too often is wasted on things, travel  and entertainment- to help young men, like their beloved Kevin, wear the Carmelites Cream and Brown and learn to live Christ's message of forgiveness, giving and nurturing.

From the NBC report - "No amount of money could replace the life of our son, who was a billion dollars, not a million," Kevin Kennelly Sr." This is our intent, is to have something big out of Kevin's time on this earth and do some of the things that Kevin would have done. He was a very good man who would have done great things with his life."

Christ and Young Kevin Approve!

Christ be good to Kevin and Jean Kennelly


 

Fight Along With Martin McGarry You'll Be in Great Company

"Poets aren’t often boxers. They tend to use parts of the brain that don’t respond well to being rattled around like ice in a cocktail shaker.. . .with the noted exception of Vernon Scannell" - Andrew Taylor

A quarter of a century ago
I hung the gloves up, knew I'd had enough
Of taking it and trying to dish it out,
Foxing them or slugging toe-to-toe. V. Scannell

from The Tiger and the Rose: "A roll-call of the great champions can still stir me like a rough heroic poem. I have experienced the Aristotelian catharsis as powerfully in the boxing stadium as in the theatre."

However, Vernon Scannell* was professional boxer and Man of Letters.  He reminds me of Beverly Man Martin McGarry, a boxer, teacher, mentor, and pipe-fitter.  The poem Nettles by Scannell really gets to thye nature of the man Martin McGarry:

Nettles by Vernon Scannell

My son aged three fell in the nettle bed.
'Bed' seemed a curious name for those green spears,
That regiment of spite behind the shed:
It was no place for rest. With sobs and tears
The boy came seeking comfort and I saw
White blisters beaded on his tender skin.
We soothed him till his pain was not so raw.
At last he offered us a watery grin,
And then I took my billhook, honed the blade
And went outside and slashed in fury with it
Till not a nettle in that fierce parade
Stood upright any more. And then I lit
A funeral pyre to burn the fallen dead,
But in two weeks the busy sun and rain
Had called up tall recruits behind the shed:
My son would often feel sharp wounds again.

Martin McGarry feels.  He feels the nettles of living and helps youngsters to fight back and balance themselves with confidence. Marty McGarry can dish it out as well and now he is in the brawl of his life . . .well, maybe. Let's get in the ring with McGarry Clan and mix it up for Marty!

In February 2012, Martin McGarry, of Belmullet, Co. Mayo, Ireland and owner of McGarry’s Boxing Club was diagnosed with Familial Amyloidosis, an extremely rare and fatal, hereditary disease, which claimed the life of his mother and two brothers. Join us to Fight for Martin McGarry...When: December 2, 2012 Time: 1:00pm until 6:00pm;  Where: 115 Bourbon Street -3359 West 115th Street  Merrionette Park, IL 60803 

*

Vernon Scannell (born 1922) is a British poet and author. He was at one time a professional boxer, and has written novels about boxing. 
He was born in Spilsby, Lincolnshire, and brought up principally in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. He left school at 14. 
During World War II he served in the British Army in the Gordon Highlanders, in France and North Africa. He was imprisoned for desertion, took part in the Normandy landings and was wounded, and once more deserted after VE Day. He wrote about these experiences in An Argument of Kings (1987). 
He subsequently worked as a boxer, and later studied at Leeds University, encountering Bonamy Dobrée and G. Wilson Knight. He was arrested as a deserter in 1947, and sent to a mental hospital. He returned to Leeds in 1948, and put together a first poetry collection, published by the Fortune Press. He subsequently worked as teacher and for BBC Radio, while developing his range as a writer. 

http://skinnyhouli.com/2012/09/podcast-sept-1-2012/
http://www.wgntv.com/videogallery/69508740/Health/Martin-McGarry















http://www.fightformartinmcgarry.org/index.html

Skinny and Houli and Elvis, Oh, My! In Bridgeport, No Less!

What??? You Said Elvis! There, that's @#$%ing Elvis! I'm not changing it. . . .Well, how much did this cost you? . . .Yeah, I thought so. Now, let me finish this box of Bugles in peace, for Chrissakes.

See Elvis, Skinny and Houli
At
Cork & Kerry At The Park

3258 South Princeton

BRIDGEPORT!
Chicago, IL

The Skinny & Houli Show

Friday August 19th, 2011

We start taping at 5PM

We're taking our show on the road to hang out at Cork & Kerry, one of our favorite sponsors. Please come on by and join the party.



The Skinny & Houli Show: Skinny & Houli every Saturday from 3-4P

WCEV 1450 AM

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