News

By Rick Winterson   The Virgin Mary is often referred to as “Our Lady of Sorrows”.  Beginning with the Prophecy of Simeon, and ending with the Burial of her Son Jesus Christ, Mary (or Miriam, if you prefer) suffered Seven Sorrows.  Four of these intense Sorrows were directly connected with the First Easter weekend – Jesus carrying the burden of the Cross, His Crucifixion and Death, the removal of His body from the Cross, and His burial – all of which took place on the first Good Friday. And now there is an Eighth Sorrow for the Virgin Mary to bear at Eastertime. It’s the loss by fire of her Cathedral in France – the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris.  Notre Dame might be [...]

 Perhaps you noticed that a new American flag has been flying at half-mast in Andrew Square these past ten days.  This is a flag brought home from Washington, D.C., by Congressman Stephen Lynch, after he first had it flown over the nation’s Capitol Building.  The flag was raised in Andrew Square and then lowered slowly to half-mast in memory of John Mullen, a true son of South Boston if there ever was one.  John died Monday, March 18. John was a loving South Boston family man.  He was also a Marine Corps veteran.  His devotion to our community and his efforts on behalf of South Boston and its many worthy causes were legendary.  He was a co-Founder of the Andrew Square Civic Association (ASCA) and [...]

by Rick Winterson      Earlier this week, concerned South Boston residents were joined at the World War II Memorial by news media crews, cleanup consultants, and Bob Shure, the sculptor who originally designed the Memorial.  Bob expressed his own personal grief at the oil splattering, which left such huge stains.  His regret was more for the heroes named on the Memorial than himself, because they all had paid the supreme price of their heroic military service.   Some success with the cleaning operation has already been realized.  A thick poultice, with the consistency of peanut butter, had been compounded with a powder and a solvent.  This removed most of the oil staining from the Bob Moakley stone to one side of the main Memorial, although [...]

By: Tara Kerrigan Hayes   For anyone who has ever been robbed or had their possessions vandalized, they know the feeling of violation. It’s a feeling owner of Nurture Salon and Spa, Susan Devlin, would experience after her business on 127 L Street was broken into and robbed during the early morning hours of March 13th. As a part time manager of Nurture (and close friend of Susan’s), the early call about the incident was upsetting enough, but it wasn’t until I was on the scene - glass shards everywhere, desk ransacked - that the uneasy feeling began to sink in, the feeling that a stranger had infiltrated someone else’s space, caused damage, created chaos and simply fled. I went to the desk to see [...]

 by Rick Winterson      A positive report on Sunday’s Parade and the spectators’ overall behavior was unfortunately balanced by a downside report on Monday morning.   The striking World War II Memorial on the beach at the beginning of the Pleasure Bay Causeway to Castle Island was vandalized.  A large quantity of an oily liquid was poured over most of the front, street-facing surfaces of this Memorial.  Whether this was connected to the crowds at Sunday’s Parade isn’t known at the moment, but State Police are investigating. In one of those jarring coincidences, South Boston’s revered John Mullen, veteran and community activist, passed away on Monday also.  Elected and appointed officials gathered in sadness at the Memorial’s site – sadness caused by the desecration there [...]