Finding Home

Season 3 of Finding Home will be released starting in the new year. Thank you to all of our listeners. Stay healthy and safe, and we'll see you in 2023!

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with Father Jim O'Donnell. Fr. Jim O'Donnell dates his calling to the priesthood to his first communion day, May 7, 1937. The son of Irish immigrants from County Mayo, he grew up in St. Philomena Parish in East Cleveland, where he received encouragement to pursue the priesthood. Fr. Jim's first assignment was to St. Colman's Parish on the near West Side. He helped to found a chapter of the Pioneers Total Abstinence Association at St. Pat's on Bridge in 1957 and was the group's longtime chaplain. While serving as director of the Catholic Youth Organization, Fr. Jim felt called to service on behalf of social justice and spent many decades living at E. 35th and Central in a community known as the Little Brothers and Sisters of the Eucharist.

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with Bonnie and Mickey McNally and Linda Carney. Bonnie and Mickey McNally and Linda Carney were all recruited to participate in the United Irish Societies, Cleveland's Parade Committee, by Linda's father, the late Bill Carney. Between them, the longtime friends, colleagues, and East Side IA members have been involved in Parade operations at every level--club delegate, deputy director, and executive director. They share their perspectives on how technology has changed the committee's work even as the committee structure creates a mentoring relationship between veterans and newcomers. The challenges change--Mickey McNally oversaw the rerouting of the Parade from Euclid Avenue to Superior, while Linda Carney has had to navigate the pandemic--but the hard work, good will, and fellowship remain a constant.

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with Dan Chambers. As the third generation leader of a family funeral home business, Dan Chambers grew up in the business in a very literal sense. Back in the day, small retail owners used to live above their stores. The same was true for undertakers. Going to "grandma's house" meant going to the upstairs of the family's funeral home for Chambers. Dan Chambers was thrust into responsibility at an early age when his father died young, just as his father and uncle had been when their father also died at a relatively young age. Chambers reflects how each generation passed along the family legacy of service.

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with Jesuit priest Ryan Duns. Ryan Duns was born into a family of Irish dancers but had "two left feet," so he started taking tin whistle lessons. His tin whistle teacher, Tom Hastings, also played the accordion for Irish dancing competitions. Duns saw where he could fit in--not as a dancer himself but in service to dance. He began playing for dancing competitions in his college years, but at the same time began discerning a vocation as a Jesuit priest. He thought he might have to give up the Irish dancing world but has fortunately found a way to balance all his callings. Duns is now an ordained Jesuit priest who teaches theology at Marquette University and authors scholarly publications--while continuing to play at dancing competitions and serving as a chaplain for the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians.