Podcast: Visitors from Northern Ireland find common ground in Greater Morristown

In 1975, an Irish immigrant named Denis Mulcahy co-founded Project Children.  A detective with the New York City bomb squad, Dennis hopes to defuse tensions in Northern Ireland by giving Protestant and Catholic children summer vacations in the U.S.

Sarah Grant and Catrina Hollran are preparing to return to Northern Ireland after a summer working around Morristown and living together in Morris Plains as part of Project Children.

Sarah, a Catholic, and Catrina, a Protestant, are college students who say religious labels do not define their generation.

Yet the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, a power-sharing plan for Ireland’s six northern counties, has not fully eradicated old animosities in their homeland.  Dozens of police were injured in Belfast last month when Protestant parades were disrupted by violence.

We asked Sarah, an intern with the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, and Catrina, an intern at Employment Horizons, about the future of Northern Ireland. And they compared the legal systems and social services of the U.S. and the U.K.

(You can hear the podcast here, or by searching for “Morristown Green” on iTunes.)

On a lighter note, we explored their views on New Jersey males, and the relative merits of American baseball and European football.

What do they pine for back home?  What are they still longing to see in the U.S.?

For us, the answers are secondary.  It’s simply marvelous to listen to the young ladies’ musical language. Supposedly, it’s descended from our mother tongue. Not sure about that!

The 24-minute interview took place at the Morris Plains home of Carol and Art Grant (no relation to Sarah). Carol and Art have been hosting kids from Project Children for about 10 summers.

“These two girls are right up there at the top,” Carol said.

Our thanks to the Grants for their hospitality, and to Al DeBenedictis of Project Children and the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick for his help.