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1 | SENATE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | ||||||
3 | learn of the death of
Father Aengus Finucane, who passed away | ||||||
4 | on October 6, 2009; and
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5 | WHEREAS, Father Aengus Finucane was a native of County | ||||||
6 | Limerick, Ireland; at a young age, he devoted his life to the | ||||||
7 | Finucane family tradition of public service; and
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8 | WHEREAS, Father Aengus Finucane was known throughout the | ||||||
9 | world for his philanthropic service; he began his lifetime of | ||||||
10 | service as a young missionary with the Holy Ghost Fathers as | ||||||
11 | the Parish Priest in Uli, Nigeria; during his tenure in Uli, he | ||||||
12 | found himself in the midst of the bitter civil war between | ||||||
13 | Nigeria and Biafra in 1968; during his time there, he literally | ||||||
14 | came face to face with famine, with starving men, women, and | ||||||
15 | children at his doorstep; Aengus and his brother, Father Jack | ||||||
16 | Finucane, along with their colleagues from all faiths, knew | ||||||
17 | that they had to act immediately and do what they could to | ||||||
18 | alleviate the suffering in Biafra; and | ||||||
19 | WHEREAS, In response to the humanitarian crisis in Biafra, | ||||||
20 | Father Aengus Finucane and his brother turned schools into | ||||||
21 | refugee camps and set up food distribution centers and | ||||||
22 | emergency hospitals; at the height of the crisis in the summer |
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1 | of 1968, an estimated 6,000 children were dying every week due | ||||||
2 | to lack of food and medicine; to aid in their efforts, Aengus | ||||||
3 | and his brother turned to their home country to raise awareness | ||||||
4 | of the seriousness of the famine; the response from the people | ||||||
5 | of Ireland was extraordinary, with relief supplies flown in | ||||||
6 | from Ireland every night on the Uli parish’s newly expanded | ||||||
7 | emergency airstrip; thanks to the efforts of Aengus and his | ||||||
8 | brother, hundreds of thousands of refugees caught in the | ||||||
9 | conflict were given critical aid in their times of need; and
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10 | WHEREAS, As a result of Father Aengus Finucane's | ||||||
11 | intervention in the Biafra war zone, the humanitarian | ||||||
12 | organization, Concern Worldwide was born; for the next 30 | ||||||
13 | years, Aengus worked among and fought for the poorest of the | ||||||
14 | poor in conflict zones, disasters, and famines; he lived in and | ||||||
15 | traveled to the world’s poorest countries, including Ethiopia, | ||||||
16 | Bangladesh, Cambodia, Uganda, and Rwanda, where he witnessed | ||||||
17 | the horrors of the Rwandan civil war firsthand; and
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18 | WHEREAS, In 1981, Father Aengus Finucane became Chief | ||||||
19 | Executive of Concern Worldwide; he held the post until 1997, | ||||||
20 | when he came to the United States to set up Concern Worldwide | ||||||
21 | US; he then served as Honorary President of Concern Worldwide | ||||||
22 | US until his passing; during his tenure at Concern Worldwide | ||||||
23 | US, he worked alongside Executive Director Siobhan Walsh and | ||||||
24 | Chairman Tom Moran to build the organization from a small team |
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1 | of 4 to an organized group of 25 that raises millions of | ||||||
2 | dollars to support Concern's work in the field; and
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3 | WHEREAS, Father Aengus Finucane will be remembered fondly | ||||||
4 | by countless people in Ireland, the U.S., and the many places | ||||||
5 | around the world that benefited from his generosity and | ||||||
6 | compassion; his work with Concern saved innumerable lives and | ||||||
7 | improved the quality of life for millions of people; his | ||||||
8 | message of unity and caring make him a role model for the | ||||||
9 | people of the State of Illinois, the citizens of our nation, | ||||||
10 | and the world at large; therefore, be it
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11 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL | ||||||
12 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with | ||||||
13 | his family and friends, the passing of Father Aengus Finucane; | ||||||
14 | and be it further
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15 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
16 | presented to the family of Father Aengus Finucane as an | ||||||
17 | expression of our sympathy.
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