The new US ambassador, Mike Sullivan and his wife Jane arrived in Ireland this week and he presented his credentials at the Aras on Thursday. He had never been here before except "in my dreams" but he obviously immersed himself in the subject and flew through the Senate hearings last month where he answered questions about the North, Nato and Irish neutrality in a satisfactory fashion - i.e. he knew the Irish position and the US position on these sensitive issues.
Arriving home in Casper, Wyoming, from the swearing-in at the White House, the Sullivans had their luggage stolen from in front of their door. The ambassador told the local police that he was embarrassed because it was he who told the delivery company to leave the luggage in the porch. "I did it because I thought we didn't have any problem."
He lost some nice ties along with other items that a person would take on a long business trip, but nothing of great value. The police report said the luggage was valued at about $3,000.
Before the Sullivans left, they attended a farewell Mass in Casper celebrated by Bishop Joseph Hart of Cheyenne who bestowed a special blessing from Pope John Paul II. In his homily the bishop said the Sullivans were honest people, true believers and good friends and he remembered seeing them regularly at Sunday Mass in Cheyenne when Mike Sullivan was governor of Wyoming from 1987 to 1995. "It was always something comforting knowing that the state was in the hands of someone who went to Mass," he said.