Author's Note:
'Bro.
Barney O.P.' was originally written as a screenplay It
was only after eighteen years of failing to persuade film makers or raise the
required cash that I decided to re-write the screenplay as a novel.. I am,
as I confess throughout the book, a slow learner.
I
must come clean. 'Bro. Barney' could well have been a written as a
straightforward autobiography, but as it was already a screenplay I found it
easier to continue to tell the story as if I were writing about someone other
than myself.
This
meant that I could be objective, and the use of an alter ego in the form of Joe
Coyle means that I can permit modest creative licence - telling the truth but
embellishing certain events and altering the names of people who might not
relish an invasion of privacy.
Here
and there I have used real names, of people I trust not to be embarrassed about
association with me - plus some who have died and cannot be embarrassed, for
they have explained themselves to the living Lord.
The story is 90% factual - and 100% true!
The
O'Shea family motif is Vincit Veritas - truth conquers - and I bless the unknown ancestor
who created it, for in great or small things truth is vital. Without it
life becomes even more perilous.
So believe me, all the central
events I relate actually took place, especially those that seem strange and
inexplicable.
Thank you for reading my book - if
you do - and if you don't I'm sure God will forgive you - even if I don't!
- Ah, come on! That was a joke!
By
the way, if you think you recognise yourself it well may be - unless you intend
to sue. In which case you are definitely
mistaken.