In the 1970’s we were ingrained by advertising with the notion that “Two letters spelled Ireland’s favourite Ice Cream”. Those two letters were of course HB, a company established by the Hughes Brothers; James, George and William at Hazelbrook Farm in Churchtown Dublin in 1926, one hundred years ago this year. The Hughes family farmhouse, Hazelbrook House, was moved to Bunratty Folk Park in 2001 where it can still be visited today. HB Ice Cream bars will loom large in all our childhood memories – halcyon days refreshed by the taste of a Loop the Loop, an Iceberger, a Chilly Willy or if you were particularly flush with cash you could occasionally stretch to a Brunch or Choc Ice.
Whether they realise it or not – and they may wish to deny it – HB Ice Cream had a role to play in my priestly vocation. The generosity of a visiting prelate to my native parish in the early 70’s gave a brief glimpse to a young child of what seemed like the immense power and potential of Holy Orders. For a two or three year period the famous Bishop Fulton J Sheen visited Newmarket on his travels and would celebrate Mass privately each morning of his stay in the parish church. On at least one of those mornings after mass he would walk across the Green to Vincent O’Connell’s shop and would pay Vincent to deliver an ice cream to every child in the parish.
It’s almost impossible, at this remove of a half century, to describe the joy and anticipation of the faces of the young children in the Master’s room in Stonehall when Vincent’s face appeared behind the glass panels on the top half of the classroom door. The anticipation quickly turned to excitement as he carried in the brown rectangular cardboard box that we normally only saw among the others in the shop fridge. I don’t know if it was serendipity but each year I managed to score a Wibbly Wobbly Wonder – easily the best of what was on offer. The lower half of a Wibbly Wobbly Wonder was divided between pink strawberry and yellow banana flavoured ice cream, with the upper half consisting of frozen yellow lemon jelly, coated in chocolate. Even in my memory and imagination it’s elevating my blood sugar – not good for a diabetic.
Bishop Fulton Sheen was born in 1895 and he was ordained a priest in the Cathedral in Peoria, Illinois in September 1919. He served for a time as a curate of one of the poorest parishes in the Diocese before taking up a role teaching in the Catholic University of America in Washington. He became most famous as a broadcaster, hosting The Catholic Hour on Radio from 1930 to 1950 and the Television series Life is Worth Living from 1952. In terms of ratings Bishop Sheen beat out Frank Sinatra and popular comic, Milton Berle who were on rival channels at the same time. With an audience in the millions Sheen won an Emmy Award for Most Outstanding personality. In accepting his Emmy, Sheen said, “I feel it is time I pay tribute to my four writers – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.”
Time magazine described Sheen as the first Televangelist. In 1950, Sheen became the national director of the Society for the propagation of the Faith. During his 16 years as director, Sheen raised millions of dollars for missionary efforts worldwide. He also donated $10 million that he earned from his later television programmes. In 1951 Sheen was appointed as Auxiliary Bishop of New York and was ordained a bishop in Rome in the Basilica of Saints John and Paul, located just behind the Irish College, in June of that year. He was truly a pioneer in using the means of modern social communications to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth.
On October 2, 1979, two months before Sheen’s death, Pope Saint John Paul II visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. During the visit, the Pope embraced Sheen and said, “You have written and spoken well of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are a loyal son of the Church.” Sheen died on December 9, 1979, in his private chapel while praying before the Blessed Sacrament. In March 2026, it was announced that Archbishop Sheen’s beatification would take place on September 24th, 2026, in St. Louis, presided over by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle who visited us in Ennis in July of 2024.
As an epilogue to my story of my connection with the soon to be Blessed Fulton Sheen, I was working many years later in St. Malachy’s Church on West 49th Street between Broadway and 8th Avenue in Manhattan when I ran into Monsignor Hilary Franco who had served as Archbishop Sheen’s private secretary. I recounted my story of the Wibbly Wobbly Wonder and he had just come that morning from bringing the ice cream truck to his parochial school to give each child in the parish an ice cream. The tradition continues – the seeds continue to be sown.
Fr. Brendan Quinlivan, VF, Ceantar na Lochanna is Communications Officer for the diocese of Killaloe
Clare Champion Article 17th of July 2026