clarinews@clarinet.com (01/16/90)
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (UPI) -- An Irish parish priest who has a special way with kids was in Gerry Cooney's corner for his Monday heavyweight bout, dubbed the ``Puncher and the Preacher,'' with George Foreman, the boxing minister. Cooney, 33, requested that the Rev. Joe Young of Limerick, Ireland, be in his corner as his preacher when he faces the ``preacher.'' The two met when Young sought a boxer to feature at the Guiness Peat Aviation, a large county fair in Ireland. Cooney, who had joined Alcoholics Anonymous, stayed for a few weeks to coach Young's young parishioners in the art of boxing. Young is assigned to the Holy Family Parish in the South Hill section of Limerick, where there is high unemployment. The youth pastor for the past 12 years, Young works with about 4,000 parishioners under 25, and has established a choir, four bands, an arts center and a cycling club. In 1982 he began taking the youth choir to the United States, where Young was introduced in Boston to the concept of the Police Athletic League, which links police officers to neighborhood youths. Upon his return home, Young, who also serves as a prison chaplain, started the Gairdai Action Program, or GAP, in an effort to close the gap between police and the parish youths. Boxing is the main sporting event. Cooney invited Young to come to Monday's bout, but Young also met Foreman, 42, and the two prayed together. In March, Cooney will go back to Limerick to help support the program for ``Father Joe's'' kids.