Recently I was asked to give a three-day course to a group of 23 enclosed nuns from different monasteries throughout Ireland on the theme of Contemplatives as Pilgrims of Hope. To the best of my knowledge there are 18 monasteries of enclosed nuns in Ireland, six Poor Clares, six Carmelites, two Benedictine and one each…
I am writing this article while in Rome on Dominican business. By the time you read it, not only will I be back in Ireland, but there may very well be a new pope. As you can imagine there is only one topic of conversation in the city, be it in a shop, taxi, restaurant,…
A Cambridge theologian I once heard asked her audience to consider the importance of the forty days, weeks, years – be it for Christ, 40 days, or Moses and the people of Israel, 40 years. She told us that it was seen in the ancient world as the period of gestation for a human baby…
What has Krakow, Vienna and Kilkenny in common? To the best of my knowledge, these are the only three Dominican foundations of the thirteenth century north of the Alps, still occupied by Dominicans today. In 1225 William Marshal the Younger gave to the newly arrived Dominicans to Kilkenny, a fortified tower, still perfectly preserved. Adjoining…
I love the simplicity of Christmas. For all the excitement and fuss of the holiday, at the centre of our Christian Christmas is the baby in the manger. This most familiar scene remains the focal point of the great feast in the midst of all the parties, decorations, tinsel and evergreens. It’s about the child…
I remember my mother, before she died, warning me to fill out the list of the dead each November. And so every year I faithfully sit down and think of those I have known, those who have died in the last year and those who have passed my path in life. It can be a…
Notebook If you pray the Angelus on a Sunday evening while watching RTÉ you will be familiar with the Abbey of Ballindoon. Each Sunday this wonderful structure acts as the backdrop to the ringing of the bells calling us to prayers. Recently I was invited by Fr Cullen and the parish of Geevagh in Co.…
The Notebook I was recently in Lourdes on pilgrimage with a number of my Dominican brethren and 86 fellow pilgrims. As readers of my column, you are well aware that this year we are marking the 800th anniversary of our Dominican presence on this island. Given the year that is in it I have been…
When planning how to mark the 800th anniversary of the arrival of the Dominicans in Ireland it seemed right and fitting that the pilgrimage to Lough Derg be included. It is a unique place of pilgrimage in the entire Church worldwide and it is Irish. Last weekend, 10 of us Dominicans, together with some people…
Notebook All the talk and coverage around the Eurovision contest over the last few weeks, brought me back to my youth. I remember sitting at home with my mother, watching the black and white television when Dana won the Eurovision in 1970 from Amsterdam. Only when I looked it up on the internet this week…