Cathal BarryOrganisers’ preferred location is Cúil Aodha (Coolea)
Organisers of a new monastic community in Cork’s Muskerry Gaeltacht are meeting next week to decide on a site for the new monastery.
Cúil Aodha (Coolea), Co. Cork, is the preferred location and the organisers hope to persuade the Monastic Family of Bethlehem to move there, The Irish Catholic has learned.
The rapidly expanding international contemplative order, which includes nuns as well as monks, was established in France in 1951.
The monastery is the brainchild of Peadar Ó Riada, son of the late composer Seán Ó Riada, who is confident that his vision for the monastery can be realised.
“We are not just doing this on a whim. We are doing it because we want to recommend what has been disconnected,” he told The Irish Catholic.
“Our culture has been impoverished and we think this initiative could add balance to our community, to our lives and to the lives of our children.
“This is an attempt to reach out and draw spirituality in. There is a need to strike a balance between the physical, spiritual and creative in our society,” he said.
Conditions
Mr Ó Riada said the monastery would be handed over to the order on two conditions: that they would provide a priest for the area if none were available and that Irish would eventually become the language of the community based there.
“The Irish language is a much easier language to express emotions and pray in because it’s more of a ‘heart language’, whereas English is a ‘head language’,” he said. “We’d like to get back to the old Irish-style spirituality.”
The next step is to enlist support for the building of the new monastery.
“We’re hoping to attract people who are interested and then we’ll start the whole process of gathering resources.
“We’re looking at summer camps where people would volunteer and help in the construction of the monastery in any way they can. We want this to be a community project. We want people to put their own sweat into it and to take ownership of it,” said Mr Ó Riada.
