Archbishop Dermot Clifford, Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, has appealed to those who stole the Relic of the True Cross from Holy Cross Abbey to return it immediately.  This precious Relic was taken yesterday evening from the Abbey near Thurles, Co Tipperary, by two people who cut through a steel door of a display cabinet.

Archbishop Clifford said “The sacred Relic is a portion of the True Cross upon which Our Lord was crucified.  The high profile of Holy Cross Abbey rests primarily on its possession of this Relic.  The Relic has attracted many pilgrims and other visitors to the Abbey down the centuries and is still a source of attraction to the present day.  The unlawful removal of this Relic is regarded as an outrage by the people of faith who  value its spiritual and historic importance.”

“The faithful are extremely upset at the loss of this irreplaceable and sacred Relic.  While it is not of great material value, it holds significant spiritual meaning for the faithful of the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly and beyond. Holy Cross Abbey will never be the same again unless and until the Relic is returned.

“I strongly appeal to the people who stole this sacred Relic to return it to any church or
religious house without delay.  I urge anyone with information on this theft, regardless of how small, to report it to
An Garda Síochána.  I ask the faithful everywhere to pray for the safe return of this Relic of the Holy Cross.”

ENDS

Notes for Editors

• Pope Paschal II gave this Relic of the True Cross to the O’Brien Kings of Thomond in
  recognition for their support for the Catholic Church.  The O’Brien Kings gave the Relic to the Benedictine
  Monastery of Thurles, Co Tipperary.  The Cistercian Order took over the monastery in 1180AD and the Order protected the Relic until the monastery was suppressed during the Reformation.  In 1801 the Relic was given to the Ursuline Sisters in Blackrock, Co Cork, by Bishop Francis Moylan.  This Relic and its case were presented to Holy Cross Abbey at the time of its restoration by the late Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, Archbishop Thomas Morris, in 1975.
• The faithful adore Our Lord but venerate the Holy Cross.  Pilgrims – since the beginning of the 12^th Century – have come from all over the country to venerate the Relic.  It would appear that possession of the relic motivated the 15^th Century reconstruction of the Abbey. 

My dear priests and people,

Some years ago a young woman named Sheila Harkin, who was blind from birth, received her sight through a new medical technique.  After surgery, she looked out at the world for the first time.  In an interview shortly afterwards she had this to say:

I never thought the world was so beautiful.  I often meet people and say, “Did you see the beautiful sunset last evening?”  They say they never noticed.  They take it for granted I suppose.  But I just love the colours of the flowers, the trees, the grass.  Everything is so different from what I had imagined it.  I don’t want to win the Lotto.  I just want to see.

The Beauty of the World

Sheila Harkin was right on two counts.  We live in a very beautiful world.  We take God’s gifts for granted.  Perhaps, with the coming of spring we might slow down and take time to admire nature as it renews itself.  “Lent” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word “lengten”, meaning spring. The stretch in the days and the milder weather should entice us out of hibernation and into the countryside.  Of course, Lent gives us an opportunity to be in step with nature as we renew our spiritual lives.  The renewal of nature and the spiritual renewal can go hand-in-hand.

The people of Cashel & Emly are privileged to live in an area of great natural beauty.  In my travels in the Diocese I am always struck by the scenery on every side.  At the East Limerick side I visit Loch Gur and the Ballyhoura Hills. In the northwest there is Lough Derg, its waters lapping on to Ballina, with Tonntenna providing a panoramic view across the neighbouring counties.  The Glen of Aherlow is one of the most beautiful inland views in Ireland.  The Galteemore is its tallest admirer.

I pass by the green plains of Cashel watched over by St. Patrick’s Rock.  Further on is Holycross where the Suir is a perennial pilgrim.  To the North, I can see the Devil’s Bit from my window.  Not far away are the Slieve Felim hills and westwards are the Clare Glens with its woodlands, river and waterfalls.  I love to walk in Bishop’s Wood and Kilcooley Abbey.  The road between Drangan and Fethard has a marvellous view as far as Mount Leinster on a fine day.  Strolling past the ruins of Athassel Abbey in the quiet of the evening I walk along the banks of the Suir. The mayfly is up and the fishermen are in their element.  Later in the year, I will be driving through Dundrum when the leaves turn to gold and I will walk beyond Templetuohy to see the heather in full bloom.  In deference to my Limerick parishioners, I will not mention Slievenamon but I will confirm that; “It’s lovely round the hills of Killenaule”.  In fact, every parish of the forty-six in the Diocese has its own unique features. Without doubt, the Creator endowed our Diocese with more than its share of natural beauty.

Stewards of the Earth

Every day we can identify with the Creator’s sentiments. The Book of Genesis tells us that when God had completed his creation: “God saw all he had made and indeed it was very good.”  God appointed Adam and Eve to be the stewards of his creation.  Man and woman were to care for the earth with wisdom and love.  They were not the absolute owners; they were stewards to carry out the Creator’s will. One wonders how the Creator would assess our overall performance as stewards.  Would he mark us “very good” or “good”, “poor” or “wretched”? I can quote two verdicts from contemporary human authorities.

The first comes from a participant at the Kyoto Conference on Climate Change in 1997:

Nearly half of the earth’s rain forests are gone… water tables are dropping rapidly… farmland, rivers and coastal waters are saturated with nitrates and phosphates…one in four of Europe’s trees are dying due to acid rain…up to ten per cent of the earth’s species of plants and animals have been made extinct.  Fourteen of the world’s seventeen major fishing grounds are either fished out or seriously depleted.

Pope John Paul II pronounces the second verdict:

Unfortunately, when we scan the regions of our planet, we immediately see that humanity has disappointed God’s expectations.  Man, especially in our time, has without hesitation devastated wooded plains and valleys, polluted waters, disfigured the earth’s habitats, made the air unbreathable, disturbed the hydrogeological and atmospheric systems, turned luxuriant areas into desert and undertaken forms of unrestrained industrialisation, degrading the “flowerbed”, Dante’s image of the earth, which is our dwelling place.[1]

A Threatening Ecological Catastrophe

The Holy Father certainly did not mince his words.  He has issued an even more urgent warning in the recent past.  We are heading for an “ecological catastrophe” unless we call a halt at the “edge of the abyss”.

It is certain that the generations in the last century exceeded the terms of their contract. They tended to behave more like tyrants than stewards.  In their greed to exploit God’s gifts they showed a callous disregard for the balance and harmony which govern nature and a similar lack of concern for future generations.  This attitude reminds one of the Irish MP, Sir Boyle Roche, whose remark in the House of Commons is now famous (or infamous): “Why should we put ourselves out for posterity? What has posterity ever done for us?”

Thankfully, the younger generation of today are far more sensitive to the delicate workings of nature.  In their science and religion courses they learn to appreciate the ties which bind humans to the animals, plants and every created species.  All are interconnected.  The young people will readily relate, I know, to a modern theologian:

The earth is the first sacrament of God’s love for its inhabitants: it is the world that gives life and nurtures it, it is a partner in the journey of humanity toward the Kingdom.  The earth can no longer be considered as an object to be controlled and dominated or as a means to be used or misused as one pleases.  The earth is part of humanity and humans are part of the earth: they have a common destiny.  To abuse the earth is to commit suicide, to misuse the earth is to threaten life; to respect the earth, to treasure it as one of God’s greatest gifts, is to ensure life[2]

Paying the Price

Reckless exploitation in one area will have knock-on effects all across the board.  For example, when the rain forests are cut down thousands of species of birds and insects are killed off.  The tribes who have lived for thousands of years in this habitat are scattered.  A culture, a way of life and flora and fauna are lost forever to the chainsaw.

By coincidence, Trócaire’s Lenten Campaign this year draws our attention to indigenous people who have been dispossessed by greedy interlopers who destroy their environment and livelihood for short-term profit.  The Mali people in Guatemala are one such dispossessed people.  Trócaire is helping them to keep body and soul together.

Much of the destruction of non-renewable natural resources is done in the name of progress.  But it will have long-term effects on our own and on future generations.  The indiscriminate application of advances in science and technology, in industry and agriculture is producing very harmful effects.  There is the depletion of the ozone layer and the related “greenhouse effect”.  This is largely the result of the increase in the burning of fossil fuels associated with the growth in industry and transport.  These damage health as well as bringing about climate change. The delicate balance in nature will be overturned at our peril.  Nature will rebel! Global warming is having, and will continue to have, serious consequences in the decades ahead.  Are hurricanes and floods on the increase due to changes in climate, caused by our abuse of the environment?

A Call To Action

The Second Vatican Council reminded people of goodwill the world over that “God destined the earth and all it contains for the use of every individual and all people”.  We can see that this ideal is further from realisation than it was forty years ago when the Council was in session.  Was it a coincidence that Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary General of the U.N., spoke in the same vein and at the same time?:

Christian spirituality is rooted in the incarnation and so considerations of social factors must come into it.  A spirituality for us today will have something to say about the unjust distribution of wealth, about the destruction of the environment, about oppression and abuse in all its forms.  And we cannot be spectators, but must have to realise that in our age the road to holiness passes through the road to action.

Dag Hammarskjold drew attention to the ecological problem while the Vatican Council did not refer to it specifically. However, concern for the environment is moving up the Church’s agenda over the past decades. We are re-discovering our rich theology in this area and gaining new insights. The Church is like “a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old”.  In 1979 Pope John Paul II named St. Francis of Assisi as the Patron Saint of Ecology.  St. Francis is renowned for his love of God, his love of nature and his love of the poor.

The privileged few from the First World continue to accumulate excess goods, squander resources and the poor of the Third World, together with their environment and habitats, will be among the victims.  But the effects of changes in climate and, indeed, of other forms of destruction of the environment are rarely confined to one country or one continent even.  What happens at the North and South Poles will have consequences for the oceans up and down the world.  The right to a safe environment is the right of every nation and of its citizens. From what I have been saying it would seem that Fluther Goold’s verdict is still valid, at least where the environment is concerned: “The whole world is in a state of chassis”.

It is likely that some people will shrug their shoulders and say, “What do you expect me to do about it? Surely, it is the business of the United Nations and the European Union or, at the very least, a matter for our own Government to deal with.  With the best will in the world we could not make a difference even if we were willing to become involved. I was never much of an environmentalist”, you say.

Now let us suppose for a moment that you got information that a landfill site or an incinerator was to be located in your area.  Would not you and your neighbours spring into action?  The placards would be out!  Were communities ever so united as they were in North Tipperary, South Tipperary and East Limerick when landfill sites and incinerators were threatening to locate in their neighbourhoods?  One would like to see such commendable interest extended to the wider issue of the care of the environment generally.

Right to Clean Drinking Water

Since the subject is so vast I will confine myself from this point on to one particular issue.  I will concentrate on water, with particular reference to Ireland and to our own Diocese.  It so happens that the United Nations declared 2003 as the Year of Fresh Water.  At first sight, it might seem that water is in such plentiful supply that we in Ireland have no need to be concerned.  There is no shortage of rain, we have water on tap and it doesn’t cost us a cent!

The question, however, is this.   How clean is our drinking water?  If it is up to standard all round how do you account for the fact that 110 million litres of bottled water were bought in this country last year?  Even making allowances for fashion, how is it that one sees as many bottles of water as mobile phones in the hands of our young people up and down the country? Bottled water does not come cheap. We cannot be complacent then about our water supply nor can we assume that we will have a sufficient supply of clean water into the future.

Could I call in an expert verdict at this point on our stewardship of the most humble but precious of God’s gifts?  Fr Sean McDonagh became involved in environmental issues as a Columban missionary in the Philippines.  The T’boli people among whom he worked, lived in the rain forest and saw their habitat being swept away by local and foreign timber companies.  As a consequence, Fr. Sean was to become not only an expert but an active campaigner on environmental issues at home and abroad. Here is what he said recently about our stewardship:

We are at an environmental cross-roads in Ireland.  Forty per cent of the ground water of the country is contaminated with e-coli bacteria.  Rivers and lakes like Lough Derg and Lough Rea on the Shannon are polluted with agricultural, human and industrial waste.[3]

He also states:

In Ireland we are blessed with a plentiful supply of rain.  While the level of pollution in Ireland has not reached that of Eastern Europe there is no room for complacency.  [4]

He quotes an editorial from an Irish daily newspaper:

Ireland’s rivers have gone, in little more than a generation, from being almost pristine pure and clear to overblown imitations of open sewers and chemical drains.

Fr. McDonagh recalls swimming with his companions in Lough Derg, in the 1950′s/60′s.  Those were the days!  The fishermen would boil the lake water and make tea with it.  They would declare that you could get the taste of the salmon in the tea!

A three year study was concluded last year of the Liffey, the Boyne and the Suir waters  – the “Three Rivers Project”.  It reported that great damage is being done to the rivers by phosphates from the land, urban sewage and septic tanks.  The study concludes that while the quality of the water in the Liffey and the Boyne has improved slightly over the past few years, the Suir water has continued to deteriorate with up to fifty per cent slightly or moderately polluted.  The Suir is to the Diocese of Cashel & Emly what the Jordan is to the Holy Land and Lough Derg is our Sea of Galilee!

The presence of e-coli bacteria in our ground water is a source of worry from a health point of view.  Private Group Schemes have been contaminated or so it has been reported.  Even holy wells have not escaped!  One such well in a neighbouring county was found to be contaminated very recently.  The right to clean drinking water is one of our basic human rights.  Pope John Paul II placed it second only to food in his Peace Message for 2003.  It came before housing, security, self-determination and independence.

It comes as no surprise that the Irish Government has been found to be in breach of the European Union Water Directive.  Having heard the defence of our Government, the European Court of Justice handed down the following judgement in November 2002:

The argument that Ireland had taken steps to improve the quality of its water intended for human consumption cannot be accepted.

Our Government will, I trust, get its act together immediately in the interests of the health and safety of its citizens.  The Government, however, cannot meet the EU demands without the active co-operation of all our communities and individuals.

Clean Water – An Increasingly Scarce Resource

Water is fast becoming a scarce resource worldwide.  The demand for it is doubling every twenty-one years.  Increasing population and industrial and agricultural growth are placing pressure on the supply of ground water.  One third of the world’s population experiences water scarcity at the moment and unless action is taken urgently, two thirds of its population will be facing severe scarcity in thirty years from now.  A World Bank official has predicted that the wars of the twenty-first century will be about water rather than oil!  Disputes about water are already arising in countries along the Nile and the unequal distribution of water is one of the many bones of contention between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

We need, therefore, to pay much greater attention to the management of water.  We will have to stop polluting our rivers and lakes.  The main sources of this, as I said, are fertilisers, which run off the land, industrial pollution and septic tanks from our houses.  Farmers have guidelines from Teagasc and other relevant agencies to assist them in caring for our environment.  I urge them to conscientiously follow these directives. In this regard, there needs to be discussion, understanding of the climatic and financial realities as well as some necessary flexibility in the formation and application of these guidelines. Industry must be got to take far greater care to avoid polluting our rivers, lakes and wells. More state-of-the art sewage treatment plants and more secure and serviced septic tanks need to be put in place both in densely populated areas and in single house developments.

The Government and the Local Authorities will have to help to pay for these essential measures.  We cannot, for example, put extra costs on our farmers who are already experiencing a fall in their incomes in recent years. Protection of the environment is a community as well as an individual responsibility.

Environmental Maintenance

It might be possible to initiate a competition for environmental maintenance similar to the Tidy Towns competition.  Parish rivalry might act as a spur.  When Fr. Thomas Fennelly, later Archbishop, was parish priest of Moycarkey in the 1890′s he preached about good farming practice, in season and out of season.  It was generally acknowledged that Moycarkey had the best-maintained homesteads and the most up-to-date farming methods of the time.  It was regarded as a model for other farming communities.  Perhaps some of the farming organisations might consider this idea. I am ready to lend a hand. Already, the REPS scheme is an earnest of an increasing role for farmers as custodians of the environment.

I think all of us who are householders will admit that we waste a great amount of water every day.  The statistics show that Americans use two million litres of water per person each year. The figure is one million for Australians and six hundred thousand litres per person for Europeans.  So, while we waste quality water with flushed toilets, leaking pipes and leaking taps, poor women in parts of Africa and other Third World countries are still walking miles to bring home a bucket of water.  I can assure you that such people use it sparingly.

Indeed, it is not that long ago since our mothers and we, their children, went to the well with sweet gallons and a white enamel bucket.  Let us ask ourselves this question: if tomorrow morning our homes were all fitted out with water meters and we were obliged to pay by the litre – as is the case in every other EU country – would we use as much water as we do today?

Call For An “Ecological Conversion”

Pope John Paul II has called for an “ecological conversion”.  This means a radical reassessment of our way of life.  We now belong to the better off nations of the world. The Holy Father challenges us:

Modern society will find no solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its lifestyle.  In many parts of the world society is given to instant gratification and consumerism while remaining indifferent to the damage these cause…Simplicity, moderation and discipline as well as a spirit of sacrifice, must become part of everyday life, lest we all suffer the negative consequences of the careless habits of a few.[5]

This “ecological conversion” described by the Pope fits in very readily with the spirit of Lent.  On Ash Wednesday, we are admonished: “Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return”. On Ash Wednesday we publicly display the badge of our humble origin – “humus” is the Latin for earth or soil.  We acknowledge our common roots with the totality of created things. We are also reminded of our return to the earth as a temporary resting place where we will await the resurrection of the body. This Lent we might do an examination of conscience on our use or misuse of God’s gifts of creation which we have been given.  Are we good stewards or have we been careless and wasteful?

Religious Symbolism of Water

The Church uses water regularly in its liturgy.  It is a symbol of the cleansing, healing and liberating power of God’s grace.  Recall Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman who came with her bucket at midday to Jacob’s well.  Jesus used the water in the well as a metaphor for the life of grace, which he was about to give her:  “The water I shall give will turn into a spring inside welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4,14.)

Water is, of course, a central element in the celebration of the Sacrament of Baptism.  When we come to celebrate the Easter Vigil at the end of Lent, we may take part in the Baptism of babies with the newly blessed Easter water. Psalm 103 is sung after the first reading which is the Creation account from Genesis.  Here are two verses:

You founded the earth on its base

to stand from age to age.

You wrapped it with the ocean like a cloak

the waters stood higher than the mountains.

You made springs gush forth in the valleys

they flow between the hills.

On their banks dwell the birds of heaven

from the branches they sing their song.

(Psalm 103)

The blessing of the Easter water reminds us of the natural benefits of water, “it makes the seeds to grow, it refreshes us and makes us clean”.  It continues: “Let this water remind us of our Baptism, let us share the joys of our brothers and sisters who are baptised this Easter”.

The joy of Christ’s Resurrection is expressed in the Easter Alleluia. Humanity will share in Christ’s victory over sin and death.  But will the earth not also share in this victory?  Since the earth took part in the sin of humanity, it will share in God’s final act of Redemption.  There is the essential unity of human beings and nature which we are beginning to understand better.  A New Heaven and a New Earth are promised.  The earth, as we know it, will be transformed. Animals, plants and even inorganic matter are destined to be transformed in this New Heaven and New Earth.  This is what St. Paul referred to when he wrote:

The whole of creation groans with pain and awaits its transformation

(Romans 8-19)

Isaiah announced this transformation. “Behold I create a New Heaven and a New Earth.”  (Is. 65,17). While we may take God’s creation for granted, respect it as I have urged you, or misuse it, keep in mind that the Creator has further plans for it!

Yours sincerely in Christ,

Archbishop of Cashel & Emly.

[1] Pope John Paul II, “God made Man the Steward of Creation”. L’Osservatore Romano, 24 January 2001. p.11.

[2] Fr. John Fuellenback, Church: Community for the Kingdom. Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York. 2002.

[3] Fr. Sean McDonagh, Greening of the Christian Millenniumm. Dominican Publications. Dublin. 1999. p.10

[4] Fr. Sean McDonagh, The Water of Life (to be published).

[5] Pope John Paul II, Peace with God the Creator, Peace with all of Creation.  World Day of Peace. 1990.

“I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of your house and the place where your glory dwells.”

This text you can see on the front of the chancel.  I hope your Latin has not gone too rusty!  “Domine dilexi decorum domus tuae et locum habitationis gloriae tuae”.  This comes from Psalm 26.  If you can recall the Mass in Latin you will remember that it was recited by the priest as he washed his hands before the Preface and Canon.  “Lavabo inter innocentes manus meas”, “I will wash my hands among the innocent”.

The psalmist seems to be a pilgrim who has been falsely accused by his enemies.  He seeks refuge in the Temple in Jerusalem and pours out his troubles.  He protests his innocence to the Lord.  Then he observes the cultic practice of washing his hands so that he can take part in the Temple ceremonies.  It is clear that he believes that God is present and that he will hear his prayer.  He feels secure and at home in this holy place and he looks forward to being among the other worshippers…”I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of your house and the place where your glory dwells”.

You can understand why this verse was placed prominently in front of the sanctuary, the altar and tabernacle when the Cathedral was completed in 1879.  We can make it our own today as we reopen the church.  We too have loved the beauty of God’s house and the place where His glory dwells.

The Temple was the centre of Jewish worship. It was their special place of prayer and sacrifice.  It was the place of God’s presence par excellence.   As King Solomon’s Prayer in the first reading today expresses it, “My name shall be there”.  God’s presence was represented by the Ark of the Covenant which contained the two tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written.

Our Christian Liturgy is based on Temple worship. Scripture readings and the singing of psalms (responsorial psalms) to musical accompaniment were built upon the heritage of Judaism. We also inherited from the Jewish people, an intuition to build places of worship worthy of the Lord’s presence.  As Pope John Paul II explained in his encyclical on “The Eucharist in its Relationship to the Church”;

“Like the woman who anointed Jesus in Bethany, the Church has feared no ‘extravagance’, devoting the best of her resources to expressing her wonder and adoration before the unsurpassable gift of the Eucharist.  No less than the first disciples charged with preparing the “large upper room”, she has felt the need down the centuries, and in her encounter with different cultures, to celebrate the Eucharist in a setting worthy of so great a mystery. Could there ever be an adequate means of expressing the acceptance of the self-gift which the divine Bridegroom makes to his Bride, the Church, by bringing the Sacrifice offered once and for all on the Cross to successive generations of believers and thus becoming the nourishment for the faithful?”

This explains why Christians, as soon as they emerged from persecution in the early centuries, built churches.  The Middle Ages produced the great cathedrals of Italy, France and England and Ireland. Of special interest to us are the Cathedral on the Rock of Cashel and the Cathedral at Pisa on which this Cathedral is partially modelled.  Cormac’s chapel, on the Rock, was also influential.  Both Pisa and Cormac’s chapel are Romanesque at a time when Gothic was the fashion.  The Cathedral in Pisa has three parts at a distance from one another, the baptistery, the main building and the bell-tower.  The bell-tower is none other than the Leaning Tower.  Dr. Leahy gathered them into a unified whole but he positioned the tower firmly between the body of the Cathedral and Ursuline Convent, just in case! The Christian churches were intended to be worthy of the Eucharistic Sacrifice and the Real Presence.  The altar and tabernacle were to be the two main foci of attention.  This is very clearly the intention of the architect of this Cathedral. The chancel is almost half as long as the nave.

In the centuries between St. Patrick and the Norse invasions the monasteries opened their churches to the local people.  The Mass was celebrated according to the Celtic rite. The Stowe Missal was the one widely used then. This was actually produced in the monastery of Ruadán Lorra, Co. Tipperary according to the best authorities.  We can imagine the monks and the faithful singing the oldest Eucharistic hymn, “Sancti Venite”, “Come Holy People”, which was composed in Ireland in the sixth century.  It was the first Eucharistic hymn in Western Europe and it was the only one until the time of St. Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century.

The Book of Kells, and others like it, if not equal to it, would have been used for the readings, reflecting the respect in which the Word of God was held.  The Derrynaflan Chalice would have been used in this region, while the Ardagh Chalice was used in others, showing that nothing was too precious to contain the blood of Christ in the Mass.  The two aspects of the Eucharist – the Real Presence and the Eucharistic Sacrifice were both central to the people’s faith from the earliest times.

The Norse invasions disrupted everything for a century or more but the coming of the religious orders from England and the Continent, the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Augustinians and the Carmelites began a revival during the years before the Reformation.  These religious, who preached and said Mass in their friaries and in the parish churches, did a methodical catechesis of the people.  The Franciscans, in particular, who were undergoing their own renewal, were true to their founder in fostering a warm love of the Eucharist.

Then came the Reformation with the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity. The Book of Common Prayer was to replace the Mass.  Public celebration of Mass was banned.  The Mass Rock and Mass in private houses became the practice.  Priests celebrated at peril of their lives and the faithful risked the loss of their property and even their lives when they attended Mass or hid priests in their homes.  Fr. John Kearney and Fr. William Tirry, in this area, died martyrs’ deaths after being found in Mass vestments.  Dermot O’Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel and Terence Albert O’Brien, Bishop of Emly, were also martyred.  Let me say in fairness, that Catholic governments in other parts of Europe, at the same time, dealt similarly with Protestants, many of whom also chose to die rather than abandon their faith.  Religious intolerance was rife in a number of countries throughout Europe after the Reformation.

But, during the Penal days, the Mass was all important to the people throughout a century and a half of religious persecution.  This recalls what the victims of persecution in the early Church in Rome reported, “only for the Sunday we would have been lost”.  When the Penal Laws were relaxed, the faithful immediately set about building more worthy churches except in very poor areas or in places where the landlord refused them a site. This was to repeat again what happened when the Christians in Rome emerged from persecution. Thus, the second half of the nineteenth century saw an extraordinary growth in church building.  The priests and people wanted to have churches worthy of the Lord’s presence.

This cathedral came comparatively late in the day because the existing church, the Big Chapel, on this site, was a very worthy building for a provincial town at the time.  Archbishop Patrick Leahy did not think it was worthy of “the Metropolitan status of the Diocese” and in 1865 he announced the building of a cathedral.  He had to overcome considerable opposition from some of the priests, who felt that the existing church was quite adequate, and besides, the times were bad.  Fr. James O’Carroll, who kept a diary, not for publication, described the project as “Utopian – the Archbishop’s attempt to super-immortalise his memory”.  It was unnecessary; it would cost £30,000, where would the money come from?  “He will not live to see his hopes realised”, he concluded.  It reminds me of the controversy about a National Sports Stadium a few years ago!

But Dr. Leahy was not only a man of vision, he was also a man of courage and he proceeded to go around the churches collecting. In his own words, “the people, gentle and simple, contributed cheerfully as an act of religion”.  His critics said that this was not exactly true since he had the names and the contributions called out in public.

The good people of Cashel & Emly of this generation have been most generous in their turn.  The people of Thurles contributed willingly to the Cathedral collection.  The people of the parishes joined the Cathedral Draw which allowed them to keep half of what they collected for their parish, the other half going towards the Cathedral.  So how does this compare with Dr. Leahy’s people, “who contributed cheerfully as an act of religion”?  I would say it was 33⅓% religion, 33⅓% parish loyalty and 33⅓% the gambling instinct!  I should like to thank the individuals, the groups and organisations, the people of Thurles and all those who organised the Draw and those who undertook various other initiatives and, in a word, all who contributed in any way to the renovation of the Cathedral.  The Planning Committee deserve very special praise.

As a boy in secondary school, the priest who taught us history told us that the craftmen who built the great cathedrals in Europe in the Middle Ages were as careful and scrupulous about the parts which would not be seen as about those which would be visible.  God would see what was hidden as well as what was in view.  This impressed me.

I had intended to give you an account of the works carried out here since November 2002 but then I remembered a story.  It was about a country parish priest who was doing renovations on his church.  Every Sunday he went into the local town to bring his friend, the Canon, up to date on the progress.  The Canon and his two curates would be finishing their lunch when he arrived; the curates would excuse themselves at the first mention of dry rot or wet rot, leaving the Canon with no escape for two hours! It was a severe test of the better side of his nature!  One Sunday as they saw the parish priest coming up the avenue, his two hands in his overcoat pockets, his honest red face, anxious to give the next update, the Canon exclaimed, “Oh no, not again, here comes drains, gutters and downpipes!”

Let me say that the drains, gutters and downpipes are essential to the maintenance of this beautiful building or any building for that matter.  The problem which bewildered us and delayed us here for many years was rising damp. We believe we have found a solution – French drains.  I will say no more!  I congratulate our architect and engineers and other experts who solved our basic problem.

On one occasion the Temple in Jerusalem fell into a sad state of disrepair through the neglect of the priests.  The second Book of Kings relates how the money being collected for the maintenance was being kept by the priests for the own benefit. King Johoash took personal charge of the finances and the repairs.  He placed a large chest with a hole in the lid, inside the main entrance, to collect offerings from the people.  The King’s personal secretary took out the money regularly and weighed it (as some banks do today) and recorded it.  Now the interesting thing is what follows – everything except the price of the timber and cut-stone went to the workers who included carpenters, builders, masons, stone-cutters. No accounts were kept of the workmen’s pay since, the writer says, “they were honest in their work.”  I should like to pay tribute to all who worked on their renovation.  Without exception, they could not have been more honest, courteous and respectful.  I could not help noticing when I visited the site (and in the first months it was a sight!) that the workers were conscious of the sacred nature of the building.  They worked quietly and although I was living next door I scarcely knew they were there.

The faithful of Thurles missed the Cathedral when it was closed for most of a year.  They returned a few weeks ago to find the building transformed.  They were delighted that it was so bright and warm again.  Our people here have been faithful down the generations to the Sunday Mass and, for a not insignificant number, the daily Mass.  It has always been thus here and throughout Ireland since the coming of Christianity.  The Irish have regarded the Eucharist as the source and summit of the whole Christian life as the Vatican Council II was later to describe it.

As the cathedrals, churches, parish and religious were built, Mass attendance grew steadily.  In fact, the high level of attendance at Mass became a source of wonder to visitors from other countries.  Augustine Birrell, Secretary to Ireland and a devout Anglican, remarked in the early part of the twentieth century, “It is the Mass that matters; it is the Mass which makes the difference: so hard to define, so subtle is it, yet so perceptible, between a Catholic country and a Protestant one, between Dublin and Edinburgh, between Haver and Cromer”.

Whatever about the peoples’ motivation, and their motives were frequently questioned, Mass attendance here from the late nineteenth century up to the nineteen seventies,  was probably never equalled anywhere since the Church was founded! A painting by J.H. Craig, “Walking to Mass”, shows young and old, on foot, between stone fences with thatched cottages in the fields in the background. This familiar scene was described by Pope John Paul II in his homily in the Phoenix Park:

“On Sunday mornings in Ireland, no one seeing the great crowds making their way to and from Mass could have any doubt about Ireland’s devotion to the Mass.  For them, a whole Catholic people are seen to be faithful to the Lord’s command: ‘Do this in memory of me.’  May the Irish Sunday continue to be the day when the whole people of God – the ‘pobal Dé’ – makes its way to the house of God, which the Irish people call the house of the people – ‘Teach an Phobail’.

The road to Mass is, “the road less travelled” now.  The weekly attendance figure has declined gradually from a high of 91% in 1974 to 63% in 2002.  The reasons for this are many and complex.  There is the secularisation of the Sunday. From a day of religious observance and relaxation it has become just another working and shopping day scarcely different from any other day of the week.  The abuse scandals have been a factor in the decline but not as large as some claim. People now have a large variety of leisure activities.  Sports organisations run games at Mass times on Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings.  Priests frequently complain about this.  Perhaps, agreements could be made at local level to prevent such clashes so as not to face young people with a very difficult choice.   I should like to thank the Tipperary G.A.A. County Board for postponing their County Final today to facilitate this ceremony.

In modern Ireland, where both married partners frequently work outside the home and many have to work on Sundays, there is a great pressure of time.  Everybody is very busy.  In my young days people under pressure of work would exclaim, “I haven’t time to bless myself”.  Today, a growing number of people haven’t time to go to church.  Some young people are anxious to be free of parental pressure, and do not react kindly to the notion of obligation, which by the way, is still there in black and white in the Code of Canon Law.

When one thinks of the generations which went before us, of the heroic sacrifices they made in Penal times and the huge efforts they made to erect worthy buildings for worship, isn’t it sad that a growing number of this generation can drift away from the Sunday Mass? They would do well to remember an ancient Irish caution: “An t-Aifreann ná tugaigí aon phioc, níl ar bith sa saol níos fearr”.  “Abandon not the Mass for anything; nothing in the world surpasses it”.

It is noteworthy that, despite the decline in attendance, a very recent survey reported that 90% of Catholics over 18 believe that Jesus is the son of God and that 75% believe that the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ at the consecration.  This shows that faith in the Real Presence is still embedded in the psyche of our people even among those who no longer come to Mass.  This and other findings in that survey give ground for hope.

Archbishop Leahy awaits the Resurrection between the tabernacle of Giacomo Della Porta, a pupil of Michelangelo, of which he was so proud, and the altar which he described as, “without exaggeration the finest from this to Rome”. He collected the marble from various parts of Europe and Pope Pius IX gave him some of it as a gift.  While it is certainly our duty to conserve our heritage, the work of restoration completed so beautifully on this Cathedral has been truly a labour of love.  To pay our respects to Dr. Leahy and to this most worthy memorial we may adapt an ancient Irish prayer said when entering a church;

Umhláim duitse, a Íosa Críost;

Umhláim duitse, a Mhaighdean ghlórmhar;

Umhláim duitse, a eaglais Dé;

Umhláim duitse, a Árdeaglais na Deastógála.

My respects to you, Jesus Christ;

My respects to you, glorious Virgin;

My respects to you, church of God;

My respects to you, Cathedral of the Assumption.

“Lord, I have loved the beauty of your house…”

by

Rev Christy O’Dwyer.

The success or otherwise of any cathedral, church or other renovation is rightly judged by its fidelity to its original design and significant features.  On this score the present renovation of the Cathedral of the Assumption, Thurles comfortably passes the test.  Both internally and externally the recent substantial renovation works have succeeded in highlighting and enhancing the beauty of this most impressive Romanesque building which owes its existence primarily to the vision and energetic efforts of Dr Patrick Leahy, Archbishop of Cashel & Emly from 1857 until 1875.

RELIGIOUS SITE:

The Cathedral of the Assumption stands on a site which has ecclesiastical associations since the beginning of the 14th century when a Carmelite Priory was established in Thurles.  About the year 1730 a humble thatched chapel was erected in the vicinity of the former priory, courtesy of the generosity and goodwill of the local Mathew family.  For the next eighty years this simple structure served the needs of a poor Catholic Community then slowly emerging from a long winter of suffering and discrimination.  During the years C.1804 -1807, at a cost of over (stg) £10,000.00, Archbishop Thomas Bray replaced the thatched chapel with the very impressive Big Chapel of Thurles. Though not formally constituted a cathedral, the Big Chapel served as the mother church to the archdiocese until Dr Leahy made the courageous decision to substantially renovate and upgrade the building.  In effect, the renovation proved so extensive as to constitute a wholly new edifice.

DESIGN

In September 1862 Archbishop Leahy announced his plans to undertake a major refurbishment of the Big Chapel of Thurles so as to transform it into a cathedral worthy of the ancient and historic archdiocese.  Unlike most new Irish cathedrals of the period which followed the gothic style, Archbishop Leahy chose the Romanesque model.  No doubt, his choice was influenced by his desire to emphasize continuity with the original cathedral of the archdiocese, Cormac’s Chapel on the Rock of Cashel.

J.J. McCarthy, eminent architect of the period, was engage to draw up the plans and supervise the building project.  The design for the new cathedral was “taken in good part from the cathedral of Pisa” in Italy.  Barry McMullen of Cork was chosen as builder and J.C. Ashlin, Dublin  executed the enclosing walls, railings and much of the furnishings.

FUNDING

In a period of much poverty, distress and wholesale emigration the task of raising the necessary funds was formidable.  However, despite some initial reservations from some quarters, the enthusiasm and energy of the Archbishop soon won the enthusiastic support of the people of the archdiocese who contributed ” cheerfully and generously” to the project.

Archbishop Leahy undertook two circuits of the archdiocese promoting the cause of the new cathedral and receiving the offerings of the faithful.  The entire cost of the cathedral project amounted to (Stg) £30,000.00.  The overwhelming portion of this huge sum comprised the pennies of the poor throughout the archdiocese.  A number of priests were sent to the U.S.A. and Canada to solicit funds.  Apart from one partially successful mission which yielded about (Stg) £2000.00, the American fund-raising activities proved quite disappointing.

BUILDING THE CATHEDRAL.

Work on the new cathedral commenced in 1865 and lasted considerably longer than originally planned.  Dr Leahy took a deep interest in the proceedings and was an almost daily presence on the site.  His family’s prominent engineering background was evident in his meticulous attention to detail.

No effort was spared to ensure that only the best and most ornate materials, Irish and continental, were used in the building.  The Cathedral of the Assumption is a handsome combination of local limestone – quarried at Leugh, Turtulla and the Green, Holycross -  Cork and Galway marble, Aberdeen granite and Portland stone.  Pope Pius 1X donated some ancient marble to the cathedral.  The magnificent tabernacle, designed by Giacomo Della Porta (1537-1603),  pupil of Michelangelo, was purchased from the Gesu church in Rome.  An impressive matching altar was erected to accommodate the tabernacle.  When completed Archbishop Leahy was, understandably, pleased with the outcome.  The high altar, he declared, was “without exaggeration, the finest from this to Rome”.

Though most anxious to see the project successfully completed in his lifetime Archbishop Leahy died in January 1875 as the building work was drawing to a close.  His successor, Archbishop Croke,  presided over the final stages of the work, raising over (stg) £9,000.00 to complete the task.  The Cathedral of the Assumption was solemnly dedicated by Archbishop Croke on 21 June 1879.

FEATURES OF THE CATHEDRAL

Besides the impressive tabernacle and altar Thurles Cathedral has many other notable features to capture the attention and admiration of both regular worshipper and passing visitor. The detached baptistery, built in the Byzantine style, resembles that of Pisa.  The campanile or bell tower, standing at 120 feet high and 25 feet square, towers majestically over the entire edifice and surrounding area.  The Rose Window, designed and erected by Messrs Mayer & Co, Munich is the outstanding stained glass feature in the cathedral.

Thurles Cathedral also boasts two ornate and matching side altars with statues of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady, the work of noted Italian sculptor, Benzoni.  In the sanctuary ceiling there is a beautiful painting of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven.   Eight tower bells, three Roman arched doorways,  an organ dating back to 1826, holy water fonts from the Big Chapel and numerous impressive outdoor statues are all noteworthy feature of the cathedral.

SUBSEQUENT RENOVATIONS:

Inevitably, the ravishes of time and clime as well as changing liturgical needs necessitated periodic renovations and alterations to the fabric of the cathedral.  Significant renovation work was undertaken in the late 1940s and again in 1979 in preparation for the celebration of the centenary of the cathedral.  This latter renovation witnessed significant rearrangement of the sanctuary area as well as the re-roofing of the building.  Fittingly a statue of Archbishop Leahy was erected in the cathedral enclosure in 1911.

CONCLUSION

The present renovation of the cathedral represents the happy outcome of careful planning, good workmanship, expert advice and the generous co-operation and support of the people of Thurles and the entire archdiocese.  Messrs Bluett and O’Donoghue, Architects, Clancy Construction and Fr Eugene Everard, Administrator, and team can all feel justifiably proud of the effort made to restore Thurles Cathedral to its present beautiful and sparkling self.

The people of Thurles and the entire archdiocese have good reason to be grateful to Archbishop Leahy for bequeathing this fitting place of worship to the spiritual sons and daughters of St Ailbe.  Equally, we should be grateful to all concerned with the present renovation of this noble edifice.

May the faithful of Cashel and Emly continue to sing the praises of the Lord in this beautiful and holy place throughout the century ahead and beyond.

Go gcanaimís le díograis molta Dé in Ard-Eaglais Deastógála na Maighdine Beannaithe sna blianta seo romhainn.

A phobail Dé, idir chléir is tuath, cuirim fíor chaoin fáilte róimh go dtí Ardeaglais Deastógala na Maighdine Beannaithe inniu.  Is mór dom is agam sibh go léir bheith farainn ar an ócaid stairúil seo, athoscailt na h-Ardeaglaise tar éis a

h-athnuacha.  Mar is ceart agus is cóir  tá daoine anseo ó gach parósite den Arddeoise agus níos faide ó bhaile.

The most famous of all monumental inscriptions is that over the tomb of Sir Christopher Wren in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.  He had been the architect of St. Paul’s during the thirty-five years of its construction.  He was buried there twelve years later.  His son placed this inscription: “Si monumentum requires, circumspice”, “If you seek his memorial, look around you”.

The inscription would be very apt also on Archbishop Patrick Leahy’s tomb here in the sanctuary of this cathedral.  It is due to his vision, courage and taste in architecture and art that we owe this splendid building.  On his own, he undertook the daunting task of building “a cathedral worthy of the Diocese and its Metropolitan status”, as he put it.

Because the existing church, the “Big Chapel”, was considered more than adequate by both priests and people of the day, he was faced with the task of winning them round to the idea.  Next, there was the problem of collecting £30,000, a huge sum then, in the very straitened economic circumstances of the time.

A priest of the Diocese, Fr. James O’Carroll, who kept a private diary – and kept it private until he died – described the project as, “Utopian”.  “It was unnecessary”, he said, “it was an attempt on Dr. Leahy’s part to super-immortalise his memory with generations to come.  He will not live to see his hopes realised”, he concluded darkly.  It reminds one of the rueful prognostications concerning the proposed National Stadium in Abbotstown a few years ago!

The Archbishop was not to be deflected from his purpose.  He threw himself into the planning and the collection of the funds.  He went on rounds of the churches and made his appeal to the priests and people.  He was successful because, as he said himself, “the people, gentle and simple, contributed cheerfully as an act of religion”.

He could be said to have been part-time architect and full-time clerk of works while the building was in progress.  He had a family background in engineering and had more than a layman’s knowledge of art and architecture.  The evidence for this is all about us here.  Fr. O’Carroll was correct only on one point – he did not live to see the cathedral fully completed.  It was his successor, Dr. Croke, who presided at the consecration on June 21st 1879.  By coincidence, Dr. Croke had collected money for the building of a cathedral in Auckland, where he was Bishop, before he left New Zealand to come home in 1875.

The critics from the world of architecture have not been overly impressed by the cathedral.  They tended to, “damn (it) with faint praise”.  The Shell Guide described it as, “a pedestrian essay by J.J. McCarthy”.  Jeanne Sheehy said that, “we should be thankful that at least the cathedral does not have a leaning tower”.   This is a reference to the fact that the cathedral is modelled in part on the cathedral of Pisa which consists of three separate buildings in a line – a baptistery, the cathedral and the famous Leaning Tower which is the campanile or bell tower.  Dr. Leahy grouped the three separate buildings into a unity and he set the tower firmly between the wall of the church and the Ursuline Convent – just in case!

James O’Toole is somewhat fairer; “Certainly not McCarthy’s best work”, he says.  “It is constrained and hemmed in by the side and the façade, has too much detail which diminishes the scale, making it look smaller than it is. On the other hand, the interior is much more successful.  It is spacious and well lit.  The chancel is exceptionally large, having a length of roughly half the nave’s.  Thurles is not an exciting building but with its handsome interior and some superb furnishing it is far from a failure”.

Kevin Myers wrote a very positive article in the Irish Times The Irishman’s Diary in the early 1990’s.  He expressed his envy of the Archbishop of Cashel at his good fortune in presiding over such a magnificent building.  This is the last recorded instance of anyone being envious of an archbishop!

The critics have their job to do and they are entitled to their opinions.  But the ordinary faithful in this town, archdiocese and further afield have always been proud of Dr. Leahy’s building.  It was to give Thurles its title, “The Cathedral Town”.  Successive generations have worshipped here.  They have received the Sacraments, attended Sunday Mass and were brought here for their funeral liturgies.  I met a girl here one evening recently who told me that I had baptised her, given her First Communion and Confirmation here.  Please God, she will continue to come here regularly to receive the Sacraments.  She is one of the young generation so crucial to the future of the Church. Priests and bishops have been ordained here down the years.  Sisters have been professed and couples have had their marriages solemnised before this altar.  The Cathedral has a unique place in the affections of the faithful here in Thurles and beyond.

When the building closed for renovations before Christmas last, parishioners felt a palpable sense of “homelessness”.  They wandered about to the Premier Hall and the neighbouring churches for Sunday Masses for nine months.  When the cathedral re-opened in early August they hurried back.  They were delighted to be in their familiar surroundings again.  They were amazed at the transformation which had taken place in their absence.  They admired the brightness, the colour and the warmth.  Nothing had been added, nothing had been taken away except the dampness, and yet, it seemed like a new creation!

It is very satisfying to have restored Dr. Leahy’s vision to its original splendour.  This generation, like its predecessors, has proved both faithful and generous.  I should like to thank all of the parishes and the many individuals who contributed so readily, those who arranged special events and who organised or participated in the Cathedral Draw.  They have ensured that those who come after them will have a cathedral of which they can be proud.  The work of conservation of church buildings is our duty but the renovation of this cathedral has been truly a labour of love.

Archbishop Leahy rests under the sanctuary between the tabernacle of Giacomo Della Porta, pupil of Michelangelo, in which he took so much pride, and the altar which was, “without exaggeration the finest from this to Rome” as he put it. We owe an immense debt to him and to the people of his time, the gentle and the simple and the poor who contributed their pennies when pennies were very scarce.  We could repay them best by being as faithful to the practice of our faith as they were.  Now that we have restored the physical building, it is now our challenge to step up our efforts at the spiritual renewal of the Diocese. Parish Renewal is ongoing and only two weeks ago over sixty lay people began a three year BA course in Theology in St. Patrick’s College.  A parish centre is under construction across the road.  Níor dhún Dia doras amháin raimh nár oscail Sé ceann eile – God never closed one door but He opened another.

This Cathedral which we reopen officially today, embodies the inspiration of past generations, the faithfulness of the present and the hopes for the future.  Our ancestors had a little prayer entitled, “Ag dul isteach san eaglais – Going into the church”.  We can adapt it for today:

Umhláim duitse, a Íosa Críost;

Umhláim duitse, a Mhaighdean ghlórmhar;

Umhláim duitse, a eaglais Dé;

Umhláim duitse, a Árdeaglais na Deastógála.

My respects to you, Jesus Christ;

My respects to you, glorious Virgin;

My respects to you, church of God;

My respects to you, Cathedral of the Assumption.

__________________________

Most Rev. Dermot Clifford, DD,

Archbishop of Cashel & Emly.

People were numbed at the enormity of what had taken place.  The pictures of devastation were shocking.  Some began to question why a good God had not prevented it.  Others wanted to know why no warning system had been in place for such natural disasters.  But, a Dublin priest was first off the mark with this suggestion.  We must create another tidal wave, a tsunami of generosity this time on the part of the world, to assist the victims and survivors in their hour of  need.

Even though these unfortunate people were more than half a world away, the media coverage made them feel like neighbours.  In the “global village” there are no strangers anymore in cases such as this.  When Jesus was asked the question, “who is my neighbour?”, he told the story of  the Good Samaritan.  Then turning to the questioner he asked, “which of these three (the priest, the Levite or the Samaritan) was neighbour to the man in the ditch?”  The scribe replied, “The one who showed mercy to him”.  And Jesus said, “Go and do likewise”.

Your generous response was truly Christlike. It demonstrated a new and welcome sense of a shared responsibility for all humanity.  Pope John Paul II widened our definition of neighbour in his Encyclical letter “Centesimus Annus” 1991;

Our duty to help is not limited to our own family, nation or state, but extends progressively to all mankind, since no one can consider himself or herself extraneous or indifferent to the lot of another member of the human family.  Attentive and pressing concern for one’s neighbour in a moment of need – made easier today because of the new means of communication which have brought people closer together – is especially important with regard to our search for ways to resolve international conflicts other than by war.  (Centesimus Annus No. 51)

This was such “a moment of need” if ever there was one and you, the people, responded magnificently.

Even though people are generally thought to be feeling the pinch after the Christmas shopping, money began to pour in to all the relief agencies. Trócaire is to be commended for being “on the spot” and ready to respond to the crisis immediately.  You, the good people of Cashel & Emly, contributed €510,717.00 to the Trócaire Asia Disaster Church Appeal.  This represents a contribution of €6.53 per head of population.  I wish to thank you all, every man, woman and child of you, for being neighbours in the true sense, to the devastated people at the other side of the world.

I am reminded of the comment of Nora Lahy, the invalid in Knocknagow. Nora had been confined to bed for months but when she appeared for the first time under a tree on a sunny June day, the neighbours downed tools and came to greet her. “God bless them, everyone! Whatever be their faults, the want of a loving heart is not one of them”.  Charles J. Kickham ended his novel, “But Knocknagow is gone!”.  I am not so sure!  I think the “little village” has gone global!

Most Rev. Dermot Clifford, DD,
Archbishop of Cashel & Emly.

27th January 2005

“Try to remember the time in September

When grass was green and grain was yellow…

Deep in December it’s nice to remember

The fire of September that made us mellow”.

These lines from the song, “Try to Remember”, in the musical The Fantasticks spring to mind as I come to launch a book, which gathers the rich fruits of the Summer School into a very worthy and instructive collection entitled, Spirituality for Our Times, edited by Dr. Joseph Putti, published by St. Patrick’s College. This deserves a double first since it is the first ever Summer School and the first ever book published by St. Patrick’s College.

This topic was chosen because of the growing interest in spirituality in recent years.  Books abound on this topic and, in religious bookshops, works on spirituality are the highest selling section.  No doubt, a minority seek spirituality as an alternative to religion, a decline in participation in organised religion has led to a growth in interest in spirituality which is a broader concept than religion and thus promises more freedom.

But, for the majority, there is a genuine search for meaning in life and for guidance in their desire for a relationship with the Divine.  They wish to connect with the Divine in their everyday experience.  Perhaps, people who are immersed in the quest for material things or for pleasure are finding that these do not bring happiness.  There is something missing.  There is a spiritual vacuum which they seek to fill.  There is a spiritual hunger they seek to satisfy; “Man cannot live on bread alone”. Even some multi-national companies have come to the conclusion that it pays them to provide courses in spirituality for their workers. When workers are content and happy they produce more since they see their work as worthwhile.

We had a practical example of this widespread interest in spirituality here at a G.A.A. gathering two weeks ago.  A one-day seminar on the subject of Spirituality and its link with Sport drew almost two hundred participants.  The overall reaction was very positive even though some expressed puzzlement when they first heard the title.

A sports journalist in a local paper reported that the title was “highfalutin” and may have put off some people from attending.  “But it needn’t have”, he said, “the four speakers mostly ignored it and delivered their own material in characteristic style”.  I didn’t think that was quite accurate because the speakers did stress things like team spirit, equality for women’s sport and the effects of bereavement on a team which lost two players through an accident and a sudden death.

Spirituality, as a topic, is a difficult one to pin down. It is a vague concept.  “Voguish and vague!” It means different things to different people.  Perhaps its vagueness accounts for its popularity.  It gives great individual scope.  We have had Celtic Spirituality, New Age Spirituality and the Little Way of St. Therése of Liseaux in recent years which have all attracted much interest.  There are meditation groups who seek to progress in Contemplative Spirituality and these involve many young people.  Another form is Applied Spirituality where people seek to relate to God in their everyday experience – seeking God in “the bits and pieces” of everyday life, as Patrick Kavanagh put it.

Then there is Feminist Spirituality and Masculine Spirituality to complement it. Masculine spirituality seeks “to rescue a healthy sense of maleness from the identification with patriarchy and the malignant effects of clerical spirituality” (Richard Rorh, OFM).

The males feel that the Church is feminised especially in its liturgy, its vestments etc.  It is too soft, too effeminate for them!  Masculine spirituality maintains that there is a masculine way of doing things which is qualitatively different from the feminine. There is a masculine way of feeling, a masculine way of being present that is different from and complementary to the feminine way of feeling, knowing, of being present.  Only in our relatedness do we fully mirror the image of God.  God created human kind in God’s image, male and female, God created them. A fertile field for another Summer School?

Then there is the ecological approach which sees God’s presence in his creation rather than seeing Him as separate and distant from it.  This error led to his stewards exploiting and misusing the environment to their hearts content down the centuries and especially in the last fifty or sixty years.

Another area of growing interest is that of Religious Art.  Sales are up on religious pictures and statues of a modern design.  These modern religious symbols are better suited to the new style homes than the more traditional variety.  Tastes are developing and becoming more sophisticated.

Chris Ryan has written a chapter in the book entitled Sacred Space.  “The arts of their very nature are orientated to the beauty of God which they attempt to portray in some way by the work of human hands…they achieve their purpose of redounding  to the glory of God as they are directed more exclusively to the aim of turning our minds towards God”. Chris Ryan’s chapter contains some beautiful pictures of religious art.

Therefore, the choice of the topic, Spirituality for Our Times, was a very appropriate, if somewhat difficult one for the Summer School.  I wonder how each of the fourteen lecturers reacted to their topic at first sight!  Only one, Jim Purcell, tells us; “When I first received this title Being Human, Being Spiritual, I was excited about the proposals of thinking through and then speaking on this topic”. He was as good as his word and gave a very thought provoking talk from his background in theology and psychotherapy.

My own initial feeling would have resulted from an experience I had as a student in Rome over forty years ago.  I came to do an oral examination on Augustine’s, De Civitae Dei – The City of God. I had prepared Book 10 very thoroughly – on sacrifice.  It was the only one I had done!  The examiner, a kindly Augustine friar, asked me “Quid vis?” What question do you wish to speak about?

“Book 10 on sacrifice” I said and I went on for five minutes.  The examiner looked pleased. “And finally”, he said “could you give me Augustine’s definition of sacrifice”. Unfortunately, I had completely overlooked his definition, a rather important aspect, and I lost marks. But ever since, the first thing I look for is a definition!

So, I began this book looking for the definition of spirituality.  So, how many of the contributors to Spirituality for Our Times attempt to define their subject?  Only one, Patricia Donnellan, in her title, “Out of the Depths I have Cried”.  She quotes Sandra Schneider, who defines spirituality as it is used today as follows:

“The experience of consciously striving to integrate one’s life in terms not of isolation and self-absorption but of self-transcendence towards the ultimate value one perceives.  Its essential elements are conscious effort, the goal of life integration, through self-transcendence, and the finalisation of the project by ultimate value”.

If you can follow this you are up to the speed of this game! In fairness, Mary Malone also included the core of this definition in a footnote to her contribution on Exploring Women’s’ Christian Spirituality. Another definition by Denis Robinson, C.S.S.p, goes as follows: “Christian spirituality is primarily concerned with the awareness and response to the invitation to enter into a personal and communal relationship with the Triune God who is experienced as actively and intimately present within us and all creation”.

The other twelve contributors obviously followed Thomas à Kempis, author of The Imitation of Christ when he said, “I would rather feel compunction than know its definition”. But I certainly would not accuse our contributors as the sports journalist did the speakers at the Sports Seminar, of “ignoring the topic and then delivering their material in characteristic style”.

What they certainly did not ignore was the second part of the title, the “for our times” part.  They are all experts on different aspects of the cultural, social, political and religious influences of our day.  Not only that, they are adept at discerning “the signs of the times”, a phrase found in Matthew (16,4). The term is also used to great effect in Vatican II as Donal Dorr tells us. In his chapter, Reading the Signs of the Times: Justice Local and Global, he says “When we speak of signs of the times we are suggesting that God is sending us a message through historic events”.

The reader of Evangelisation in 21st Century Ireland – Personal Thoughts on a Hopeful Spirituality and Strategy will find a very full and insightful survey of life in the Ireland and beyond especially since the arrival of the Celtic Tiger in the mid nineteen-nineties.  Martin Kennedy has first hand knowledge of the local Church and the charming variety of God’s people at parish and diocesan level.  Martin knows our people, young and old, he knows what works and what does not with each group.  On the whole, he is optimistic for the future.

Michael Ryan adds a life-time of teaching at second and third level to give a detailed account of the attitudes and values of our young adults in his chapter Understanding and Relating to the Culture of the Young in Ireland Today.  The young show little interest in politics, only Sinn Féin has any attraction for them. He examines youth suicide and speculates on its possible causes.  He describes the pressures which modern life places on the young who are now serious consumers and part-time workers to finance their leisure activities.  But remember, he tells us that the young people did not create the world they live in.  He quotes Fintan O’Toole, “The signposts on the road from Kidsville to Ballygrownup have been stolen or twisted”. Surely adults would not stoop to such vandalism!”.

Ger Godley, who is Director of Kerry Youth Services, says that “spirituality is an idea whose time has come”. But he fears that spirituality may become “voguish and vague” as Michael Paul Gallagher puts it.  Gerard is seeking an integrated spirituality for the young.  He wishes to avoid divisions between the sacred and the profane, the spiritual and the human.  His approach is a holistic one which responds not only to the spiritual needs but also to the personal and social needs of the young.

Mick Devine describes addiction as, “a spiritual illness” and he takes us through four stages in the development of full-blown dependency to mood altering substances, alcohol or drugs.  This is a fine piece. It is down-to-earth and clear.  The addict is seeking a state of bliss through taking short cuts with drugs and alcohol.  If the disease is a spiritual one then the cure must be also be a spiritual one.  The twelve steps of A.A. is a good example of a spiritual path which leads to sobriety and contentment.  It is a longer and more difficult path than the chemical short-cut.

While youth are given extensive treatment, the elderly are not forgotten. In Catherine McCann’s chapter The Spiritual Dimension of Ageing, she claims that, apart from palliative care, the spiritual dimension which is an essential element in becoming fully human has held a Cinderella place.  While it is missing, it is not always consciously missed and this leads to restlessness, apathy, sadness, a sense of uselessness, purposelessness in the old person.  The continuing spiritual growth of the ageing can not be presumed or taken for granted.

Catherine McCann states that within the last two decades, it has become acceptable to use the word, spirituality, although haziness about its meaning abounds. But, while the word, “spirituality” has re-emerged as acceptable, the term “religion” has dwindled in favour.  Joseph Putti discusses this in his chapter, A Spiritual Vision for a Materialistic Society.

Mary Malone’s comprehensive chapter, The God of Women and the Women of God, accuses the Catholic Church and indeed all the Christian Churches of producing mountains of teaching about women’s spirituality and mountains of prescriptions addressed to women about the place of God in their lives and the kind of life they should lead. “In the whole history of Christian spirituality, there is not one simple official teaching from the mouth of a woman”. “But”, she says, “Women have been making up ground in recent times”.  The Church has presented three women Doctors of the Church, namely, Teresa of Avila; Catherine of Siena and Therèse of Liseaux – excellent models except that they and the majority of women saints were unmarried.  “As yet”, Mary Malone continues, “there is not one single example, even today, of a married woman who has been canonised, and thus offered as a public example of women’s spirituality, specifically as wife and mother”. This is a lacuna, certainly, and one which I believe Pope John Paul II has been trying to remedy. If my memory serves me, a married couple were canonised some months ago.

Mary Malone has a very interesting section on women mystics.   They are “unique”, she says, “because we have access to their spirituality in their own words”.  They include Hildegarde of Bingen, Elisabeth of Schonau, Mechtilde of Magdeburg, Catherine of Siena and Julian of Norwich and others.  Because of their sense of union with the humanity of Jesus and because of their profound sense of being created in the image of God, these women believed that the journey to God was open to all created beings.  Mary Malone ends her chapter with a beautiful quotation from Julian of Norwich, who, she says, more than anyone, has articulated the centrality of love in an experience of God:

“And God showed me something small, no bigger than a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand, and I perceived that it was round as any ball.  I looked at it and thought: What can this be? And I was given this general answer: It is everything which is made.  I was amazed that it could last, for I thought that it was so little that it could suddenly fall into nothing.  And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and always will because God loves it; and thus everything has been through the love of God”.

The hazelnut brings me to Kathleen Gibbon’s chapter, The Earth’s Story, Our Story. She introduces the relationship of ecology with spirituality, a very much neglected topic. Mankind has degraded the flowerbed, Dante’s imagine of the earth.  I quote; “A new story that is beginning to seep into our consciousness… we are now learning that fifteen million years ago from a source of energy no bigger than a pinhead, the Universe flared fourth from the heart of mystery”. The pinhead is not even the size of the hazelnut mentioned by Julian of Norwich.

Kathleen Gibbons goes on to tell us this fireball, which developed from the pinhead, also contained the essence of all that would manifest itself as spirit, soul, dreams, creativity, life itself in all its splendour.  “From this original, flaming forth, bursting with energy, unfolded in a magnificent outpouring of galaxies, stars, planets and even yet unnamed life forces”.  This presentation recalls Teilhard de Chardin’s, The Phenomenon of Man, in which he traces the stages of evolution from elementary consciousness to self-consciousness and eventually to Christ himself as the alpha and omega.

I can go much of the way with her, provided she tells me where the pinhead of energy came from originally.  From whence came its potential to unfold so marvellously?  Quantum theology to which she appeals does not tell me.  The Book of Geneses tells me that that God created everything out of nothing. There was not even a pinhead before that moment! Why did he create the Universe?  It out of his infinite love and goodness which he wished to share.  The story of creation in the Bible sees man as the steward of creation with the duty to cultivate and respect it.  Up to now the record is very poor indeed. “An ecological conversion is needed”, as Pope John Paul has urged.

Patricia Donnellan takes the opening lines of Psalm 130 to describe how her world was turned upside down when her husband died ten years ago.  “The shortness of his illness, surgery and subsequent death in a period of ten months altered all our lives”. Her title, Out of the Depths I have Cried, sums up the loss of belief, grief, feelings of loneliness, fear, rage and anger experienced afterwards.  I know that readers will sympathise with her long journey in search of healing even if they could not accompany her on the rollercoaster journey she has travelled to date.

To most of us, spirituality or the spiritual life in general, will involve regular prayer. Prayer is a recurring topic throughout the book.  There is a chapter on Christian Meditation by G.T. Fehily, better known as Tom Fehily.  He outlines the life of John Maine, his method of meditation and his personal meeting with him thirty years ago.  John Maine introduced him to daily prayer and meditation with the use of a mantra,  “and it has become as much part of my life as daily breakfast “.

Anne Francis gives us some beautiful reflections on family life.  She tells us that the family is the first school of spirituality, the place we experience community at its most basic form.  It is the place we learn to care, to love and to forgive.  In the past, family spirituality was seen as in opposition to celibate spirituality but this is a false opposition.  “Every day, parents are passing on spirituality and values to children in ways unappreciated and unsupported by Church people”, she says.  She urges Church people to make good this lack of appreciation and support.  We have wonderful opportunities to fruitfully explore such shared values as intimacy, mutuality, abstinence and universal love.

Mary T. O’Brien has a wide ranging chapter on, Women, Spirituality and Literature. Like myself, she believes in definitions, “A work of literature must possess excellence of form or expression, universal interest of some sort, and something of permanent appeal or value”. Mary is well-read especially in the area of religious poetry.  She describes how her own tastes in literature have been changing from Alice in Wonderland as a child, to The Breastplate of St. Patrick translated by Kuno Meyer.  The poetry of Tadhg Gaelach O’Suilleabhain is now favoured as well as “the delightful and sane work of Teresa of Avila”.

Gerard M. Hopkins and T.S. Eliot she describes as “giants in their field”. Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II) merits more attention than he has received so far for his poetry.  Mary also admires modern Irish poets such as Patrick Kavanagh, Seamus Heaney, Michael Hartnett, Gabriel Fitzmaurice, Brendan Kennelly, Maurice Tuohy Duffy and Maurice Farley, who, believe it or not is a woman! Mary has written some poetry herself but humility prevents her from publishing it! “My take on literature has changed dramatically over the years. Now I can pass the fiction shelves in Waterstones without being tempted to browse, but I could easily be persuaded to participate in a workshop on the Psalms”. Mary’s book-list is well worth perusing for the rich sources of spirituality, past and present.  She concludes:

“This survey is of necessity personal and therefore subjective. It is in no way exhaustive.  For those who would have wished a stronger role for woman, I can only respond in the words of Eavan Boland: ‘Feminism remains a superb tool of analysis for discovering why a woman did not write a poem.  It is of no value whatsoever in judging the poem that she wrote’.  And, by way of compensation for those who may have expected a more outrightly feminist approach to the subject, I will end with a literary gem from the pen of Eaton Stannard Barrett (1786-1820), entitled Woman:

Not she with traitorous kiss her Saviour stung,

Not she denied him with unholy tongue;

She, while apostles shrank, could dangers brave,

Last at the Cross, and earliest at the grave.”

That certainly is the hurley across the shins for the men!

Joseph Putti played a huge part in this project from start to finish.  Together with Fr. Tom Fogarty and the Committee, he planned the Summer School. He invited a wonderful team of speakers, he chaired some of the sessions, he gave a fine opening lecture, A Spiritual Vision for a Materialistic Society, and finally, he got the speakers to submit their scripts which he edited and saw through to the publishers.  This publication is a credit to his talent, his vision and his tenacity.  Well done Joseph!

The two-day Seminar was concluded with Mass at which Fr. Tom Fogarty preached the homily.  He spoke of the part played by the Holy Spirit in all our lives.  We received Him in baptism but if he is to stay alive in us through his gifts, we must create the space for Him to do so. “The last two days have been memorable.  The Spirit of God has been evident, not just through our speakers but also in those who attended the Summer School”.  The readers of this book will also receive some of the same inspiration in these pages, I believe.

During the week we celebrated the Feast of Francis de Sales, author of the spiritual masterpiece An Introduction to the Devout Life.  I read it in my first days as a seminarian in Maynooth.  It was only when I became a bishop that I adverted to the fact that he was Archbishop of Geneva.  He insisted on making time for spiritual direction of others by letters or through personal meetings.  He is reputed to have said, “One soul is diocese enough for a bishop”. I will end by quoting two paragraphs from his masterpiece:

“At the creation, God commanded the plants to bear fruit each according to its kind and he likewise commands Christians, the living branches of the vine, to bear fruit by practising devotion according to their state of life.

The practice of devotion must differ for the gentleman and the artisan, the servant and the prince, for widow, young girl or wife.  Further, it must be adapted to their particular strength, circumstances and duties.

Is the solitary life of a Carthusian suited to a bishop? Should those who are married practise the poverty of a Capuchin?  If workmen spent as much time in church as religious, if religious were exposed to the same pastoral calls as a bishop, such devotion would be ridiculous and cause intolerable disorder.

Yet this foolish mistake is often made.  True devotion never causes harm, but rather perfects everything we do; a devotion which conflicts with anyone’s state of life is undoubtedly false.

It makes the care of family peaceful, the love of husband and wife more sincere, the service of one’s king more faithful, and every task more pleasant and a joy.

It is not only erroneous, but a heresy, to hold that life in an army, the workshop, the court, or the home is incompatible with devotion.  Purely contemplative, monastic or religious devotion cannot be practised in these callings; yet, these are not only kinds of devotion; there are many others suitable for those who live in the world and capable of leading them to perfection.

Wherever we find ourselves we not only my, but should, seek perfection.

The Parochial House, Anacarty, Co. Tipperary.

Tel:     71104                          Fax: 71104                      Email:    rjfb@eircom.net

Masses St. Brigid’s Church, Anacarty

Saturdays Evening and Eve of Holydays: 8:00 pm

Sundays: 11:00 am

Holydays: 11:00 am

First Friday: 9am

Confessions: ½ hour before Saturday evening mass

Adoration: 7 – 8pm First Friday

Masses – Immaculate Conception Church, Donohill

Saturdays Evening & Eve of Holydays: 6:30 pm

Sundays: 9:30 am

Holydays: 9:30 am

First Friday: 7.30pm

Confessions:  ½ hour before Saturday evening mass

Primary Schools

Garryshane NS            76288

Anacarty NS                71566

Very Rev. Martin Hayes, Adm.,                    086 2537820  (Parish Mobile)

Rev. Gerard Hennessy, CC

Rev. Tomas O’Connell, CC,

Tel: 0504 22505         Fax: 0504 22415         Email: parishcentre@thurlesparish.ie

St. Joseph & Brigid, Bothar na Naomh

Rev. Thomas Lanigan-Ryan, CC,                087 6833883             Email: tlr@eircom.net

Rev. James Donnelly,CC,                          086 3958404 (Parish Mobile)

Tel: 0504 22042/22688                                  Fax: 0504 20772

Parish Centre:

Cathedral Street, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

Tel: 0504 22229/22779                                  Fax:  0504 22415

Secretary: Louise Minogue

Email: parishcentre@thurlesparish.ie

Masses Cathedral of the Assumption

Saturday Evenings and Eves of Holydays:          7.30 pm

Sundays: 8.00am; 9.30 am; 11.00 am; 12.15 pm

Holydays: 8.00am; 10.30am and 7.30pm
(NB: no 12.15pm except St. Patrick’s Day and Christmas Day)

First Fridays: 8.00am; 10.30am and 7.30pm

First Monday: 7.30pm – Sacred Heart Sodality

Every Tuesday: 7.30pm – Holy Family Confraternity

Confession: Every Friday and Saturday 2.30 – 3.30pm and after 7.30pm Mass on Saturdays

Thursday before First Friday: 2.30-3.30pm

Devotions: Every Sunday 7.00pm

Adoration: Weekdays 11.00am – 8pm

Sundays: 1.00pm – 7.00pm

St. Joseph & St. Brigid, Bothar na Naomh

Saturdays Evenings and Eves of Holydays:        6.30 pm

Sundays: 9.00; 10.30 am; 12 noon.

Holydays:  10.30am

First Fridays: 6.30pm

Confessions: Every Saturday after 10.00am and 6.30pm Masses. Thursday before 1st Friday after 10.00am Mass.

Colleges

St. Patrick’s College

Very Rev. Thomas Fogarty,                              (086 2425425)

President

Tel: 0504 21201                                         Fax: 0504 23735
Email: tomfogarty@stpats.ie
Registrar:
Paula Hourigan
Tel: 0504 20535                                              Email: phourigan@stpats.ie

Sr Carmel Bourke
Tel: 0504 58752                                               Email:

Secretary: Bernie@stpats.ie
Email: office@stpats.ie

www.stpats.ie

Pallotine                                               21202

Tipperary Institute                                 24488

Convents

Ursuline Convent                                 21561   Website: www.ursulines.ie

Presentation Convent                          21250

Mercy Sisters, Park View Drive            21137
Mercy Sisters, Stannix Home              22320

Hospital and Nursing Homes

Hosptial of the Assumption                   21055

Stannix Home                                     22320

Ardeen Nursing Home                          22094

St. Theresa’s Nursing Home                 22246

Mt. St. Benedict’s                               23172

Secondary Schools

Presentation Secondary Sch.                 21783

Ursuline Secondary School                    22147

CBS Secondary School                         22054

Colaiste Mhuire Co-Ed                          21734

Primary Schools

Scoil Mhuire                                          22331

Scoil Angela                                          22561

Scoil Ailbe                                             21448

Gael Scoil                                             21497

Rahealty NS                                          45266

Leugh NS                                              23111

For more general information on Thurles parish and its surrounds please log on to www.mytown.ie/Thurles