Travelling Home

And today was one of them! We set out for the ancient site of Glendalough at 8.00am. The weather was good (again) so we felt very blessed. We have been so lucky with the weather.

The object today was to learn about the ancient Irish culture and the beginnings of Christianity in this place. Glendalough has the ancient ruins of the monastic city that grew up around the hermit Kevin, and others who joined him. The site eventually became an important Christian cathedral site, and the remains of the churches and cathedral dot the landscape.

The landscape itself is quite amazing – two lakes, three valleys, towering bare hills, small running creeks and natural springs. One can really imagine fairy people inhabiting the mossy rock ledges and ancient trees.

The story of Kevin is of course shrouded in legend, so there is little certainty in the stories. That said, there is often truth and wisdom to be found in ancient myths and legends, so we focussed on being in the moment and reflecting on our own sacred stories. We were led in our pilgrrimage experience in this place by Michael Rodgers, an amazing man who is able to get to the heart of human experience and bring us closer to a sense of the relationship between earth, spirit and humanity. A fascinating and thoughful day – time out in a beautiful, rugged environment.

The day involved lots of walking, and while the sun was shining, it was still very cold! Very, very cold! But it warmed up as we walked. As we were leaving it began to rain.

We have been so lucky that the weather has been so kind to us – it has been chilly, but not wet and this has been a bonus. It has allowed us to get out, spending a lot of time walking. Some of us headed off on the bus to town yesterday afternoon, to St Mary’s Pro-cathedral, the beautiful Catholic cathedral. It is just off O’Connell Street, so we stopped for coffee in this very busy street.

Today, a group of us are going to travel to Kildare which is about an hour away on the bus. We are hoping the weather holds!

We have also been fed well! Trying to watch the diet has been diffficult, so I’m rather hoping that the amount of walking I’ve been doing offsets the calorie intake! Last night I decided to stay in, though some of the group headed out again. I must be getting old! I just don’t have the stamina for such festivities any more. A quiet night in has been more to my liking, and I’m enjoying to time to reflect, write and read.

The purpose of this pilgrimage is to focus on the life and mission of Catherine McAuley, the founder of the Sisters of Mercy in Ireland in the early nineteenth century. Yesterday we listened to historians who helped us put together the many threads of the story, coming to an understanding of the woman and the religious and social context of Ireland. We have heard too about her style of leadership and had an opportunity to reflect on our own commitment to the mission of our organisations in the Mercy tradition. It has been a most interesting and challenging time!

I have also been interested in how others of Catherine’s time also responded to the situation of poverty and suffering, as well as why governments did not. One can see through all these stories the theories, attitudes and practices that have come through in Australian society and in particular our family. These of course range from simple things like having cups of tea, and hospitality generally to the struggle for democracy and the rights of workers in the union movement! I would love to be able to spend more time researching the histories of the families to which I belong – all of them Irish.

Catherine herself was quite an amazing woman, but she was not alone! There were many amazing women carrying out these works of charity and mercy to relieve horrendous conditions. It does challenge us to consider how we would respond to those conditions, and more importantly how we respond to the conditions of our own time and place.

I have been interested to read in greater depth about Catherine and others who undertook this work with the poor, when they put themselves at such great personal risk of disease and death, of criticism and social ostracism as well as financial hardship.

Yesterday was our wedding aniversary – another milestone! It is also the anniversary of my parents’ wedding, and that always gives me cause to remember especially Dad who passed away in 2000. And remember that Mum still grieves and misses him deeply.

Remembering Dad also reminds me of the generations of Irish ancestors who lived in this country and who emigrated to Australia after the famine and later in the nineteenth century. Some may even have walked the streets of Dublin, and been aware of the suffering of the very poor – indeed may have been experiencing that poverty into which Ireland had descended.

Our journey on this pilgrimage has given us much time to reflect on the history of the Irish, and of those who decided to emigrate. No doubt emigration was a major decision, to leave the places and people you loved, but the options here were not great, especially for women.

As we have walked around the streets we have been aware of the other anniversaries which Ireland will be celebrating over the next few years, beginning this year with the anniversaries of the Titanic, which in many ways marks the beginning of a series of anniversaries which commenorate aa century since the Easter Uprising in 1916 through to Civil War and separation of the north and south.

Today our group of pilgrims will walk the streets of Dublin and try to see it through nineteenth century eyes. Much of Dublin is the same – the buildings are well preserved, many of the road are very old. So we will see what the day will bring, and the insights we have. We will also travel outside of Dublin to other places where Catherine lived, again to get a sense of the Ireland she lived in.

Today is also my beautiful Siobhan’s 30th birthday. She is off to New York and that should be an amazing trip too. She will have her own set of insights about the world!

Last night a number of our group went out to one of the small pubs near our accommodation for a meal. It was good, and good to soak up the ambience of an Irish pub while we get to know each other. There is a strong sense of bond between everyone.