Who hears the Cry of Creation and the Cry of the Poor in ‘Such a Time as This’?

‘The Cry of Creation: Creativity in the Church’ … an image used by some of the speakers at the USPG conference last week

Patrick Comerford

Sunday 25 July 2021

The Eighth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VIII); Saint James the Apostle

11:30: The Parish Eucharist, Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale, Co Limerick

The Readings: II Samuel 11: 1-15; Psalm 14; John 6: 1-21

There is a link to the readings HERE.

‘It is I, be not afraid’ (John 6: 20) … the central window above the altar in Christ Church, Spanish Point, Co Clare, shows Christ calming the winds and waves (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

May I speak to you in the name of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen

This week has been the hottest I have ever experienced in Ireland. Yet, this week’s heat, and the recent deluge experienced by people in Germany and other parts of Europe, are sharp reminders that Climate Change is posing threats to the lives of all of us.

But, instead of basking in the sunshine in the rectory gardens, I spent three days this week indoors, in front of a computer screen, having an online presence at the annual three-day conference of the Anglican mission agency USPG, United Society Partners in the Gospel.

This year’s conference theme has been ‘For Such a Time as This’: the title comes from the story of Esther in the Bible, where Mordecai asks Esther to consider whether she has found herself in her privileged position at ‘such a time as this,’ a time of great crisis, so that she can do God’s will and stop a looming catastrophe (Esther 4: 14).

‘Such a Times as This’ … Mordecai uses the phrase twice in one verse.

And, in a similar way, we were challenged to think whether the Church has a voice that must speak out at ‘such a time as this’: this time when we are aware of potential catastrophes created by the pandemic, by racism, by political extremism, by gender violence, by climate change … and so on.

But Mordecai warns Esther that she if stays silent at such a time as this, she and her family may perish, but God will raise up ‘relief and deliverance … from another quarter.’

We were challenged, day after day, in such a time as this, whether the Church is going to speak out today, or whether we are going to wait silently for God to provide ‘relief and deliverance … from another quarter.’

The Cry of Creation could be heard all Wednesday morning throughout presentations that invited us to listen to ‘The Cry of Creation.’

Graham Usher, Bishop of Norwich, drew on the opening word of the Rule of Saint Benedict – ‘Listen’ – as he urged us to listen to the groan and cry of creation, to listen to the cry of the dispossessed, and to listen to God’s voice on how we can live more simply so that others might simply live.

Sadly, he quoted a survey that finds eight out of ten young people say they have never heard a sermon on climate change. Yet the Fifth Mark of Mission in the Anglican Communion calls on us ‘To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth.’

If the Church engages with climate change, he suggested, then we may find we are evangelising the young.

He quoted from Thomas Merton: ‘From the moment you put a piece of bread in your mouth you are part of the world. Who grew the wheat? Who made the bread? Where did it come from? You are in relationship with all who brought it to the table. We are least separate and most in common when we eat and drink.’

Our Bible study that morning was led by Suchitra Behera, an Indian theologian working with the Diocese of Barishal in the Church of Bangladesh.

She told a moving story of hearing that ‘Cry of Creation’ in a group of elephants, grieving the death of one elephant killed by a car or a truck on a road. The elephants staged their own protest on the road against the destruction of their habitat, blocking traffic in an organised protest. And she quoted the Prophet Jeremiah on the groaning of creation:

How long will the land mourn,
and the grass of every field wither?
For the wickedness of those who live in it
the animals and the birds are swept away,
and because people said, ‘He is blind to our ways.’

They have made it a desolation;
desolate, it mourns to me.
The whole land is made desolate,
but no one lays it to heart (Jeremiah 12: 4, 11, NRSVA).

Drawing on the liberation theologian Leonardo Boff, she linked the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.

The cry of creation and the cry of humanity are not separate cries.

And this close link between these two cries is clear in our Gospel reading this morning (John 6: 1-21).

Christ hears the cry of the poor, and calls on the disciples, the Church, to share what they have. They are surprised to find they have more than enough in resources they thought too meagre to feed the 5,000 with barley loaves, the bread of the poor.

And immediately after hearing and responding to the cry of the poor, Christ hears the cry of creation. He calms the waves and the waters, he brings his light into their darkest fears.

‘It is I; do not be afraid.’

We can be transfixed by fear or paralysed into inaction in ‘such a time as this.’ But if the Church remains silent at such a time as this then, perhaps, as Mordecai tells Esther, God raise up ‘relief and deliverance … from another quarter.’

As this year’s conference closed, the Revd Duncan Dormor, general secretary of USPG, reminded us that in the breaking of bread we are one body. Poverty and the assault on the earth challenge us to hear the groaning of creation, he said, and he repeated that there can be no salvation for humanity that does not include creation.

The breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup takes us to the heart of creation.

Let us break bread together. Amen.

A quotation from Thomas Merton shared by Bishop Graham Usher at the USPG conference last week

John 6: 1-21 (NRSVA):

1 After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. 2 A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. 3 Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. 5 When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’ 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’ 10 Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’ 13 So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’

15 When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, 17 got into a boat, and started across the lake to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The lake became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the lake and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. 20 But he said to them, ‘It is I; do not be afraid.’ 21 Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land towards which they were going.

‘Strengthen for service, Lord, the hands that holy things have taken’ (Post-Communion Prayer) … Communion vessels in the chapel of Westcott House, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Liturgical colour: Green (Ordinary Time, Year B)

Penitential Kyries (Saint James):

Lord, you are gracious and compassionate.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

You are loving to all,
and your mercy is over all your creation.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.

Your faithful servants bless your name,
and speak of the glory of your kingdom.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

The Collect of the Day:

Blessed are you, O Lord,
and blessed are those who observe and keep your law:
Help us to seek you with our whole heart,
to delight in your commandments
and to walk in the glorious liberty
given us by your Son, Jesus Christ.

Collect (Saint James the Apostle):

Merciful God,
whose holy apostle Saint James,
leaving his father and all that he had,
was obedient to the calling of your Son Jesus Christ
and followed him even to death:
Help us, forsaking the false attractions of the world,
to be ready at all times to answer your call without delay;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Preface (Saint James):

In the saints
you have given us an example of godly living,
that rejoicing in their fellowship,
we may run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
and with them receive the unfading crown of glory …

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Strengthen for service, Lord,
the hands that holy things have taken;
may the ears which have heard your word
be deaf to clamour and dispute;
may the tongues which have sung your praise be free from deceit;
may the eyes which have seen the tokens of your love
shine with the light of hope;
and may the bodies which have been fed with your body
be refreshed with the fulness of your life;
glory to you for ever.

Post-Communion Prayer (Saint James):

Father,
we have eaten at your table
and drunk from the cup of your kingdom.
Teach us the way of service
that in compassion and humility
we may reflect the glory of Jesus Christ,
Son of Man and Son of God, our Lord.

Blessing:

God give you grace
to share the inheritance of Saint James the Apostle and all his saints in glory …

Bread in the window of Hindley’s Bakery and Café, Tamworth Street, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Hymns:

39, For the fruits of his creation (CD 3)
612, Eternal Father, strong to save (CD 35)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.

‘The Cry of Creation’ and a call to the Church to mission that is holistic

‘The Cry of Creation: Creativity in the Church’ … an image used by some of the speakers at the USPG conference today

Patrick Comerford

This week has been the hottest I have ever experienced in Ireland. Yet, this week’s heat, and the recent deluge experienced by people in Germany and other parts of Europe, are sharp reminders that Climate Change is posing threats to the lives of all of us.

The Cry of Creation could be heard this morning throughout the presentations on the last day of this year’s annual conference of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel).

This year’s conference theme has been ‘For Such a Time as This’ and the speakers today (21 July 2021) invited us to listen to ‘The Cry of Creation: Creativity in the Church.’

This morning’s Bible Study was led by Suchitra Behera, an Indian theologian working with the Diocese of Barishal in the Church of Bangladesh. She introduced us to Romans 8: 19-25, putting it in the present contexts of the global pandemic, climate change, racism, gender discrimination and violence.

We were asked whether we are discerning what the Spirit is saying in recent years, and she spoke of the cry of creation that Saint Paul speaks of:

‘For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience’ (Romans 8: 19-25, NRSVA).

Drawing on her own experiences and on the prophets and the Psalms, she gave examples of how the groaning of creation becomes a public protest:

How long will the land mourn,
and the grass of every field wither?
For the wickedness of those who live in it
the animals and the birds are swept away,
and because people said, ‘He is blind to our ways.

They have made it a desolation;
desolate, it mourns to me.
The whole land is made desolate,
but no one lays it to heart. (Jeremiah 12: 4, 11, NRSVA)

Creation is the victim, not the cause, of the futility that oppresses her, she told us. Drawing on the liberation theologian Leonardo Boff, she linked the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.

But, on a hopeful note, she told us that to groan with creation is to hope for a new creation. Creativity in the Church leads to new life, and ‘creativity invites us to mission.’

‘Creativity invites us to mission’ we were told by Suchitra Behera

Bishop Carlos Simao Matsinhe of Lebombo in Mozambique, part of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, also drew on Romans 8: 19-25 when he spoke about seeing creation in the light of redemption that is always holistic.

Referring to the Fifth Mark of Mission in the Anglican Communion, he spoke of the need to revise our theology of creation in a way that focusses on the integrity of creation.

Bishop Marinez Rosa dos Santos Bassotto, Bishop of the Amazon, a diocese in the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil, spoke of the present crises in Brazil shaped by the pandemic, the assaults on the environment and the assaults on indigenous communities.

These assaults are marked by greed, deepening inequalities, and damaging the environment and human life. Deforestation is taking place at a record rate, there is widespread illegal mining, and indigenous communities are being assaulted violently.

Yet she spoke joyfully too of a church that is responding ecumenically and that is really embodying the Fifth Mark of Mission: ‘To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth.’

Bishop Graham Usher of Norwich in the Church of England, drew on the opening word of the Rule of Saint Benedict – ‘Listen’ – as he urged us to listen to the groan and cry of creation, to listen to the cry of the dispossessed, and to listen to God’s voice on how we can live more simply so that others might simply live.

He spoke of the need for the Church to engage with climate action, and quoted a survey that finds eight out of ten young people say they have never heard a sermon on climate change. If the Church engages with climate change, then we may find we are evangelising the young, he suggested.

He quoted from Thomas Merton: ‘From the moment you put a piece of bread in your mouth you are part of the world. Who grew the wheat? Who made the bread? Where did it come from? You are in relationship with all who brought it to the table. We are least separate and most in common when we eat and drink.’

Earlier this morning, our worship was led by children from the Oxford Diocesan Board for Schools, who expressed their wonder at the beauty of this earth, but also expressed their anger at litter, pollution, the effect of greenhouse gases and climate change, and a word in which the poorest communities suffer most. ‘We cannot continue like this,’ we were told.

As this year’s conference closed, the Revd Duncan Dormor, general secretary of USPG, reminded us that in the breaking of bread we are one body. Poverty and the assault on the earth challenge us to hear the groaning of creation, he said, and he repeated that there can be no salvation for humanity that does not include creation.

The breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup takes us to the heart of creation.

Cambridge University Bookshop is the oldest bookshop site in Britain, selling books from the oldest publisher in the world (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

This was my last conference as a trustee of USPG, and I had hoped to attend it in person at the High Leigh Conference Centre near Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire. But the conference organisers decided some weeks ago, quite wisely, in the light of the pandemic to make this a ‘virtual’ conference.

I was even looking forward to an afternoon browsing in the bookshops in Cambridge, wondering whether there is still anu wisteria left this year in Sidney Sussex College, or strolling along the Backs in the summer sunshine.

It was as warm in Cambridge this afternoon as it was in Askeaton, and I was booked onto a Ryanair flight from Stansted to Dublin later tonight.

But there will be other opportunities to return to the bookshops of Cambridge, and more USPG conferences to attend in person in the future, hopefully.

Browsing in the bookshops in Cambridge in afternoon sunshine in July two years ago (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Praying in Ordinary Time 2021: 53, Saint Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh

Saint Colman’s Cathedral, the Gothic gem by Pugin and Ashlin, is the crowning glory of colourful Cobh and its harbour (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I had planned to be in High Leigh these days for the annual conference of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). But the pandemic means the conference has become a virtual event that began on Monday and that continues until later today.

Before this day becomes a busy day, with much of it devoted to the USPG conference, I am taking some time this morning for prayer, reflection and reading.

During this time in the Church Calendar known as Ordinary Time, I am taking some time each morning before the day gets busy to reflect in these ways:

1, photographs of a church or place of worship;

2, the day’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

This week’s theme of island churches continues this morning (21 July 2021) with photographs from Saint Colman’s Cathedral on Cobh, Co Cork.

Saint Colman’s Cathedral was designed by Edward Welby Pugin and George Coppinger Ashlin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

It could be said that Saint Colman’s cathedral crowns the harbour town of Cobh, standing on high precipice looking out across Cork Harbour.

This is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cloyne, which covering much of east and north Co Cork. Despite its mediaeval appearance, construction only began in 1868, and the cathedral was not completed for more than half a century, due primarily to steeply rising costs and revisions of the original plans.

The architects were AWN Pugin’s son and son-in-law, Edward Welby Pugin (1834-1875), and George Coppinger Ashlin (1837-1921), who was born in Cork.

Ten years of extensive planning and fundraising in the parishes in the diocese were carried out before the cathedral was built. The Queenstown Cathedral Building Committee, made up of leading parishioners and chaired by the bishop, faced many complex problems.

During the planning years (1857-1867), the committee debated the style of architecture, the approximate dimensions of the planned cathedral, and providing a temporary church.

According to a plaque in the south transept, the total cost of the cathedral was £235,000. The project was supported financially by parishioners in what was then known as Queenstown and by prominent citizens, who are named in the parish records. The Building Fund also received substantial contributions from Australia and the US.

The draft plans by Pugin and Ashlin were approved by the Building Committee in November 1867. A new temporary parish church opened for worship by early 1868, The old parish church was taken down in February, the site was expanded and developed for building the cathedral, and Bishop Keane cut the first sod on 25 April 1868.

The sharply shelving hillside posed many problems for the contractors who did not have today’s machinery that makes site-development comparatively easy.

Bishop Keane laid the cathedral foundation stone on 25 July 1868, and laid the first stone of the main building on 30 September 1868. The stone had a container with a parchment recording in Latin details of the ceremony.

When the contractors had carried up the external walls to an average of 12 ft, Bishop Keane consulted the architects about having he plans more elaborate plans. The whole character of the work was changed, and, with the exception of the ground plan, none of the original plans were adhered to.

These extra works increased by many thousands of cubic feet of stone the quantity already provided for and substantially increased the cost. Bishop Keane did not live to see the completion of his cherished project, and he died in January 1874. His successor, Bishop John McCarthy, adhered strictly to Bishop Keane’s vision.

Eventually, because of extensive commitments in England and Ireland, Pugin and Ashlin agreed to divide their work, with Ashlin attending to their contracts in Ireland, including Cobh cathedral, while Pugin took responsibility for their projects in England.

Long after EW Pugin died in 1875, Ashlin took on the services of a young Dublin architect, Thomas Aloysius Coleman (1865-1950), a talented draughtsman, to assist in completing the project. Coleman, who helped to bring the cathedral to completion, later become Ashlin’s partner, and the partnership of Ashlin and Coleman continued until 1950.

The erection of the limestone spire – the last of the major external works – was to complete the cathedral’s graceful outline. The detailed drawings of Ashlin and Coleman showed an octagonal spire merging harmoniously with the quadrangular tower and its surrounding pinnacles.

The Cork firm of J Maguire began building the spire in 1911. For four years, stone masons worked to complete the gracefully tapering spire. The last scaffolding surrounding the spire was taken down in March 1915, and the work on the cathedral was virtually completed.

The clerk of works, Charles Guilfoyle Doran (1835-1909), supervised the project until he died on 19 March 1909, when the cathedral was almost complete. Doran was also a leading figure in the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and the Fenian Brotherhood.

The cathedral was finally consecrated on 24 August 1919 by the Bishop of Cloyne, Robert Browne, in the presence of the Archbishop Michael Logue of Armagh, Archbishop John Harty of Cashel and Archbishop Thomas Gilmartin of Tuam, with Archbishop Gilmartin celebrating High Mass.

Saint Colman’s is a gem of neo-Gothic church architecture by Pugin, Ashlin and Coleman.

The Gothic grandeur of the interior, the delicate carvings, the beautiful arches and the mellow lighting combine to life the human spirit.

The carvings recall the history of the Church in Ireland from the time of Saint Patrick to today.

The interior decorations include lists of the Bishops of Cloyne, from Saint Colman in the sixth century to Bishop William Crean, who became Bishop of Cloyne in 2013. The names include Thaddaeus McCarthy, Bishop of Cloyne (1490-1492), who died at Ivera in north Italy as he was returning to Ireland from Rome – he was beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1895.

Three other bishops also died in exile: Robert Barry (1662) in Nantes; John Sleyne in Lisbon (1712); and John O’Brien in Lyons (1769).

The High Altar in Cobh Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The tower has a carillon with 49 bells, one of the largest in Europe, installed in 1916. An automated system strikes the hour and 15-minute intervals while it also rings the bells in appropriate form for Masses, funerals, weddings and events.

The carillon is also played on special occasions and generally every Sunday afternoon.

Each year on the anniversary day of the consecration of the cathedral, candles are lighted before the 12 crosses on the nave pillars that mark the places where the walls were first anointed with chrism.

Bishop Keane had the architects change the whole character of the work at an early stage (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 13: 1-9 (NRSVA):

1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 Let anyone with ears listen!’

Inside Cobh Cathedral, facing east (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary:

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (21 July 2021) invites us to pray:

We pray for open minds and sensitive ears, so that we may better listen to voices from the margins. May we work better to bring about justice for the oppressed.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

The rose window and the organ in Cobh Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

An example of the interior decoration in the cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

‘Who is my neighbour?’ A question for the Church in ‘Such a Time as This’

The Good Samaritan Window in Christ Church, Spanish Point, Co Clare … the question ‘Who is my neighbour?’ ran through today’s discussions at the annual conference of USPG (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Patrick Comerford

I spent much of today online, taking part in the second day of this year’s annual conference of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel).

The conference was due to take place from in the High Leigh Conference Centre outside Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire. However, this year’s USPG conference is now a virtual conference, and all conference sessions are taking place online. Appropriately, the conference theme is ‘Such a Time as This.’ We have not witnessed ‘such a time as this’ on a global scale of pandemic, ecological crisis and racial divisions in living memory. This year’s conference is addressing questions such as:

Four live-streamed sessions are taking place throughout these three days, and today’s themes have included ‘Prayer, Presence and Provision in the Pandemic’ and ‘Racial Justice: Recovering Spiritualities, Restoring Justice.’

This morning we looked at ‘Prayer, Presence and Provision in the Pandemic.’

This morning’s speakers constantly returned to the question: ‘Who is my neighbour?’ The question was first asked this morning in our Bible Study, led by Canon Delene Mark from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, as she invited us to look at Luke 10: 25-29, and to ask what does it mean to love our neighbour living in this pandemic era.

She suggested that the natural instinct is protect ourselves, our families, and our immediate neighbours. But looking at two other passages (I Corinthians 13: 4-7; I John 3: 16-21), she reminded us of love that must be expressed in truth and action, that compels us to show compassion and mercy and to seek justice for all.

She also shared this prayer:

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, superficial relationships, so that you will live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people so that you will work for justice, equality and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war, so that you will reach out your hand to comfort them and change their pain into joy.


And may God bless you with the foolishness to think that you can make a difference in the world, so that you will do the things which others tell you cannot be done.

Dr Yap Wei Aun of the Diocese of West Malaysia in the Church of the Province of South-East Asia, also took the example of the Good Samaritan, and asked who is our neighbour in this pandemic crisis. He reinforced the idea that no-one is safe until all are safe, and many speakers repeated the need for global vaccine equity.

Two archdeacons from the Diocese of Southwark in the Church of England, Archdeacon Rosemarie Mallett of Croydon and Archdeacon Alastair Cutting of Lewisham and Greenwich, shared a conversation about their experiences of living in this Covid-19 era.

They discussed how churches are facing real needs for reconstruction, resilience and repair, and how people need to express lament for their losses, including loss of income, loss of people, loss of jobs and loss of celebrations, as well as underlying anger and needs for forgiveness.

They shared their experiences of many parishes suffering economically but growing spiritually. Archdeacon Alastair said the Church needs to give more, to share more and to love more.

The windows in the USPG office in London … a background for some speakers at this week’s USPG Conference (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

About 120 people took part in the conference today, chaired by the Revd Paul Gurnham. Other speakers this morning included Bishop Jacques Boston of Guinea in the Church of the Province of West Africa, and Attorney Floyd Lalwet, the Provincial Secretary of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines.

Our worship this morning was led by the ‘Voice of Praise Choir’ from Saint Matthew’s Church in Central Zimbabwe and this afternoon was led by the Diocese of Belize Youth Group.

This afternoon, we also received greetings from Archbishop Hosam Naoum of Jerusalem and Archbishop Howard Gregory of the West Indies, Bishop of Jamaica.

Our afternoon discussions focused on ‘Racial Justice: Recovering Spiritualities, Restoring Justice.’

This began with our Bible Study was led by the Revd Augustine Tanner Ihm, a curate in Manchester and winner of the Church Times ‘Theology Slam 2020.’ His study was based on the story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19: 1-10).

He reminded us of the death of George Floyd in the US and the recent racist abuse of three black English footballers, including one from Manchester where he is a curate. He spoke of why Black Lives Matter and of compassion for the marginalised, and challenged us to think about those times when we have been complicit in systemic racism. Where have we seen overt or covert racism? What challenges might we be challenged to make?

The Revd Bertram Gayle, from the Anglican Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands in the Church of the Province of the West Indies (CPWI), spoke of the Church in Jamaica, which has been disestablished for 150 years. But this is a very different experence to that of the Church of Ireland since then. He believes the Church in Jamaica has been slow to embrace indigenisation and needs to divest itself of power, prestige, pageantry, pomp and privilege, to embrace intentional cultural engament and to become more Jamaican.

Archdeacon Leslie Nathaniel, Archdeacon of the East, Germany and Northern Europe, spoke of how the Diocese in Europe is a multicultural diocese that is working in practical way to challenge racial injustice, seeking to move from exclusion to inclusion, from lament to action.

Bishop Fanuel Magangani of the Diocese of Northern Malawi in the Church of the Province of Central Africa reminded us through a visual presentation from Likoma Cathedral of the connection between Malawi and UMCA and USPG.

Today’s programme included a meeting of the trustees of USPG, when my six-year term as a trustee of USPG came to an end at that meeting along with two other trustees, Richard Barrett and Martin Canning. I may be stepping down as a trustee, but I am cretainly not stepping back from USPG, and hope to continue and develop what has been almost a lifelong commitment to USPG.

At previous conferences, in both High Leigh and Swanwick, I have spoken at or facilitated workshops, chaired some conference sessions, and presided at the closing Eucharist. I am missing the opportunity meet many old friends and colleagues in person. At every conference, much of the important personal contacts are made on the sidelines, at meals, in workshops, or even during the social occasions at the end of the day. The daily Eucharist at conferences have brought us together in communion and fellowship.

I am missing all these opportunities over these three days … including friendships formed in the evenings in pubs like King William IV, the White Swan, the Star and the Rye House, the opportunities for walks along the Lea Valley or in the Hertfordshire and Essex countryside around High Leigh, Hoddesdon and Broxbourne, visits to neighbouring Bishop’s Stortford, Newport and Cambridge, or a late lunch in the Fish and Eels after the last day of conference.

Perhaps, too, I had become a little too comfortable with flying in and out of Stansted Airport regularly for trustees’ meetings and conferences.

The conference continues tomorrow (10 am to 12 noon), when the topic is ‘The Cry of Creation: Creativity in the Church.’

An afternoon stroll on an afternoon in July along the Lea Valley that separates Hertfordshire and Essex (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Praying in Ordinary Time 2021: 52, Canon Island Abbey, Co Clare

Inside the abbey church on Canon Island … an Augustinian foundation dating from 1189 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Patrick Comerford

I had planned to be in High Leigh these days for the annual conference of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). But the pandemic means the conference has become a virtual event that began yesterday and that continues until tomorrow.

Before this day becomes a busy day, with much of it devoted to the USPG conference, I am taking some time this morning for prayer, reflection and reading.

During this time in the Church Calendar known as Ordinary Time, I am taking some time each morning before the day gets busy to reflect in these ways:

1, photographs of a church or place of worship;

2, the day’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

This week’s theme of island churches continues this morning (20 July 2021) with photographs from Canon Island, which I visited three months ago (25 April 2021).

Canon Island Abbey on Canon Island … the island was granted to the monks of Clare Abbey by the O’Briens of Thomond (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Canon Island is a 270-acre island in the Shannon Estuary, about 2.5 km east of Kildysart, Co Clare, and about 1.5 km from the shore on the mainland. It is the largest of 29 small islands that span the crossing of the Shannon and Fergus estuaries, and the abbey ruins stand on the north-east corner of the island.

Canon Island is home to Canon Island Abbey, a ruined Augustinian monastery built in the late 12th century at the north-east corner of the island. Canon Island, or Innisgad, sometimes referred to as Canons’ Island, was once known as Elanagranoch.

The island was granted to the Augustinian Canons of Clare Abbey in 1189 by Domnall Mór Ua Briain (Donald O’Brien), King of Thomond. The abbey was founded in the late 12th century, but it was a separate community and was not dependent on the larger Clare Abbey.

The Canons Regular of Saint Augustine originated in a reform movement instigated by Pope Leo IX (1049-1054) and aimed at restoring religious discipline among parish clergy in Italy by grouping them into regular communities. Although they lived collegially, the canons were not monks but secular clergy whose primary function was parish ministry and pastoral care.

The Augustinian canons were introduced to Ireland in the first half of the 12th century after Saint Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh, visited the Augustinian canons in Guisborough, Yorkshire, ca 1126-1127, and visited the abbey of Arrouaise, in north-west France, in 1137-1138.

Many new Augustinian houses in Ireland were sponsored after 1176 both by the Irish and by the Anglo-Normans. By the end of the 12th century, the canons regular had become the predominant order in Ireland.

Clare Abbey was founded in 1189, when the short-lived diocesan status of Saint Senan’s island monastery of Iniscathaigh (Scattery) and its attached churches was under review. Scattery was too small to survive as a viable diocese. When Bishop Aodh Ó Beacháin died in 1188, this was an opportunity to revise the diocesan boundaries, Scattery became a rural deanery, and its ‘termons’ or outlying churches were subsumed into the Dioceses of Killaloe and the Diocese of Limerick on either side of the Shannon Estuary.

The foundation for Canons Regular at Clare Abbey in 1189 may have been part of redrawing and reforming diocesan boundaries, and many parishes attached to Clare Abbey were previously linked with Scattery.

Canon Island is one of the endowments included in the charter granted by Domhnall Mór to Clare Abbey, but a date for building the abbey on Canon Island is uncertain. Thomas Westropp, the Limerick historian and antiquarian, described the abbey ruins in the late 19th century. He places some portions of the buildings in the late 12th century. There is no written reference to the church, however, until the end of the 14th century. By then, it had already fallen into disrepair.

A papal document in 1393 describes the abbey as ‘so destroyed alike in respect of its buildings as of its books, chalices, and likewise of its temporal goods as to be threatened with ruin.’ The papal letter offered indulgences to any who helped repair the abbey.

In the papal letters, it is invariably called Monasterium Beatae Virginis. Later papal mandates to the abbots indicate Canon Island was one of the major religious houses in the Diocese of Killaloe.

The Mac Giolla Pádraig (Fitzpatrick) family and the Mac Mahon family frequently contested the control of the abbey in the 15th century.

Dermot Mac Giolla Pádraig was abbot from 1426-1478. Serious charges were brought against him in 1452 by Thomas Mac Mahon, ‘a deacon of Killaloe,’ who accused the abbot of wilful murder or of having aided or abetted murder, as well as breaches of the vow of celibacy and of simony.

A papal mandate was issued to the Precentor of Emly to look into the case and, if he found the complaints true, to remove Mac Giolla Pádraig, and install Thomas as abbot instead. The complainant, Thomas Mac Mahon, had received a dispensation from a ‘defect of birth’ or canonical illegitimacy as ‘a child of unmarried noble parents.’

Eleven years later, in 1463, another Dermot Mac Giolla Pádraig, perhaps the abbot’s son, also received a dispensation from ‘defect of birth’ as the son ‘of an Augustinian abbot and an unmarried woman.’ Indeed, the position of abbot remained in the Fitzpatrick family for virtually the whole of the 15th century.

For the greater part of the 15th century, the canons served as the working clergy of the surrounding parishes, including Kilmaleery on the opposite side of the Fergus estuary, and they were involved in the parochial life as far north as Kilmurry and Kilfarboy in Ibrickane.

Bishop Mahon O Griobtha of Killaloe, who died on the island in 1482, is buried in the abbey, but his tomb has not been identified.

The remaining abbey buildings include a church with Romanesque windows, two adjoining chapels, a belfry, a cloister and a large square tower. Roofs are missing from all the standing buildings. Buildings to the east would have had a sacristy, chapter house and dormitory for the monks. The south range had a kitchen and refectory.

The side chapels, tower and cloisters were added ca 1450. An early cashel wall partly surrounds the abbey. The abbey’s cemetery has several graves.

The monastery was dissolved during the reign of Henry VIII in 1540. The abbey then consisted of four acres of arable land, 14 acres of mountain and pasture, together with some islands nearby and the tithes of Kildysart and the vicarage or vicar’s share of the tithes of Kilchreest (Ballynacally).

The island, monastery and its assets and income were granted to Donogh O’Brien, 4th Earl of Thomond. But the Augustinians continued to live on the island until it was attacked by Cromewellian forces in 1651. Local folklore says the Cromwellians decided there was nothing of importance on Canon Island. They were on their way back down the river, it is said, when the monks rang the bell. The Cromwellians returned and killed 27 monks.

Tradition says three monks surviving. As they fled, they buried chalices, holy books and manuscripts, but they have never been found. The monastery ceased the function after that time.

Canon Island remained part of the Thomond estate until the late 17th century, when Henry O’Brien (1620-1691), 7th Earl of Thomond, granted the property to Richard Henn of Paradise, Ballynacally, and the island eventually passed to local families. The last families left the island in the early 1970s.

Canon Island is part of the parish of Kildysart. It has continued to serve as a place of burial and it remains a traditional pilgrim site for people on both sides of the estuary. An annual pilgrimage of island descendants and nearby villagers was revived by the late Father Michael Hillery, Parish Priest of Kildysart. Pilgrims gather in Kildysart, Bunratty, Foynes and Askeaton and travel by currach and boat to the island.

The East End of the abbey church … Canon Island may have been a key part of diocesan reorganisation in the late 12th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Matthew 12: 46-50 (NRSVA):

46 While he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers were standing outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, ‘Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.’ 48 But to the one who had told him this, Jesus replied, ‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’ 49 And pointing to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.’

The West End of the abbey church … there is no written reference to the abbey until the late 14th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary:

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (20 July 2021) invites us to pray:

Let us pray for the peaceful co-existence of different religions and cultures. May we particularly pray for the work of the Programme for Christian-Muslim Relations in Africa.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

An ogee-shaped tomb niche in the abbey church … the monastery is called ‘Monasterium Beatae Virginis’ in Papal letters (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The modern bell at Canon Island Abbey … the Cromwellians are said to have returned to the island when the monks rang the bell (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

A missed opportunity for three days at USPG’s conference this week

‘For Such a Time as This’ … the theme of the USPG annual conference this week

Patrick Comerford

I had planned three days in England this week, taking part in this year’s annual conference of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel).

The conference was due to take place from lunchtime today until Wednesday in the High Leigh Conference Centre outside Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire. I had booked an early flight to Stansted this morning (19 July) and a return flight to Dublin on Wednesday night (21 July).

In between, I was hoping to have breakfast in Cambridge this morning and to spend some time in the bookshops in Cambridge, take some walks in the countryside in East Anglia, thinking about a return visit to Sidney Sussex College or to the Institute of Orthodox Christian Studies, and looking forward to a walk along the Backs in this warm summer weather, either this morning or on Wednesday afternoon after the conference had ended.

However, even before the pandemic lockdown regulations were changed by Boris Johnson’s government, both the conference organisers at USPG and management at High Leigh wisely recognised the risks that might be involved in holding what we now know as a ‘corporeal’ meeting that would have drawn so many people together in one place.

The wisdom of this decision is in sharp contrast to the fool-hardy government change in regulations in Britain today and the way last week’s UEFA Euro final in Wembley was allowed to create a ‘super-spreader event’ outside the stadium.

Instead, this year’s USPG conference has become a virtual conference, and all conference sessions are taking place online.

This is my last conference as a trustee of USPG after serving two terms of three years, and I am missing the opportunity to meet many old friends and colleagues in person. At every conference, much of the valuable work is done and the important personal contacts are made on the sidelines, at meals or even during the social occasions at the end of the day … and I am missing all these opportunities. And I know I am going to miss the celebration of the morning Eucharist that creates real fellowship and communion between all participants in the conference each year.

Appropriately, this year’s conference them is ‘Such a Time as This.’ The title is inspired by Mordecai's suggestion to Esther that she may find herself in her present predicament or position to intervent on behalf of a people who face relief and deliverance or perishing (Esther 4:14).

We have not witnessed ‘such a time as this’ on a global scale of pandemic, ecological crisis and racial divisions in living memory. This year’s conference is addressing questions such as:

What do these major global factors say to the mission of the Anglican Church?

How can USPG and our partners speak prophetically into these important issues alongside supporting Churches in their community responses?

Four live-streamed sessions are taking place throughout these three days, with the first session this afternoon (19 July) looking at ‘Solidarity and global mission in the Age of Covid.’

The keynote speaker this afternoon was the Revd Duncan Dormor, General Secretary USPG.

He spoke of USPG’s vision for the Churches of the Anglican Communion to experience deeper fellowship together in Christ and be sources of transformation within their communities and beyond.

He spoke of the need for deepl listening, the courage to say difficult things and a commitment to ecological justice, telling us ‘there is no redemption without God’s creation.’

A round-up of the work of USPG over the past 12 months was provided by both Rachel Parry and Canon Richard Bartlett, which included many webinars, online seminars and online sermons. The annual founders’ day or Bray Day webinar in February, addressed by former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, was attended by over 300 people from over 30 countries, making it the largest USPG online event so far.

Our worship was led from the Anglican Church of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, and our Bible Study was led by the Revd Angela Bosfield Palacious of Christ Church Cathedral, Nassau, in the Anglican Diocese of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Church of the Province of the West Indies (CPWI).

The conference programme resumes at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning (20 July 2021). The day’s themes include ‘Prayer, Presence and Provision in the Pandemic’ and ‘Racial Justice: Recovering Spiritualities, Restoring Justice.’

In addition, tomorrow’s programme includes a meeting of the trustees of USPG, and my six-year term as a trustee of USPG is due to conclude at that meeting.

The High Leigh Conference Centre near Hoddeson in Hertfordshire … the originally planned venue for this week’s USPG Conference (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Praying in Ordinary Time 2021: 51, Saint Ciarán’s churches, Cape Clear Island

Cape Clear Island off the coast of Co Cork is intimately linked with the legends surrounding the life of Saint Ciarán (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Patrick Comerford

I had planned to be in High Leigh these days for the annual conference of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). But the pandemic means the conference has become a virtual event, beginning today, and continuing until Wednesday.

Before this day becomes a busy day, with much of it devoted to the USPG conference, I am taking some time this morning for prayer, reflection and reading.

During this time in the Church Calendar known as Ordinary Time, I am taking some time each morning before the day gets busy to reflect in these ways:

1, photographs of a church or place of worship;

2, the day’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

I introduced this week’s theme of island churches with Saint Mary’s Cathedral on Scattery Island yesterday (18 July 2021), and this series has already featured Saint Thomas’ Church in Dugort on Achill Island, Co May (28 March 2021).

This morning (19 July 2021), my photographs are from the church and church ruins on Cape Clear Island, off the coast of West Cork, which I visited last month.

Saint Ciarán of Saighir gives his name to the ruined church and holy well at the North Harbour (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Clear Island or Cape Clear Island ( Cléire or Oileán Chléire), 8 miles off the south-west coast of Co Cork, is the most southerly inhabited part of Ireland. Cape Clear is 3 miles long by 1 mile wide. Most of the 147 residents are bilingual in Irish and English, making this Ireland’s southern-most inhabited Gaeltacht island.

Mizen Head, the mainland’s most southerly point, is to the north-west. The nearest neighbouring island is Sherkin Island, 2 km to the east, and the solitary Fastnet Rock, with its lighthouse, is three miles west of the island. The boat trip from Baltimore took only 40 minutes, with views of the rugged coastline West Cork and occasional sightings of dolphins.

Visiting the island last month, I also found I was visiting Ireland’s most southerly churches.

Arriving on the ferry from Baltimore into the North Harbour the first archaeological and ecclesiastical site the visitor sees are the ruins of a 12th-century church, close to the main pier, with Saint Ciaran’s Well beside it.

Saint Ciarán, the island’s patron saint, is allegedly one of Ireland’s four, early pre-Patrician saints. He is said to have been born on the shoreline beside the harbour, Trá Chiaráin, in front of the well, and the islanders gather there to mark his feast on 5 March each year.

Saint Ciarán of Saighir was one of the ‘Twelve Apostles of Ireland’ and was the founding Bishop of Saighir (Seir-Kieran). He remains the patron saint of its successor, the Diocese of Ossory.

Sometimes he is called Saint Ciarán the Elder, to distinguish him from another sixth century Saint Ciarán, Abbot of Clonmacnoise. He shares the feast date of 5 March with his mother, Saint Liadán, and his disciple and episcopal successor, Saint Carthach the Elder.

The reverence for Saint Ciarán is reflected in the proliferation of his name on Cape Clear Island: Saint Ciarán’s Beach (Trá Chiaráin), Saint Ciarán’s Well (Tobar Chiaráin), Saint Ciarán’s Church (Séipéal Chiaráin) and Saint Ciarán’s Graveyard (Reilg Chiaráin); it is said almost every family on island has someone with the name Ciarán.

Saint Ciarán’s life has inspired some colourful stories. Before he was conceived, his mother, Saint Liadán, dreamt a star had fallen into her mouth. She related this dream to the tribal elders, who told her she would give birth to a son whose fame and virtues would spread around the world.

It is said that when Ciarán heard from sailors about a new religion in Rome he went there and embraced Christianity. He was ordained in Rome and after 30 years there returned as Bishop of Ireland. He built his first church on the island, and legends claim the people of Cape Clear were the first in Ireland to accept Christianity.

His first disciples included a boar, a fox, a brock and a wolf: they all became monks and worked together to build the community.

The ruins of Saint Ciaran’s Church, a 12th century rectangular church surrounded by a graveyard, face the North Harbour. The east gable and north and south walls survive to near full height (1.8 metres), but the upper part of west gable is missing.

There is an arched doorway near the west end of the south wall, a lintelled window near the east end, a single-light window in the east gable with an unusual foil or drop in the centre, and small aumbries in the north and south walls near the east gable.

The church was in ruins by 1693, but it remains Ireland’s southern-most church.

Toberkieran or Saint Ciarán’s well is a few steps away from the church ruins and churchyard. Beside the well, a flat-topped standing stone has a cross-like carving in relief. On the north-east face is an incised Latin cross, with expanded shaft terminals. On the south-west face is a very worn Latin cross with expanded terminals. There is a slight trace of another incised cross on the south-east face, with an indecipherable incised carving beneath.

A steep climb leads north-east behind the harbour, with a 15-minute walk to island’s present church. Saint Ciarán’s Roman Catholic Church was built in 1839. It is part of the parish of Skibbereen, Rath and the Islands, and is the southern-most church still in use in Ireland.

This simple church is typical of earlier 19th century churches that are plain in style and modest in scale. Despite replacement windows and doors, it retains notable features, including a bellcote at the west end.

This is a single-cell, double-height church, with a four-bay nave and a recent single-storey sacristy. The pointed arch openings have replacement uPVC windows, a replacement timber battened door and tympanum. Inside, there is a fine open truss roof, polychrome tiles and a carved timber confessional.

The other sites on the island include megalithic standing stones, a 5,000-year-old Neolithic passage grave, the ruins of Dún an Óir, a 14th promontory fort or castle built by the O’Driscolls in the 14th century and destroyed by cannon in the early 1600s, and a signal tower dating from the Napoleonic Wars. More modern additions to the island include a lighthouse, a bird observatory and two Irish summer colleges for secondary school pupils.

The island population is about 140. The primary school was built in 1897, and the island has a restaurant, shop and pubs, and a new café overlooking the harbour opened at the beginning of this summer.

Cape Clear’s remote location and the wild scenery, sparkling harbours, cliffs, bogs and the lake all contribute to the island’s unspoilt charm.

The ruins of the 12th century church beside the North Harbour … Saint Ciarán’s life has inspired colourful stories (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Matthew 12: 38-42 (NRSVA):

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, ‘Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.’ 39 But he answered them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was for three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth. 41 The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here! 42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here!’

Saint Ciarán’s Church, built in 1839 … the southern-most church still in use in Ireland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary:

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (19 July 2021) invites us to pray:

Let us pray for the USPG conference, giving thanks for all in attendance and those who planned the event. May we use this opportunity to amplify voices from across the Anglican Communion as we seek to deepen existing partnerships and begin new friendships.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Inside Saint Ciarán’s Church … part of the parish of Skibbereen, Rath and the Islands (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Saint Ciarán is said to have been born on the shoreline beside the North Harbour (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)