The Dominicans mark 800 years in Ireland with a new journal from Dominican Publications

Saint Saviour’s Church, Dublin … the Dominicans are celebrating 800 years of their presence in Ireland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This year, the Dominicans are celebrating the 800th anniversary of their arrival in Ireland. The Dominicans were the first order of friars in Ireland, arriving in Dublin from Oxford in 1224, three years after the death of their founder, Saint Dominic.

Since then, there has been a continuous Dominican presence in Ireland for 800 years, unbroken through times of great social change and religious persecution.

As part of the 800th anniversary celebrations in Ireland, the Master of the Order, Father Francis Gerard Timoner, celebrated Mass in Saint Saviour’s Church, Dublin, last month (11 February 2024), the Tallaght Choral Society is giving a jubilee performance of Handel’s Messiah in the Helix Centre, Dublin City University, next month (14 April 2024), and Dominican Publications in Dublin have launched a new journal, Conversations, published by six times a year.

The name of the new journal Conversations is inspired by an event in the life of Saint Dominic when he was accompanying his bishop on a diplomatic journey from Spain to Denmark in 1203.

Dominic de Guzman was living the ordered, contemplative life of a cathedral canon when he was asked to travel with his bishop to Denmark. On that journey, Dominic encountered anti-Christian thinking for the first time in Toulouse. The innkeeper where Dominic and the bishop were staying was a Cathar, and Dominic stayed up all night in conversation with him. For both, the outcome was profound: the innkeeper was converted, and Dominic was prompted to change his way of life.

Father Bernard Treacy, editor of the new journal Conversations, recalls how this incident in the life of Saint Dominic once prompted a joke by Timothy Radcliffe, when he was the Dominican Master, that the order was founded in a pub.

Saint Dominic became deeply aware that the deepest conversation is the one between the Persons of the Blessed Trinity. In an era of profound social, religious, political and intellectual change, he spent 13 years gathering teams around him to explore new ways to live and preach the Gospel.

He engaged in conversations as he sought ways to credibly live and present the Gospel in an environment where many people were drawn to a dualistic, life-denying world-view. He also attended the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 before founding the Order of Preachers in 1216.

The Dominican chapel in Blackfriars, Oxford … the Dominicans arrived in Ireland from Oxford in 1224 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Irish Dominicans have been associated with schools such as Muckross Park, Dublin, and Newbridge College, Co Kildare. Their houses include Saint Saviour’s in Parnell Square, Dublin, and Saint Mary’s Priory, Tallaght. The Irish Dominicans are also linked with San Clemente Basilica in Rome.

Conversations, the new journal from Dominican Publications in Dublin, builds on the work of two long-standing and well-respected journals, Doctrine and Life and Spirituality.

Dominican Publications were founded in 1897. The first publication was The Irish Rosary, a monthly journal that continued until 1961. The editors included Archbishop Patrick Finbar Ryan (1881-1975). He was a brother of the diplomat, Sir Andrew Ryan, and Mary Ryan, Professor of Romance Languages at University College Cork – she was the first female professor in Ireland or Britain, and a regular contributor to The Irish Rosary. Archbishop Ryan’s nephews included the Dominican theologian the Revd Dr Columba Ryan (1916-2009) of Hawkesyard Priory and Spode House, near Rugeley, Staffordshire, and John Ryan (1921-2009), the cartoonist best-known for his character Captain Pugwash.

Doctrine and Life was first published in February 1951. It was followed by Scripture in Church in 1970, and Spirituality was launched in 1994.

Doctrine and Life dates back to a remark by Alfred J O’Rahilly, President of UCC, who told Father Anselm Moynihan: ‘You should make available in English those excellent articles from La Vie Spirituelle.’ As a result, a section headed ‘Doctrine and Life’ began to appear in The Irish Rosary from late 1946.

Doctrine and Life became a separate publication in 1951, edited by Anselm Moynihan. Its mandate was ‘to explain the abundant riches of God’s grace,’ drawing on ‘the traditional sources of Catholic teaching – Sacred Scripture, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church.’

Two years after Father Austin Flannery was appointed editor, Pope John XXIII called the Vatican II council in 1959. Austin realised that people would need help in understanding the teaching of Vatican II and the implications of this new epoch in the life of the Church, and he focussed Doctrine and Life on meeting this need. Bernard Treacy was appointed editor in 1989, when controversies on law and morality were prominent in Irish life, and Doctrine and Life became a forum for these debates.

Austin Flannery also identified a need for a publication to help people to deepen their Christian lives in a world where the practice of faith is diminishing. The first edition of Spirituality, edited by Tom Jordan, was published in 1994. It offered insights on the Bible and the liturgy, on the teachings of the great Christian mystics and theologians on the spiritual life and on prayer, and the spiritual experience of saintly men and women. Tom Jordan developed Spirituality creatively and effectively for almost three decades.

Windows by Johnny Murphy and Reiltín Murphy in Saint Saviour’s Church, Limerick, depicting the martyrdom of the Dominican Bishop Terence Albert O’Brien and the history of Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Over the years, I have contributed six papers to both journals, with papers in Doctrine and Life in 1991, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002, and in Spirituality in 2001.

By summer 2023, however, it became clear that Dominican Publications needed to consolidate its magazine publishing. The decision was taken to replace Doctrine and Life and Spirituality with a new publication, bringing together the needs they had addressed separately.

Conversations arranges its articles under the same headings that made Spirituality helpful and clear – the Lived Experience; at the Sources, Bible and Liturgy; at the School of the Mystics and Writers; Learning to Pray; Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation; and Meeting Place – with the addition of a further section, ‘Seeking Understanding’, to provide for distinctly theological articles like those in Doctrine and Life.

Conversations offers opportunities for dialogue between the experience and inheritance of Christian faith and the concerns of today’s world, political, economic, artistic and religious. Its outlook is rooted in the Catholic tradition but is ecumenical as it analyses questions posed by current dilemmas and charts developments in Church life and Christian spirituality. The editorial team also wants to encourage conversation with readers and among readers.

Saint Mary’s Priory, Tallaght … I led a retreat there for Bray Churches Together in 2009 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The second edition of Conversations (March-April 2024) was published last week. To coincide with the celebrations of Saint Patrick’s Day later this month (17 March), I have been invited to contribute the closing paper, ‘Did St Patrick Bring Christianity to Ireland?’

The other contributors to this edition of Conversations are: Francisco Timoner, ‘800 Years of Dominican Presence and Preaching in Ireland’; Phyllis Zagano, ‘Women, the Diaconate and the Synod: What Happens next?’; Isabelle Smyth, ‘Women’s Ordination: Are We Asking the Right Questions?’; Seán Goan, ‘Telling the Death of Jesus: The Passion as a Quest Story’; Ben Harrison, ‘Act like one’; Joanna Merry, ‘Clerical Perpetrators of Child Abuse: The Dilemma of Spiritual Care’; Michael Ford, ‘A Thomas Merton Pilgrimage to New York’; David Begg, ‘What Are the Possibilities for a Just Transition from Fossil Fuels?’; Paul Clogher, ‘A Cinema of Redemption: Martin Scorsese’s Cinematic Theology’; Vivian Boland, ‘The Impossible Necessity of Naming God’; and Frank Regan, ‘Freedom to Walk in Truth.’

Conversations is appearing six times a year. Each 80-page issue will offer opportunities for dialogue between the experience and inheritance of Christian faith and the concerns of today’s world, political, economic, artistic and religious.

The Editor of Conversations is Bernard Treacy OP, the Associate Editor is Tom Jordan OP, the North American Editor is Michael Downey, and design and layout are by David Cooke. The advisory board includes Dr Geraldine Marie Smyth, former director of the Irish School of Ecumenics. Conversations and Dominican Publications are at 42 Parnell Square, Dublin 1.

In the courtyard of San Clemente, Rome, the Irish Dominicans’ church in Rome (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus and parallels in the story of a sleeping philosopher in Crete

The caves of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I was writing last week about the seven cities or places that have given their names to nine of the Pauline letters in the New Testament: Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae and Thessaloniki. I have visited many of these place, including Rome, Corinth, Ephesus and Thessaloniki.

As I was writing about Ephesus last week (22 November), I was reminded how many times I had visited the classical ruins of Ephesus, the present day Turkish city of Selçuk, and some of the sites clustered together in the this area, including the Temple of Artemis, the Library of Celsius, the Basilica of Saint John, the Isa Bey Kami, which mut be unusual as a mosque for having a name that honours Jesus, the supposed ‘House of Mary’, and the Tomb of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.

I sometimes wondered how many of the tourists who make their way from Kusadasi to Ephesus know of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus or notice the site of the cave. Yet, their story was so popular in the early Church that it is referred to even in an early Irish monastic manuscript associated with the monks of Tallaght, they were celebrated as martyrs throughout the early church, they inspired great works of literature in mediaeval Europe, and they are even discussed in one chapter of the Quran.

Tradition says the Seven Sleepers (επτά κοιμώμενοι) were a group of young men in the third century who hid inside a cave outside Ephesus (Selçuk) ca 250 CE to escape persecution and who emerged many year later – if not hundreds of years later.

In the traditional telling of this story, the seven young men were trying to escape one of the many persecutions of Christians in the Roman Empire and they awoke some 300 years later.

The earliest known version of the story is told in the writings of the Jacob of Serugh (ca 450-521), a Syriac bishop who relied on an earlier, now lost Greek source. An outline of this story appears in the writings of Gregory of Tours (538-594) and in the History of the Lombards by Paul the Deacon (720-799). The best-known Western version of the story appears in Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend (1259-1266).

The story is told in up to a dozen mediaeval languages and found in over 200 manuscripts, from the ninth to the 13th centuries. These include 104 Latin manuscripts, 40 Greek, 33 Arabic, 17 Syriac, six Ethiopic, five Coptic, two Armenian, and one each in Old French, Old English and Middle Irish.

The ninth-century Irish calendar Félire Óengusso or Martyrology of Óengus, attributed to Saint Óengus of Tallaght, commemorates the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus on 7 August. The Roman Martyrology commemorates them on 27 July, the Byzantine calendar commemorates them on 4 August and 22 October, while Syriac Orthodox calendars give various dates: 21 April, 2 August, 13 August, 23 October and 24 October.

Early versions of the story do not agree on or even specify the number of sleepers. Many accounts say there were seven sleepers along with a dog named Viricanus.

The number of years the sleepers slept also varies in the accounts. The highest number, given by Gregory of Tours, was 373 years; some accounts say 372; Jacobus de Voragine calculated 196 years – from 252 CE to 448 CE; other accounts suggest 195 years. Islamic accounts, including the Qur'an, suggest a sleep of 309 years: these are presumably lunar years, making it 300 solar years.

The lists include at least seven different sets of names for the sleepers, mainly variations on the names Maximian, Martinian, Dionisius, John, Constantine, Malchus and Serapion, although Gregory of Tours names them as Achillides, Probatus, Stephanus, Sambatus, Quiriacus and Diogenus.

According to the story, during the persecutions by the Roman emperor Decius ca 250 CE, seven young men were arrested as Christians. They were given time to recant their faith, but they refused to bow to Roman idols. Instead, they chose to give their worldly goods to the poor and they retired to a mountain cave to pray, where they fell asleep. The Emperor then ordered the mouth of the cave to be sealed.

Decius died in 251, and as the years passed Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. At some later time in the reign of Theodosius II (408-450), there were heated discussions about the resurrection of the body and life after death. At that time, a farmer decided to open up the sealed cave to use it as a cattle pen. But when he opened the cave, he found the sleepers inside. They woke up, imagining that had slept for only a day, and sent one of their number to Ephesus with a saucer of silver coins to buy ‘pure food’ in the bazaar.

When he arrived in Ephesus, the former sleeper was astounded to find buildings with crosses on them. The people of Ephesus, for their part, were astounded to find a man trying to use old coins from the reign of Decius to buy food. The bishop was summoned to interview the sleepers. They told him their story, and died praising God.

A pilgrim account written between 518 and 531, De situ terrae sanctae, records the existence of a church dedicated to the sleepers in Ephesus. The story spread rapidly throughout the Christian world.

The story was popularised in the West in the late sixth century by Gregory of Tours in his De gloria martyrum (Glory of the Martyrs). He claimed to have heard the story from ‘a certain Syrian interpreter’ (Syro quidam interpretante), although this could refer to a Syriac speaker or even a Greek speaker from the Levant.

The story of the sleepers is also referred to in the Quran (18: 9-26). But the surah does not speculate about the number of the sleepers nor about the years they slept in the cave: ‘My Sustainer knows best how many they were.’

As the earliest versions of the legend spread from Ephesus, an early Christian catacomb there came to be associated with the story and attracted pilgrims. During the Crusades, bones from Ephesus, claimed as relics of the Seven Sleepers, were brought to France in a large stone coffin and displayed in the Abbey of Saint Victor in Marseille.

The Seven Sleepers were included in the Golden Legend, the most popular book of the later Middle Ages.

The grotto of the Seven Sleepers is on the slopes of Mount Pion (Mount Coelian) near Ephesus (present-day Selçuk), with ruins of the religious site built over it. It was excavated in 1926-1928, when several hundred graves dated to the fifth and sixth centuries were found, with inscriptions dedicated to the Seven Sleepers on the walls and in the graves.

The account remained popular, even after the Reformation. The poet John Donne asks in ‘The Good Morrow’:

I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then?
But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den?

Although their story lost popular currency at the Enlightenment, Edward Gibbon gives different accounts of the story in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Their story was revived with the coming of Romanticism. The Golden Legend may have been the source for retellings of the Seven Sleepers in Thomas de Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, in a poem by Goethe. It has many echoes in Washington Irving’s Rip van Winkle and in HG Wells’s The Sleeper Awakes.

Later, John Buchan refers to the Seven Sleepers in The Three Hostages, where Richard Hannay surmises that his wife Mary, who is a sound sleeper, is descended from one of the seven who has married one of the Foolish Virgins.

The Three Sleepers are characters in CS Lewis novel The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Several languages have idioms related to the Seven Sleepers to describe someone who is a late riser or oversleeps, including Hungarian, Norwegian, Swedish and Welsh, and there is a phrase in Irish, na seacht gcodlatáin, that refers to hibernating animals.

In Germany, Seven Sleepers’ Day (Siebenschläfertag) on 27 June recalls the legend of the Seven Sleepers and is part of traditional weather lore, with the notion that the weather that day are supposed predicts the weather for the next seven weeks.

Epimenides, the sleeping philosopher in a cave in Crete, gives his name to a street in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

There are earlier stories and legends in classical literature that provide similar myths if not the origin for the story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. Epimenides of Knossos, or Epimenides of Crete (Ἐπιμενίδης) was a Greek philosopher-poet from Knossos or Phaistos who lived in the seventh or sixth centuries BCE. While Epimenides was tending his father’s sheep, it is said, he fell asleep in a cave in Crete that was sacred to Zeus, and awoke after 57 years with the gift of prophecy.

Aristotle and Plutarch say Epimenides purified Athens after the pollution brought by the Alcmaeonidae, a powerful noble family who negotiated an alliance with the Persians during the Persian Wars. Pericles and Alcibiades also belonged to the Alcmaeonidae, and during the Peloponnesian War the Spartans referred to the family’s curse in an attempt to discredit Pericles.

It is said that the expertise Epimenides showed in sacrifices and the reform of funeral practices were of great help to Solon in reforming the Athenian state. But the only reward he would accept was a branch of the sacred olive, and the promise of perpetual friendship between Athens and Knossos. He is also said to have prophesied at Sparta on military matters.

He died in Crete at an advanced age, and legends say he lived until he was almost 300 years old – another parallel with the story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.

Several prose and poetic works have been attributed to Epimenides. But all of his works are now lost, and we only know of them through quotations by other authors. In a fragment of one of his poems, citied in the Hymn to Zeus of Callimachus, Minos of Knossos addresses Zeus:

Τύμβον ἐτεκτήναντο σέθεν, κύδιστε μέγιστε,
Κρῆτες, ἀεὶ ψευδεῖς, κακὰ θηρία, γαστέρες ἀργαί.
Ἀλλὰ σὺ γ᾽ οὐ θνῇσκεις, ἕστηκας γὰρ ζοὸς αίεί,
Ἐν γὰρ σοὶ ζῶμεν καὶ κινύμεθ᾽ ἠδὲ καὶ ἐσμέν.

They fashioned a tomb for you, holy and high one,
Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies.
But you are not dead: you live and abide forever,
For in you we live and move and have our being.

It is yet another parallel with the story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.

Epimenides is also remembered today because he is quoted twice in the New Testament.

While speaking to a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers in front of the Areopagus in Athens (see Acts 17: 22-34), the Apostle Paul quotes from Epimenides’ Cretica: ‘For “In him we live and move and have our being”.’

In this address in Athens, Saint Paul is citing the fourth line in the Hymn to Zeus of Callimachus, with its reference to one of ‘your own poets’ (Acts 17: 28). Saint Paul goes on to quote from Aratus’ Phaenomena: ‘For we too are his offspring’ (see verse 28).

When Saint Paul spoke to Saint Titus concerning his mission in Crete, he committed a logical fallacy by quoting Epimenides: ‘It was one of them, their very own prophet, who said, “Cretans are always liars, vicious brutes, lazy gluttons.” That testimony is true’ (Titus 1: 12-13a).

The ‘lie’ of the Cretans is that Zeus was mortal, for Epimenides believed that Zeus is dead. The logical inconsistency of a Cretan asserting all Cretans are always liars may not have occurred to Epimenides, nor to Callimachus, who both used the phrase to emphasise their point, without irony.

However, Saint Paul must have thought long about the idea of a dead god and the dead god’s tomb as he sought to preach the Resurrection in Crete.

Epimenides is first identified as the ‘prophet’ in Titus 1: 12 by Clement of Alexandria (Stromata 1, 14). Clement mentions that ‘some say’ Epimenes should be counted among the seven wisest philosophers. But he does not indicate that the concept of logical paradox is an issue.

Saint John Chrysostom (Homily 3 on Titus) gives an alternative fragment:

For even a tomb, King, of you
They made, who never died, but ever shall be.

However, it is not clear when Epimenides became associated with the Epimenides paradox, a variation of the liar paradox. Saint Augustine restates the liar paradox in Against the Academicians (III.13.29), but does so without mentioning Epimenides.

In the Middle Ages, many forms of the liar paradox were studied under the heading of insolubilia, but they were not associated with Epimenides.

Paradoxically, I have to say I have found most if not all Cretans to be truthful and honest.

Many years ago, back in the 1980s, as I entrusted someone on the beach in Rethymnon with my wallet and valuables as I went for a swim, I was advised that it was tourists and foreigners I needed to be wary of.

Epimenides also gives his name to a street in Iraklion in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Anne’s, Bohernabreena, a Gothic Revival church by JJ McCarthy near Tallaght

Saint Anne’s Church in Bohernabreena, Co Dublin, was designed by JJ McCarthy in 1868 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Patrick Comerford

During last week’s visit to Dublin for a medical consultation with my GP, I stayed within a 5 km radius of the house in Knocklyon and within my family’s ‘social bubble.’ But I also visited Saint Anne’s Church in Bohernabreena.

This is an imposing church in a simple Gothic Revival idiom, designed in 1868-1870 by the Dublin-born architect JJ McCarthy (1817-1882), who claimed the mantle of AWN Pugin in Ireland in the second half of the 19th century.

Although Saint Anne’s Church was closed last week due to Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, I was able to spend time appreciating this church, which many see during funerals in Bohernabreena Cemetery nearby but seldom visit.

Saint Anne’s Church, Bohernabreena … the foundation stone was laid in 1868 by Cardinal Paul Cullen(Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

The foundation stone of Saint Anne’s was laid in 1868 by Cardinal Paul Cullen (1803-1878), Archbishop of Dublin (1852-1878), the church was dedicated in August 1870, and Saint Anne’s was consecrated by Cardinal Cullen’s nephew, Cardinal Patrick Francis Moran (1830-1911), Bishop of Ossory (1872-1874), and later third Archbishop of Sydney (1874-1911).

Between the laying of the foundation stone and the dedication of the church, uncle and nephew together attended the first Vatican Council in Rome in 1869. It is generally agreed that the definition of the doctrine of papal infallibility was based on Cullen’s proposal, and it has been suggested that Cullen’s proposal was drafted by Moran.

Saint Anne’s Church was completed in 1876. This is an imposing church in a simple Gothic Revival idiom, finely built and substantially in its original condition to this day. It is strategically located at a junction it dominates. Looking down on the valley below, it is difficult to realise that this is only a 10-minute drive from the noise and bustle of Tallaght Village.

The exterior stone used in building this church is granite that was cut and dressed in Glenasmole near the Featherbed.

The north porch in Saint Anne’s Church, Bohernabreena (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Saint Anne’s is a detached, gable-fronted, cruciform plan church. It has a seven-bay nave with a polygonal apse at the east end, single-bay transepts, and a single-storey gabled entrance porch in the north wall, and a bellcote on the south transept.

There are snecked rock-faced limestone walls with angle buttresses. There is a pair of lancet windows in each bay, with either quatrefoil or hexafoil window above. There is a wheel window at the west front and each gable has a simple round plate tracery window.

The elaborate, pointed doorcase has roll mouldings and paired colonnettes within porch. There is a banded pitched slate roof with eaves corbels.

Although I did not get inside the church last week, I understand there is an impressive timber scissors truss roof on corbels. One stained-glass window depicts the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child and another depicts Saint Joseph.

The north side of Saint Anne’s Church, Bohernabreena (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

At one time, Saint Anne’s was a fashionable venue for Dublin church weddings, with couples then spending a one-night ‘honeymoon’ in Bray.

A Saint Anne’s Church Committee produced a book to mark the 150th anniversary of the church in 2018, looking back on the history of Saint Anne’s, with photographs, drawings and children’s poems.

Saint Anne’s Church, Bohernabreena, from the north-east (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

A walk through woodlands in Tymon Park with its sculpture and the ruins of Tymon Castle

‘Cliabhan’ (‘Cradle’) by the sculptor Linda Brunker in Tymon Park (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Patrick Comerford

I have been in Dublin this week for a consultation with my GP about my sarcoidosis and one of my regular injections for my Vitamin B12 deficiency.

I have stayed within a 5 km radius of the house in Knocklyon, and within my ‘family bubble.’ But after yesterday’s consultation I went for a walk in Tymon Park, a large suburban public park in South Dublin, between Tallaght, Templeogue and Walkinstown.

Tymon Park opened in June 1986 and is the second largest park in Dublin, after the Phoenix Park. It has an area of over 120 ha (300 acres) and is divided in two by the M50 motorway, with the two parts linked by a pair of pedestrian bridges.

Tymon Park Forest is designed to produce a rich and diverse woodland landscape for 125 different species, including beech, poplar, ash, horse chestnut, willow, maples, sycamore and birch, with alder, hazel, and hawthorn near the edges.

Tymon Park Forest is designed to produce a rich and diverse woodland landscape (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

The park has a number of way-marked woodland trails, 29 sports pitches, and children’s playground close to the Greenhills Road entrance, beside Castletymon Road, beside the Willington Lane car park and at the Limekiln Road car park.

The River Poddle flows through the park, filling two bigger lakes and several inter-connecting smaller ponds and water features. The water features provide a valuable habitat for up to 92 species of flora and fauna, and a breeding ground for the popular waterfowl.

The PACT Woodland Project in Tymon Park (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

The PACT Woodland Project in an attractively planted area by a lakeside is an innovative project by PACT in collaboration with South Dublin County Council. PACT is an adoption agency providing Irish families with a broad range of services in the areas of adoption, information and tracing and unplanned pregnancy. The project commemorated the 50th anniversary of PACT’s foundation in 1952 and 50 years of legal adoption in Ireland.

Part of this project is Cliabhan (the Irish for ‘Cradle’) by the sculptor Linda Brunker and unveiled on 9 September 2006. The sculpture, 1 metre wide and 2 metres high, consists of large bronze leaves in the form of an arm that extends from the ground up into three hands. These hands cradle a golden bronze baby in a nest of leaves. Linda Brunker designed the sculpture to symbolise the three-pronged nurturing aspect of the work of PACT.

Linda Brunker was born in Dublin in 1966 and graduated from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, with a Diploma in Sculpture (1987) and a degree in fine art (1988). She has developed her own innovative style of bronze casting. She had solo shows in Dublin, New York and Los Angeles and has completed private and public commissions worldwide. She now lives in Toulouse in France.

Her other public works include ‘Voyager’ (2004) at Laytown Strand, commissioned by Meath County Council; ‘The Healing Tree’ (2002), Virginia, Co Cavan; ‘The Wishing Hand’ (2001), Department of Education, Marlborough Square, Dublin; and ‘The Children of Lir’ (1993) overlooking Lough Owel, outside Mullingar, commissioned by Westmeath County Council.

The site of Tymon Castle (left) on Tymon Lane (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

The area in Tymon Park was also the home of Tymon Castle, which once stood on a high ridge by Tymon Lane. The castle was once a local landmark, and Tymon Lane was an important link between rural areas and the centre of Dublin as a route on high ground through marshlands.

The castle was built some time between the 12th and 15th centuries, when many castles were built as defensive outposts along the edge of the Pale.

Although Tymon Castle was quite small, it stood on high ground that allowed its defenders to see for miles across the surrounding countryside. This high position and the surrounding marshy land ensured it was not an easy building to attack. A small projecting gallery over the entrance added to its defences.

However, the castle had deteriorated by the early 16th century and was in a ruinous state by 1547. It was partially repaired in 1779, but was only partially occupied.

During the 1798 rebellion, the body of an Irish rebel was left at the castle by a group of rebels after they were attacked by soldiers near Old Bawn. His body was later found by soldiers who hung it from a castle window where it was left to decay.

Children at Saint Mary’s School, Tallaght, described the ruins of the castle in the 1930s, saying ‘These ruins are on a great height and serve as a landmark for miles around.’ The ruins were a popular location for picnics, despite the dangerous state of the castle.

In his account of Tymon Castle in 1899, William Domville Handcock said it was almost in complete ruin, and recalled how the stones from the castle had been reused in other buildings. He added, ‘Probably in a few years more it will all be level with the ground.’

Tymon Castle was finally levelled in 1960 because of its dangerous condition.

‘Cliabhan’ (‘Cradle’) by the sculptor Linda Brunker in Tymon Park (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Poems for Holy Week 2021: 6, Katharine Tynan, ‘All in an April Evening’

‘Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world’ … the Byzantine-style crucifix by Laurence King (1907-1981) in the crypt of Saint Mary le Bow on Cheapside in London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Friday 2 April 2021

Good Friday, The Three Hours, 12 noon to 3 p.m.

Reading: John 18: 28 to 19: 16a.

Our second poem for these ‘Three Hours’ on Good Friday is ‘All in an April Evening,’ by the Dublin-born poet Katharine Tynan (1859-1931), or Katharine Tynan Hinkinson.

Her nephews included the comedian Dave Allen (born David Tynan O’Mahony) and his brother Peter Tynan O’Mahony, one of the journalists who recruited me to the staff of The Irish Times in the mid-1970s.

Despite its opening line, the title of this poem is taken from the last stanza, drawing attention to the real subject matter, which is not the beauty of pastoral scenes in the countryside at Spring time, but the Crucifixion and death of Christ on the evening of Good Friday.

TS Eliot opens ‘The Waste Land’ with the words:

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

But Katherine Tynan has a very different impression of April days. Her poem became popular and well-known after it was set to music by Sir Hugh Roberton (1874-1952), who gave it a tender and light but reverent setting for two-part chorus and piano accompaniment. Based on a wonderful poem by Katharine Tynan, this memorable song is steeped with pastoral imagery and natural energy.

During Lent, as we move on from the lambing season, it has been a pleasure to watch the lambs in the fields growing, yet still dependent on their mothers for guidance, protection and safety. The lambs in the fields are a reminder that God’s Creation is at its best and most beautiful when it is nurtured in unconditional love.

Now, on Good Friday, we face one of the ironies or paradoxes of our faith, in which the Good Shepherd becomes the Lamb of God.

Throughout the Liturgy we refer to Christ as the Lamb of God – in the Gloria, when we say: ‘Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world.’ Prayer 2 in Holy Communion 2 in The Book of Common Prayer refers to Christ at Passiontide, Holy Week and Easter Week as ‘the true passover Lamb.’ In Agnus Dei, we proclaim: ‘Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, who has taken away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper.’

The Lamb of God is the title given to Christ at his Baptism in the Jordan by Saint John the Baptist, declaring: ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’ (John 1: 29), and exclaiming: ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’ (John 1: 36). Christ is the True Lamb who takes the place of the sacrificial Paschal Lamb of the Passover (see Mark 14: 12).

In the Prophetic literature, the word ‘Lamb’ means both servant and lamb. Christ is the Suffering Servant who is spoken of by the Prophets, and who sacrifices himself for his brothers and sisters.

To understand this a little more we read Isaiah where the Prophet speaks of the Suffering Servant:

He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him of no account.

Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53: 3-4)

In the Acts of the Apostles, the Apostle Philip explains this passage about the Suffering Servant to the Ethiopian courtier: ‘Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth’ (Acts 8: 32-33).

The Lamb that was slain in order that we may enter more deeply into the Mystery of Christ’s saving act of Redemption, and we still meet him in the Eucharist, in the Word proclaimed, and in service to one another and to the world.

‘All in the April morning, / April airs were abroad; / The sheep with their little lambs / Pass’d me by on the road’ … sheep grazing with their lambs on the Curragh, Co Kildare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

All in an April Evening, by Katharine Tynan

All in the April morning,
April airs were abroad;
The sheep with their little lambs
Pass’d me by on the road.

The sheep with their little lambs
Pass’d me by on the road;
All in an April evening
I thought on the Lamb of God.

The lambs were weary, and crying
With a weak human cry,
I thought on the Lamb of God
Going meekly to die.

Up in the blue, blue mountains
Dewy pastures are sweet:
Rest for the little bodies,
Rest for the little feet.

But for the Lamb of God
Up on the hill-top green,
Only a cross of shame
Two stark crosses between.

All in the April evening,
April airs were abroad;
I saw the sheep with their lambs,
And thought on the Lamb of God.

‘Standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene’ (John 19: 5) … ‘Crucifixion with figures’ (1952-1958) by Graham Sutherland (1903-1980), chalk, ink and wash, in a recent exhibition in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 18: 28 to 19: 16a (NRSVA):

28 Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate’s headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate went out to them and said, ‘What accusation do you bring against this man?’ 30 They answered, ‘If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.’ 31 Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.’ The Jews replied, ‘We are not permitted to put anyone to death.’ 32 (This was to fulfil what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.)

33 Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ 34 Jesus answered, ‘Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?’ 35 Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?’ 36 Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’ 37 Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’ 38 Pilate asked him, ‘What is truth?’

After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, ‘I find no case against him. 39 But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?’ 40 They shouted in reply, ‘Not this man, but Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas was a bandit.

1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. 3 They kept coming up to him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and striking him on the face. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, ‘Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him.’ 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, ‘Here is the man!’ 6 When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.’ 7 The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.’

8 Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. 9 He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, ‘Where are you from?’ But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Pilate therefore said to him, ‘Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?’ 11 Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.’ 12 From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, ‘If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.’

13 When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, ‘Here is your King!’ 15 They cried out, ‘Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!’ Pilate asked them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but the emperor.’ 16a Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.

Collect of the Word:

Merciful God,
who gave your Son to suffer the shame of the cross:
save us from hardness of heart,
that, seeing him who died for us,
we may repent, confess our sin,
and receive your overflowing love,
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Antoinette Fleming’s Dancers (1988) in the Katharine Tynan Memorial Plot in Tallaght (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Continued this afternoon

This afternoon’s first poem



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.

Praying in Lent and Easter 2021: 9, Saint Maelruain’s Church, Tallaght

Saint Maelruain’s Church, Tallaght, Co Dublin … I was a diocesan reader from 1994 to 2000 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

During Lent and Easter this year, I am taking some time each morning to reflect in these ways:

1, a photograph of a church or place of worship that has been significant in my spiritual life;

2, the day’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society, Partners in the Gospel).

This week I am offering photographs from seven churches in which I have served during my ministry. My photographs this morning (25 February 2021) are of Saint Maelruain’s Church, Tallaght, Co Dublin. My sons were baptised there in 1992, I was a member of the Select Vestry for many years, and I was a Diocesan Reader there from 1994 until I was ordained in 2000.

Matthew 7: 7-12 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 7 ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? 10 Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

12 ‘In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.’

Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary:

The USPG Prayer Diary today (25 February 2021) invites us to pray:

Let us give thanks for all those who work toward caring for creation, that their example may be a model to many.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Inside Saint Maelruain’s Church, Tallaght, Co Dublin (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

A first-time walk along a stetch of the Dodder River Valley in Firhouse

A new red pedestrian and cycling bridge spanning the Dodder was built and installed in November 2014 as part of the Dodder Greenway (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Patrick Comerford

I try to do something new or something different at least once a week. It keeps my mind open and inquisitive, and it usually involved exercise and walking, so it is good for both mind and body. In these times of Covd-19 restrictions and social distancing, doing something new does not have to involve traveling great distances, and it is interesting to find how many new, undiscovered and interesting places are on our own doorsteps.

Last week, I was in Dublin for a consultation with my GP, including a check-up on my pulmonary sarcoidosis and a much-needed injection for my Vitamin B12 deficiency. During that visit, I took opportunities to visit Dún Laoghaire, to research a photo-feature on the architecture of Kenilworth Square, to take a New Year’s Eve after-dark walk in Marlay Park, and to visit the Dublin Jewish Progressive community’s cemetery, just 2.5 km from my home in Knocklyon.

I also went for a walk for the first time along a stretch of the River Dodder between Firhouse and Old Bawn, along paths and riverside walks that have been newly opened in recent years.

During the years I was working in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute full-time (2006-2017) and part-time (2002-2006), I often walked along the Dodder banks from Rathfarnham to Firhouse. But this was my first time to walk further west on this stretch of the Dodder Valley Park and Nature Trail.

A new red pedestrian and cycling bridge spanning the Dodder was built and installed in November 2014 as part of the Dodder Greenway. It is a landmark, single-span, steel structure that was designed for accessibility and decreased impact on its environment, with near level access to both sides of the Dodder River Valley.

The bridge links the communities of Firhouse and Tallaght, midway between Old Bawn and the M50. It also offers a wonderful opportunity to view the river from directly overhead, allowing park users to experience the full grandeur of the Dodder and its riverbanks.

Winter skies in the Dodder River Valley between Firhouse and Old Bawn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

The Dodder River Valley is an important wildlife corridor in an urban environment, allowing protected species like bats and otters to pass through the urban environment at night-time when the park is quiet and dark. The public lighting along the bridge was designed to ensure there is no overspill of bright light onto the river below.

The lime-rich soils that underlie the slopes around the bridge support grasslands that are rich in flowering species. These include flowers such as Bird’s-foot Trefoil, Clover, Cowslips, Ox-eye Daisy, Fairy Flax, Wild Carrot and Pyramidial Orchids.

These meadows are also important for pollinating bees, bumblebees, hoverflies, and also for other insects like beetles, butterflies and moths.

The Dodder River Valley between Old Bawn Bridge and the City Weir at Balrothery and Firhouse is a proposed Natural Heritage Area and hosts a range of interesting habitats like wet woodlands, flowering grasslands, and natural gravel riverbeds. It also hosts species like Kingfishers, Heron, Otter, Dipper and Wagtails.

Two of us walked as far as the Old Bawn Bridge, which marks one of the earliest fords of the River Dodder. A three-arch bridge was first built there in 1800, but it was undermined by the frequent floods of the turbulent upper Dodder.

The current single-arch bridge at Old Bawn was built in 1840, spanning the point where the river drops down over the weir to become the wider, slower-moving middle Dodder that makes its way through Old Bawn Park.

At this point, the riverbank is lower on the left bank, along the park’s riverside path. Woodland covers much of this bank, with willows, alders, sycamore, birch and poplar trees. The riverbanks on the far side of the river are sometimes undercut by the power of winter floods, exposing the underlying glacial till, sands and gravel. As the river passes into the woodland, it splits into many small rivulets and streams that wind their way through the willow and alder trees.

The Dodder Valley is unique in being an urban river that still retains many of its natural river processes and its special habitat and species. All this has been on my doorstep since I moved to Knocklyon in 1996, but it took until last week for me to find and explore this part of the Dodder Valley for the first time.

The Dodder Valley is a unique urban river that retains many of its natural river processes and its special habitat and species (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

A round tower and church near Croom on the site of a hermitage

The church ruins and round tower at Dysert Oenghusa near Croom, Co Limerick, date back to an eighth century foundation (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

After visiting Croom, Co Limerick, and its two parish churches earlier this week, two of us visited the former monastic site at Dysert Oenghusa, near Croom, with its church and round tower.

This was the site of a hermitage founded by Saint Aengus the Culdee in the eighth century, and was closely associated with the Culdee movement in the early Irish Church.

A monastery on the site was first mentioned in 1033, and the site includes a 20 metre high round tower and the ruins of a church dating from to the 15th or 16th century.

Dysert Oenghusa or Dísert Óengusa, which is now a National Monument, is in the townland of Carrigeen, 1.8 km west of Croom, near the headwaters of the River Maigue.

Inside the church at Dysert Oenghusa facing east (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Saint Aengus or Óengus of Tallaght (Óengus mac Óengobann or Óengus the Culdee), an eighth century culdee, is believed to have founded a hermitage here in the year 780.

The Culdees or Ceilí Dé – Servants of God – were strict religious communities. Aengus came to the Croom area ca 780 and set up a hermitage at Carrigeen. He remained for only two years. He joined the monastery at Clonenagh, near Mountrath, Co Laois.

He later entered the monastery at Tallaght founded by Saint Maelruain, and was the author of the Félire Óengusso (‘Martyrology of Óengus’) and possibly the Martyrology of Tallaght. When Saint Maelruain died in 792, Saint Aengus left Tallaght and returned to Clonenagh, succeeding his old teacher Maelaithgen as abbot and he was consecrated a bishop.

As he felt death approaching, he retired again to his hermitage at Dysertbeagh, dying there ca 814 or 824. He died was buried at Clonenagh, and his feast day was commemorated on 11 March.

Inside the church at Dysert Oenghusa facing west (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The hermitage at Dysert Oenghusa was succeeded by a monastery that is mentioned in the annals for 1033, and some early ruins on the site have been dated to the early 11th century.

The round tower, built in the 12th century, is 20.65 metres (67.7 ft) tall with a diameter of 5.28 metres (17.3 ft) and a Romanesque doorway 4.6 metres (15 ft) above ground level.

The church, with antae, dates from the 15th or 16th century. It is a simple rectangle 15.5 metres (51 ft) by 5 metres (16 ft). The church was abandoned in later centuries and fell into ruin.

Later lore claimed the tower had been built in a single night by a witch. The site was visited and sketched by John Windele in 1833.

The door into the round tower at Dysert Oenghusa is 4.6 metres above ground level (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Dysert Oenghusa church and round tower were lovingly restored over a 9-10 year period in conservation work that cost €1.3 million.

Conservation works that were completed last year focused primarily on the round tower. During archaeological excavations beneath the tower to provide foundations for new stairs, extensive evidence was found of human remains, including 49 people who were buried beneath the surface east of the round tower.

A new steel stairs allows access to the first floor of the tower through the doorway and the internal wooden floors have been rebuilt. In addition, the site has been fenced and landscaped, signs have been put in place, and car parking space has been provided.

Inside the round tower at Dysert Oenghusa (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The tower and church were officially opened to the public last year [16 July 2019] after many years of conservation work. The tower is now accessible by the new stairs leading to the first floor, with entrance through the Romanesque doorway.

To reach the monument from Croom, follow the Church Road out of Croom towards Ballingarry; after about 2 km take a right to Eircode V35 TV05.

The round tower and church were opened to the public in 2019 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

20 years in ordained ministry and some of my guiding challenges

At my ordination as deacon in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on 25 June 2000 with (from left) Canon Roy Byrne, who was ordained priest that day, and the Revd Avril Bennett and the Revd Tim Close, who were ordained deacons (Photograph: Valerie Jones, 2000)

Patrick Comerford

I was ordained deacon 20 years ago today [25 June 2000], and priest 19 years ago yesterday on the Feast of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist [24 June 2001].

At the ordination of deacons, bishops recall that deacons ‘remind the whole Church that serving others is at the heart of all ministry.’

They go on to say: ‘Deacons have a special responsibility to ensure that those in need are cared for with compassion and humility. They are to strengthen the faithful, search out the careless [those with no-one to care for them] and the indifferent, and minister to the sick, the needy, the poor and those in trouble.’

Deacons are asked at ordination: ‘Will you be faithful in visiting the sick, in caring for the poor and needy, and in helping the oppressed? Will you promote unity, peace and love …?’

In today’s world, with the rise of racism, anti-Semitism and far-right populism, who needs compassion that is extended with humility?

How do I care for the sick, the poor and the needy, and speak up for the oppressed today?

How do we promote unity, peace and love among all?

I hope these challenges have guided me through 20 years of ordained ministry, and that continue to challenge me in the years ahead.

I recalled yesterday how my path to ordination began 49 years ago when I was a 19-year-old in Lichfield, following very personal and special experiences in a chapel dedicated to Saint John the Baptist – the Chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield.

Later that same day, after Choral Evensong in Lichfield Cathedral, I was challenged by, I think, Canon John Yates (1925-1980), then the Principal of Lichfield Theological College (1966-1972) and later Bishop of Gloucester and Bishop at Lambeth. He amusingly asked me whether a young man like me had decided to start going back to church because I was thinking of ordination.

As I said yesterday, I had taken the scenic route to ordination. Eventually I was ordained deacon by Archbishop Walton Empey in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin on 25 June 2000 along with the Revd Averill Bennett and the Revd Tim Close – Canon Roy Byrne was ordained priest that day too – and I was ordained priest a year later on 24 June 2001.

With Archbishop Walton Empey at my ordination as deacon in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on 25 June 2000 (Photograph: Valerie Jones, 2000)

I had been in reader ministry in Saint Maelruian’s Parish, since 1994, and was ordained for Whitechurch Parish, Rathfarnham. I remained there as a curate until 2006, when I joined the full-time staff of the Church of Ireland Theological College.

This morning, I pray for those preparing for ordination and recall and pray too for the 13 other men and women who were ordained deacons that same summer 20 years ago:

● The Revd Avril Bennett, a resource teacher at Kildare Place School, was ordained for the Parishes of Crumlin and Chapelizod (Dublin). She is now an NSM curate in Saint Maelruain’s, Tallaght (Dublin).

● The Revd Christopher Bennett was ordained for the parish of Larne and Inver (Connor). He is now curate assistant, Belvoir (Down).

● The Revd Tim Close was ordained for Glenageary (Dublin), and is now priest-in-charge of the Church of the Ascension, Cloughfern, Newtownabbey (Connor).

● The Revd Hilary Dungan was ordained for Saint Mark’s Parish (Armagh). She retired as Rector of Maryborough in 2011, and she has been an interim, part-time Dean of Residence and Chaplain in Trinity College Dublin.

● Canon Michael Johnston became Bishop’s Vicar and curate assistant in Kilkenny (Ossory). He was the Rector of Shinrone (Killaloe) the Prebendary of Saint Munchin’s and Tulloh (Limerick and Killaloe) until he recently retired from ministry.

● The Revd Melanie Lacy, ordained for Saint Comgall’s, Bangor (Down). She was the Ireland team leader at the Crosslinks mission agency and today she is Director of the Theology and Praxis for Children’s and Youth Ministry stream at Oak Hill College, London.

● The Revd David Luckman, a former RE teacher in Poole, Dorset, was ordained for Saint Mark’s, Portadown (Armagh), and has been the Ireland team leader at Crosslinks since 2015.

● The Revd Alan Millar, once in ordained ministry in the United Church of Canada, was ordained for Drumglass, Dungannon (Armagh). He was the Rector of Rathcoole (Connor) from 2006 until he retired in 2011.

● The Revd Willie Nixon, who had worked on the family farm, was ordained for Saint Paul’s, Lisburn (Connor), and has been the Rector of Drumbeg (Down) since 2012.

● The Revd Daniel Owen, who had worked in an outdoor activity centre in Sligo and in the RCB offices in Dublin, was ordained for Saint Donard’s Parish, Belfast (Down). Since 2015, he has been the chaplain at Saint Columba’s College, Rathfarnham.

● The Revd David Somerville, a former RE teacher in Rathfriland, was ordained for Shankill Parish, Lurgan (Dromore). He was the Rector of Richhill Parish (Armagh) and had been appointed a Vicar Choral in Armagh Cathedral when he died suddenly in 2016.

● The Revd Alice Stewart was ordained for the Church of the Ascension, Cloughfern (Connor).

● The Revd Louise Stewart was ordained for Saint John’s Church, Malone Road, Belfast (Connor). Since 2011, she has been the Rector of Finaghy (Connor).

Letters of ordination as deacon on 25 June 2000 by Archbishop Walton Empey

The Collect for vocations to Holy Orders:

Almighty God,
you have entrusted to your Church
a share in the ministry of your Son our great High Priest:
Inspire by your Holy Spirit the hearts of many
to offer themselves for ordination in your Church,
that strengthened by his power,
they may work for the increase of your kingdom
and set forward the eternal praise of your name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Inside the Chapel of Saint John’s Hospital in Lichfield … the beginning of the road to ordination (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Why did the disciples ask awkward questions at the Last Supper?

‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2) … a London skyline seen in Southwark (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday 10 May 2020

The Fifth Sunday of Easter

9.30 a.m.: The Parish Eucharist (Holy Communion 2), Castletown Church, Kilcornan, Co Limerick

11.30 a.m.: Morning Prayer, Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale, Co Limerick

The Readings: Acts 7: 55-60; Psalm 31: 1-5, 15-16; I Peter 2: 2-10; John 14: 1-14.

There is a link to readings HERE.

An icon of the Mystical Supper in a shop window in Rethymnon … was Philip asking awkward questions at the Last Supper? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Questioning plays an interesting role in nurturing and developing faith.

In the first reading, when Stephen is questioned at the Sanhedrin, he replies recalling the whole story of Salvation, from Abraham through to Christ. It leads to his martyrdom, but it eventually also leads to Paul’s conversion.

The Gospel reading (John 14: 1-14) is set within the context of the Last Supper, Christ’s Passover meal with the Disciples, and introduces his ‘Farewell Discourse’ in Saint John’s Gospel, in which he responds to their questions by telling them he is the way, the truth and the life.

Judas Iscariot has left the table and the upper room and has gone out into the dark (John 13: 30), about to betray Christ.

Christ then gives his disciples the new commandment, ‘that you love one another’ (John 13: 34). In response to questions from Peter, Thomas, Philip and Jude, Christ now prepares his disciples for his departure.

This Gospel reading includes some well-known sayings, including:

● ‘In my Father's house are many mansions’ (KJV), translated in the NRSV and NRSVA as ‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2)

● ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14: 6), the sixth of the seven ‘I AM’ (Ἐγώ εἰμι) sayings in Saint John’s Gospel

● ‘If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it’ (John 14: 14)

This reading is also the Gospel reading earlier this month, for the Feast of two of the Twelve Apostles, Saint Philip and Saint James on 1 May. They have been associated since ancient times: an ancient inscription shows the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles in Rome had an earlier dedication to Philip and James.

In Shakespeare’s play Measure for Measure (III, ii, 204), a child’s age is given as ‘a year and a quarter old, come Philip and Jacob,’ meaning, ‘a year and a quarter old on the first of next May, the feast of Philip and James.’ This day has also given us the word ‘popinjay’ for a vain or conceited person or ‘fop.’

But, despite the cultural legacy they have left us, the Philip and James recalled on 1 May are, to a great degree, small-bit players – almost anonymous or forgotten – in the New Testament, and in the Church calendar.

The Western Church commemorates James the Greater on 25 July, James the Brother of the Lord on 23 or 25 October, but James the Less has no day for himself, he shares it with Philip, on 1 May. Philip the Apostle who has to share that same commemoration is frequently confused with Philip the Deacon (Acts 6: 7; 8: 5-40; 21: 8 ff) – but Philip the Deacon has his own day on 6 June or 11 October.

The Saint James that the Church remembers on May Day is James, the Son of Alphaeus. We know nothing about this James, apart from the fact that Jesus called him to be one of the 12. He is not James, the Brother of the Lord, later Bishop of Jerusalem and the traditional author of the Letter of James. Nor is he James the son of Zebedee, also an apostle and known as James the Greater. He appears on lists of the 12 – usually in the ninth place – but is never mentioned otherwise.

Philip the Apostle, not Philip the Deacon, came from the same town as Peter and Andrew, Bethsaida in Galilee. When Jesus called him directly, he sought out Nathanael and told him about ‘him about whom Moses … wrote’ (John 1: 45).

Like the other apostles, Philip took a long time coming to realise who Jesus was. On one occasion, when Jesus sees the great multitude following him and wants to give them food, he asks Philip where they should buy bread for the people to eat. We are told Jesus says ‘this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do’ (John 6: 6). Philip answers unhelpfully, perhaps in a disbelieving way: ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little [bit]’ (John 6: 7).

When Christ says in this morning’s reading, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life … If you know me, then you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him’ (John 14: 6a, 7), Philip then says: ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied’ (John 14: 8).

Satisfied?

Enough?

Jesus answers: ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father’ (John 14: 9a).

Yet, despite the near-anonymity of James and the weaknesses of Philip, these two became foundational pillars in the Church. They display total human helplessness, yet they become apostles who bring the Good News into the world. Indeed, from the very beginning, Philip has an oft-forgotten role in bringing people to Christ. Perhaps because he had a Greek name, some Gentile proselytes came and asked him to introduce them to Jesus.

We see in James and Philip ordinary, weak, everyday, human, men who, nevertheless, became pillars of the Church at its very foundation. They show us that grace, holiness and the call to follow Christ come to us not on our own merits, or as special prizes to be achieved. They are entirely the gift of God, not a matter of human achieving.

We need not worry about questions and doubts … there are many dwelling places in God's house, and faith grows and develops and matures, just as a child learns, through questions.

Questioning is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of willingness to learn.

It is OK not to have all the answers. It is OK not to have all the answers. For Christ is ‘the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14: 6).

In following Christ, we need not worry about our human weakness or that others may even forget us. God sees us as we are, and loves us just as we are. It is just as we are that we are called to follow Christ.

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2) … reflections in steel and concrete seen in the Birmingham Diocesan offices (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 14: 1-14 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 1 ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ 5 Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ 6 Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’

8 Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ 9 Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.’

‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2) … houses and apartments tiered and layered one above another in Vernazza on the Cinque Terre coast in north-west Italy (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Liturgical Colour: White (Easter, Year A).

The Greeting (from Easter Day until Pentecost):

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Penitential Kyries:

Lord God,
you raised your Son from the dead.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Lord Jesus,
through you we are more than conquerors.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.

Holy Spirit,
you help us in our weakness.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

The Collect of the Day:

Lord of all life and power,
who through the mighty resurrection of your Son
overcame the old order of sin and death
to make all things new in him:
Grant that we, being dead to sin
and alive to you in Jesus Christ,
may reign with him in glory;
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be praise and honour, glory and might,
now and in all eternity.

Introduction to the Peace:

The risen Christ came and stood among his disciples and said,
Peace be with you.
Then were they glad when they saw the Lord. (John 20: 19, 20).

Preface:

Above all we praise you
for the glorious resurrection of your Son
Jesus Christ our Lord,
the true paschal lamb who was sacrificed for us;
by dying he destroyed our death;
by rising he restored our life:

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Eternal God,
in word and sacrament
we proclaim your truth in Jesus Christ and share his life.
In his strength may we ever walk in his way,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Blessing:

God the Father,
by whose glory Christ was raised from the dead,
raise you up to walk with him in the newness of his risen life:

Dismissal: (from Easter Day to Pentecost):

Go in the peace of the Risen Christ. Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thanks be to God. Alleluia! Alleluia!

‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2) … hotels, offices and apartments in Tallaght, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Hymns:

693, Glory in the highest to the God of heaven
459, For all the saints, who from their labours rest (verses 1-3)
595, Safe in the shadow of the Lord
610, Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life

‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2) … Centrepoint, one the first skyscrapers in London, was at the centre of housing protests in the 1970s and has recently been converted from office space into apartments (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

This sermon was prepared for Sunday 10 May 2020, the Fifth Sunday, and was shared at a celebration of the Eucharist in the Rectory, Askeaton, Co Limerick.

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.

‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2) … reflections in glass, steel and concrete in Lisbon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)