COMERFORD WAY: Patrick Comerford’s online journal on Anglicanism, theology, spirituality, history, architecture, travel, poetry, beach walks ... and more
‘The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the children of earth’ (Psalm 14: 2):
Lord God, who hears the cry of the poor and the cry of creation,
we pray for the world, for the kingdoms and the nations of the world,
that they too may hear the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth,
that those with power and privilege may turn their hearts to justice, mercy and love.
We pray especially for those nations suffering
the destruction caused by climate change, by violence, racism and oppression.
We pray for justice, mercy and peace,
for all prisoners, especially prisoners of conscience,
for all people and families living with addictions.
We pray for Ireland, north and south,
We give thanks for all who are responding
to the pandemic crisis …
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.
‘It is I; do not be afraid’ (John 6: 20):
Lord Jesus Christ,
we pray for the Church,
in ‘A Time Such as This’,
marked by pandemic, racism and violence,
that we may not be afraid to speak out
for those who need relief and deliverance.
We pray for our Bishop, Kenneth,
we pray for our neighbouring churches and parishes,
and people of faith everywhere,
that we may be blessed in our variety and diversity.
In the Anglican Cycle of Prayer,
we pray this week for the Scottish Episcopal Church,
and the Primus, the Most Revd Mark Strange,
Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness.
In the Church of Ireland this month,
we pray for the Diocese of Tuam, Killala and Achonry,
with which we will be united,
and for Bishop Patrick Rooke.
In the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer,
we pray for the Clonfert group of parishes,
the Revd Olive Henderson, and the congregations of
Saint Brendan’s Cathedral, Clonfert,
St Paul’s Church, Banagher,
Saint John the Baptist, Eyrecourt, and Christ Church Portumna.
We pray too for our own parishes and people …
and we pray for ourselves …
Christ have mercy, Christ have mercy.
‘God is in the company of the righteous … the Lord shall be their refuge’ (Psalm 14: 5, 6):
Holy Spirit,
we pray for one another …
We pray for those we love and those who love us …
we pray for our families, friends and neighbours …
we pray for all on holidays …
and we pray for those we promised to pray for …
We prayer for those preparing for baptism and for marriage.
We pray for those who feel rejected and discouraged …
we pray for all in need and those who seek healing …
We pray for those who are sick or isolated,
at home, in hospital …
Ruby … Ann … Daphne … Sylvia …
Ajay … Adam … Pat … Trixie …
We pray for all who grieve and mourn at this time …
for all who are broken-hearted,
trying to come to terms with the loss of loved ones,
including the Killick, Gilliard and Blennerhassett families …
We remember and give thanks for those who have died …
giving thanks for the lives of Gill Killick … Arthur Gilliard … Yvonne Blennerhassett …
May their memories be a blessing …
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.
The Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) held its annual conference this past week. On this, the Eighth Sunday after Trinity, USPG invites us to pray:
Almighty Lord,
May we rejoice in Your name.
Fill our mouths with laughter,
And our tongues with shouts of joy.
Merciful Father …
‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ (John 6: 5) … bread on sale in a bakery in Platanias near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
‘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)
The Rotunda is the oldest church in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
Today is the Eighth Sunday after Trinity. Later this morning, I am leading Morning Prayer in Castletown Church, Co Limerick, and presiding and preaching at the Parish Eucharist in Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale.
Before the day gets busy, I am taking a little 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 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 is seven churches in Thessaloniki. Earlier in this series, I visited Vlatadon Monastery in the hills above Thessaloniki (29 April 2021). This morning (25 July 2021), my photographs from the Rotunda in Thessaloniki.
Inside the Rotunda in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The Rotunda is the oldest church in Thessaloniki, and some Greek sources claim this is the oldest Christian church in the world, although there are competitors for that title. It is the most important surviving example of a church from the early Christian period in the Greek-speaking part of the Roman Empire.
The Rotunda, which is close to the Arch of Galerius is, built by the Emperor Galerius as his future mausoleum. But he died in Serbia, he was never buried here, and the Rotunda stood empty for several decades.
The Emperor Theodosius I ordered the conversion of the Rotunda into the Church of Asomaton or Archangelon in the late fourth century. The church has eight barrel-vaulted niches and was decorated with high quality mosaics. Some fragments of the frescoes and mosaics survive.
After the city fell to the Ottomans, it was converted into the Mosque of Suleyman Hortaji Effendi in 1590, and a minaret was added to the building. It continued to be used as a mosque until 1912, when Thessaloniki was incorporated into the modern Greek state.
The Rotunda was reconsecrated as the Church of Aghios Georgios (Saint George), although the Ottoman minaret was left standing. The building was damaged in the 1978 earthquake, and has restored once again.
It is now an historical monument under the Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities of the Greek Ministry of Culture, and the Greek Orthodox Church continues to use it for festivities on some days during the year.
The dome inside the Rotunda (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
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.
Some fragments of the mosaics in the Rotunda depict peacocks, an early symbol of the Resurrection (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary:
The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (25 July 2021) invites us to pray:
Almighty Lord,
May we rejoice in Your name.
Fill our mouths with laughter,
And our tongues with shouts of joy.
Christ Church, Spanish Point, Co Clare … designed in a ‘Mediterranean Gothic’ style by William Henry Allen and built in 1927 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
Patrick Comerford
After visiting Spanish Point on the west coast of Clare, and the former Comerford Lodge, now Clare Cottage and once a Comerford family home, two of us visited Christ Church, Spanish Point. This church was built in 1927, and is one of the few Church of Ireland parish churches built in post-independence Ireland.
Although Christ Church is less than 100 years old, the history of the Church of Ireland in Spanish Point dates back to 1780, when Thomas Morony inherited his family’s lands in Miltown Malbay and Spanish Point, and moved from Limerick. He built a new house and turned to developing the area, building several public buildings and amenities.
At the time the first Church of Ireland parish church was in Miltown Malbay, rebuilt in 1804. Tourism was developing in the early 1800s, and people came to stay in Morony’s Atlantic Hotel and in the lodges in Spanish Point, and so a larger Church of Ireland community started to grow.
The parish church at Kilfarboy or Miltown Malbay and the surrounding graveyard were on an eighth century site. A 15th century church was replaced in 1804, but it was burned down in an arson attack on the night of 14 December 1922.
After the fire, rather than rebuild the church, parishioners and visitors formed a committee to build a new church at Spanish Point. While the church was being built, the dining room of the Rectory next door was used for Sunday services. At least two baptisms took place in the Rectory. The new committee included the Rector, the Revd David Elliott (later Canon David Elliott), several vestry members and house owners in the area.
Inside Christ Church, Spanish Point, facing the east end (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
The church was designed by the architect and engineer William Henry Allen for the site in the Glebe Field beside the Rectory. The church was consecrated by Bishop Henry Edmund Patton of Killaloe on a sunny day in August 1927.
The architect William Henry Allen was born in Co Wexford at Merrion Lodge, William Street, Gorey, on 26 May 1871, the son of Dr John Burgess Allen. He studied for five years at the Royal College of Science, and received a Diploma in Engineering. He returned to live in Gorey in the 1890s, but moved to Ennis at the beginning of the 20th century. He was architect to the Diocese of Killaloe and Kilfenora until the 1940s.
Allen’s church in Spanish Point has been described as ‘Mediterranean Gothic’ in style. It has a two-stage tower with a concrete broach spire, a gabled porch, two-bay side elevations, a projecting vestry and a polygonal apse. There is a pitched and hipped clay red tile roof with cut-stone copings and two finial crosses. There are roughcast rendered walls, stepped buttresses, and a plat band.
Inside Christ Church, Spanish Point, facing west (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
The inscription over the porch door quotes Psalm 100: 4, ‘Enter into his courts with praise.’ The date inscribed on the vestry gable is ‘1927.’
The church has timber matchboard doors, and the pointed arch openings with render architraves are filled with leaded and stained glass.
Families whose memorial plaques were destroyed in the fire in the old church five years earlier were invited to replace them with pieces of church furniture, stained glass and other items.
And so, apart from the pews, the new church was furnished in this way. For example, the altar was donated by the Morony family, who had donated the altar to Kilfarboy Church.
The three lancet windows above the altar in the chancel apse (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
There are three lancet windows in the chancel apse at the east end of the church, donated by the Wise and Browning families. These are the work of the Jones and Willis studios of Liverpool and London and were installed in 1927. They draw specifically on the account of the Crucifixion and Resurrection in Saint John’s Gospel.
The larger, central window (2040 mm x 520 mm) shows Christ walking on water: ‘It is I, be not afraid’ (John 6: 20). This has been described as a Resurrection window, but Christ is without stigmata and the quotation is from tomorrow’s Gospel reading (John 6: 1-21), a setting long before the passion, death and Resurrection of Christ.
The two smaller windows (1640 mm x 520 mm) show angels with cymbals (north) and a harp (south). The words under all three windows read: ‘He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee’ (Psalm 91: 11).
The Resurrection window on the north side of the apse (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
The lancet window on the north side of the chancel apse (1940 mm x 900 mm) was donated by the Browning family. It is also by Jones and Willis ca 1930, and shows the Risen Christ (‘I am the Resurrection and the Life’, John 11: 25) with stigmata (John 20: 20, 27).
Christ is surrounded by four symbols of the Passion: the seamless tunic (John 19: 23), four nails, hammer and tongs, and the crown of thorns (John 19: 2).
Two angels below stand by the empty tomb (see John 20: 12).
The Ascension window on the south side of the apse (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
On the south side of chancel apse, the lancet window (1940 mm x 900 mm) donated by the Browning family is also by Jones and Willis ca 1927. This window shows the Ascension (‘I ascend to my Father and your Father’, John 20: 17).
Christ shows his stigmata and is surrounded by four more symbols of the Passion: three dice (John 19: 24), a whip (John 19: 1), a lance (John 19: 34) and a wine-filled sponge on a branch of hyssop (John 19: 29), and a ladder.
‘The Call of the Disciples’ … a window designed by the Harry Clarke Studios (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
A window on the south side of the nave (1900 mm x 880 mm) was designed by the Harry Clarke Studios in Dublin. It is dated 1959, and is in memory of Canon Elliott’s wife, Nellie (Evans), who died that year. It depicts the ‘Calling of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew’ (see Matthew 4: 18-22; Luke 5: 1-11; John 1: 35-42) – although only one disciple is present!
The words below, ‘Follow me and I will make you fishers of men’ (Matthew 4: 19), are placed above a lobster and a crab.
The three lancet windows at the west end are by the Watson studios in Youghal (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
At the west end of the church, three lancet windows dated 1900 were donated by the Barrington, Morony and White families. The wording on the plaque below indicates they were salvaged from the church in Milltown Malbay.
The larger, middle window (2230 mm x 510 mm) depicts Christ as the Light of the World. It is based on William Holman Hunt’s Pre-Raphaelite painting and draws on images in the Johannine writings (see John 8: 12, 9: 5; Revelation 3: 20). Two angels below hold a scroll that says, ‘I am the light of the world’ (see John 8: 12, 9: 5).
A vision of the heavenly kingdom in one of the Watson windows (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
The smaller window on the left (1840 mm x 500 mm) shows Christ blessing the Children. The words below say: ‘Suffer little children to come unto me’ (Matthew 19: 14; Mark 10: 13; Luke 18: 15). Christ is blessing one girl, but above his right shoulder adults are following children into the kingdom, and above his left shoulder are some sheep, showing that this too is the Good Shepherd (John 10: 11, 14). In the top panel is an idealised image of the heavenly kingdom.
The smaller window on the right (1840 mm x 500 mm) depicts the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25-37). The words below say: ‘Go do thou likewise’ (Luke 10: 37).
The spire of Christ Church was repaired in 2014, thanks to generous fundraising throughout the community in Miltown Malbay and Spanish Point.
Looking out from the vestry in Christ Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
Canon David William Matthew Albert Elliott (1885-1972), the Rector of Spanish Point when Christ Church was built, was ordained deacon and priest in 1910 and 1911. After curacies in Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary, and Ballingary, Co Limerick, he became Rector of Kilfarboy (Miltown Malbay) and Kilmanaheen in 1922.
Kilfarboy and Kilmanaheen parish was united with Kilfenora, Ennistymon, Lisdoonvarna and Lahinch in 1931, and Canon Elliott was a canon of Killaloe Cathedral from that year until he retired in 1965. He died in 1972.
Later, Spanish Point was added to Drumcliffe Union of churches, centred on Ennis. Today, the Rector of the parish is the Revd Kevin O’Brien.
There are weekly Sunday services in Christ Church throughout the summer months (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
There is a Sunday service in Christ Church, Spanish Point, every second and fourth Sunday in winter months and weekly in summer months, alternating between Morning Prayer and the Eucharist.
The churchyard at Kilfarboy, with a gate on the Flag Road, Miltown Malbay, is still in use today.
The churchyard at Kilfarboy in Miltown Malbay is still in use (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
