Sometimes it is a joy when imagination becomes reality

Imagination and reality ... on the beach on the Coast Road south of Malahide this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Patrick Comerfo4rd

I stayed up too late last night, watching the World Cup. After seeing England being beaten solidly by Uruguay, it seemed their exit from the tournament was all but sealed. There were six Liverpool players on the field, but the one who was playing for Uruguay ensured England’s defeat.

Nonetheless, I was still keeping my hope in Greece. And that hope was badly blistered later in the night as a 10-member Greek squad barely managed to hold out for a score-less draw against Japan.

Greece now has to hope for a win on Tuesday night against Côte d’Ivoire, which has already beaten Japan and lies second in Group B.

The agenda for the Us (USPG) conference in High Leigh next Tuesday has been altered to allow us time to watch England play Costa Rica at 5 p.m. But the result, as they say is academic, and the real clincher in Group D – after Italy’s defeat at the hands of Costa Rica this evening – is going to be the match at the same time between Italy and Uruguay.

Having stayed up too late for my own good last night, three of us went for a late lunch this afternoon in the Gourmet Food Parlour in Malahide. The restaurant is a wonderful location, with full-length windows looking out to the coastline at Robbswalls, the sea, the sands of the Donabate Peninsula, and Lambay Island looking so like a floating whale out in the Irish Sea.

Even there, though, it was impossible to get away from thinking about football – the restaurant also calls itself MU GFP Malahide – no, and to save this ABU fan’s blushes, not after Manchester United, but after Malahide United, whose grounds and premises are shared with the Gourmet Food Parlour.

For a brief moment we had wondered whether we should have continued further north to Bettystown on Co Meath coast. But the reports this week of heavy water pollution in Bettystown and a slow response from Meath County Council put a quick end to that discussion.

Looking out to Lambay Island from the rocks and the sand at Malahide this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

As aunt and niece continued to talk at a table outside after lunch, I walked down to the Coast Road alone and stepped down to the shoreline, where Low Rock leads to High Rock, interspersed with tiny sandy coves and little sheltered beaches.

It was a bright, warm sunny afternoon, and small groups of families and friends were enjoying the sunshine and the water, venturing in to swim, while to the south in the distance, near Portmarnock, a small cluster of sails was a sign of sailing lessons in summer bliss.

Joggers and strollers were enjoying the pathway along the Coast Road, and the walls down to the shore provided extra protection against the breeze, making the afternoon feel sunnier and warmer than it really was. It is a joy when imagination becomes reality.

I was back in time to watch the Italy v Costa Rica match which was being played in Recife in Brazil, and in an idle moment recalled that Dom Helder Camara had once been Archbishop of Recife.

Dom Helder Camara was the Brazilian archbishop who was one of the inspiring figures in Latin American liberation theology. As a young priest he served in the ghettos of Rio de Janeiro, where he began to speak of the unjust structures of poverty: “When you live with the poor, you realise that, even though they cannot read or write, they certainly know how to think.”

It was he who spoke at Vatican II, of God’s “preferential option for the poor.”

His response to those who denounced him as “the red bishop” sums up his theology: “When I feed the poor, they call me a saint; when I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.”

Dom Helder Camara died 15 years ago on 27 August 1999, at the age of 90, but his dreams live on with those who share his values. Yes, sometimes it would be a joy to see imagination become reality.

Dreaming dreams ... a door into a secret garden at Robswalls in Malahide this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Taking Handel’s ‘Water Music’ to the beaches of Malahide and Portmarnock

The beach at Portmarnock. Co Dublin, this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Patrick Comerford

Today is the Day of Pentecost [8 June 2014], and I was invited to celebrate the Eucharist and to preach in Saint Michan’s Church, Church Street, Dublin, at 10 a.m., and in All Saints’ Church, Grangegorman at 11.30 a.m.

These two churches, along with Saint Werburgh’s Church in Werburgh Street, are part of the Christ Church Cathedral group of parishes in inner city Dublin, and I am back in Saint Werburgh’s and All Saints’ next week to preside at the Eucharist and to preach on Trinity Sunday [15 June 2014].

It is a joy to be in normal parishes, with normal parishioners, on a normal Sunday, and it is a reminder of the underlying purpose of teaching theology with ordinands.

In both sermons this morning, I spoke of Pentecost as the day on which we celebrate the birthday of the Church. The rubrics for the Calendar in the Book of Common Prayer (2004) set out clear priorities for the three principal Holy Days in the Church – Christmas Day, Easter Day and the Day of Pentecost, stating unambiguously: “On these days the Holy Communion is celebrated in every cathedral and parish church unless the ordinary shall otherwise direct” (p. 18).

Yet, looking at the ‘Church Notices’ in The Irish Times yesterday [7 June 2014], it is mouth-opening to see how many churches ignore these rubrics year-after-year. Obviously, the parish rotas, such as Morning Prayer on the second Sunday of the month, take precedence over the provisions we have agreed as a Church in the Book of Common Prayer, and the second Sunday of the month takes precedence over the Day of Pentecost.

Already, I’ve noticed that the majority of parishes did not observe the Ascension Day on Thursday this year, but postponed the celebration until the following Sunday, even though the Book of Common Prayer advises that “liturgical provision” for these days “may not be displayed by any other observance.”

What next? Marking Good Friday on the next available Sunday? Changing the day for celebrating Christmas Day because it falls on a bank holiday?

I was in one parish on a Sunday some time ago (it shall remain unnamed) where the Holy Communion was celebrated with only one reading – and that was from the Acts of the Apostles ... there was no Old Testament reading, no Psalm (although it was printed on the notice sheet), and no Gospel reading; and the sermon barely referred to the one Scripture reading that was read.

Some incumbents argue that liturgy and the Church Calendar go over the heads of their parishioners, and they find them either irrelevant or outdated. But how can rectors who claim to give priority to the Gospel go without reading the Gospel or teaching the truths of the Ascension and Pentecost? Without the celebration of the full Easter cycle, Christianity soon becomes reduced to Arianism, and we then move on to creating a god who is in our own image and likeness.

In All Saints’ Church, it was a joy to be in a church where the parishioners appreciate liturgical tradition at its best, and where there is a robed choir anxious to learn and to expand and grow its capacity.

The Organ Trophy and a carving depicting 17 musical instruments in Saint Michan’s ... the Church is associated with Handel’s ‘Messiah’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Saint Michan’s also has a strong musical tradition: George Frideric Handel is said to have composed his Messiah on the organ which is dated 1724, or at least to have practised in advance of the first performance of Messiah on this organ.

In front of the gallery is the Organ Trophy, a piece of wood depicting 17 musical instruments, possibly carved by Henry Houghton or John Houghton, and installed in 1724.

Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759) became George Frideric Handel when he moved to London. In 1710, Handel became Kapellmeister to Prince Georg Ludwig, the Elector of Hanover in 1710; four years later, in 1714, Prince Georg became King George I. It is interesting that Handel prospered on the English-speaking world though the patronage of the House of Hanover and the accidents of birth and capriciousness of politicians that brought an obscure German princeling to the throne in London 300 years ago on 1 August 1714.

The site of the Music Hall in Fishamble Street, where Handel’s ‘Messiah’ had its first performance in 1742 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Later, as I walked from All Saints’ to Christ Church Cathedral, I passed along Fishamble Street, where Handel’s Messiah had its first performance in the Music Hall on 13 April 1742 before an audience of about 700 people.

The site of the Music Hall and the performance is marked by a plaque hidden by railings, and the hotel next door is called the George Frederic Handel Hotel – how many spelling combinations are possible for the name of one composer?

Looking across to Donabate and Portrane from the sands at Robswalls in Malahide this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Later, I was reminded of Handel’s Water Music when two of us went for walks on the beaches of Malahide and Portmarnock in north Co Dublin. The Water Music is a collection of orchestral movements, often published as three suites, composed by George Frideric Handel. It received its premiere on 17 July 1717 after King George I had requested a concert on the River Thames.

We drove out to Malahide for a late lunch in Cape Greko, the Greek-Cypriot restaurant in New Street, near the Marina in Malahide.

Later, carrying tastes and music and memories from holidays in Greece with us, we drove from Malahide along the coast at Robswalls, looking back towards the beaches of the Donabate Peninsula. Despite rains earlier in the afternoon, a small number of people were out on sailboards and small boats.

By the time we reached Portmarnock, there was a small number of families walking on the beach, but nobody seemed foolhardy enough to venture in for a swim.

There was no Mediterranean weather in Malahide today, but the sight of the beaches and the water was like music to our souls.

Hippocratic wisdom on the wall of Cape Greko in Malahide (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Lunch, castle latrines and lone herons in Malahide

Looking through the haze and the mist towards the beach at Portmarnock from the Coast Road in Malahide this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Patrick Comerford

Two of us returned to Malahide this afternoon – a mobile phone had been left behind after lunch on Friday, but its recovery provided a good excuse for lunch again in the MU Gourmet Food Parlour on the Coast Road to Portmarnock.

On second thoughts, there’s no need to find a good excuse for having lunch again in the MU Gourmet Food Parlour – the place stands on its own merits.

Once again we had a table looking out over Malahide Estuary and Broadmeadow Water and the bay of across towards Lambay Island and Portrane. Once again it was a hazy, foggy, rainy day, but lunch was wonderful and afterwards we decided to take a short walk in the mist and the light drizzle above the shoreline towards Portmarnock.

Carrick Hill Martello Tower in Portmarnock (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

We walked as far as Carrick Hill Martello Tower, which was built around 1805 and is now a private family home.

Turning back, we returned to have another look at Robswalls Castle – the tower house that butts out onto the main road, and that once had its own small harbour hewn out of the rocks below.

I had written about the castle yesterday [Saturday] after Friday’s walk. Robswall Castle has seen no battles, and has seen no sieges. But I had missed out on how Robswall had been farmed by the Talbot family of Malahide Castle until the 1980s the castle had been the steward’s house.

While I was photographing the castle on Friday afternoon, I also missed out on the tiny latrine projection corbelled out high up between the main block and the stair turret on the south side.

The projecting latrine high up on the tower of Robswalls Castle near the turret (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

We drove back through Malahide and through Yellow Walls out to the north shoreline on the Broadmeadow Estuary, east of Swords. The tiny, narrow, potholed road was waterlogged and packed tight with just the few cars that had come with people delighted to feed the swans.

A lone heron in the marshland on the north shore of Broadmeadow Estuary this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Rather than taking the treacherous coastroad on to Donabate, we decided to reverse. As we did there was a lone heron standing patiently in the marshland.

By the time we got to Portrane, darkness was closing in.

Castles, abbeys and the desolation of Priory Hall

Broadmeadow Water and the bay of Malahide Estuary in front of the Gourmet Food Parlour this week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Patrick Comerford

As a busy week was about to merge into a busy weekend, I took Friday morning off and four of us went to lunch in the MU Gourmet Food Parlour about a half mile outside Malahide on the coastal path to Portmarnock.

The restaurant is beside the Malahide United Gym building on an elevated spot looking out over Broadmeadow Water and the bay of Malahide Estuary across towards Portrane. Although we could not see as far as Skerries on a hazy, foggy, rainy day, this was a truly beautiful backdrop for our lunch.

We are also looking out to Robswalls Castle is in the townland of Robswalls overlooking the Broadmeadow Water, also known as Malahide Estuary and only a few short minutes from the coast road footpath from Malahide to Portmarnock.

Robswalls Castle … a private house with a monastic and mediaeval history (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

The castle stands on the side of a main road between Malahide an ordinary house with a square tower attached. But the two-storey house has a stone staircase that gives access to the watch tower and battlements.

The original tower was built over four floors, probably in the 15th century by the de Bermingham family.

The castle walls hang above the Coast Road from Malahide to Portmarnock (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

The castle is said to stand on a site once owned by the Cistercian Monks of Saint Mary’s Abbey in Dublin. At the dissolution of the monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII in 1540, Robswalls Castle was granted to Patrick Barnwall of Turvey, Solicitor General for Ireland.

At one time, the castle had its own small harbour hewn out of the rocks underneath and had a three-storied circular staircase.

I walked briefly along the shoreline before returning to work in the afternoon.

Father Collins Park stands on land once owned by Grange Abbey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

But earlier in the day, I had a walk in the rain around Father Collins Park beside Donaghmede and Clongriffin. The park is on lands that were part of the original and extensive Grange of Baldoyle belonging to the Priory of All Saints, which stood on the site of Trinity College Dublin. The ruins of the chapel of Grange Abbey stand near the park.

At the dissolution of the monasteries, Grange Abbey also changed hands and was given to the Corporation of Dublin City.

Five 50 kW wind turbines provide power for the waterfalls and fountains in Father Collins Park (Photograph : Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Father Collins Park, which is administered by Dublin City Council, is named after a popular local parish priest, Father Joe Collins and was opened in 2009.

This is Ireland’s first wind powered and self-sustainable public park, and was designed by Argentinian architects Abelleyro and Romero. The park has won a number of awards for sustainability, public space, public parks and environmentally friendly initiatives.

The park’s five 50 kW wind turbines provide power for the waterfalls and fountains, draining the lake, public lighting, depots and sports facilities. Its 26 ha includes natural woodland, sports fields, a running and cycling track, a promenade, a concert amphitheatre and picnic areas.

The open lands of Father Collins Park host migrating birds during the seasons of migration. The undisturbed lands in park remain an important refuge and hub for Arctic and European migratory birds.

Right turn only … but Priory Hall is still blocked off (Photograph: Patrick Cmerford, 2013)

Outside the park, the road heading south towards Clare Hall has a junction where the lights are primed for a right turn only. But that right turn only leads into the blocked-off entrance to Priory Hall, an estate that is still fenced off while the people who bought homes there are left homeless.

How many children missed a Christmas at home in Priory Hall? How long is their agony and suffering going to continue?

Priory Hall … how many children were missed out on Christmas at home? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)