Summer School In Ireland

I am on the ferry to Ireland. I leave behind guests on an Open Gate retreat led by Sandi Koener and Judy Shelley. Sandi has been invited to join the USA Caim Council and Judy is the USA Explorers Guide. Yesterday was graced by a cup of tea with sister Sally who is on a walking holiday in Northumberland. We remembered cousin Jo’s husband Barry who was buried as we met.

I drive to the Ursulines convent near Shannonbridge who offer me hospitality. I will take part in the Clonmacnoise Summer School a few miles away. People associated with the many early Irish monastic sites throughout Europe are welcomed to it. On Sunday I am invited to lead a service of Blessing the Earth and Healing the Land on the public Pilgrim Way beside the historic monastic site. On Friday I speak on ‘The Spirit of the Early Irish Monks’. I hope to unpack the spirit of penance and poetry, devotion and obedience, learning and hospitality, soul-friendship and pilgrimage, listening to nature and to ordinary people in foreign mission lands. Both the service and the lecture can be downloaded from this site 1) CLONMACNOISE 2014 2) A Healing of the Land Service.

While I was preparing the lecture I had a thought. Why not publish a list of all known early Irish monastic site and encourage the growing Clonmacnoise network to make pilgrimages to these and give feed-back on experiences?

Posted at 06:53am on 21st August 2014
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