| The habit of a lifetime
 MALCOLM
ROGERS looks at a couple of religious breaks in Ireland.
The Dominicans first arrived in Ireland in 1244 just three years after their
founder St. Dominic died. Known as the Order of Preachers because of their
distinctive black habits they were often known as Black Friars.
Unlike other orders, the Dominicans lived by begging in the community surviving
on alms. In return they preached the Gospel in the vernacular.
The Dominicans don’t beg anymore but remain active in the community.
Today their focus is to promote an alternative and more sustainable way
of working with the land as well as “renewing a relationship with
the whole community including people, animals and land”.
The Dominican Sisters established An Tairsearch (The Threshold) the Dominican
Farm and Ecology Centre in 1998 on their 70-acres of land in Wicklow. The
Order has opened the doors of its organic/biodynamic farm and Centre for
Ecology and Spirituality to visitors, guests and customers (a farm shop
will supply all your herbal and organic needs). The centre also presents
a wide array of seminars and courses and over the coming months is presenting
an impressive series of activities.
Residential programmes run from March 10 until May 25, and from September
9 until November 16. The main emphasis is on spirituality and how Christianity
can help in our understanding of an evolving universe and an endangered
earth.
If you can’t attend the residential courses the Order is also holding
various day/weekend seminars dealing with topics such as the Celtic Church
and Celtic spirituality. The origin, history and religion of the Celtic
peoples is traced and the distinctive character of Celtic Christianity explored.
While examining the traditional path to God which the Gaelic speaking people
of Ireland and Scotland evolved over the centuries the Dominicans examine
the ancient religion’s relevance to today.
Other courses and seminars include silent meditation, art as meditation,
vegetarian cookery, growing organic vegetables in a small garden, growing
and cooking with fresh herbs.
The centre also holds spiritual talks on the spring equinox, the summer
solstice, the autumn equinox and the winter solstice.
- For more information and bookings contact: Frances McPadden Tel:
00 353 (0) 404-61833
E-mail: ecenw@eircom.net
www.ecocentrewicklow.ie
Retreat to Waterford
The Cistercians have written into their constitution: “Every monastery
is to continue the tradition of welcoming guests and the needy as Christ
according to local circumstances. Let those whom the providence of God
has led to the monastery be received by the brothers with reverence and
kindness but without allowing this service to impair monastic quiet.”
You can thus head for a quiet, personal retreat to Mount Melleray Abbey,
Cappoquin, Co. Waterford. This Cistercian monastery welcomes both men
and women it doesn’t welcome personal stereos, MP3 players or mobile
phones. May the Lord truly be praised.
At Mount Melleray you’ll be housed and fed 15 bedrooms are available:
Nine singles, four doubles and two triple or family rooms. The rooms are
simply furnished with bed, table, reading chair and sink. None of the
rooms are en suite. Bed linen, towels and soap are provided.
You’re free to join the monks throughout the day for prayer and
Mass. The bell for Vigils goes at 3.45 am but they don’t insist
you rise at the scrake of the ecclesiastical day. Accommodation consists
of your own simple room equipped with bed, a window looking out on the
courtyard and a wooden crucifix on the wall. The grounds of the abbey
set amidst the mist-covered Knockmealdown Mountains are ideal for quiet
contemplation, and the Abbey’s library has a collection of old Irish
and medieval manuscripts.
The monks prefer you to stay for at least two nights in an effort to prevent
the place becoming a B&B. They also ask retreatants “not to
engage in excessive talking which disturbs the quiet of the place”.
The cost? You can look up the tariff in James Joyce’s short story
The Dead:
“The table then spoke of Mount Melleray, how bracing the air was
down there, how hospitable the monks were and how they never asked for
a penny-piece from their guests.”
The monks still don’t ask a penny piece you give what you can
afford.
Availability varies greatly over the year. Phone the Guestmaster, Brother
Boniface, on 00 353 (0) 58 54404 or 00 353 (0) 58 52140. You can also
pay in kind by working in the grounds or gardens by arrangement with the
monks.
Mount Melleray Abbey, Cappoquin, Co. Waterford
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