Showing posts with label ireland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ireland. Show all posts
Monday, March 24, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Day 5: Pilgrims and Puja
Under a second morning of sunny skies we left Galway and travelled north to Donegal, a county in the northwest. Our bus criss-crossed the border of North and South Ireland, the language of the road signs the only indication of which territory we were in.
Following the footsteps of generations of pilgrims, we explored the grounds of Lough Derg, Ireland’s most ancient pilgrimage site. This famous destination is lush and majestic with its manicured landscape and stone buildings, all located on an island in the middle of an enormous lake. It draws more than 20,000 believers per year, mostly Catholic and interdenominational Christian.
(Photo: Rachel King)
The sky alternated between rain and sunshine as students walked the winding prayer paths, wandered through the great stone Basilica and snapped pictures of the penitential prayer beds. The waves of the surrounding lake rippled in circles around the island.
“I think even the dramatic weather had a good effect,” said Rachel Rosenthal. “It was very remote. There is nothing you can do except reflect there.”
Photo: Rachel King
Stained glass insided Basilica at Lough Derg (Photo: Sarah Morgan)
After leaving the island, we made our way to County Cavan, where our tour made its first step towards eastern religion. At Jampa Ling, a Buddhist center tucked behind woods with narrow gravel paths, crisp air and Tibetan Buddhists greeted us.
“Seeing people in these robes and speaking with thick Irish brogues kind of made me smile,” said Debra Katz.
Photo: Andrew Nusca
We shared a meal of fresh salad and steaming bowls of curry vegetable soup with monks and other believers, swapping stories of our faith journey through Ireland with their journey to Jampa Ling.
One monk, Lobsang Wangchuck – his ordained name – shared with two students how the sex abuse scandal that shook the Catholic Church and his life directed his path toward Buddhism. Raised in the Catholic Church, he faced abuse for nearly 5 years. He left the church at 17 and discovered Buddhism in his twenties. Two years ago, on his 60th birthday, Wangchuck became the first western monk ordained by the center’s lama, the Ven. Panchan Otrul Rimpoche.
Photo: Pilar Conci
Photo: Andrew Nusca
Following the footsteps of generations of pilgrims, we explored the grounds of Lough Derg, Ireland’s most ancient pilgrimage site. This famous destination is lush and majestic with its manicured landscape and stone buildings, all located on an island in the middle of an enormous lake. It draws more than 20,000 believers per year, mostly Catholic and interdenominational Christian.
(Photo: Rachel King)The sky alternated between rain and sunshine as students walked the winding prayer paths, wandered through the great stone Basilica and snapped pictures of the penitential prayer beds. The waves of the surrounding lake rippled in circles around the island.
“I think even the dramatic weather had a good effect,” said Rachel Rosenthal. “It was very remote. There is nothing you can do except reflect there.”
Photo: Rachel KingCommonly known as St. Patrick’s Purgatory, where, legend has it, the country’s patron saint fasted and received visions of purgatory, this place has inspired centuries of pilgrims to flock to the island. They seek penance, divine intervention or simply an escape from worldly distractions of everyday life. Most come for the 3-day pilgrimage, a rigorous experience consisting of walking barefoot, fasting and staying awake for 24 hours. Lough Derg ground manager Deborah Maxwell explained that these physical sacrifices are spiritual disciplines that allow people to reach their spiritual core.
“Taking off shoes levels all people,” she said. “Fasting is almost like detox. Good things can happen to your body and mind.” Throughout a pilgrim’s waking 24-hours, they are constantly engaged in prayer.
Debra Katz was struck by the fact that “the pagans found this place holy. At some point it was considered too pagan that Rome had it shut down. To me, it was interesting to see the confluence of paganism and Christianity and where those two meet.”
“Taking off shoes levels all people,” she said. “Fasting is almost like detox. Good things can happen to your body and mind.” Throughout a pilgrim’s waking 24-hours, they are constantly engaged in prayer.
Debra Katz was struck by the fact that “the pagans found this place holy. At some point it was considered too pagan that Rome had it shut down. To me, it was interesting to see the confluence of paganism and Christianity and where those two meet.”
Stained glass insided Basilica at Lough Derg (Photo: Sarah Morgan)After leaving the island, we made our way to County Cavan, where our tour made its first step towards eastern religion. At Jampa Ling, a Buddhist center tucked behind woods with narrow gravel paths, crisp air and Tibetan Buddhists greeted us.
“Seeing people in these robes and speaking with thick Irish brogues kind of made me smile,” said Debra Katz.
Photo: Andrew NuscaWe shared a meal of fresh salad and steaming bowls of curry vegetable soup with monks and other believers, swapping stories of our faith journey through Ireland with their journey to Jampa Ling.
One monk, Lobsang Wangchuck – his ordained name – shared with two students how the sex abuse scandal that shook the Catholic Church and his life directed his path toward Buddhism. Raised in the Catholic Church, he faced abuse for nearly 5 years. He left the church at 17 and discovered Buddhism in his twenties. Two years ago, on his 60th birthday, Wangchuck became the first western monk ordained by the center’s lama, the Ven. Panchan Otrul Rimpoche.
After dinner everyone crowded into a small room for Puja, a practice of meditation and training of the mind. The lama, his followers and Columbia students sat cross-legged, eyes closed before a large red-painted shrine filled with images of deities, a large framed photograph of the Dali Lama, and Buddhist statues. Ani La, the center’s nun, led the meditation service in both English and Tibetan chants.
Photo: Pilar Conci
Photo: Andrew NuscaThough it was new for many students, some earnestly embraced the experience. “I really did enjoy it, even though I had no idea what they were saying,” said Rachel Rosenthal. “I felt that the whole mind and body doing the same thing inspiring to me. Yay, Buddhism!”
Monday, March 17, 2008
Day 4: Ancient Tombstones, Living Language
Photo: Andrew Nusca
Photo: Pilar Conci
Photo: Pilar Conci
Photo: Andrew Nusca
Photo: Pilar Conci
Photo: Rachel J. King
Day 3: Bright Lights, Big City
For those of us who favor the metropolitan to the monastic, our first view of Galway seemed a harbinger of only good things. As we entered the "university city" – home to University College Galway, a leading Irish university, and the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology – an uninterrupted line of bars, bistros and cafes provided a sharp contrast from the vast swaths of farmland characteristic of the drive from Roscrea, in County Tipperary.
Other differences also became readily apparent: The average age of the students gathered in Kennedy Park, some with backpacking travel gear and instruments in tow, fell far below that of the 80-year-old monks at Mount St. Joseph Abbey. And individual stores seemed tailored to the Columbia demographic: A boutique named Brooklyn Jam advertised "unisex urban streetwear," while a nearby eatery promised New York-style pizza. Before the bus had come to a full stop, Jamie McGee looked out her window and, taking it all in, proclaimed, "I like Galway a lot!"
Shortly after we left the bus and took our first steps along Shop Street, bells rang out from the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas, the largest medieval church in Ireland, located in the heart of Galway City. The gesture — intended to express solidarity with victims of the recent violence in Lhasa, Tibet — offered evidence of the church's heightened awareness of and respect for other cultures and religions.
Though a member of the Anglican Communion, the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas is interdenominational, meaning that it welcomes worshipers from all Christian denominations. Canon Maureen Ryan said the church attracts many "transients" – when the students leave for the summer, the tourists begin arriving en masse.
Photo: Rachel J. King
Being both students and tourists (and journalists, pilgrims, etc., etc.), we took our seats in the nave for the 11 a.m. Palm Sunday Eucharist. The service featured a dramatic rendering of The Passion of Christ according to St. Matthew. Members of the choir assumed all the key roles – Jesus, Judas, Matthew and Pilate, to name a handful – and worked their way through nine pages of dialogue, forgoing the traditional stand-and-deliver reading method in an effort to make the nuances of the verses more palpable.
The choir also performed a stirring rendition of Psalm 22. The male and female singers stood across from each other at the head of the nave and sang verses in a call-and-response sequence.
While the psalm's opening words — "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint" — encouraged worshipers to ponder the abstract, issues raised during the concurrent children's service tended toward the practical. Zach Goelman ducked into this service, which took place in the adjacent north transept and included eight or so youngsters. As the instructor reviewed the Palm Sunday liturgy, several of the children seemed perplexed as to how Jesus could possibly have ridden a donkey all the way from Bethany and Bethpage to Jerusalem. One child mistook the word "prophecy" for "Pharisees," which prompted the following explanation: "The Pharisees didn't like Jesus because he was too popular."
"It was very adorable, actually," Zach said. "They sat on the floor and fluttered about, and it wasn't too organized."
Photo: Rachel J. King
After the Eucharist, Deborah Lee-Hjelle stayed in the church to see two Nigerian immigrants baptize their son. Assorted relatives and friends — including Catholics and Pentecostal Evangelicals — gathered around the stone baptismal font in the back of the nave to witness the ritual. The parents wore blue-and-white garments with African prints, while the little boy wore a white christening gown. To conclude the ceremony, the worshippers lit candles and sang "This Little Light of Mine."
"I thought a baptism was sitting in the pews and watching a kid get baptized up front," Deborah said. "Instead it was clustered. It wasn't organized like I pictured."
Deborah noted the communal nature of the service, which enabled Christians from a wide range of denominations to come together and mark an important step in the life of a child.
The Rev. Patrick Towers, who performed the ceremony, said the open nature of the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas, which was founded in 1320, reflects an acknowledgment that other Christian faiths can be just as valid as Anglicanism. To say that only one approach can lead to salvation, he said, would be presumptuous and potentially misguided. Anglican churches, he said, "are not at the top of any moral or ethical mountain. We're all on a pilgrimage. There is no revelation from God that says, 'You are right.'"
In the spirit of Palm Sunday as moveable feast, some of us grabbed lunch on the go at a street fair and wandered around Galway. Because tomorrow is a bank holiday, the crowd included just as many – if not more – tourists than Galway residents. At one busy pedestrian intersection, four travelers from Seattle serenaded passersby with, among other hits, Outkast's "Hey Ya." I can only speak for myself, but I took great comfort in the knowledge that Big Boi and Andre 3000 can have a hand in bolstering America's image abroad.
Photo: Robbie Corey-Boulet
In the afternoon, most of us left Galway and traveled to County Clare, where we toured the Cliffs of Moher. Although the site is bustling with tourists, the cliffs are undeniably impressive. There was little time for a tour of the exhibit, but I'm confident that John, our tour guide who drives as steadily as he talks, can fill us in on their geological history.
Photo: Rachel J. King
In the evening, we arrived at the Ardilaun Hotel in time for dinner with Cormac McConnell, an arts and culture columnist for The Irish Voice. And now, fully liberated from the monastery's curfew, we head for a night out in Galway.
By Robbie Corey-Boulet
Other differences also became readily apparent: The average age of the students gathered in Kennedy Park, some with backpacking travel gear and instruments in tow, fell far below that of the 80-year-old monks at Mount St. Joseph Abbey. And individual stores seemed tailored to the Columbia demographic: A boutique named Brooklyn Jam advertised "unisex urban streetwear," while a nearby eatery promised New York-style pizza. Before the bus had come to a full stop, Jamie McGee looked out her window and, taking it all in, proclaimed, "I like Galway a lot!"
Shortly after we left the bus and took our first steps along Shop Street, bells rang out from the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas, the largest medieval church in Ireland, located in the heart of Galway City. The gesture — intended to express solidarity with victims of the recent violence in Lhasa, Tibet — offered evidence of the church's heightened awareness of and respect for other cultures and religions.
Though a member of the Anglican Communion, the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas is interdenominational, meaning that it welcomes worshipers from all Christian denominations. Canon Maureen Ryan said the church attracts many "transients" – when the students leave for the summer, the tourists begin arriving en masse.
Being both students and tourists (and journalists, pilgrims, etc., etc.), we took our seats in the nave for the 11 a.m. Palm Sunday Eucharist. The service featured a dramatic rendering of The Passion of Christ according to St. Matthew. Members of the choir assumed all the key roles – Jesus, Judas, Matthew and Pilate, to name a handful – and worked their way through nine pages of dialogue, forgoing the traditional stand-and-deliver reading method in an effort to make the nuances of the verses more palpable.
The choir also performed a stirring rendition of Psalm 22. The male and female singers stood across from each other at the head of the nave and sang verses in a call-and-response sequence.
While the psalm's opening words — "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint" — encouraged worshipers to ponder the abstract, issues raised during the concurrent children's service tended toward the practical. Zach Goelman ducked into this service, which took place in the adjacent north transept and included eight or so youngsters. As the instructor reviewed the Palm Sunday liturgy, several of the children seemed perplexed as to how Jesus could possibly have ridden a donkey all the way from Bethany and Bethpage to Jerusalem. One child mistook the word "prophecy" for "Pharisees," which prompted the following explanation: "The Pharisees didn't like Jesus because he was too popular."
"It was very adorable, actually," Zach said. "They sat on the floor and fluttered about, and it wasn't too organized."
After the Eucharist, Deborah Lee-Hjelle stayed in the church to see two Nigerian immigrants baptize their son. Assorted relatives and friends — including Catholics and Pentecostal Evangelicals — gathered around the stone baptismal font in the back of the nave to witness the ritual. The parents wore blue-and-white garments with African prints, while the little boy wore a white christening gown. To conclude the ceremony, the worshippers lit candles and sang "This Little Light of Mine."
"I thought a baptism was sitting in the pews and watching a kid get baptized up front," Deborah said. "Instead it was clustered. It wasn't organized like I pictured."
Deborah noted the communal nature of the service, which enabled Christians from a wide range of denominations to come together and mark an important step in the life of a child.
The Rev. Patrick Towers, who performed the ceremony, said the open nature of the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas, which was founded in 1320, reflects an acknowledgment that other Christian faiths can be just as valid as Anglicanism. To say that only one approach can lead to salvation, he said, would be presumptuous and potentially misguided. Anglican churches, he said, "are not at the top of any moral or ethical mountain. We're all on a pilgrimage. There is no revelation from God that says, 'You are right.'"
In the spirit of Palm Sunday as moveable feast, some of us grabbed lunch on the go at a street fair and wandered around Galway. Because tomorrow is a bank holiday, the crowd included just as many – if not more – tourists than Galway residents. At one busy pedestrian intersection, four travelers from Seattle serenaded passersby with, among other hits, Outkast's "Hey Ya." I can only speak for myself, but I took great comfort in the knowledge that Big Boi and Andre 3000 can have a hand in bolstering America's image abroad.
In the afternoon, most of us left Galway and traveled to County Clare, where we toured the Cliffs of Moher. Although the site is bustling with tourists, the cliffs are undeniably impressive. There was little time for a tour of the exhibit, but I'm confident that John, our tour guide who drives as steadily as he talks, can fill us in on their geological history.
In the evening, we arrived at the Ardilaun Hotel in time for dinner with Cormac McConnell, an arts and culture columnist for The Irish Voice. And now, fully liberated from the monastery's curfew, we head for a night out in Galway.
By Robbie Corey-Boulet
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