Jesus, What A Friend For Sinners (And There Are Plenty of Us!)

Yesterday was Sunday, and this is Ireland, so we were off to church first thing.

We only passed this church while driving, but I loved it.

The choir was to sing at mass at Clonoe Chapel in the the little village of Brocaugh. The building is very bright and modern, having been recently rebuilt after sustaining heavy damage in the Troubles.
While the kids were rehearsing, I took some time for a walkabout.

Things I saw:

This shrubbery. It's everywhere.

Memorials to local young men.

Green. Lots of green. And there is a lake off in the distance. 

It's Loch Neagh, the largest freshwater lake (by area) in the British Isles.

(Who knew? Connor the Coach Driver, that's who.)

Fields of leeks.

And primroses in bloom.

Conner, our marvelous bus driver, is very local, and we had a lengthy conversation about the grief and sadness seen in this area resulting from the Troubles. Even the parking lot of the chapel is hallowed ground, as it is the site where local young men drove a truck armed with heavy artillery. They had been pursued by the police. Police gunfire caused the truck to explode, killing two of the young men, and causing the chapel to catch fire. The priest ran from his home, just up the hill, to address the situation, and found another young man hiding in the churchyard on his own father's grave. The young man had managed to escape the burning truck, but not the police gunfire. Try as he might, the priest was unable to convince the police to spare the young man's life, and he was killed on the spot.

The Clonoe Parish has seen much destruction and rebuilding; the new chapel is lovely and, because my boy was staying in the rectory, I can attest that it, too, is completely lovely. The entryway and other rooms of the house are graced with custom stained glass, beautiful stone floors, fancy bathrooms... it's pretty much the opposite of every Lutheran parsonage I've ever entered. I believe that all the floors are level and the walls are plumb!

Mass was short! 45 minutes! And it was packed! And the priest prayed for the Lutherans (among others). We're never going to agree on everything, but I feel that if we could narrow it down to just a few big ideas, full communion may be in our future. Despite his praying for the Lutherans, I did not practice ecclesiastical disobedience, and I remained in my pew while others received communion, trusting that God's grace extends further than our tiny minds can comprehend.

And here are some cows.

We returned to Belfast to the Clonard Monastery for the evening's concert. While the choir prepared themselves, I was privileged to have some time in conversation with Cathal Murphy, the Director of Music. Oddly, we did not talk about church music. Cathal shared with me some of the incredible recent history of the community and the monastery's role in the Peace Talks leading up to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. It was in this place where secret peace talks began between Gerry Adams (Sinn Fein)  and John Hume (SDLP), facilitated by Fr. A Reid. (In fact, the guys' dressing room was the very room where the secret talks occurred.)

The monastery sits on the border of the Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods. And, you know what?
There's a wall.
Another damn wall.

It's been here since sometime in the 1970s, Cathal told me. And the homes that are against the wall have wire cages over their yards... because people would throw "fuel bombs" and other nastiness over the wall.

Honestly, people!

Cathal told me how the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer has always tried to be a place of reconciliation and redemption. The church and the monastery are sort of protected from the violence that still pops up, and, as church staff, Cathal shared with me that he enjoys "immunity" as he walks through the surrounding neighborhoods.

The concert was beautiful. It was one of those live spaces where it's difficult to sound bad, but the choir was wonderful, so it was all the more glorious. Cathal was duly impressed and took the time the time to give praise where it was due - to the the kids and to Russ.

And then we went home.