An tEaspag Dónall Caird – Bishop Donald Caird 1925-2017 The following bilingual address was given by Aonghus Dwane in memory of former Archbishop Donald Caird (1925-2017) at the annual interchurch service in the Irish language for Church Unity, held in Christ Church Cathedral on January 20th 2018.
A chléirigh oirmhinneacha, a Ard-Mhéara, Nancy, Ann, John, Helen, agus a chairde Gael uile, Táim an-bhuíoch as an gcuireadh fial ó Chumann Gaelach na hEaglaise teacht agus labhairt faoin Easpag Dónall Caird nach maireann anseo anocht. It is a great honour to be asked to speak about the late Bishop Donald Caird here tonight, particularly at a service over which he took great pleasure each year in copresiding over. For Donald, this service united his ecumenical instincts and his love for the language. I discovered a clip on the internet the other evening, and can hear him now intoning with customary warmth the greeting “fearaim fiorchaoin fáilte romhaibh go léir chuig Ardteampall Chríost”. Donald Caird had many wide and varied distinctions to his credit throughout a career of over 60 years in the ministry and the episcopate, but I would like to take this opportunity – speaking in both Irish and English- to focus briefly on his interest in the Irish language this evening. Fear uasal, lách, séimh a bhí i Dónall Caird, tírghráthóir de chineál dílis oscailte, mac dílis d'Eaglais na hÉireann, ceannaire pobail agus Gaeilgeoir go smior. Bhí cáil mhór air, a théann i bhfad thar limistéar phobal Eaglais na hÉireann. Chuir sé an-suim sa Ghaeilge, san Oideachas agus san Fhealsúnacht le linn a shaol. Rugadh Dónall i mí na Nollag 1925. D’fhreastail sé ar Choláiste Wesley ó 1936 go 1944, agus is sa tréimhse seo a chuir sé suim sa Ghaeilge ar dtús. As a pupil at Wesley College facing State examinations in the early 1940s, his father George dispatched him to the west Kerry Gaeltacht of Dún Chaoin to improve his Irish. While staying at the house of the famous Kruger Kavanagh, Donald was taken one evening to meet Peig Sayers, the renowned storyteller who had lived on the Blaskets, and was at that time living on the mainland in Baile Bhiocáire. Peig was seated by the fire, and questioned the young visitor-where was he from, was he enjoying his visit to this area, and so on. He recalls her as a kindly, friendly woman, who readily entered into conversation, and did not let it flag. She spoke unhurriedly and steadily, using
simple language, understanding that Donald did not have fluent Irish. It was a simple chat about cúrsaí an lae (everyday matters). Donald visited Peig on a couple of subsequent occasions in these years, Peig recognising him on his second visit and greeting him as “Dónall”. Peig had been blonde and Donald says that in her younger days she had been known as “Peig Bhuí”. Although in her 70s when he met her, she struck her young visitor as a good-looking and graceful woman. She had a face alive with amusement "and you knew she was going to engage you in amusing conversation". Subsequent stays with the Ó Guithín family on the Blasket Islands wrought a profound impression: “To learn another language is to gain another life, or at least to enter another world where the spirit may be refreshed and invigorated.” He was enthralled to discover his coreligionists worship through Irish at Kilmalkeadar church in Dun Chaoin. Ar ais i mBaile Átha Cliath dó, d’fhreastail sé ar sheirbhís in Ardeaglais Naomh Pádraig, agus chuir sé iontas air a chomh-chreidmhigh a chloisteáil i mbun adhartha trí Ghaeilge. Back in Dublin he began attending services run by Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise, encountering Dr Kathleen Lynn, a veteran of the 1916 Rising, whom he recalled as wearing pince-nez spectacles and a long fur coat which she struggled to keep out of the spokes of her bicycle wheel. Dr Lynn, who “spoke Irish with an Oxford accent”, was anxious to develop the social side of life for the younger members of the Church of Ireland, arranging mid-week céilithe and other events. It was at such occasions that Donald came to know other figures such as Harry Nichols, the Dublin city engineer who had been condemned to life imprisonment for his part in the 1916 rising, and the treasurer of the Cumann, Alfie Cotton, a Northerner and old IRA man: "These people I would not normally have met and would certainly never have come to know intimately, where it not for Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise. So, I date my genuine interest in Irish to this strangely mixed, if not maverick, company with whom I fell in almost by accident. I know that many of the leaders in the national cause in the past were members of the Church of Ireland, members of my own community – Wolfe Tone, Thomas Davis, Smith O’Brien, Charles Stewart Parnell - but they were figures of the past. Here, in this group, were living representatives of that same tradition, alive and well and speaking Irish." On 4th December 1942, Donald was proposed as a member of Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise. He was elected to its Coiste (committee) at the AGM held on 13 May 1943.
Bhí Dónall ina mhac léinn i gColáiste na Tríonóide idir 1944 agus 1950. Oirníodh mar dheagánach é i 1950, agus mar shagart i 1951. Níos déanaí, ceapadh mar reachtaire é ar Pharóiste Rath Mhichíl, Sean Cill, Baile Átha Cliath. Phós sé le Nancy Ballatyne-Sharpe sa bhliain 1963. It was while rector in Rathmichael parish in the early 1960s that Cupid intervened and Caird made the acquaintance of a visiting American, Nancy Sharpe. They married, and Nancy opened up a new perspective on life for Donald, proving a wellspring of love and support throughout his life and ministry, their partnership radiating happiness to friends and colleagues. Tá beirt iníon acu, Ann agus Helen, agus mac, John. It is a great pleasure to have Nancy, Anne, John and Helen present with us here tonight. I 1970 toghadh Dónall Easpag ar Luimneach, Ard Fearta agus Achadh Deo. Sna 1970idí, bhíodh seirbhísí Gaeilge á reáchtáil sa samhradh i Séipéal Chill Maoilchéadair, agus Seán Ó Riada agus Cór Chúil Aodha rannpháirteach ann. Ceapadh Dónall mar bhall den chéad Bhord na Gaeilge i 1975 nuair a bhí an Dr TK Whitaker ina chathaoirleach. Bhí Dónall mar easpag ar an Mhí agus Cill Dara idir 1976 agus 1985. Labhair Dónall ag neart ócáidí Gaeilge thar na blianta, mar shampla ag Éigse na Máighe i gCo Luimnigh, seoladh Bhíobla Naofa Mhaigh Nuad, Seirbhís d’Ard Fheis Chonradh na Gaeilge i gColáiste na Tríonóide i 1993, Éigse Thomáis Bháin in Inis Meáin i 1996 agus eile. During a brief period from 1977 to 1980, it so happened that the three most senior bishops in the Church of Ireland were Irish speakers: George Otto Simms as Archbishop of Armagh, Henry McAdoo as Archbishop of Dublin and Donald Caird as Bishop of Meath and Kildare. This led Lil Nic Dhonncha, one of the founders of Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise, to remark: "má tá fonn ar bhuachaill óg dul chun cinn a dhéanamh in Eaglais na hÉireann, ba choir dóibh an Ghaeilge a fhoghlaim!” (If a young man wishes to progress in the Church of Ireland, he should learn Irish!) Like his hero Douglas Hyde, Donald encouraged the depoliticisation of the Irish language. He always sought to present the Irish language as offering possibilities for mutual understanding rather than division, pointing to the Church of Ireland’s history of engagement with it. Douglas Hyde had lamented the coming of politics into the Gaelic League in 1915. Prior to that there had been much revivalist interest among Ulster’s Protestants, one Richard O’Kane signing the minutes of his local Orange Lodge Ristéard Ó Catháin. Donald recalled how, during his time as a young curate in Saint Mark’s in east Belfast in the early 1950s he had made the acquaintance of a small number of Irish speakers, seanliobrálaithe (old liberals) among Belfast’s Protestant community, whose openmindedness and live-and-let-live attitude had impressed him.
A committed ecumenist, Donald enjoyed warm relations with Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich and Archbishops McNamara and Connell. When Pope John Paul II visited Ireland in 1979, the entire house of bishops of the Church of Ireland was invited to a reception hosted by the Papal Nuncio, to meet the pontiff. Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich was by the Pope’s side as he introduced him to each of the bishops. When he came to his friend and fellow Irish language enthusiast, Bishop Donald Caird, he said to the Pope "this, your Holiness, is a rara avis- an Anglican Church of Ireland Bishop who is Irish speaking!" The Pope had spoken a little Irish a short time before this, in remarks at the reception, and he asked Donald "did you like my Irish?" Donald recounts: "I said ‘I thought it was excellent, and as [the Pope] was a very humorous and inviting type of man, I went on to say ‘if you continue to speak consistently, you could get a pension!". The Pope was greatly amused and "roared laughing". A photograph of the occasion shows a highly amused Cardinal, Pope and Bishop of Meath in the immediate aftermath of the exchange. I 1985 toghadh Donall mar Ardeaspag ar Bhaile Átha Cliath agus Gleann Dá Loch. Bhí sé mar Chathaoirleach ar Choláiste Móibhí, an t-aon scoil lán-Ghaeilge Protastúnach sa tír. At Buswell’s Hotel, Dublin in 1992, Donald spoke at the launch of a reprint of the Bible in Irish, An Bíobla Naofa, produced by An Sagart, the Roman Catholic priests’ organisation. The Church of Ireland in its Irish language services frequently made use of this Irish translation of the Bible (particularly in view of the fact that no other modern translation of the Old Testament was available). Commending the publication, Donald said that he himself used An Bíobla Nofa each day to read the reading for the day from the Old Testament. He referred to the fact that he and Monsignor Padraig Ó Fiannachta, the main driver of the project, knew the same Gaeltacht area [in Kerry] well, and indeed had slept "in the same bed”adding, after a well-timed pause, “ní rabhamar ann ag an am céanna” (we were not in it at the same time), which led to a roar of mirth among those assembled! Donald had supplied translations for a number of Irish language hymns in the Church Hymnal, the inclusion of such hymns being widely welcomed in the church community. In the fifth edition of the hymnal, published in 2003, the following translations are credited to Donald and the Rev Gary Hastings: A Aonmhic na hÓighe, A Rí an Domhnaigh, Síormholadh is glóir duit, a Athair shioraí, Don Oíche úd i mBeithil, Fáilte Romhat a Rí na nAingeal, Gurab tú mo Bheatha and Deus meus, adiuva me. Over 26 years on the House of Bishops, Donald’s influence ensured that when any major revisions were being made of liturgical texts, that Irish language translations were made available. Bishop Michael Burrows, Bishop of Cashel and patron of Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise, carries on that work today.
D’éirigh sé as mar Ardeaspag i 1996. I 2006, thug Dónall léacht faoi Dhúghlas de hÍde ag Scoil Samhradh na hAthbheochana Ceiltigh ar Inis Oírr. Bhí cónaí air agus é ar scor i nDún Laoghaire le Nancy. Ó am go chéile, rinne sé ceiliúradh ar an Eocairist i nGaeilge in Ardteampall Chríost do Chumann Gaelach na hEaglaise, agus bhí sé i láthair gach bliain ag an tSeirbhís Idirchreidmheach Gaeilge do Sheachtain na hAontachta Críostaí, a eagraíonn Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise agus Pobal an Aifrinn. In 2010, bhí Dónall ag ceiliúradh 50 bliain ó ceapadh mar reachtaire é, agus 40 bliain mar Easpag. Bronnadh Gradam an Phiarsaigh air ar an 22 Aibreán 2010 mar aitheantas dá chuid oibre don teanga, agus ghlac Nancy leis ar a shon. At a special dinner in the headquarters of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in Monkstown, Co Dublin, the Gradam an Phiarsaigh award was presented by Minister for the Gaeltacht to Nancy on her husband's behalf. Donald, whose health had declined around this time, was unable to be present, and his acceptance speech (the last public speech prepared by him) was read out on his behalf. This speech, in Irish, traced his early interest in the language and his involvement with Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise over several decades. It concluded on a valedictory note: "the Irish language was a subject of interest for me for much of my life, which permitted me to relax from time to time, and which gave me a sense of peace when I was under stress. I am very grateful to the people who I met through the Irish language movement, old and young, for their friendship and support. I wish them every success and hope that the welfare of the language can be promoted through their work and their goodwill. It is my view that a way is opening before us in the present time, despite difficulties which face us, and that a better life is before us than that which is behind. We must muster our confidence, and keep a strong hold on it." In 2010, at the annual service at church unity in Irish at Christ Church Cathedral, Donald dedicated a new altar frontal in memory of the late Lesley Bryan. Bryan, as secretary, had assisted Dáithí Ó Maolchoille in steering the work of Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise over a number of decades, maintaining regular services in Irish and the long Church of Ireland tradition of producing worship material in the language. Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise secured funding in 2010 from Foras na Gaeilge to employ a full-time development officer, and in the period since Caroline Nolan's appointment to that position in 2011, there is evidence of a strong renewal of interest in Irish in Church of Ireland communities North and South, an increase in services and renewed engagement with schools and youth. Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise celebrated the centenary of its foundation in 2014 with optimism, echoing the words of hope and courage and spoken by Donald in his last public speech.
Donald Caird’s overall contribution to Irish life may be best summarised in words he had himself used about his hero, Douglas Hyde: “D’fhan sé dílis dá thír is dá Eaglais. Bhain sé aoibhneas as áilleacht na tíre. Bhain sé aoibhneas as cuideachta a charad Gael. Bhain sé aoibhneas as ceol na teanga. Bhain sé aoibhneas as seana gacha dighe agus nua gacha bidh, agus thug sé adhradh do Dhia.” (He remained loyal to his country and to his Church. He rejoiced in the beauty of the country. He rejoiced in the company of his Gaelic friends. He rejoiced in the music of the language. He rejoiced in the freshest of food and the oldest of wine and he gave glory to God.) Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.