EDITORIAL

UP FRONT

TRÍONA DOHERTY

LAND OF A THOUSAND WELCOMES

Arecent discussion on Irish radio featured a caller from the US who was planning a move to Ireland. They wanted to know how easy it would be to make friends and become part of a community. What sort of experiences had other immigrants had, and how long had it taken them to feel settled and integrated into Irish society and life?

The responses were a mixed bag. Several people who had moved to Ireland from abroad spoke of how they had been welcomed with open arms and felt at home almost immediately. Many praised the friendly nature of people – always up for a chat – and their kindness, particularly in times of need. Others agreed that people were extremely friendly on a surface level but said they had found it difficult to develop deeper friendships. Irish people are ‘clannish’ suggested one contributor, and it takes a long time to shake off one’s ‘blow-in’ status.

Then there was the inevitable ‘rural versus urban’ debate. The general sense was that it’s easier to make friends in rural areas than in larger cities or towns where “people don’t know their next-door neighbours”. On the other hand, drivers in country areas were advised to “be prepared to develop tennis elbow from having to wave at everyone you pass!”

It was fascinating to hear the different perspectives on the topic. We like to think of ourselves as the land of the céad míle fáilte, but of course it’s not always the case, as evident from the many reports of racist incidents and abuse that sadly seem to be on the increase. And much has been written, particularly since the dawn of the pandemic, about the loss of community and the increase in loneliness and isolation.

But, in the main, there is so much goodness around us. I’ve been following a few online communities aimed at helping Ukrainians arriving in Ireland. Some of the posts in the groups are from Ukrainian people who are in temporary accommodation and looking for something more long term. Others are asking for specific items such as children’s clothes, toys, musical instruments. One Ukrainian woman was delighted to source a sewing machine for her elderly mother who had arrived in Ireland and was missing her usual activities.

Many of the messages are offers of help. There are job adverts and notices describing available accommodation. There are offers of language classes, haircuts, cinema trips, free dance or sport classes for children. Pop-up shops have been set up around the country, where donated goods are laid out for people to browse and take what they need, free of charge.

Connections are being made and local groups are forming, matching offers of help with needs. I’m aware of similar initiatives to match families living in direct provision with other local families to pass on clothes, toys and other items, and to develop friendships. Many of the initial messages in these online communities are simple words of welcome: “Welcome to Ireland”; “I hope you find what you need”; “I hope you’ll be happy here.” Several Ukrainian people are expressing gratitude for the warm welcome they’ve received. Of course, the system is far from perfect, and the emergency accommodation provided is not at all ideal. But at grassroots level, kindness is overflowing. Every appeal for help seems to be met with a positive response. I read recently of the small village of Ballon in Carlow which has become a temporary home to more than 110 Ukrainian refugees, with a team of volunteers setting up a 70-bed rest centre. In Modelligo in Co. Waterford, a vacant parochial house has been renovated and transformed into a home for refugees.

Community is not always visible. The days are certainly gone when we met all our friends and acquaintances at the local shop or pub, or outside Sunday Mass. Modern life is hectic and we might not have the time we once did to get to know our next-door neighbours. Some of our communities are virtual, like the online groups mentioned above. But it seems to me that the majority of people are just looking for ways to help. We saw it in the creative ways people supported each other during the pandemic, and we are seeing it again in the way individuals and groups are reaching out to refugees.

Every so often we get to see this community in action. I was in my local post office recently and the queue was crawling along, everyone minding their own business. Then, a commotion – someone had spotted an elderly woman with a walking stick and was ushering her towards the front of the line. One by one, each person stepped aside to let her past – “Go ahead there”; “Go on, you’ll be standing for ages otherwise.” Though she hadn’t intended to skip the queue, she was chuffed, thanking everyone profusely. It was lovely to see such ordinary, good-humoured kindness, the sort that is replicated all over the country, every day, in every village, town and city. Whether virtual or real-world, community spirit is alive and well.

Tríona Doherty Editor

WALKING THE WAY:

THE REVIVAL OF IRELAND’S PILGRIM PATHS

DURING THE MONTH OF JUNE, GUIDED WALKS WILL TAKE PLACE ALONG IRELAND’S PASSPORTED PILGRIM PATHS. AS MORE AND MORE PATHS ARE OPENED UP TO MODERNDAY PILGRIMS, WE TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT’S BEHIND THE RESURGENCE OF INTEREST IN IRELAND’S SACRED TRAILS

BY JOHN G. O’DWYER

Seeking meaning beyond materialism, the number of 21st-century pilgrim walkers has increased exponentially. Almost every second person we meet nowadays seems to have been on, or is actively considering undertaking, a pilgrim journey. Why should this be the case: is it that pilgrimage somehow serves as a metaphor for life’s bewildering voyage? Do our lives take on a more profound meaning when viewed through the 20/20 prism of a reflective journey? Certainly, a characteristic of most ages has been a compulsion to seek deeper meaning by travelling to some sacred place vested by generations past with unique redemptive powers.

GOLDEN AGE OF PILGRIMAGE

The medieval period immediately prior to the Reformation was the last great era of pilgrim journeying. The spiritual pioneers undertaking these excursions certainly needed fortitude in spades to complete the redemptive paths of the time. Mechanised transport had not yet arrived to defeat the idea of distance, yet medieval wanderers found the motivation, and not inconsiderable courage, to foot the great penitential trails to Rome, Palestine, Canterbury, Lough Derg and Santiago, along with many lesser-known sites.

Motivated in the main by a desire to save their souls or gain indulgences, penitents gladly undertook these arduous excursions into what must then have been a scarily unknown world without such modern, musthave fripperies as thousand-mile socks, Goretex jackets and iPhones. This meant they must regularly have felt tired, isolated, lonely and sometimes vulnerable to robbery, kidnap and even murder. Travelling in the relative safety of groups whenever possible, they pushed on each day driven by the hope of reaching the sanctuary of a monastery or an inn and thus avoiding the dangers of spending a night in the open.

Passports were unknown and so most pilgrims just carried a letter of credentials from a bishop or abbot establishing that they had received the sacraments before leaving and were journeying in a spirit of genuine penitence. A lucky few might have possessed sufficient wealth to complete their redemptive expedition on horseback. Others, among the better-off pilgrims, would have sailed from an Irish port such as Waterford, Kinsale or Dingle to A Coruña in Northern Spain, while those heading for Rome or the Holy Land might have boarded a ship at Marseilles or Venice.

These were the exceptions, however, for mostly pilgrims just walked and walked. Counting calories was not, we can safely assume, the prime concern for these medieval sanctity seekers as they toiled on relentlessly through unmapped and sometimes hostile lands. Strangers journeying in strange lands, they would have been out of touch for up to a year – no comforting Skype then – and mostly travelling through areas where people spoke indecipherable tongues.

And it was not just the common people who went on pilgrimage; escaping hellfire proved a great medieval leveller. King Henry II of England undertook a redemptive journey to atone for the murder of Thomas à Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, while Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV went on a barefoot pilgrimage to the Italian town of Canossa, where he begged Pope Gregory VII to repeal his ex-communication from the Christian Church.

REFORMATION

The late Middle Ages were the glory years of mass pilgrimage. Indulgences didn’t come cheap and there was money, power, prestige and, of course, genuine piety bound up with the penitential business. Those places lucky enough to possess the relic of a renowned saint could benefit substantially from penitential spending. Small wonder, then, that access to pilgrim sites was considered crucially important to the western church and that a succession of medieval pontiffs ordered several crusades to the Holy Land aimed at wresting back Jerusalem and the holy places from Islamic conquerors.

Historians are now as one in telling us that the coming of the Reformation represented a watershed for Western Europe by breaking forever the power of the monolithic Roman Church. To this day, the enduring impression we have of Martin Luther and his fellow reformers is that they were unswervingly sincere in their beliefs but – shall we say – not exactly the life and soul of a party.

Unsurprisingly then, this rather severe and pragmatic bunch were little given to grand gestures. Believing that salvation could more satisfactorily be accomplished at home and, perhaps, also suspecting that pilgrims might slyly try to incorporate some pleasures of the flesh into their redemptive odysseys, they immediately dropped a spanner clattering into the smoothly oiled workings of the redemptive walks industry. But in the end, it was the destabilising effect of the post-

reformation sectarian wars that quickly led to the virtual elimination of the trans-national spiritual excursion.

PILGRIM FEVER

It is said, however, that the past never completely dies, but sooner or later comes to revisit us. So, the information age has been notable for a movement from the worship of conspicuous consumption towards heeding the ageless siren call of the long walk to a place of sanctity. In recent times, large numbers of often staunchly secularist people have come down with severe cases of pilgrim fever. Their motivations are, however, far more complex than medieval pilgrims, with the journey itself being the main objective. For most, pilgrimage, with its emphasis on simplicity, mindfulness and reflective experience, is as much a voyage Penitents gladly undertook these arduous excursions into what must have of inner discovery and transformation as a physical challenge. Following a pilgrim been a scarily unknown world without path chimes with our greener, such modern, must-have fripperies as less materialistic times. It also thousand-mile socks, Goretex jackets offers many a deeper meaning beyond the sum total of the and iPhones. trail’s physical attributes, with personal renewal and selfknowledge coming not so much from the destination, as from the journey itself. Until recently, most modern-day pilgrims headed for Spain in common with millions of summertime pleasure seekers. But eschewing the hedonism of the Costas, they journeyed instead along the Camino of St James, seeking spiritual understanding and personal meaning in following sacred tracks carved by the feet of medieval penitents. Few of these 21st-century pilgrims would have imagined Ireland as an alternative destination for contemplative hiking. Conventional wisdom held that this country possessed little in the way of worthwhile penitential walks. The reality, however, is that Ireland has a dense network of mystical paths and a vibrant pilgrim tradition with most of these routes long predating the Camino. Clonmacnoise was undeniably one of Europe’s first pilgrim objectives, while Lough

Walkers on the Tóchar Phádraig pilgrim path in Co. Mayo

Derg was, and still is, one of Europe’s foremost penitential destinations. Pilgrims also travelled to Glendalough, Skellig Michael, Gougane Barra and Croagh Patrick, while many also journeyed to venerate the true cross at Holycross Abbey.

IRELAND’S SACRED TRAILS

Despite past popularity, however, Ireland’s sacred trails were almost totally forgotten for generations. Virtually nothing was done to maintain them or ignite awareness of their existence until a re-awakening took place when Pilgrim Paths Ireland (PPI) was formed in 2013 by representatives from Ireland’s principal pilgrim routes.

An avowedly non-denominational organisation, it welcomed people of all religious backgrounds and none, while organising its walking events exclusively on medieval paths with robust spiritual resonance. Renewal or giving thanks in a nondenominational sense is encouraged as part of each event, which is organised on a voluntary basis by the local community.

The new organisation’s first major ventures were the National Pilgrim Paths Day of 2014 and 2015, which both took place on Holy Saturday. Conceived as a unifying event, emphasising Ireland’s common Christian inheritance, the invitation to rediscover almost forgotten pilgrim paths greatly exceeded expectations with over 3,000 people reacquainting themselves with 11 of Ireland’s mystical trails.

Encouraged by this success, the event was soon extended into the successful Pilgrim Paths Week, which takes place over the Easter period each year and offers a profound sense of reaching into the past. Another initiative from PPI is a passport offering an opportunity to explore a collection of penitential routes through some of the most captivating Irish scenery. To meet the requirements of the Irish Pilgrim Passport, walkers must produce evidence of having completed 120 km of Ireland’s foremost penitential trails, all coming with well-documented claims to have been used by pilgrims since ancient times.

While many walkers were happy to do this alone or with friends, others preferred the security and knowledge offered by a local guide. Mindful of this, the latest venture from PPI takes place this year from June 18 to 25. It consists of a fully escorted journey along the passported pilgrim paths of Ireland.

This June, Pilgrim Paths Ireland are offering fully-guided walks along all of Ireland’s passported pilgrim paths. The routes which will be completed are:

• St Finbarr’s Path, Co. Cork (June 18/19) • Cnoc na dTobar, Co. Kerry (June 20) • Cosán na Naomh, Co. Kerry (June 21) • St Kevin’s Way, Co. Wicklow (June 23) • Tóchar Phádraig, Co. Mayo (June 25) Guides will stamp pilgrim passports at the end of each walk. With five stamps, participants can then obtain a Teastas (completion certificate) at journey’s end in Ballintubber Abbey, Co. Mayo.

And recently an international dimension was added to the Irish pilgrim paths when the Cathedral of Santiago agreed to grant a Compostela of St James to pilgrims who complete the 75km from A Coruña to Santiago, if they have already walked a 25km pilgrimage in Ireland. Dubbed the Celtic Camino, this is the first time that pilgrim walking in Ireland has been recognised as part of the Spanish Camino.

To complete this route, the pilgrims must purchase the passport from the Camino Society in Dublin and then complete 25km on an Irish pilgrim route such as the Tóchar Phádraig, Co. Mayo, St Kevin’s Way, Co. Wicklow or St Finbarr’s Pilgrim Path, Co. Cork. The local organisation will stamp the Camino passport which will be accepted as evidence of completion. The pilgrim then recommences the pilgrimage from A Coruña, Spain and continues the 75km to Santiago while getting the required stamps along the way. In Santiago, the pilgrim passport is submitted with the stamps for Ireland and Spain in order to obtain Compostela of St James from Santiago Cathedral.

AWAITING FOOTFALL

These initiatives mean things are looking good for the Irish pilgrim paths as we emerge

With almost 250 km of fully waymarked pilgrim paths now available in Ireland, a golden opportunity exists to create a contemplative walking experience to rival the Camino.

Walking St Kevin’s Way in Co. Wicklow

from Covid darkness to the sunny uplands of a post-pandemic landscape. This is likely to provide opportunities for the sacred trails of Ireland since it is probable that things will never be quite the same again – human habits have been altered by the crisis and what we seek from life will be different in the future.

One shift has been a new appreciation of the outdoors. People are not only walking in much greater numbers, but they are also seeking more interaction with our green and contemplative spaces. We are now likely to see a reduction in demand for hugely expensive indoor attractions such as Titanic Belfast and the Guinness Storehouse, and more demand instead for greenways, blueways and pilgrim paths. It seems the pandemic may yet prove a blessing in disguise for rural tourism as outdoor attractions can be created on a highly cost-effective basis. Titanic Belfast required an investment of over £100 million, while this year’s reopening of St Declan’s Way linking Ardmore with Cashel cost a modest €250,000 and is already proving hugely popular with walkers.

Ireland’s pilgrim paths are fully waymarked and awaiting footfall. They are very much in step with the changing demands of presentday tourists, but despite valiant efforts by local communities, they are still relatively unknown to Irish people. And despite Ireland having an international reputation for spirituality reaching back to Celtic times, our mystical trails have never really been promoted overseas.

With almost 250 km of fully waymarked pilgrim paths now available in Ireland, a golden opportunity exists to create a contemplative walking experience to rival the Camino. Relatively modest investment is required to build international awareness of Ireland’s mystical trails and to provide the necessary infrastructure to support the paths. Incentives should be provided to encourage the development of small rural guest houses and B&Bs that are close by the trails to allow for unsupported walking. Looking ahead to our new world, it may be from the past that we will find the answers for the future.

For more information:

Further information on walking the Irish pilgrim paths is available at pilgrimpath.ie.

John G. O’Dwyer’s latest book titled 50 Best Easy to Moderate Irish Walks is out now and can be purchased from curracoks. com or in bookshops nationwide.