Mosques, Synagogues, Cathedrals, and Cork Trees

I shouldn't tell you this. It isn't fair at all, especially for those of you who live in cold climates where spring doesn't arrive until well into May. Today, I smelled fresh cut grass. It was a divine smell, and in fact it was grass being cut in the Bible garden at Glenstal Abbey. This is a beautiful walled, tiered garden, apparently planted with vegetation and flowers mentioned throughout the Bible. Things are only popping out now, so I will wait to give you a full description when there is more to tell. In fact I will take pictures and let them tell the story. In the meantime Ireland is waking up, becoming green, dotted with flowers.

This past weekend our MA Ritual Chant and Song class took a field trip to Dublin. All along the way the trees were budding and daffodils were in bloom along the median strip. I could have been on any US highway, except we were traveling on the left and out in the fields were sheep and tiny lambs dotting the greening hillsides, and other sites quintessentially Ireland. In Dublin many trees were blossoming and the old Georgian and Victorian neighborhoods of Rathgar and Terenure were alive in anticipation of the full potential of spring.

Our field trip was wonderful. On Friday evening we arrived at the Dublin Islamic Cultural Center, an amazing complex with a restaurant, market, mosque and more. The Muslim population increased in Ireland in the early 1990's during a period of prosperity in Ireland. I believe there are 45,000 people now living in Dublin who have emigrated from many places in the world. In 1996, the Islamic Cultural Centre was opened in Dublin following a generous donation by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Deputy Governor of Dubai and Minister of Finance and Industry in the United Arab Emirates. We had the opportunity to attend the service and listen to the chant of the Eman. I had never been in a mosque and it was a short but beautiful service held at sundown. Women and men worship separately so three of us watched from the gallery above. The men below gathered into the mosque after the call to worship. What I found particularly fascinating and what I also liked very much is that when prayer was about to begin, men and boys lined up shoulder to shoulder, in rows across the width of the room. This act makes everyone equal no matter what their station in life. I found the sounds of the chanting of the Koran, evocative. It was an invitation to go inward. I didn't know what was being said, but there is power in chant, in the repetition and in the language as well as the melody. This is so for ancient languages like Sanskrit, Latin, and Hebrew.

And speaking of Hebrew, out tour continued the next morning at the orthodox synagogue in Terenure. We attend the Saturday morning Sabbath service. Though it is not the same in for liberal Judaism, in this orthodox synagogue, the women also sit separately from the men as they do in the mosque. The entire service is chanted except for the rabbi's sermon and prayer for Ireland. I had been there before and this time as during my previous visit, I so enjoyed listening to Cantor Shulman chant. It was a new experience for my classmates. One enjoyed it so much he wants to return.

On return to Limerick Padraig took a sidetrip to show me the National Seminary in Maynooth. Since 1795, St. Patrick’s College Maynooth has been the National Seminary of Ireland. It has a proud and unique tradition of service to the Church in Ireland and throughout the world. That tradition of service and formation for ministry continues today. The Seminary prepares seminarians for priesthood in the Dioceses of Ireland. The gothic architecture of the buildings are work viewing.

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The grounds are also lovely with parklike areas and formal gardens. It was in one of the formal gardens that I encountered my first cork tree.

That little blue form on the side of the tree is Padraig. He is pushing in on the trunk to show me how soft and spongy the trunk is. It is a wonderful tree as you can see, a hugable tree for sure.

The village of Maynooth is also lovely. We didn't have time to explore it, but we did take time to have a very nice lunch at a little restaurant that looks out on the ruins of Maynooth castle. I suggest that Maynooth would be a great sidetrip for anyone visiting Dublin. It is well worth a visit to the seminary,which has a spectacular cathedral, arched hallways and beautiful grounds, and to eat in one of the bistros and visit the shops. It might just be worth it to visit the cork tree!

Love from Glocca Morra.