Cathedral: A Place of Friendship for all Humanity
“Every being cries out to be read differently.” Since his resurrection, Christ accompanies each human being. He does not impose himself, but comes humbly alongside us; and he never stops seeking our friendship. To live this friendship with Christ! This becomes a leaven of peace and reconciliation for the whole of humanity. Then to widen this friendship to those around us, going beyond the separations which remain! If only we could do everything to make it more obvious that the Church is a place of friendship for all, particularly those who are vulnerable, isolated or strangers! (Taizé) SAINT CARTHAGE’S has been a site of Christian worship and prayer since approximately 635AD when Mochuda (who took the name of his teacher Carthage) was given the site by chiefs of the Deise. Evicted from their site in Rahan, Co Offaly, Carthage and his monks walked the Blackwater in search of a new site for their community. Deep in the DNA of this cathedral is displacement, wandering, seeking, hospitality, gift and journey. Whoever we are 1400 years later, we must be true to the DNA of the place, owning our own, and welcoming inclusively, the dislocation, seeking, and journeys of the human condition. This we do still in hospitality, and in the knowledge that all is gift. Gifts are given and received with open hands, and the grasping hand unfolds slowly to reveal that nothing is there. If we grasp at being Cathedral we are left with religion: Unless we leave our comfort zone, we really do not meet God at all, but merely pull God inside of our own small sphere, and it is no longer God that we meet at all. Just religion. Richard Rohr
* Full article available in printed copies.
Paul Draper
is Dean of Lismore and director of ordinands for Cashel Ferns and Ossory diocese.