One of the most senior figures in the Catholic Church has celebrated an open air Mass in a remote wood in Killarney.
The Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who is currently leading a pilgrimage to sacred sites in Kerry, officiated at the ceremony at a Mass Rock in the Pike Wood, just outside Killarney town.
And he posted a short video on social media to reveal just what the experience meant to him.
“As a priest I’ve had the honour of celebrating Mass in a number of different places – St Peter’s Basilica, Lourdes, our own beloved St Patrick’s Cathedral, the Holy Land. I don’t know if anything is more meaningful than having Mass on a rock in the middle of the woods,” he said.
Cardinal Dolan said the Mass Rock recalls the brave Irish people who, because they were persecuted for their faith, and with their lives under threat during the time of Penal Laws, would sneak out into the woods when the priest would come to Mass and Holy Communion.
The Archbishop of New York said people now take it so much for granted and some have even stopped attending Mass but he thinks about those Irish people who sacrificed everything because of their hunger for the Holy Eucharist.
“Just being here is an inspiration for me. It’s enchanting,” he added.
Cardinal Dolan also visited the Dingle Peninsula and he shared word of the beauty and lure of the area with his 266,500 followers on Twitter.
He was joined on his trip to Kerry by close on 40 people on pilgrimage from New York and, since his arrival on Monday, the cardinal also celebrated Mass in St Mary’s Church in Dingle.
Cardinal Dolan previously visited Killarney in August 2015 when 500 people, including pilgrims from the US, attended a special Mass in St Mary’s Cathedral at which he was the principal celebrant.
At that time he led a 180-strong pilgrimage to Knock for nine days and it marked the first transatlantic pilgrimage flight to the Co Mayo airport.
The visiting party travelled on to Lough Derg and then to Kerry where they were divided between hotels in Killarney and Tralee.
They toured the Ring of Kerry before heading for west Kerry, with Mass celebrated at Gallarus Oratory,
The cardinal (73) was named Archbishop of New York by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009. He had previously been appointed Archbishop of Milwaukee by Pope Saint John Paul II.
He was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Saint Louis in 1976 and he served in a number of parishes Stateside. In 1994, he was appointed rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where he remained until June 2001.
Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Dolan participated in the 2013 Conclave that elected Pope Francis at a time many religious affairs correspondents had actually tipped the Archbishop of New York as a worthy successor to Benedict.
Give your business the boost it needs. For great value advertising contact news@killarneytoday.com or call 087-2229761
