Update: A couple of people have asked me what a crying room is. So let me explain. When we were growing up in Hull our church had a closed off room dedicated for young families with children. It would allow families to participate in Mass without having to worry about noisy children disturbing other parishioners. Nowadays you never see these rooms anymore (at least I haven't), but the Church in Lahinch obviously has one, although I'm not sure that is the name they would use for it, but it's a name we used at our Church growing up (Our Lady of the Annunciation) which is still there in Hull but it moved locations. (I know the original church we went to ended up as a night club at one point. Good grief. At least now there is an English speaking church in Hull again. I also notice that they have Fr. Fogarty listed as Parish priest from 1959 to 1973. I remember him well. He was very stern and he scared me to death. But I digress too much...)
I attended Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament after Mass today. The Church has a beautiful little chapel to the left of the front Altar, that also doubles as a crying room during Sunday Mass.
When used as a crying room, the young families have a perfect view of the Mass and the priest and they can close the door which helps to not disturb the parishioners at Mass. As an Adoration chapel it is a very intimate blessed area to be with Our Lord. What a great idea.
I took a couple of pictures of it so you can see how they oriented it in the Church.
A beautiful Prayer to Our Lady of Perpetual Help at a side altar.
On May 29, we took a walking tour of Lahinch. The tour was hosted by Thomsie O'Sullivan of the North Clare Historical Society. Thomsie has a remarkable amount of historical knowledge of the homes and businesses in the village. He shared that history with us that evening.
I taped most of the evening but I have far too much material, so am only going to post the introduction to the evening, which began in the Church. Thomsie discusses in this clip why and how a new Church had to be built.
(Sometimes, for reasons known only to God, I can't find the video I'm looking for when accessing it through my blog, to embed into my blog. Like this time. And sometimes when I try to retrieve the embed code itself, it doesn't work either. In both these cases, I am forced to either make a career out of figuring out why it doesn't work, or, I just give up and give you the link. Today I am not interested in a new career.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRzjmySQD28
Thomsie told us that the new Church was basically built through the village people volunteering their time, effort and hard labour. The people dug into 60 feet of the cliff behind the church which was mud and rock. They took away the stones themselves, and many people used the stones to build their own homes. The sustained effort strengthened the whole community. Fundraising was also going on the whole times as well.
Thomsie also remembered when there were 40 to 50 Masses going on in the summer because of all the visiting priests, and Thomsie would often have to serve four Masses. Often the priest would say to the alter servers before Mass: "Could you come down and caddy for me after Mass?" The reward was an ice cream after caddying.
I attended Mass here while in Lahinch. Sunday Masses were lovely, quick and solemn. In Ottawa, Sunday Masses are usually at least an hour long. In Lahinch, about 30 minutes. Very efficient. And often the priest would say the Our Father in Irish. I never caught it on audio, but here is a video of the Lord's Prayer being said in Irish.
The Parish also had two prayers that they said after each Mass. The first was their Parish Prayer:
"Father, pour out your spirit on us your people and grant us a new vision of your glory, a new experience of your power, a new faithfulness to your word, a new consecration to your service so that your love may grow among us & that we may make your kingdom a reality in our place and time. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen."
The second prayer I recognized as one that St. Ignatius of Loyola particularly loved called Anima Christi, or the Soul of Christ
THE PRAYER "SOUL OF CHRIST" (ANIMA CHRISTI) Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save me. Blood of Christ, inebriate me. Water from the side of Christ, wash me. Passion of Christ, strengthen me. 0 good Jesus, hear me. Within your wounds hide me. Do not allow me to be separated from you. From the malevolent enemy defend me. In the hour of my death call me, and bid me come to you, that with your saints I may praise you forever and ever. Amen.
(A special thanks to Maureen and all her hard work on creating my videos)
