Permission for pilgrim path hub at historic abbey

SPECIAL MASS Archbishop Michael Neary and Fr Frank Fahey said Mass in Ballintubber Abbey to bring down the curtain on two weeks of events that celebrated the Abbey’s 800th anniversary.

Ballintubber Abbey recently celebrated its octocentenary 

Áine Ryan

ALMOST a decade after ambitious plans were conceived to develop historic Ballintubber Abbey as a European hub for pilgrimage, planning permission has been granted by Mayo County Council for a €1 million plus project. Coincidentally, the permission was granted as the abbey’s octocentenary celebrations came to a conclusion over the Reek Sunday pilgrimage weekend, at the end of July.  
Longtime curate, Fr Frank Fahey confirmed to The Mayo News yesterday he was delighted to have successfully completed a complex planning process which involved the Board of Works, the Heritage Council, ministerial permissions and, finally, the imprimatur of Mayo County Council.
The next step, he said, was to apply to FΡilte Ireland for funding for the development, which will include the partial re-roofing of the cloister and construction of a new wing within the ruin on the east of the buildings for parish and visitor facilities. The project also underwent rigorous community consultation.

Hub
“The proposed works will, hopefully, help to develop Ballintubber Abbey as a hub for Ireland’s pilgrim paths and that historic link with European pilgrim ways. It is important to re-establish and promote the cultural link that was between Ireland and Europe. This union should not just be economic and political, as seems to predominate these days. We now need a deeper basis for our union,” Fr Fahey said.  
He explained that the richest time this link was made was during the medieval times of pilgrimages – Camino de Santiago, Chartres, Rome, Montserrat, Walsingham, Canterbury, Jerusalem, Czestochowa, Holywell – as well as here in Ireland, where among the many pilgrim walks were St Kevin’s Way, CosΡn na Naomh and the Tóchar PhΡdraig.
“The new pilgrim hub would be a key educational facility exploring the integrated development of our monastic and pilgrim traditions, which encapsulates a rich part of our European culture,” Fr Fahey said yesterday.
He added: “Much of our value system is based on these traditions which have been neglected in recent times.”
Ballintubber Abbey’s octocentenary celebrations marked the fact that continuous Mass has been said there since its foundation by one of the kings of Connacht, King Cathal Croibhdhearg Ua Conchobair, or Cathal Mór of the Wine-Red Hand, in 2016. RTÉ broadcast a specially-composed Mass by Liam Lawton to mark the celebrations on June 26 last.