Funding for the future of Ballintubber Abbey

MAKING PLANS  Fr Frank Fahey

Áine Ryan

WHILE a €50,000 grant through the ClΡr fund for the €2 million renovation and modernisation project for Ballintubber Abbey may be a drop in the ocean it has been warmly welcomed by Fr Frank Fahey.
“We received planning permission last year for the project, which will culminate in the abbey being a hub for pilgrim paths all over the country and the world. This funding, announced recently by Minister Michael Ring, will allow us undertake the necessary detailed design plans,” Fr Fahey told The Mayo News.
ClΡr funding aims to revitalise rural areas. The ambitious project, which will significantly upgrade the facilities at the 800-year-old abbey, includes the extension of the east wing, Itwill encompass an interactive interpretative and learning centre, conference rooms, offices, a lift and stairs.
Fr Fahey explained that the next step after the completion of the detailed design is a major archaeological survey, whose funding of €150,000 has been applied for through Leader grants.
An appeal was also made earlier this year for public donations and the fundraising effort continues towards the significant costs of the project.  
A full excavation of the abbey grounds is set to start next September, which is projected to last eight weeks.
“If they find a chalice down there, then we might well be waiting longer, but patience pays, as the abbey’s history shows all too well,” Frank Fahey said.
With Ireland one of the most popular pilgrim destinations in Europe and more than 1.5 million tourists visiting annually such pilgrimage sites as Knock Shrine, Glendalough, Co Wicklow, the island retreat of Lough Derg, Co Donegal, as well as Mayo’s holy mountain, Croagh Patrick, the tourism potential of pilgrimage is huge.  
For decades Father Fahey has been a champion of the significance of the Tóchar PhΡdraig pilgrim path, its inherent connection to Croagh Patrick and its surrounding ancient landscape replete with important artefacts “The notion of pilgrimage as a human concept resonates with all nations and peoples. There is something in the human heart – in every tradition and religion – that searches for meaning and wholeness,” he said.    

Survival against the odds
FOUNDED in 1216 by one of the kings of Connacht, Cathal Croibhdhearg Ua Conchobair, the fact that ‘the abbey that refused to die’ held its octocentenary celebrations last year marks its cross-century narrative of survival against the odds.
According to records and lore, it has survived the regal edicts of King Henry VIII, Cromwellian destruction and the Penal Laws. In 1603 James I confiscated all its lands which were then run by Augustinian friars. Their presence may have ended there  when Cromwellian soldiers attempted to burn it down in 1653 but while many ancillary buildings were destroyed, the abbey church survived.
Two centuries later the abbey was roofless and in serious disrepair as depicted in poignant black-and-white images of a famine-stricken flock kneeling and praying in long grass.
Father Fahey believes it is important to tell and interpret the rich spiritual narrative of Ireland’s historical links with European pilgrim ways.
“The inherent concept for the development is to show how we, as humans, have gone from hunters, to farmers, to culture makers, to colonialists, and now we are globalists preaching a ‘one world’ message,” Father Fahey explained to The Mayo News.
“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,” he said during last year’s celebrations.
“The richest time this link was made was during the medieval times of pilgrimages – Camino de Santiago, Chartres, Rome, Montserrat, Walsingham, Cantebury, Jerusalem, Czestochowa,  Holy Well – as well as here at St Kevin’s Way, CosΡn na Naomh and the Tóchar PhΡdraig, of course, to name but a few,” Fr Fahey added.