Hello everyone,
It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks of work and travel for Teach Bhríde, so Jena, Laura, and Brendan have teamed up for a blog update from Wexford!
JENA
As you’ve been reading in prior blog posts, Teach Bhríde has been doing quite a bit of travelling in the month and a half that we’ve been here! It has been really great to see so much of this beautiful country that we get to call home. Last week, the Wexford group travelled to the monastic city of Glendalough with our parish team. It was a fairly rainy two days, but the fog and rain added to the mystic and mysterious feel of the settlement. We were able to meet with a priest that lives there and gives tours, who gave us his take on community living and Celtic spirituality. We ended the first day with a really fun sing-song in the hotel! On the second day, we were able to brave the weather and do some hiking around the city, seeing St. Kevin’s cell and “bed.” I experienced a lot of peace, being surrounded by God’s creation and natural beauty. We hope to go back on a sunnier day and see more of the hills around the monastic city.
Travel aside, Teach Bhríde Wexford has been keeping busy with daily Mass and weekend liturgies. Last weekend, we welcomed Fr. James back to Clonard for the Vigil Mass and had a social in the church hall afterwards. The community was abuzz with excitement, and the hall was packed! It was great to be a part of this celebration and to experience how truly active the parish community is here at Clonard. We are blessed with fantastic parishioners, from the Vigil Choir to daily Mass-goers!
LAURA
While Teach Bhríde Wexford and Clonard parish happily celebrated the return of Fr. James, I was in London preparing for life post-House of Brigid next year. Only time will tell on that end of things, but I definitely had a wonderful time exploring that amazing city this weekend! I returned to Wexford on Sunday night, and was so happy to be back with Brendan, Jena, and Kristen. Solo travelling is fun, but I’ll always prefer the warmth of community life! I barely had time to unpack before our next adventure, though: Teach Bhríde Wexford’s annual pilgrimage to Glendalough!
Along the way, we went to Mass in the tiny village of Clara Vale in the Wicklow Mountains, and celebrated the feast of St. Francis of Assisi in a beautiful church dedicated to Saints Patrick and Cillian. There was no keyboard or organ available in the little church, but that didn’t faze Teach Bhríde! One of the coolest things we’ve done so far this year is learning to sing together a cappella and in three parts–this is ideal for party pieces, and is perfect for situations in which we find ourselves without accompaniment. Our little group sang beautifully, and I’m excited to see what the rest of the year brings! After Mass, we savored the beauty of our natural surroundings, took a copious amount of pictures, and continued on to Glendalough.
Shrouded in mist and rain both days we were there, the 1400 year-old monastic city of Glendalough provided us with a chance to slow down, to pray, to connect with God through nature, and to delve deeper into the unique strains of Celtic spirituality. The coming weeks will be quite busy for Teach Bhríde, so it was wonderful to take the time to relax and recharge!
BRENDAN
Hello again! To say we have been busy since the last time I wrote would be a gross understatement! It seems that every week brings a new adventure, whether it is an overnight to Glendalough or a lunch trip to Kilmore Quay. Amidst all these enjoyable events, we have also been very hard at work. Our little group has made great strides in our practice as an ensemble and we are excited to unveil our some new repertoire for daily mass in the next few weeks. There has been a lot of interest in our recording a Teach Bhríde CD, so keep an eye out for developments on that project in the near future!
Congregational singing at daily mass continues to be one of my greatest joys here: the congregation now sings all of the mass parts and sings with a robust, engaged sound that fills our intimate day chapel. From this position of strength, we are now hoping to increase the size of our already-excellent vigil choir, and we have already had some promising responses from our ever-generous parishioners. We hope that with recruiting more members we will be able to expand our ministry in this ensemble and ascend to new musical heights! I’m very excited for these new opportunities here in Wexford!
With much love and prayers,
Jena, Laura, and Brendan
