A trip to West Clare prompts Andrew O’Connell to reflect on the “remarkable struggle against adversity”
Stories heard as a child often survive well into adulthood and the story of the Little Ark of Kilbaha, which I first read about in our sixth class catechism book, has lingered since in my imagination. I was in west Clare for a few days recently and had the opportunity to visit the Little Ark, now preserved in the church in Moneen in the Loop Head peninsula.
The Little Ark is essentially a mobile altar housed in a shed on wheels. It was the brainchild of Fr Michael Meehan (1810-1878) during a battle of wits with the notorious Marcus Keane, the agent for local landlords Westby and Burton.
Fr Meehan was already battling Souperism and the advance of proselytising Protestant schools in the area when he devised the Little Ark as an ingenious way to outfox the landlord’s ban on the building of a church for the local people.
Farmers had been threatened with eviction if they dared to allow Mass to be celebrated in their homes. Fr Meehan had previously acquired two adjoining houses from emigrating families which he converted into a makeshift church. The new chapel was used only twice before being levelled. Later he tried using a tent but this soon proved to be unsuitable due to the weather conditions.
The inspiration for the Little Ark apparently came to Fr Meehan as he was travelling on board an omnibus from Kilkee to Kilrush.
With windows on either side and an open doorway accessed by a short stepladder, the Ark could be wheeled to the seashore in Kilbaha and parked on the beach between high and low tides. This was no man’s land and beyond the reach of the property laws.
During the years 1852 to 1857 the people of Kilbaha heard Sunday Mass on the beach from this Little Ark.
Eventually, a site for a church was acquired and the laying of the foundation stone was attended by none other than a Bishop William Whelan, OCD, of Bombay – an indication of how Ireland’s spiritual empire had already started to grow east as well as west.
A visitor at the ceremony recalled how Bishop Vaughan of Killaloe reminded 3,000 “highly gratified spectators” that patience and perseverance are the most powerful weapons given by God to his Church.
The day concluded with a canoe race and fireworks.
The Little Ark can be seen today in a side room at the Star of the Sea church in Moneen in west Clare. It’s an inspiring relic of a faithful people’s remarkable struggle against adversity.
Fr Tony Cahir, RIP
On the way to west Clare last week I made a sad stop in Birr, one of the Diocese of Killaloe’s most easterly parishes, to bid farewell to the late Fr Tony Cahir, retired parish priest.
Fr Tony and I became friends a number of years ago. And a good friend he was. He kept a close eye on this column and was never slow to lift the phone to give a word of encouragement or constructive advice.
We met for lunch last summer while he was receiving medical treatment in Dublin. We went to a sushi bar, an experience he thoroughly enjoyed.
The crowds that turned out in Birr for his funeral told their own story of gratitude and affection. His friendship will be missed but we still count on the support of the departed in eternity. Ar dheis Dé go raibh sé.
In addition to the Little Ark of Kilbaha, Scattery Island (Inis Cathaigh) is another gem well worth visiting.
Located in the Shannon Estuary, just a 20-minute boat ride from Kilrush, Scattery is the site of St Senan’s 6th-Century monastic settlement and has several ruined churches. There is also a round tower with a doorway at ground level allowing visitors to see the tower from the inside.
Inis Cathaigh is an ancient titular see and Bishop Josef Graf, ordained only last month as auxiliary in Regensburg, Germany, is the current titular bishop. Before that, Bishop Frank Caggiano, former auxiliary in Brooklyn, was titular bishop. He has visited Ireland previously to speak at Youth 2000’s annual retreat and is now Bishop of Bridgeport, Connecticut.