Thursday, December 1, 2011

The Picture from Schull

On a beautiful day, my wife Sharon, daughter Sarah, and brother Jeff were poking around the ruins of the parish church in Schull, County Cork, Ireland.  We were looking for Downey graves in this little seaside town my ancestors emigrated from.  From there they went to New Jersey, then Oil City, Pennsylvania, and on to Corry, Pennsylvania, my hometown.

Not far from the ruins are the two parish buildings in town -- Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland.  We were aware that, at one time, this ruined church just was the parish church of the town -- no Protestants, no Roman Catholics in the Counter Reformation sense (which for me is one among the denominations, as much a child of the Reformation as the others).  No Protestants, no Roman Catholics, just the Church, the local folk of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

And so these crosses, marking graves, some of them my ancestors, point to a time of greater unity in the past, and to a hope of greater unity in the future.  This is what I mean by "poking around the ruins," and what I am always on the lookout for.

1 comment:

  1. I too did some poking around the ruins this summer... and found great hope and resurrection. Thank you, John for a good start and provocative title!

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