Irealand Pilgrimage - 30 Oct 2015

In the spring, as we were getting ready to go to Italy with Fr Vince, Gary Foster of Pentecost Tours called and suggested I take a look at the itinerary he'd prepared for Bishop Don Hying of the Gary diocese. Bishop Hying had been a priest in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and was ordained  as an auxiliary bishop for Milwaukee. Gary had provided tour services for Bishop Hying for many years and we made the decision to go.  We drove to Chicago and parked in a nearby Hilton for on $7.50/day! We boarded the Aer Lingus flight and were airborne at just after 5 PM on Thursday Oct 29.


 

We arrived in Dublin at 5 AM!!!  They had just gone off daylight savings but Chicago had another week to go! The special thrill you get when your bags show up!

We boarded our two motor coaches (65 pilgrims total) and headed north, crossing over into Northern Ireland to a little village called Downpatrick (from old Irish Dun Padraig meaning Patrick's Fortress)

Downpatrick

We drove to St Patrick's (Anglican) Cathedral at the top of the highest hill.

We were warmly greeted by Rev. Henry Hill, Dean of Downpatrick. He explained a little about the history of St Patrick and the cathedral

The church is very beautiful and has recently undergone  a modernization and renovation.

The old pew boxes remain however . . .

. . . and provide protection from the cold and the ability to watch the children closely!

This window tells the story of Patrick as a youth arriving in Ireland and as a Bishop leading the faithful

Other windows told traditional gospel stories - here the women at the empty tomb

As you might expect, there is a graveyard associated with the cathedral . . .

. . . but the most significant grave is that of St Patrick

The floor of the cathedral had several inlays that were quite beautiful

We drove to the lower level to the St Patrick Center

We enjoyed a pseudo- 3D video presentation retracing the life and locations associated with St Patrick

Following the flm, Dr Tim Campbell spoke about the life of the great saint

In the upper level of the center there are a number of very nice exhibits such as this miniature of one of Patrick's churches

We wandered the garden and found many interesting exhibits including this example of a communication device using "dots" and "dashes" carved into stone!

Our driver Moriss with Theresa

We then drove a few miles out of town to the small church of St Malachy, former bishop of Armagh. He is credited with preserving the faith during the years of invasion by the Vikings

Bob was privileged to be lector at that first mass

Bishop Hying con-celebrated with one of the two priests along from Milwaukee

This side altar reveals some of the beauty of this small church

We then headed for Belfast. Along the way, we noticed herds of sheep - the first of many, many sheep!

We arrived in Belfast and checked into our hotel. Then we did a bit of a walkabout including walking around City Hall.

Queen Victoria in front of City Hall

A memorial to the victims of the Titanic catastrophe

A  monument to the dead from WW-I & WW-II

The Opera House (red brick in foreground) sits just next to the Europa Hotel (large gray in background). President Clinton stayed here when he visited

We were tickled to find a rubber ducky in our bathroom. Turns out this is a Continental Hotel thing

We hit the sack at just after 9 PM, following a very nice dinner in the hotel dining room. Usually tours provide a three course meal - one size fits all. But here we were given a menu with several choices for each course!

Tomorrow Armagh and then the Titanic Experience!