c. 2005 Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

ROSTREVOR, Northern Ireland _ In the tranquil foothills of the Mourne Mountains south of Belfast, spring’s signs of new life can be seen at every turn _ signs that can belie the deep-seated bitterness of “the Troubles,” as locals call the sectarian strife that has wracked the six counties of Northern Ireland for decades.

“There has been so much pain and suffering,” said Father Mark-Ephrem Nolan, abbot of Holy Cross Benedictine Monastery in the heart of the foothills. “I think it is sometimes very hard for people from outside this country to measure to what extent people’s lives have been deeply, deeply affected by the Troubles.”

Nolan’s modern monastery was dedicated just over a year ago. Its primary mission is to work for peace and reconciliation between warring Protestant and Roman Catholic communities who violently disagree on whether the counties should be part of Catholic Ireland or Protestant Britain. Despite the 1998 Good Friday accords that created a power-sharing agreement, peace is still fragile.

“Quite often, we talk of the two communities in Northern Ireland,” Nolan told the PBS program “Religion & Ethics Newsweekly.” Yet he insisted: “I don’t think we can think of the two communities in Christian terms. Perhaps you have got two political communities.

“There is one Christian community, which is divided within itself. And our call is to be reconciled in Christ Jesus.”

Holy Cross is the first Benedictine monastery established in Northern Ireland since 1183. The monastery is run by Nolan and four other monks who came with him from France in 1998.

They were inspired by a Vatican document that urged monks and nuns to take their contemplative lives of prayer out into corners of the globe where people are divided. Nolan was born in Belfast and felt a call to minister in his conflict-ridden homeland. His French brother-monks shared his vision.

“We hope to live here _ and I think that’s at the heart of the monastic vocation _ a ministry of compassion, to be with people who have suffered, who are suffering, to be a sign of the presence of Christ,” Nolan said.

The monks live by the Rule of St. Benedict, the set of instructions written in the sixth century by the founder of Western monasticism. It’s a life marked by long periods of silence and regular intervals of prayer, Bible study and manual work.

The monks at Holy Cross support themselves by making candles, which are sold around the world. They also practice hospitality, with a guesthouse where people can come for spiritual retreat.

They gather five times daily to pray. People from all denominations in the community are invited to join them. Every day, they pray for national healing, for peace and unity _ and every day, they pray for Catholic and Protestant church leaders by name.

“A psychiatrist came one morning, a Catholic layman,” Nolan recalled. “He said to me, `You have no idea of the bombshell you drop when you name the Presbyterian minister and the elders in the congregation.’ He said, `People just have never heard that before.”’

In addition to the prayers, the monastery sponsors public healing services, where Catholics and Protestants alike talk openly about their stories of pain and loss. It also hosts regular dialogue sessions for local Catholic and Protestant clergy.

The monks’ impact is felt well beyond the community.

One key supporter is former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, who spoke at the monastery’s ecumenical dedication ceremony in January 2004.

“This monastery is a sign of hope that together, we can do something and we can do far more,” Carey said at the time.

The monks have also gained an international following thanks to brisk sales of their CD of Gregorian and Taize chants, titled “Peace Upon You.”

But Nolan believes their biggest impact is in simply trying to live what they preach _ he calls it “truthful living.”

“The fact that we are trying to live interior conversion, reconciliation with our brothers day after day, brothers who we didn’t choose, brothers whose legitimate differences we have to recognize and accept and rejoice in, then that speaks to the churches.”

Here at Holy Cross, Nolan said, the themes of Holy Week and Easter resonate deeply. Above their altar is an icon of Jesus on the cross. The inscription at the top reads, “May all be One,” taken from Jesus’ prayer on the eve of his crucifixion. A constant reminder, Nolan says, that hope can come out of death.

“We are, there’s no doubt, a marked people, a scarred people, a wounded people. But I think, by the power of God’s grace, those wounds can, in fact, become signs of resurrection and new life.”

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At the entrance of the monastery stands a giant version of the traditional Resurrection icon. They have a smaller version inside, as well.

Nolan said he loves the symbolism, which conveys the very core of his faith. It depicts Jesus first trampling underfoot death and the powers of the underworld and then pulling Adam and Eve from the regions of darkness.

The monks placed the icon at the entrance in order to proclaim their belief that the risen Jesus is in their midst.

“That’s what we want to share with those who come to the monastery, that life of the risen Lord, who is the one who brings us forth from darkness and brings us forth from the shadow of death, who gives new hope to people who have suffered and who is there with his message of peace.”

KRE/PH END LAWTON