Celtic Christianity - March 1996

Celtic Christian Pilgrimages to the British Isles

I write on behalf of Sister Cintra Pemberton of the Order of St. Helena, of the Episcopal Church. Cintra organizes and leads pilgrimages to North Wales, South Wales, Eastern Ireland and Western Ireland. Each pilgrimage is around two weeks long, and includes lectures by some of the top scholars in the field of Celtic Christianity (Esther de Waal, Patrick Thomas, A.M. Allchin, Saunders and Cynthia Davies, etc.) Anyone interested in finding out more about the pilgrimages can write:

Sr. Cintra Pemberton
Pilgrimages to the British Isles
134 East 28th Street
New York, NY 10016-8156

Celtic Conference - Durham July 1996

"Celtic Spirituality & Modern Mission" July 22 to August 3, 1996 - Durham Castle

This conference is designed to provide a two-week or one-week stay and study program--whichever best suits your needs.

Clergy, laity, spouses and families of all denominations in the U.S., Canada, and th U.K. are invited to attend. Speakers will be:

The Lord Bishop of Durham
The Rev. David Adam, Vicar of St. Mary's Church, Lindisfarne
The Bishop of Jarrow
The Dean of Durham Cathedral
Other New Testament Scholars and speakers from the University (covering Aidan, Cuthbert, Bede and the Prince Bishops of Durham).

Visits to historic sites associated with Celtic spirituality. Side trips include Lindisfarne, Jarrow, Monkwearmouth, Hexham, Bede's World, and also tours of Durham Cathedral, Castle and town of Durham.

There will be at least two musical evenings: a candelit meditation in Durham Cathedral, and hopefully, an open air production of Shakespeare's "MacBeth" in the Fellow Garden. A Celtic Communion will be celebrated in the historic 11th century Norma Chapel the final evening.

Participants will be accommodated, and all lectures and discussions, will take place in Durham Castle. The total cost for one or two weeks is all inclusive--i.e., lodging, meals, local transportation, tours and seminars. Round trip air from your city/state is add'l.

Full seminar cost is $1,300, or for one week, $650. Booking for seminar to be made through Mr. P. R. May, Director of Studies, University College, Durham, DH1 3RW, England. My wife, Norma, is the representative for this seminar for those wishing to attend from outside the United Kingdom, and she can provide very competitive air fares:

Contact Norma Blinman, c/o Alpen Travel & Meeting Services, 1908 Ashland St, Suite A, Ashland, OR 97520 U.S.A. Telephone (541) 482-7592.

I hope that this information will be helpful. Any further questions, just let me know. We have brochures available for those desiring one.

As I advised you in the last email message, Norma and I attended this seminar last summer, and I found it to be one of the best conferences I have attended.

Columcille

David Riggle Driggle21@aol.com wrote:

I'd like to share some additional information about an item you posted on the Nov 5, 1995 update of your Celtic Christianity page. One item on the Kirkridge Retreat Center, Bangor, Pennsylvania included this note from mlshatto@redrose.net: "One of the added attractions is the proximity of a small group of lay brothers on adjoining property who have built a stone circle, an eight-sided stone chapel to St. Columba, and a stone bell tower on their land and invite any retreatants from Kirkridge to come meditate asking only that they maintain silence while in the space. The area they call Columcile. I try to arise early and spend early dawn hours at Columcile at least one morning of any retreat time that I have at Kirkridge."

Columcille Inc. is a non-profit organization founded in 1978. It has its origins in the house (Casa Colum, House of the Dove) established by William H. Cohea, Jr. in 1975. William (Bill) Cohea, a Presbyterian Clergyman, had a vision to provide a place open to people of all faiths and traditions seeking to enhance spiritual development.

In partnership with Fred Lindkvist and "Friends of Columcille" the first structure erected was the St. Columba Chapel in honor of the 6th Century Irish Monk Columcille, who founded a community on the island of Iona off the West Coast of Scotland. It is from Iona that Columcille draws its impulse. Following the building of the Chapel the St. Oran Bell Tower was begun, patterned on models of 8th Century Irish Bell Towers still in existence in Ireland today. Then came the ring of stones, and construction of a small freshwater pond. Soon after work began on the Megalith Park which includes Thor's Gate (a trilithon gateway), the Glen of the Temple and several menhirs strategically placed on the land. The Park is still evolving. Separate wooded sites also have been set aside for Women and for Men.

Columcille Inc. is organized primarily to promote and enable those who seek to increase their knowledge and develop their being, to achieve a greater understanding of the purpose and meaning of life and its relationship to God's Universal Plan; by research, study and living together, to develop and implement programs to enable inner and outer development and value clarification; and to work with those developing public and private policies which affect the human condition and its development.

Situated on the Appalachian Mountains in Eastern Pennsylvania, Columcille's unique location and friendly relationship with the Kirkridge Conference Center next door, annually attracts approximately 3,000 visitors to the site for meditation and quiet retreat. Columcille is also open to the public from dawn to dusk.

Projects in process include: The Columcille Calendar: A 14 month calendar of the Celtic year (November 1996 through December 1997),to be made available in June 1996, featuring photographs of the St. Columba Chapel and Park. It is designed to provide an educational guide to Celtic spiritual heritage throughout the year -- eg., earth festivals, solar and lunar cycles, Saints' days, mythology -- as well as the connections between Columcille, Iona and other sacred sites.

For further information, contact Columcille directly at 2155 Fox Gap Road, Bangor, PA 18013. Phone:(610) 588-1174. In addition, my wife, Eugenie and I will be happy to answer e-mail messages.She is Vice President of Columcille's board of directors and can be reached via her WWW home page at: http://www.lehigh.edu/~ek08/ek08.html

The Celtic Christianity Conference

Via the UK Anglican List I heard that chris@biznet.ie had said:

The Celtic Christianity Conference explores early Christian Ireland and the role of Irish Churches and Celtic missionaries on the continent Europe. Leading scholars of Medieval Studies and Church History will contribute to the conference in University College Galway.

See:

http://www.biznet.ie/Celtic-Christianity

Esther de Waal in Atchison, Kansas in August 1996

From URL: http://www.osb.org/osb/new/new.html:

"S. Diana Seago OSB writes that Esther de Waal will be in Atchison, Kansas, 13-19 August 1996, presenting a retreat on the topic of Celtic and Benedictine Spirituality.

"She will reflect on themes such as the all pervading presence of God in the matter of the world, relationships between people, between people and material things, between this world and the next. She will share thoughts about both traditions which hold in common a sacramental sense of creation, a way of seeing the world which holds all things together, speaks to the heart, is closer to poetry and, like poetry, remains ultimately elusive.

"If you are interested in more information please email S. Diana privately and she will be happy to help. dseago@benedictine.edu ."

Culdee College

You might be interested in our new site:

http://www.culdee.org/college/

The Church of the Culdees

The URL is http://www.continet.com/culdee

New Celtic Pages

The URL is: http://www.greensw.com/caedmon/nicm/nicmdoor.html

Billy Bruce billyb@tci.totcon.com , a journalist from DeLand, Florida, USA mentioned that there was a page on Celtic Christianity, and gave me this address:

http://www.maths.nott.ac.uk/personal/mck/bereal.html

The Geology of Iona

I am a second year geology student at Durham University. I will be spending 6 weeks of the summer of this year on the island of Iona as part of my coarse - I have to map it. I don't suppose you know of any contacts out there that may be able to give me some info on the geology of the island.

Any info would be gratefully appreciated.

Interactive museum about life of Saint Colmcille

I was looking for info on St. Colmcille and came across your site and perhaps you may be able to point me in the right direction for info.....

I am doing an MSc in computing and Design in University of Ulster at Magee, and in brief.. for my masters I am going to create an Interactive museum which will deal with the life of Saint Colmcille, (Created using a combination of Macromind director, Quicktime VR and maybe 3D studio for 3D models and visualisations.) I am looking for general information on his life, pictures, places etc, and in particular information on possible virtual items which would be appropiate to an exhibition about him, i.e. a virtual book of kells?... or a recreation of a monastery...

Project Description - The Virtual exhibtion will be based on artefacts, places and history associated with the life of St. Colmcille. (It will be the 1400 anniversary of his death next year and he is one of the three patron saints of Ireland.) With a virtual exhibition the user is able to navigate anywhere and anywhen . This is particularily essential in the case of an exhibition for St. Colmcille as there are a number of artefacts (such as the Book of Kells) and places (monasteries such as Iona) which would be impossible to bring together in a real exhibition (some of them are under lock and key, some no longer exist). The product will allow the user to navigate through a virtual environment and explore different exhibits and information. The product will work as a standalone interactive system for use by the general public (A point of sale type unit with a touchscreen) . The system is intended to be used locally, perhaps as a self contained unit in a museum.

More details can be found at my hompage ..

http://helix.infm.ulst.ac.uk/~brophy

(this will be developed as the project continues) A personal aim is to explore and develop how the proposed system might be implemented and used on the Internet.

Any info, contacts or direction you could give me would be appreciated.