One Hundred Years with the Clonard Redemptorists

Using the Clonard Redemptorists’ own archival material, this book outlines the story of their first one hundred years on the celebrated monastic site in West Belfast. In 1896, the recently appointed bishop of Down and Connor, Dr Henry, invited them to assist in ministering to the large numbers of Catholics pouring into the thriving industrial city of Belfast in search of work. Free from parochial duties, the Redemptorists were able to pursue their primary vocation of preaching the Good News to those most in need. In an age of devotional Catholicism, they successfully developed and nurtured confraternities, novenas and a wide range of popular religious services. The war years of the early 1940s brought two unexpected additions to the Clonard apostolate. The first was the inauguration of a ‘perpetual’ novena in honour of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. The second, was the ‘Mission to non-Catholics’, made possible in part by the easing of sectarian tension produced by the shared danger of war. Clonard’s location on the Falls/Shankill frontier ensured that its religious community experienced sectarian strife at first hand from the earliest years of the foundation of the state. The early 1920s were particularly difficult, but slight in contrast to the major outbreak of violence which began in 1969, following rising tensions over civil rights. As a result, the Clonard area became engulfed by the Troubles and the church apostolate of the monastic community devastated. However, insisting that their ministry was to all, irrespective of political affiliation or creed, the Redemptorists established a compassionate apostolate of mediation and reconciliation which became widely acknowledged and respected.