August 12, 2003
Ar dheis Dé……
Behind the quay at Ross Point, overlooking Broad Haven (on the north Mayo coastline) is a plaque. It marks a old graveyard for unbaptised children (their actual burial spots are marked by flat stones, of which few remain). It’s hard to believe now that stillborn children, or those who died before they were baptised) were denied a Christian burial by the Catholic church. The children were buried here as it it were an act of shame, sometimes at night, with no prayers, no congregation or gestures of support. Only the rhythmic sound of the North Atlantic, washing against the sandy inlet of Broad Haven, hastened their journey to the afterlife. According to the Church, an unbaptised child spent eternity in limbo, which was not quite purgatory, not quite hell, but certainly not heaven; the punishment for not living long enough to be baptised. The relatives left behind suffered their own kind of purgatory.
The Dooncarton stone circle (from pre-Christian times) overlooks the grave and the bay. It represented a culture with very simple beliefs; the rising of the sun and the fall of the tide encompassed the belief system of the circle- builders; just like the tide and the sun, there is a continuous cycle of birth, death and renewal. Perhaps they too considered the stillborn as somehow undead. Perhaps they saw them as merely dead.
GRave for unbaptised children at Ross Point, Broad Haven, Co. Mayo. A couple of flat stones in the foreground mark actual graves. Sruwaddacon Bay, which leads into Broad Haven, is in the background.
The plaque on the grave at least represents some progress – an acknowledgement by the Chrch of life, death and suffering that was previously ignored. But the quote on the plaque is a searing indictment of those who would claim to speak for the author of those words. It speaks of a simple love of children, a love that was too-often forgotten by the Church. The suffering of children at the hands of clerics is well-recorded. Even in Ireland, the full truth is still a distant hill to be climbed. The children in the graveyard died young, and were punished for it. Many other children who lived longer suffered from the misdeeds of clerics, who, for the most part, were protected by the Church. Even as I write this, the Pope has launched yet another moral jihad, this time against gay marriages. You’d think he had resolved all the issues relating to child abuse. But no. I guess his priorities are just different.
Perhaps by the time that the plaque on the grave is as old as the stone circle that overlooks it, such attitudes of the Church towards all its flock will seem as antique as the monuments. Assuming there still is a flock….
Posted by Monasette at August 12, 2003 09:06 AM | TrackBack