Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

PROFILE JOE COLEMAN:THE ROOM is small, cosy, comfortably cluttered, with a sweet fragrance. Two chairs are on either side of a low table on which there is a large, lit pink-coloured candle. Its base is surrounded by stones, some crystal-like. Joe Coleman lights a joss stick, carefully extinguishes the flame and places it near the candle as it adds to the sweetness of the air.

The walls of the room are adorned with images of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. There is a statue of Our Lady of Knock on a small table in one corner. On it he has placed a kerchief which he says has been blessed by Our Lady for a woman whose elderly father has taken a fall. A calendar beside it commemorates a visit to Medjugorje last year. He points to himself and Keith Henderson among the pilgrims in a photo.