In a peaceful Wicklow village, there lies a garden where you can rest, reflect and pray, writes SYLVIA THOMPSON
CATHERINE McCANN describes the Shekina Sculpture Garden as a modern sacred space. Situated in the peaceful Glenmalure valley in Co Wicklow, the garden has a stream, a pond, shrubs and trees and more than 15 modern sculptures that McCann has collected over 20 years.
On specific days throughout the year, she leads groups of people through the garden, offering them a chance to rest, relax, celebrate, reflect on life and pray.
“People need a space to themselves, a place apart where they can experience themselves in a new way. In the past, churches offered this space but nowadays most churches are closed during the day. Now, such a place can be found in a park, looking out an attic window or even at your desk.”
The value of finding this space in a group such as in the Shekina Garden, according to McCann, is that people aren’t alone even when they are silent together. “We need the support of each other in life. You can be autonomous up to a point but it’s when you learn interdependence that you become your better self,” she says.
According to McCann, finding this space apart is particularly valuable for people who are grieving or those who are coping with family difficulties. A former Roman Catholic nun, McCann worked as a physiotherapist for more than 35 years and then became a counsellor with a particular focus on spiritual matters. She is also a writer and her most recent book, New Paths Towards the Sacred – awakening the awe experience in everyday living (Paulist Press), explores how people can get in touch with the sacredness of everyday experience.
When in the garden, McCann encourages visitors to first seek stillness in themselves, then to listen to their inner thoughts (without analysis) and then reach out in awareness and compassion to the person or situation that comes to mind.
“People think that religious or aesthetic experience is way out there somewhere but there is a sense of the sacred deeply embedded in moments of most people’s everyday experiences,” she says.
People who have visited the garden over the years include those celebrating anniversaries and those coping with different types of loss. “I’ve had a confirmation group from an inner-city Dublin school. I’ve had those who’ve just passed exams and I’ve even had one wedding here,” says McCann.
In her book, New Paths Towards the Sacred, McCann draws on the work of Jesuit philosopher-theologian Bernard Lonergan and what are called the four steps towards transcendental experience. These are "be attentive, be intelligent, be reasonable and be responsible".
McCann says that we don’t nurture our need for beauty enough in our ordinary everyday lives and we don’t dwell sufficiently on the joyful experiences in our lives.
“In the garden, I invite people to allow themselves to be invaded and caressed by beauty and its healing, stretching, soothing delightfulness,” she says.
And while McCann’s view of the sacred encompasses beauty and aesthetics, her belief system is firmly rooted in Christianity.
“I think many people in Ireland are deprived of an adult faith education. Their faith is not being nourished or challenged or deepened by the Christian churches or by the media, which, generally speaking, distorts or belittles religion,” she says.
Eric Guiry, former Jesuit priest and former director of Careers Advisory Service at Trinity College Dublin, is someone who has found sustenance in the Shekina garden and McCann’s book.
“Her book in particular inspired me to lift my hands again in prayer and to be glad to experience the sacred outside of the cloisters,” he explains.
Alongside her work in the Shekina Garden and her writing, McCann became a licensed Christian guide to the Holy Land. “I co-led over 40 pilgrimages to the Holy Land. It was a tremendous experience. On these pilgrimages, I saw how people’s eyes were opened by sharing the gospel stories in the places where they happened.”
She also suggests that there is an unnecessary division currently being drawn between the sacred and the secular.
"I was interested to hear Séamus Heaney speak recently about how he valued the backdrop of our Christian heritage. And I was also struck by actor Colin Farrell's discussion with Gay Byrne on RTÉ's new programme The Meaning of Life.
“He said that he couldn’t be an atheist, but he couldn’t find the words to talk about something greater than ourselves.”
“I have a problem with the ‘God’ word too. I’m more interested in the experience of the mystery of life and talking about what motivates and energises us. To live fully, you must ask yourself what you really want out of life,” she says.
According to McCann, the recession will force people to look at their core values. “It is generally accepted that we are in a time of crisis and at these times, people look at the choices they’ve made and where they direct their energies.
“Many people are searching for meaning in their lives and a crisis can be both a time of diminishment and a time of opportunity.”
However, she cautions against a search for spirituality that is too centred on the self. “You need to have a religious tradition behind you. Otherwise, the search can end in a form of emptiness,” she says.
Log on to www.shekinasculpturegarden.com for open days at the Shekina Sculpture Garden in Glenmalure, Co Wicklow