And Now, Four Years Later....

Two weeks from now, my wife Michele and I will be heading back to a land we knew so well: the green fields of Ireland.  Four years ago, in the summer of 2021, it was time to start another chapter – close the book on so many memorable years with the University of Notre Dame, choose a new community in the United States, and make the journey westward across the Atlantic.  

Five years earlier, in 2016, we likewise closed another chapter: more than thirty-five years on the campus of Our Lady. But that time, we were headed eastward: we had sold most of our earthly goods in order to accept the University's invitation to move to Dublin.

One of the great theologians on our campus, the late John Dunne, c.s.c., gave a lecture years ago on the meaning of Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken.  Father Dunne's point was that, in contrast to the poem's message (that perhaps roads will never join up again), mysticism teaches that oftentimes the roads do converge, leading us back once again to places that still live on in our heart.

Dublin's Newman University Church does, indeed, live on in our hearts, as do the people whose nuptials we'll be witnessing.  Dominique Cunningham, who took over my position as Associate Director of Music and Liturgy, and Katherine Dunn, who is in Director of Information Technology and Communication (both of whom are doing outstanding jobs!) will be married a month apart at the beloved church that we called home for five years.  

Paths will converge again.  Voices joined in song will be raised again.  Stories of endurance through a global pandemic, a journey to Rome (John Henry Newman was canonized while we were there), and musical and liturgical moments through the years will be flowing like wedding wine.  

When we concluded our chapter in Ireland in 2021, the pandemic was still a reality in Ireland.  Churches were just barely beginning to host people for public prayer again.  But saying good-bye to many of our friends, particularly those in places like Connemara, Kylemore Abbey, Galway, and Kilkenny – all of these had to be saved for a later day.  And soon, that day will be upon us!  Part of this blog will be devoted to a travelogue of our journey back to Ireland, reconnecting with friends – some of whom we've known since 1987.  

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.  And yes, we took the one less traveled by.  But roads (and friendships) do converge again.  Hands and hearts and voices rejoin, just a bit around the bend....