I once laughed like the biblical Sarah after reading a letter from a Christian woman I had never met. She wrote to tell me about a vivid dream she had experienced, revealing that I would visit the Holy Land. At the time, I was living in a fairly strict convent in Belfast and saw no possibility of such a trip. I wrote back to say that there was zero chance of my going to the Holy Land, but perhaps her dream could be explained. I pointed out that our congregation lived a life of Nazareth in Belfast, one of poverty, chastity and obedience, a life of prayer centred on Jesus. This woman turned out to be a prophet.
I had no idea the impact that this pilgrimage would have on my prayer life – being able to connect more easily with the people and places described in Scripture”
Like Sarah, who became an unlikely mother after being gifted a child, I became an unlikely pilgrim when my convent closed, and I was gifted a trip to the Holy Land in May 2023. And so, with another sister, I visited Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth, where the Virgin Mary heard the message of an archangel: for God, nothing is impossible.
I had no idea the impact that this pilgrimage would have on my prayer life – being able to connect more easily with the people and places described in Scripture. Rosary meditations became much more vivid! Nor did I realise that I was among the last of Irish pilgrims to visit as the simmering conflict between Israel and Palestine exploded a few months later.
Hope
With the Department of Foreign Affairs still advising against travel there, I wondered if it was more in hope than expectation that Pope Leo last week urged Catholics to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2033 to mark the Jubilee Year of Redemption. Will the war ignited by the October 7 massacre and the crushing Israeli reprisals be over by then?
We haven’t been approached by any groups from Ireland, and I don’t know the exact reason for that”
If so, would the Irish choose to return in great numbers?
Damien Kearney, of Aman Cara Travel, based in Co. Antrim, told me it will be at least 2027 before the Irish pilgrimages are up and running again. “We will definitely return to the Holy Land,” he said. “There is an interest with our pilgrims, but it is not feasible. There are too many question marks over what happens in the event of something rupturing again. We would not be comfortable taking that step at the moment.”
He said Aman Cara Travel have received various requests from English Catholics and Anglicans, keen to visit the Holy Land. “We haven’t been approached by any groups from Ireland, and I don’t know the exact reason for that.”
Sympathy
No doubt Irish people do not feel safe travelling to the region, but I wonder if there is another reason: a deep sympathy for the Palestinian cause, coupled with an antipathy towards Israel.
Diplomatic relations between the Irish Government and Israel are particularly strained at the moment and I know of one Irishman who subsequently found he did not get the welcome he was used to.
Aman Cara Travel have adapted to the problems in the Holy Land by offering alternative pilgrimages to other places with links to the bible and the disciples of Jesus”
I long to return to the Holy Land and, and to delight once again at the shores of the Sea of Galilee where the Risen Lord in John 21 invited his disciples to “Come and have breakfast…” My hesitation is more to do with time and money. There’s a Catholic retreat centre at Magdala, on the shores of Galilee, where the chapel altar is a boat. It backs onto a massive window, offering stunning views of the water on which Christ walked. We were warmly welcomed there by Fr Eamon Kelly, of the Legionaries of Christ, who is originally from Co. Clare.
The Holy Land has opened up once again for some. Catholic evangelists Jeff and Emily Cavins in association with famed ‘Bible in a Year’ priest Fr Mike Schmitz have reactivated their pilgrimage for May this year, a trip that was called off last year. Its’ theme is ‘The Activated Disciple’.
Aman Cara Travel have adapted to the problems in the Holy Land by offering alternative pilgrimages to other places with links to the bible and the disciples of Jesus. Aman Cara Travel is among tour operators now offering destinations such as Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and Jordan, among others. “Egypt is proving very popular as an alternative to the Holy Land,” said Mr Kearney.
Pilgrims can trace the flight into Egypt of the Holy Family, walk the footsteps of the early desert fathers and learn about early monasticism.
Other places of interest include Ephesus, where tradition holds John the Apostle took Mary, the Mother of God for safety and built a house, and Tarsus, the city of St Paul.
Hunger
“The hunger for pilgrimage is never diminished,” said Mr Kearney, “and we are struggling to keep up with demand which is excellent. Pilgrims are getting a bit more adventurous and it used to be Lourdes and the Marian shrines that were dominant but now people are looking at a spiritually-led experience to these other places associated with the bible.”
This Easter Aman Cara Travel is taking a rather large group, almost 100 English pilgrims, some with roots in India and the Philippines, from London to Turkey. They will visit Tarsus – which St Paul described as “no mean city” and Arafat, which is associated with Noah’s Ark.
In the meantime, Mr Kearney keeps close tabs on the Christian communities he works with in the Holy Land and looks forward to shaping a pilgrimage there that will support them, particularly in Bethlehem. There, one finds the door of humility, the stone passageway to the place where Christ was born. It offers a great spiritual lesson: to enter and find the place of the Christ Child, one must stoop and bend low.
***
The feast of St Tatiana was celebrated on January 12 – just days after the granddaughter of former Irish-American president John F Kennedy was laid to rest. The funeral of Tatiana Celia Kennedy Schlossberg, a wife and mother aged just 35, was held at the church of St Ignatius Loyola in New York – almost 65 years from the date of her famous grandfather’s inauguration as the first Catholic President. Tatiana was actually named after a Russian-born artist, rather than the saint. A journalist, she wrote a poignant essay in The New Yorker in November about her experience of terminal illness. Eerily, the essay was printed on November 22, the anniversary of John F Kennedy’s assassination.
It’s worth a read. After being diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukaemia shortly after the birth of her second child, she described how memories flooded her mind. “Images come in flashes – people and places and stray conversations – refuse to stop.”
She copied Seamus Heaney’s poems into her notebook, particularly the line from The Cure at Troy: “Believe that a further shore is reachable from here. Believe in miracles, and cures and healing wells.”
Tatiana also recorded the great gift of love she received in the midst of suffering, as family members strived not to show their pain. She recalled how a Jewish doctor did not bat an eyelid when she pulled out a rosary and bottle of holy water, which was blessed by Pope Francis and sent from Rome. “Vaya con Dios,” said the doctor in a moment of grace, “Go with God.”
***
A sharp-witted Catholic friend who sadly lost her husband to cancer in 2025 did not lose her sense of humour. When I suggested she might start a prayer group, she retorted. “I’d rather start a swear group!”
Feeding the hunger for pilgrimage to holy places
I once laughed like the biblical Sarah after reading a letter from a Christian woman I had never met. She wrote to tell me about a vivid dream she had experienced, revealing that I would visit the Holy Land. At the time, I was living in a fairly strict convent in Belfast and saw no possibility of such a trip. I wrote back to say that there was zero chance of my going to the Holy Land, but perhaps her dream could be explained. I pointed out that our congregation lived a life of Nazareth in Belfast, one of poverty, chastity and obedience, a life of prayer centred on Jesus. This woman turned out to be a prophet.
Like Sarah, who became an unlikely mother after being gifted a child, I became an unlikely pilgrim when my convent closed, and I was gifted a trip to the Holy Land in May 2023. And so, with another sister, I visited Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth, where the Virgin Mary heard the message of an archangel: for God, nothing is impossible.
I had no idea the impact that this pilgrimage would have on my prayer life – being able to connect more easily with the people and places described in Scripture. Rosary meditations became much more vivid! Nor did I realise that I was among the last of Irish pilgrims to visit as the simmering conflict between Israel and Palestine exploded a few months later.
Hope
With the Department of Foreign Affairs still advising against travel there, I wondered if it was more in hope than expectation that Pope Leo last week urged Catholics to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2033 to mark the Jubilee Year of Redemption. Will the war ignited by the October 7 massacre and the crushing Israeli reprisals be over by then?
If so, would the Irish choose to return in great numbers?
Damien Kearney, of Aman Cara Travel, based in Co. Antrim, told me it will be at least 2027 before the Irish pilgrimages are up and running again. “We will definitely return to the Holy Land,” he said. “There is an interest with our pilgrims, but it is not feasible. There are too many question marks over what happens in the event of something rupturing again. We would not be comfortable taking that step at the moment.”
He said Aman Cara Travel have received various requests from English Catholics and Anglicans, keen to visit the Holy Land. “We haven’t been approached by any groups from Ireland, and I don’t know the exact reason for that.”
Sympathy
No doubt Irish people do not feel safe travelling to the region, but I wonder if there is another reason: a deep sympathy for the Palestinian cause, coupled with an antipathy towards Israel.
Diplomatic relations between the Irish Government and Israel are particularly strained at the moment and I know of one Irishman who subsequently found he did not get the welcome he was used to.
I long to return to the Holy Land and, and to delight once again at the shores of the Sea of Galilee where the Risen Lord in John 21 invited his disciples to “Come and have breakfast…” My hesitation is more to do with time and money. There’s a Catholic retreat centre at Magdala, on the shores of Galilee, where the chapel altar is a boat. It backs onto a massive window, offering stunning views of the water on which Christ walked. We were warmly welcomed there by Fr Eamon Kelly, of the Legionaries of Christ, who is originally from Co. Clare.
The Holy Land has opened up once again for some. Catholic evangelists Jeff and Emily Cavins in association with famed ‘Bible in a Year’ priest Fr Mike Schmitz have reactivated their pilgrimage for May this year, a trip that was called off last year. Its’ theme is ‘The Activated Disciple’.
Aman Cara Travel have adapted to the problems in the Holy Land by offering alternative pilgrimages to other places with links to the bible and the disciples of Jesus. Aman Cara Travel is among tour operators now offering destinations such as Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and Jordan, among others. “Egypt is proving very popular as an alternative to the Holy Land,” said Mr Kearney.
Pilgrims can trace the flight into Egypt of the Holy Family, walk the footsteps of the early desert fathers and learn about early monasticism.
Other places of interest include Ephesus, where tradition holds John the Apostle took Mary, the Mother of God for safety and built a house, and Tarsus, the city of St Paul.
Hunger
“The hunger for pilgrimage is never diminished,” said Mr Kearney, “and we are struggling to keep up with demand which is excellent. Pilgrims are getting a bit more adventurous and it used to be Lourdes and the Marian shrines that were dominant but now people are looking at a spiritually-led experience to these other places associated with the bible.”
This Easter Aman Cara Travel is taking a rather large group, almost 100 English pilgrims, some with roots in India and the Philippines, from London to Turkey. They will visit Tarsus – which St Paul described as “no mean city” and Arafat, which is associated with Noah’s Ark.
In the meantime, Mr Kearney keeps close tabs on the Christian communities he works with in the Holy Land and looks forward to shaping a pilgrimage there that will support them, particularly in Bethlehem. There, one finds the door of humility, the stone passageway to the place where Christ was born. It offers a great spiritual lesson: to enter and find the place of the Christ Child, one must stoop and bend low.
***
The feast of St Tatiana was celebrated on January 12 – just days after the granddaughter of former Irish-American president John F Kennedy was laid to rest. The funeral of Tatiana Celia Kennedy Schlossberg, a wife and mother aged just 35, was held at the church of St Ignatius Loyola in New York – almost 65 years from the date of her famous grandfather’s inauguration as the first Catholic President. Tatiana was actually named after a Russian-born artist, rather than the saint. A journalist, she wrote a poignant essay in The New Yorker in November about her experience of terminal illness. Eerily, the essay was printed on November 22, the anniversary of John F Kennedy’s assassination.
It’s worth a read. After being diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukaemia shortly after the birth of her second child, she described how memories flooded her mind. “Images come in flashes – people and places and stray conversations – refuse to stop.”
She copied Seamus Heaney’s poems into her notebook, particularly the line from The Cure at Troy: “Believe that a further shore is reachable from here. Believe in miracles, and cures and healing wells.”
Tatiana also recorded the great gift of love she received in the midst of suffering, as family members strived not to show their pain. She recalled how a Jewish doctor did not bat an eyelid when she pulled out a rosary and bottle of holy water, which was blessed by Pope Francis and sent from Rome. “Vaya con Dios,” said the doctor in a moment of grace, “Go with God.”
***
A sharp-witted Catholic friend who sadly lost her husband to cancer in 2025 did not lose her sense of humour. When I suggested she might start a prayer group, she retorted. “I’d rather start a swear group!”
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