Clonard Monastery

Coordinates: 54°36′00″N 5°57′22″W / 54.600°N 5.956°W / 54.600; -5.956

Clonard Monastery

Clonard Monastery is a Roman Catholic church and monastery, located off the Falls Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

The complex was developed by the Catholic Redemptorists religious order. Members of this religious order came to Belfast originally in 1896. They initially built a small tin church in the grounds of Clonard House in 1897. In 1890 a monastery was opened in these grounds and in 1911 the Church of the Holy Redeemer opened in the grounds and replaced the tin church.

Clonard is also used as a music venue for many festivals in the city, most notably Féile an Phobail and holds an annual Novena which attracts over 100,000 tourists, Catholic and Protestant, from Ireland and Europe every year.[1]

In 1981 members of the Redemptorist community at Clonard established links with Fitzroy Presbyterian Church nr Queen's University, Belfast in the south of the city and the monastery became a centre for peacemaking and reconciliation. [2] Secret conversations between John Hume and Gerry Adams were held in rooms in the complex while wider, interfaith conversations helped contribute to the 1994 IRA ceasefire.

The Northern Ireland peacemaker Father Alec Reid lived here.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Hi-tech moves for annual novena". BBC News. 2006-06-14. Retrieved 2009-03-30.
  2. ↑ https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Xzz2DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA132&dq=%22Clonard+Monastery%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwius5ii7sHaAhVMIMAKHWjHDmgQ6AEINDAC#v=onepage&q=%22Clonard%20Monastery%22&f=false
  3. ↑ "Father Alec Reid - Obituary". Daily Telegraph. 22 Nov 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
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