An Tairseach, Dominican Organic Farm and Ecology Centre: invitation to wonder, astonishment, celebration, gratitude and praise

How was the project born and what was the idea behind it?

In 1992 at a General Chapter of the Cabra Dominican Sisters (with representatives from Ireland, South Africa, New Orleans, Portugal and Latin America) the crisis of our Planet Earth was studied and we recognised:

“The Universe is the primary revelation of the Divine. A growing understanding of the new cosmology enables us to perceive the earth as a web of life and continues to shape and transform our theology of creation. As human beings we are the reflective consciousness of the earth. As Dominican women, preachers of the truth, we recognise the ever-increasing crisis in the planet earth whereby all life, including human life, is being rapidly destroyed. As vowed women we are in a special position to support and advance the call to protect the Earth by being counter-witnesses to greed, domination and destruction. We call one another to the urgent task of helping to save the life of the planet.” Chapter Acts: 13. 1992

It was from this challenge that the decision not to sell our land in Wicklow was made and the study and research began to create a place where a new understanding of the Earth could be explored.

Much thought, reflection and exploration  went into dreaming and planning about this undertaking  which eventually provided the project with three objectives:- an organic farm and shop; a conservation area and an education centre. In time, the name for this important ministry emerged and it became known as ‘An Tairseach’ an Irish word which means ‘The Threshold’. As Thomas Berry maintained we are in-between stories, the old story where humans have dominion/ dominated all of creation is no longer sustainable however, we have not yet learned the new story, of how to live our vocation within the community of life. The place of Threshold is an in-between space e.g.  the on-going dialogue of contemporary sciences (Big-Bang) and religion’s biblical accounts of Creation.

How do you think the project responds to the charism and call of Dominican Sisters today?

One clear understanding from contemporary sciences is that ‘We are one’- we are all interconnected – and so you might say we are called to confront as St. Dominic did the falsity of dualism, the thirteenth century heresy the Order was founded to combat, in order to reclaim the ancient truth that all is one, and that all of creation is good. I imagine, if St. Dominic were alive today, he would without doubt be calling on his followers, both women and men, to become fully alive to the insights of modern science and to reflect on them in their search for truth-Veritas. Contemplari et contemplara aliis tradere to contemplate the insights of evolutionary consciousness and share, pray, teach from such consciousness, so that our actions for Justice Peace Integrity of Creation/ right relationships might be evident as an integral part of our understanding of who God is, how God acts and how we must be as promoters of the evolution of life into love.

What does the theme of 2024 Season of Creation “To hope and act with Creation” mean to you?

It means that we continue to understand that we are not apart from nature, rather we share kinship with all of creation and that as a species we are embedded within the whole community of life (Ps 104). Such consciousness of relatedness requires actions that sustain this worldview while simultaneously working to deconstruct those worldviews, policies and practices that do not. As Sr Alene Flaherty (Blauvelt OP) observed in a recent retreat here in An Tairseach ‘Kinship requires the disavowal of the worldview, attitudes and beliefs that create separation, prejudice, and the dynamics of subordination and domination that linger in our lives and world today’.

How do you think hoping and acting with Creation can be implemented in our daily lives – on a personal and congregational level?

Continue with hope on our pilgrimage towards ecological conversion. Continue to reflect on our deepening reverence for each other and our desecration of planet earth. Through prayer, study, education and reflection continue to invite people to meaningful rituals that embody the insights and convictions that lead to transformed behaviour. There are many pathways into prayer, but cultivating silence, listening, attending to experience and the natural world all around us, are pathways where we encounter the One who is always becoming in us, and around us, in new ways.

In the book of Genesis, God tells Adam to ‘pay attention’ and name the creatures before him, attention is the beginning of devotion. Thomas Berry maintained that ‘The Great Work’ before humankind is to appreciate rather than exploit the world around us. When we pay attention, contemplate, hope and act with Creation we understand better our place within the whole community of life. Practice taking small steps to regain wonder, appreciation and respect for all of creation. Then we might manifest a presence on the planet characterised by mutuality and reciprocity within the whole community of life on Earth – hoping and acting with Creation.

In her widely read book Active Hope, environmental activist Joanna Macy asked the question ‘What is ours to do?’ She holds out the possibility of a shared human collective transition, or ‘Great Turning’ to a life-sustaining society. The mission of An Tairseach endeavours to invite wonder, astonishment, celebration, gratitude and praise; to promote healthy organic/ sustainable eating habits and to bless the conservation of the land; to delight and enjoy walking amongst the trees and to ‘behold the lilies in their splendour’. Indeed, to continue Laudare, Benedicere, Praedicare the God of Creation.