John O Donohue (1956-2008): a Mystic for Our Times

July 19, 2008 1

John O Donohue (1956-2008): A Mystic for our Times

Katharine Lochnan

John O Donohue’s books of “philosophical spirituality”, Anam Cara (1997), Eternal Echoes (1998), and Benedictus (2007) form a natural trilogy. By wedding his luminous imagery to his poetic prose he was able to make the abstract concrete.

In Anam Cara, an international best-seller, John focused on the benefits of having a soul friend. This beautiful Celtic concept is realised when an ancient affinity and belonging is awakened between two people. He wrote: “With the anam cara you discovered the Other in whom your heart could be at home and with whom you could share your innermost self, your mind and your heart.” He went on to say that “in everyone’s life there is a great need for an anam cara, a soul friend. In this love, you are understood as you are without mask or pretension.”1 This relationship cuts across all other connections and constitutes a bond that neither space nor time can damage.

In Eternal Echoes he spoke about how our longing may be sheltered through belonging: “As memory gathers and anchors time, so does belonging shelter longing. Belonging without longing would be empty and dead, a cold frame around emptiness. The arduous task of being human is to balance longing and belonging to work with and against each other – so that all the possibilities that sleep in the clay of the heart may be awakened and realized”2.

In Benedictus he talked about the power of blessings to give us the courage to leave one phase of our lives for a deeper, richer existence: “wherever one person takes another into the care of their heart, they have the power to bless.” Blessings create a “a sheltering wall of rest and peace” 3 around the recipient, and help to provide them with the strength and support needed to facilitate their “journey of transformation”.4

He described our lives as a series of thresholds: “At any time you can ask yourself at which threshold am I now standing? At this time in my life, what am I leaving? Where am I about to enter? What is preventing me from crossing my next threshold? What gift would enable me to do it?… It is wise in your own life to recognize and acknowledge the key thresholds: to take your time, to feel all the varieties of presence that accrue there, to listen inwards with complete attention until you hear the inner voice calling you forward. The time has come to cross.” 5

The morning after finishing Benedictus I received the shocking news that John had died on January 3. His earthly work completed, this mystic who had his feet so firmly planted in both worlds, slipped into the thin space between them.

1 John O Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom New York: Harper Perennial, 2004 ed.,13-14 2 John O Donohue, Eternal Echoes : Exploring our Hunger to Belong , London: Bantam, 1998, xx. 3 John O Donohue, Benedictus: A Book of Blessings, London: Bantam, 2007,214 4 O Donohue, Benedictus, 217-218. 5 John O Donohue, Benedictus, 2007, 65. July 19, 2008 2

John was born on Jan. 1, 1956, on the tiny road that climbs through the boulder-strewn Caher valley, above the village of Fanore, in the townland of Fermoyle, with views over the Atlantic Ocean. While tending cattle on the family farm, the Burren landscape,6 “a major magical kind of a place” 7 became part of him. He was acutely aware of the Celtic spirituality encoded in the “strange primal meeting of the infinity of the Atlantic Ocean and…stone” and fascinated to learn that rock encapsulates the memory of the earth’s formation These insights fuelled his interrelated vocations as philosopher, priest and poet.

They also inspired his love of history. His close friend Patsy Carrucan of Fanore recalls how, during school breaks in Galway, John would sit down on a rock and say “let’s talk about olden times!” Patsy, who preferred to play football, returned to run the family farm. John, who loved books, went on to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Tübingen and write a scholarly tome on the German philosopher, Hegel.

Ordained a priest, he was assigned a west of Ireland parish on Galway Bay, but would say mass in Fanore whenever the parish priest was on holiday. His sermons were unforgettable: he barely paused for breath, and his vivid imagery combined with his poetic language held parishioners spellbound. Everyone knew that when Mass got out late in Fanore, John had been the celebrant!

He loved being a priest, especially being “inside the Eucharist” and ministering to the sick and dying. He had no use for the “external trappings of priesthood” and pushed for change within the Catholic Church. A disapproving bishop forced his resignation, the most painful decision of his life. Although he stopped practicing, John always saw himself as a priest and continued to “pray away”.8

He inaugurated a pre-dawn Mass on Easter Sunday in the ruins of Corcomroe Abbey on the Burren. In 1999 this was accompanied by the first performance of the local Lismorahaun choir of which John was a great supporter. People flocked from far and wide to participate in this unforgettable spiritual experience.

When the Irish government decided to build an interpretive centre at Mullaghmore, the most beautiful geological formation on the Burren, John and his Burren allies took to the hustings. With hands held high, he denounced the proposal with passion and conviction from the back of a truck and took this fight to the parliament in Brussels. The hard won victory changed Irish law. John was named Clare Person of the Year in 1999.

Although he moved to a house overlooking a lake in Conamara (sic) and organized inspirational seminars in Ireland, Britain and America, John never lost touch with the Fanore community. You knew that he was in O Donohue’s pub as soon as you opened the door because he filled the space with his hearty, infectious laughter which drew

6 see “The Burren – An Antidote for Displacement”, TIN, December, 2007, 30-32. 7 John O Donohue, Clare Man of the Year, 1999. 8 John O Donohue Interview. Tapestry. CBC Radio One, 2008. July 19, 2008 3 people to him. At ease with everyone, regardless of their walk of life, he was known and loved by all.

John died in his sleep during a holiday in France with the woman he loved. The “Death Notice” for “Fr. John” posted by the Ballyvaughan/Fanore Parish described him as a “Philosopher, Theologian, Spiritualist, Lecturer, Author, Poet, Environmentalist, Carer of the Earth, Burren Man, Clareman, Family Man, Priest, Gifted.”

His interment at a wet and windy Fanore on January 23 was followed by a Memorial Mass at Galway Cathedral on February 2. The celebrant, Fr. Martin Downey, dwelt on the importance of memory, friends spoke of his humour and humanity, while music was provided by the Players from Corcomroe Dawn Mass and the Lismorahaun Singers.

His grave, now blanketed in flowers, is marked by a simple driftwood headstone bearing a stone cross, water font and one of his poems. From it you can look up towards the Burren or out towards the Atlantic where the breakers roll past the Aran Islands and pound the rocky ledges and sandy beach of Fanore. There is about his final resting place a profound sense of peace.

I would like to thank the following who contributed in many ways to this article: Rosemary Gosselin, Thornbury, Ontario; Fr. Cormac Breathnac, Cork; Patsy and Anne Carrucan, Fanore; Prof. Martin Feely, NUI Galway; Ré Ó Laighléis, Loch Rasc and Mort and Theresa O Loughlin, Glenfort. A very special thanks is due to Edward O Loghlen of Loch Rasc.