John scales dizzy heights as Guardian of the Reek
A MAN who scales the height of Everest many times every year to keep a tiny, wind-battered church in shipshape order was eulogised by pilgrims and clergy today (Sunday).
For his services on Croagh Patrick, Ireland's holy mountain, John Commins has been handed the honorary title Guardian of the Reek.
As up to 5,000 persons participated in the annual national pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick, Fr. Charlie McDonnell, parish priest of Westport, took time out to praise Mr. Commins on the occasion of his 50th year looking after the tiny oratory on the summit.
In summer John makes the summit up to five times a week cleaning, repairing, painting and otherwise maintaining the mountaintop oratory.
He spent Saturday night on the summit along with his daughter, Mary Patricia, to ensure that everything went smoothly for today's Masses.
“John is very much a man of the mountain. He probably gets to the top about 500 times a year. He was even married in the chapel in 1984,” explained Fr. Charlie.
The Bishop of Killaloe, Dr. Fintan Monahan, celebrated the 9 a.m Mass while the Archbishop of Tuam, Dr. Michael Neary, celebrated Mass at 11 a.m.
In his homily, Dr. Neary told his congregation: “The rugged, jagged edges of the slopes of Croagh Patrick challenge and question us.
“We are very conscious of the slow, silent decline of faith in Ireland. Many feel they are strangers in a strange land.
“Pilgrimages provide an opportunity to take stock but also a time to discover new heart.”
Some climbed the mountain barefoot although not as many as in previous years.
Despite favourable conditions underfoot, there were a number of injuries caused by pilgrims falling.
By 5 p.m. on Sunday, two pilgrims had been airlifted by helicopter to hospital – one to Galway and the other to Mayo University Hospital, Castlebar.
Theere was spate of minor injuries dealt with by the Order of Malta, Mayo Mountain Rescue and Civil Defence units.
Up to 50 residents of the Murrisk and Lecanvey area staged a peaceful, silent protest to highlight the fact their local water supply – which is sourced from a stream on Croagh Patrick – is unfit for human consumption.
It was probably the first ever public protest staged on national pilgrimage day in the long religious history of the mountain.
“We are in no way disrupting the pilgrimage,” Raoul Downey, one of the protest leaders, asserted.
Up to 500 homes along the southern shoreline of Clew Bay do not have the benefit of a mains water supply. They depend instead on water from a mountain stream which is unfit for consumption.
The solution, according to activists, is to extend the Lough Mask Water Supply from Westport to Louisburgh but so far there is no positive sign of this happening.
* Pictured is the Archbishop of Tuam, Dr. Michael Neary, congratulating John Cummins, Guardian of the Reek, during his 50th year assisting at the summit of Croagh Patrick for Reek Sunday.
Photo: Conor McKeown