50th celebrations at Nano Nagle Birthplace
A celebration will be held in the Nano Nagle Birthplace in Killavullen on Friday of next week to mark the 50th anniversary of the purchase of the site by Sr Anthony Moloney. All are welcome and invited to come and celebrate, with a prayer service at 2pm followed by refreshments and conversation.
Visitors will also have the chance to spend time at the centre, a peaceful location where the public are always invited to drop in and join in their ethos of heritage, of spirituality and of ecology. Speaking with The
Avondhu this week, the director of the centre, Lois Greene, of the Presentation Order, says that when she first visited in 2006 the centre was a little different and was a working farm with cows, sheep and chickens. Today, donkeys still thrive at the Nano Nagle Birthplace and are often visited by those visiting the grounds and enjoying the two-kilometre ‘Cosmic Walk’, but the Nano Nagle Birthplace also serves as a conference centre that hosts retreats and classes and is always open to drop in until 9.30pm at night with spaces both indoors and out to sit, meditate, or simply be.
Sr Greene is from Newfoundland, but one wouldn’t guess it as Ireland and the Canadian province famously shares a similar accent!
“I came with the witches, at Hallowe’en in 2020! And at that time I met a lot of elderly people at the centre, as it was a safe place to walk. I often meet people with a cane in one hand and a dog lead in the other. It’s a nice family place and children enjoy feeding the donkeys”.
The centre is perhaps overlooked locally and Sr Greene notes that sometimes there are more visitors from Australia and New Zealand than there are from Ireland.
Next Friday, or indeed any day, is the ideal opportunity to visit the Killavullen site. The prayer service will be livestreamed for anyone who cannot attend physically and will be made available shortly. For catering purposes, attendees are asked to please contact the secretary 022-26411 or email secretary@nanonaglebirthplace.ie by April 19th.