I asked someone to show me this grave. It’s in the cemetery adjacent to Urlaur Abbey and is the grave of Pat McNamara who was once a teacher in nearby Tavrane National School. I haven’t studied the headstone in detail but the name McNamara is there in large lettering. I’m not sure there is any more detail on it. I must have a closer look.
Pat McNamara is someone I’ve spoken about many times over the years. I regard him as an “evangelist” – the teller and recorder of a sacred story. Approached by a local man, he was asked to write letters to an emigrant son. The letter writing spanned some thirty years and I’m not sure if Pat wrote all the letters but certainly he was there for their “genesis”. “Your good friend, the school master, Pat McNamara is so good as to write these words down” …….
We depend so much on the Pat McNamara(s) of life to record important detail and to help keep people in touch. To them and for them we must remain grateful.
I know this song is elsewhere on the blog but maybe you might like to listen to it again and, while doing so, say a prayer with us at the (virtual) graveside of Pat McNamara and recall, alongside him, a loving father and an emigrant son and the ongoing call to family life, togetherness and contact ……
KILKELLY IRELAND
[youtube=http://youtu.be/N76kAivCb20?rel=0]