Christine at Gyreum, Sligo , January 8th, 2006

Filling the Spirtual Gap
Christine gives the inaugural Second Sermon at
Gryeum

DISENCHANTED churchgoers are finding alternative ways to fill the spiritual gap on Sunday mornings.

Yesterday, up to 40 searching souls braved the January chill to answer the lure of a very different bell toll near the shores of Lough Arrow.

At the inaugural sermon, Christine Clear, who is currently researching a doctorate on love, captivated her audience for over an hour in a discourse which explored love in all its mystic, erotic and mundane forms and the lively discussion it prompted was continued afterwards over the communal sharing of soup and bread.

Irish Independent report by Anita Guidera, January 9, 2005. (Requires free registration)

Priest: alternative event is not a threat to Church

“Anything that helps to nurture spirituality has to be applauded,” Geevagh Parish Priest, Fr. Laurence Cullen told The Sligo Champion after he attended the inaugural “Second Sunday” event at Corlisheen near Castlebaldwin on Sunday morning.

-Sligo Champion Report on Inaugural Second Sermon.

The inaugural Second Sermon by Christine at Gyreum was also covered by Ryan Tubridy Show, RTÉ :

“You may remember last Friday we spoke to Colum Stapleton who was offering an alternative to the traditional mass, well we sent our reporter Katriona McFadden along and she joined Ryan in studio to tell us about her Sermon Sunday. As an alternative to Sunday mass, the sermons will be held on the 2nd Sunday of each month in a place called The Gryeum outside Geevagh in Sligo.”