Creative thinking by a priest after the Famine helped keep the Catholic faith alive in west Clare.
The church of Our Lady Star of the Sea in Kilbaha west Clare houses a unique historical artefact. What looks like a dilapidated toolshed is in fact a tiny portable chapel, used by Catholics here in the 1850s when their religion was suppressed by local landlords.
Father Michael Meehan arrived in the parish in 1849 to a community struggling in the aftermath of the Famine and in need of pastoral care. Catholic Emancipation had been granted two decades earlier, but he was prevented from finding a dedicated place to celebrate Mass in the area by the local landlord's agents.
He set up a makeshift altar on the foreshore of Kilbaha beach as it was,
One place in all the area where the landlords had no power.
Unfortunately the weather proved to be so inclement that this did not work either. He asked a local carpenter to build him a hut on wheels with windows. This little ark, as it came to be known, housed a small altar and was pulled down to the shoreline by a donkey for Sunday Mass.
The story of the ark at Kilbaha spread and attracted many visitors. It also drew much attention to the landlord’s bigotry, and pressure was put on him to permit his Catholic tenants to practice their religion freely. In 1857 the foundation stone for the church of Our Lady Star of the Sea was laid, and when construction was complete,
The little ark was given an honourable resting place.
A stained glass window over the main entrance to the church commemorates the Little Ark of Kilbaha.
This report for 'Radharc’ was broadcast on 19 December 1963. The reporter is Fr Peter Lemass.
'Radharc', a series specialising in religious programming, was produced for RTÉ by Radharc, an independent production company run by Catholic priests and lay staff.
'Radharc' can be translated to English as 'view'. Founding director Fr. Joseph Dunn put together a team of priests, some of whom had received training in television production in London and New York in the late 1950s.
The 'Radharc' team made their first production in 1960 in Donegal, a short film about customs relating to St Brigid's Day. The first programme in the 'Radharc' series for RTE was broadcast on 12 January 1962.
Between 1961 and 1996 the Radharc team would produce over 400 hundred films from Ireland and around the world. The films often dealt with issues relating to peace and justice both at home and abroad.
The popular religious affairs series ended production in 1996 after the death of Fr Joseph Dunn.
