In a year when many Irish and international visitors are prevented from travelling, the Benedictine nuns of Kylemore Abbey extend an invitation to people of all faiths and none to join them for religious and spiritual services via the recently installed church webcam at the world famous Connemara Abbey.

 

Available at www.churchservices.tv/kylemore and www.kylemoreabbey.com/monastic-church-webcam Mass will be livestreamed daily from 12.10 p.m. and on Sundays at 11.30 a.m. Vespers will be sung (in Latin) on Sundays and solemn feast days at 6.00 p.m.  A special Mass will be celebrated on 8 December 2020 for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the titular feast of Kylemore Abbey.  

 

Kylemore Abbey has a global reputation as place of hospitality, based on the essential role of hospitality given to the monastic community in the Rule of St. Benedict.  

 

Kylemore’s nuns now welcome locals and visitors from across the globe to join them for daily religious services.  At a time when Covid-19 restrictions prevent many from attending Mass in person, the webcam will enable a wide audience to join the nuns in Kylemore for prayer.  

 

While this will be of interest to many in Ireland and abroad who have visited Kylemore as tourists, it is expected the webcam will be of particular interest to alumnae of the former Girls’ Boarding and Day School, which closed in 2010 and has over 2,500 alumnae in Ireland and across the globe.  Earlier this year a major Kylemore Abbey School reunion planned for 600 past pupils had to be postponed due to Covid-19.

 

Although currently closed due to public health restrictions, Kylemore welcomed over 560,000 visitors in 2019 and significantly increased numbers of Irish visitors this year. The Kylemore Abbey Monastic Church webcam is likely to attract many of those visitors who seek to participate in daily Mass and religious services from the beautiful setting of Kylemore Abbey and estate.

 

Inviting all to join the Benedictine community for religious services, Kylemore Abbess, Sr. Máire Hickey OSB said: “The tradition of Benedictine hospitality is at the heart of Kylemore Abbey.  From our earliest origins as a community we have always been globally connected – and from our home in Connemara we continue to draw visitors, pilgrims and students to experience the tranquillity, peace and beauty of Kylemore.  With our Monastic Church webcam we can reach out in a new way to the world, welcoming all who wish to join us as we pray.”

 

The Benedictine community of Kylemore Abbey, led by Sr. Máire Hickey OSB, consists of 12 Benedictine nuns and several monastic visitors from across the international Benedictine family.  Kylemore’s resident chaplain, Fr. George Vakkachan Punnathanath OSB (of Jeevan Jyoti Ashram, Shivpuri, Andhra Pradesh, India) will celebrate Mass daily with the community.

 

The Kylemore Abbey Monastic Church webcam is available at www.churchservices.tv/kylemore and www.kylemoreabbey.com/monastic-church-webcam.   Mass is livestreamed daily from 12.10 p.m. and on Sundays at 11.30 a.m.