1st February 2024
Following Cllr Quinn’s motion at the full Kildare County Council meeting earlier this week, staff and members of the local authority will be invited to observe a ‘Pause for Peace’ at 12 noon today, Thursday 1st February, St Brigid’s Day.
The Pause for Peace movement invites people from around the world to pause whatever they’re doing for one minute’s silence or reflection on the saint’s feast day. Sister Rita Minehan, a Brigidine Sister and founder of the Solas Bhríde Centre on the Curragh, said “By pausing for peace, we send out a message that we actively oppose warfare and the proliferation of arms, which wreak havoc on human beings as well as on the natural world. This movement aims to awaken and build a spirit of global solidarity in our search for peace. It would be a fitting tribute to Saint Brigid and to all our ancestors if it were marked with a Pause for Peace on her feast day, February 1st each year.”
“People may think that a bunch of lowly elected representatives calling for an end to a massive conflict is a complete waste of time,” said Cllr Quinn, “But peace begins with the individual and has the power to build to a community and even a global movement, like Pause for Peace, so let’s build on that again and use our explicit opposition to warfare and the proliferation of arms to call for an end to hostilities between Palestine and Gaza so that peace talks can take place.”
“As we celebrate Brigid 1500 on the anniversary of Brigid’s death in 524,” said Cllr Quinn after the meeting, “it seems opportune that we take peace seriously and call for a ceasefire. Brigid was renowned as a woman of peace. She gave away her father’s valuable jewelled sword to a poor man so he could barter it for food for his family. She transformed the weapon into a ploughshare, if you will.”
Separately, Cllr Quinn has proposed that representatives from Solas Bhríde address the next full council meeting to inform a discussion on maximising the spiritual tourism opportunities in the county.
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