The Irish Mennonites Reunion at Penn Valley Retreat

Two weeks ago, I attended a reunion unlike any I’ve ever been to: the first-ever reunion of all the people who have been part of the Dunmore East Amish-Mennonite Church or Comeragh Wilderness Academy in Ireland.

I volunteered as a cook at Comeragh Wilderness Academy (called a “camp” back then) from September 2012 to September 2014. I returned twice to attend friends’ weddings, both in 2015, I think, but a decade has now passed since I’ve been in Europe.

Last December, an invitation came: Ireland Reunion in March at Penn Valley Retreat, which is only about two hours from my home.

Of course, I couldn’t stay away.

Looking back now, sometimes I can’t believe the two years I spent in Ireland really happened. But I’m glad they did.

My friend and coworker, Amy, who spent a year volunteering at Dunmore East’s bakery, wanted to go the reunion too, so we went together.

Penn Valley Retreat is like a huge conference center, with lodging and meals. I heard that 175 people attended the reunion, but people kept coming and going all weekend, so it was hard to tell.

Amy and I stayed all weekend, from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon.

Most of the people attending were Americans, of course, with a few Europeans, mostly youth.

The weekend was well planned, with programs spread throughout the weekend. At each session, a speaker would show pictures and talk about a different era of the mission.

The history behind the Irish Mennonite community, or as the Irish called us “the Amish”, had always been mysterious to me. Now, after listening to the speakers describe the early years, I’m still not certain how everything happened, but we did hear some interesting stories.

In the 1980s, some hippie Irish Christians contacted American Mennonites and tried to convince them to come to Ireland to start a community. Several Mennonites moved to Ireland, but they were on their own, not part of an organized outreach group.

In about 1992, a young couple named Steve and Rosa were sent to Ireland by a now-defunct mission board. The mission board couldn’t offer any financial support. Rosa would take care of their home and children, Steve would get a job and preach on Sundays. Steve and Rosa were to be “tentmaking missionaries, not missionaries on the dole.”

This was a fine ideal, but overlooked the fact that Steve didn’t have a permit to hold a job in Ireland. To make ends meet, they begin to make furniture and baked goods to sell, even if they didn’t have a permit to do that either.

Every Sunday, Steve would preach a sermon to a tiny congregation that included agnostics and one brilliant elderly American Jewish woman, called “Pippa”, who had somehow come in to live in Ireland and loved to poke holes in Steve’s sermons.

After three years of scraping by on their earnings from the black market and facing spiritual reckonings, Steve and Rosa realized the time had come to return home.

Over the next thirty years, dozens of American Mennonites come to Ireland. A formal mission board was established, one that exists to this day. A church was built. Work permits, then citizenships were acquired.

Pippa became a Christian, and American Mennonites would be the ones who took care of her in her old age.

Most of the people at the retreat were like me, volunteers who stayed in Ireland a year or two, then moved back home. We gave our time to the work that had to be done, and at the same time, were given the benefits of experiencing another culture. When I lived in Ireland, I realized many of the perks I had at home like a large youth group and Christian workplaces didn’t exist for many Christians my age in Europe.

A few families made Ireland their home, in hopes of establishing a permanent community. While the church has never had a large number of Irish members, Dunmore East has connected American Mennonites and similar Anabaptists in Europe, such as the large communities in Germany. Once a year, the church hosts a large family conference, where Christian families that may feel isolated can connect with others who hold similar beliefs.

One of the best parts of the retreat was reconnecting with people who had served at the same time as I had, and learning what’s happening in their lives. Naomi is nearly finished with a degree in accounting. Edith got married a month ago. Duane owns his own home improvement business in Ireland. Regina serves as a ministry worker in the Middle East.

Talking to youth that I last knew as preschoolers was especially cool. Everyone else just looked older, but the kids had completely morphed, and it was rather fascinating. Of course, I’ve watched my nieces and nephews grow up, but I see them every few weeks or months, so the change isn’t as startling.

Here’s a few pics of Ireland from my time there.

If you want to read more about my time in Ireland, here are several blogs I wrote about it some time ago.

Here’s the classical Irish blessings: “May the road rise to meet you, May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields and until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.”