Retreat Day 2 (Douglas)

Today, we went to many places. First, we headed to the Boston College Office in Dublin, Ireland for the 2nd time and for our 2nd retreat day. We were talking about peace, its meaning, how to achieve it, and the political similarities between Ireland/Northern Ireland, and the USA. We also reflected upon the soup run retreat and the talk from a Jesuit Refugee Service member. I learned and had many takeaways from the group conversation. One takeaway and a new thing that I learned was the relationship between social services and peace. According to the reading, when social services are not established and not equity or equally given out, conflicts and problems over the thin or not equally distributed amount of resources will start occurring at a much higher chance. 

Another takeaway from the group conversation was how the peace wall in West Belfast of Northern Ireland is similar to the segregated period in the USA. The peace wall is a physical wall that separates the British Protestants from the Irish Catholics so that they wouldn’t fight each other just like during the 30 year Northern Ireland Civil War. This wall reminds of how those of different races were separated from each other through laws and forced relocation in the USA. The wall also reminds me of how separated the American people are today and how polarizing both political parties are in the USA. After the Dublin Office, we went through the Dublin castle, which is where a part of the British government stayed until the keys to it were given over to the Irish. Next, we headed towards St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which is surprisingly owned by the Anglican Church and not by the Catholic Church.