Editing Openai/67ca0fdc-d09c-8011-a1e6-476604390422 (section)

==== Lesson 2: Control the Sacred Ground – Stewardship of Liminal Spaces ====

Another strategic lesson is to physically occupy or manage spaces that carry spiritual weight, thereby bridging the sacred and secular. In times when formal authority is contested, holding these liminal spaces confers stability and trust.
* The Irish Erenagh Tradition: In medieval Ireland, certain families served as erenaghs – hereditary custodians of church lands and property. The McNerney (Mac an Airchinnigh) surname itself means “son of the erenagh,” indicating an ancestral role managing church groundsnamediscoveries.com<ref>{{cite web|title=namediscoveries.com|url=https://namediscoveries.com/surnames/mcnerney#:~:text=About%20Mcnerney%20The%20surname%20McNerney,the%20church%20or%20religious%20affairs|publisher=namediscoveries.com|access-date=2025-11-12}}</ref>. These lay lords of the church oversaw abbey estates, collected rents, and maintained holy sites on behalf of the clergy. It was a classic liminal role: neither priest nor ordinary chieftain, an erenagh commanded secular authority derived from a spiritual trust. By guarding a sacred space, families like the McNerneys earned lasting local influence rooted in heritage and faith. The community viewed them as mediators between the earthly realm and the divine – a powerful position to hold during societal transitions when people cling to familiar sacred institutions.

 Ruins of a 12th-century Irish church, symbolizing the sacred sites once managed by erenagh familiesnamediscoveries.com<ref>{{cite web|title=namediscoveries.com|url=https://namediscoveries.com/surnames/mcnerney#:~:text=About%20Mcnerney%20The%20surname%20McNerney,the%20church%20or%20religious%20affairs|publisher=namediscoveries.com|access-date=2025-11-12}}</ref>. Custodianship of such holy ground granted local leaders a mix of spiritual prestige and secular authority.
* Sanctuary and Power: This principle repeats across cultures. Medieval European politics were full of prince-bishops and warrior-monks who literally held castle and cathedral. Control of a great temple or shrine often meant control of the city around it. Even in the Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan understood the value of sanctuaries – he granted tax exemptions to religious institutions and often spared them in war, effectively coopting holy men into supporting his rule. By commanding the respect that surrounds sacred ground, leaders anchor their authority in the deepest values of their society.

Application: Modern movements should seek out or create spaces that symbolize the movement’s ideals and make them secure havens. This could mean occupying a capital square or setting up a protest camp that functions almost like sacred ground for supporters. Maintain it as a place of pilgrimage and organization – orderly, welcoming, and charged with purpose. For example, civil rights leaders in 1960s America often met and preached in churches, using the sanctuary as both planning center and moral shield. Likewise, in revolutionary Poland of the 1980s, the Solidarity movement held meetings in churches, knowing the regime was hesitant to violate church property. Owning your “sacred space” (be it physical or even an online forum seen as the heart of the cause) gives you a home turf advantage and a platform of legitimacy. Just as an erenagh derived authority from managing holy lands, a movement that safeguards a symbolic space gains clout as the guardian of the community’s values during transition.