Homily of Archbishop Eamon Martin

Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Sunday  12 October 2025

Video recording of Archbishop Eamon Martin’s Holily, Sunday 12th October 2025

Text of Archbishop Eamon’s Homily 

The year that St Oliver Plunkett was canonised, 1975, was also a jubilee year of Hope! It was the first holy year following the Second Vatican Council and Pope Paul VI chose the theme ‘Reconciliation and Renewal in Hope’ – so similar to this year’s theme chosen by Pope Francis: “Pilgrims of Hope”.

Like his predecessor, Pope John XXIII, who wrote the powerful Encyclical, Peace on Earth, (Pacem in Terris, April 1963), (and who opened the Council this very weekend in 1963) Pope Paul emphasised that the Church is a ‘servant and partner’ in building peace. In October 1965, he became the first ever pope to travel to America; his aim was to make a strong appeal at the United Nations in New York for world peace and reconciliation.This was only 20 years since the end of the second world war, and the Pope’s words have gone down in history – “never again war, never again war”! It is peace, peace, that has to guide the destiny of the nations”.

So on this day 50 years ago, when he canonised St Oliver Plunkett, Pope Paul VI offered Oliver to the world as a model of peace and reconciliation.

As soon as Oliver came to Ireland as Archbishop in 1670 he quickly got a reputation for being a mediator and a peace maker. Wherever he went, he was determined to settle disputes and divisions and tried to bring order and harmony. He built positive relationships with the Protestant Archbishop and clergy and one of his major achievements was to broker a peace agreement between the notorious ‘Raparees’ and the authorities of his time.

But within four years the political tide was turning against the practice of Catholicism; this didn’t stop Archbishop Oliver. Despite growing opposition and threats to his health and life, he remained completely committed to his episcopal ministry. By 1678 he was a fugitive, with so many people hunting for him that he was certain he would be captured. In one of his letters at that time he wrote, “whatever the danger, I will stay with my flock. I will not abandon them“.

Eventually however, Oliver was arrested, and imprisoned on account of malicious charges against him. He was unjustly condemned to death, and after being dragged through the crowded streets of London, Oliver was publicly executed in a gruesome manner at Tyburn Cross. But even at the gallows, he never lost his hope in the Risen Lord. As St Paul wrote to Timothy in today’s second reading, they can chain me “like a criminal – but they cannot chain up God’s news.”
Records show that Oliver died asking forgiveness for his own faults, and publicly forgiving all those who had plotted to take away his life.

No wonder then, at Oliver’s canonisation in 1975 Pope Paul VI described him as a man of pardon and peace “who chose to die rather than betray the faith or his people,”.“St Oliver”, he added, “was an ‘advocate of justice’ and a ‘friend of the oppressed’. “He would not compromise with truth or condone violence: he would not substitute another gospel for the Gospel of peace. …O what a model of reconciliation: a sure guide for our day!”

Friends, 50 years later, we need Saint Oliver Plunkett more than ever to inspire us in these troubled times of war and violence; when opinions are becoming more and more polarised; and the world seems to prefer putting up walls and barriers to building bridges of trust and peace.

For Christians, peacemaking and reconciliation begins in the heart, in recognising our own prejudices and faults, accepting our personal need for conversion before insisting that others should change their ways.

Or, as Pope Leo put it in a social media post just yesterday, “Peace is unarmed and disarming. It is not deterrence, but fraternity; it is not an ultimatum, but dialogue. Peace will not come as the result of victories over the enemy, but as the fruit of sowing justice and courageous forgiveness.”

I’m praying these days through the intercession of Saint Oliver for the success of the fragile peace agreement in the Middle East: that the hostages can be released back to their families, the people of Gaza can return to their towns and villages to begin the long process of rebuilding their homes and livelihoods; that a flood of humanitarian aid and international effort can allowed to pour into the shell of Gaza to renew hope and dispel despair. Fr Romanelli at the Holy Family Catholic Parish in Gaza has asked the world to pray in thanksgiving and Hope this weekend for a lasting peace.

Today I’m also asking Saint Oliver Plunkett to bring increased harmony and peace to Ireland. We still have much to do to address the painful legacy of our conflict. The ‘unfinished work of peace’ is to build meaningful reconciliation in our communities, and that is a long and difficult journey. But in Saint Oliver‘s name, we cannot allow ourselves to be ‘robbed of hope’.

I like to think that St Oliver has always been blessing our peace efforts. The late Cardinal O’Fiaich used to recall that the Irish War of Independence ended on the feast of Blessed Oliver in 1921. And it’s also true that, after the Good Friday Agreement, the first meeting of the Northern Ireland assembly took place on Saint Oliver’s feast, 1st July 1998. In 1979, when Pope John Paul II came to Ireland, he visited and prayed at the relics of Saint Oliver in Drogheda and was inspired afterwards to make a powerful appeal for an end to violence in our land. He recalled that just a few years earlier as Archbishop of Krakow, he had attended the canonisation of St Oliver on 12 October 1975.

Today’s Gospel reading is all about witness and gratitude to God. We have so much to be grateful to God for in the life and courageous witness of Saint Oliver Plunkett. We have every reason to trust and pray through the intercession of Saint Oliver, that we can be a Church that is alive in hope, courageous in faith and steadfast in it’s commitment to peace and reconciliation. In that way we truly mark a jubilee of hope and help bring our world closer to fulfilling the wish of Pope St Paul VI, “never again war, never again war”!

St Oliver,
By your intercession and example
may all hatred and bitterness
be banished from the hearts of Irish men and women.
May the peace of Christ reign in our hearts,
as it did in your heart,
Even at the moment of your death.
Pray for us and for Ireland.

+ Archbishop Eamon Martin

Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland and Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Dromore

“We place our hands and our struggles in the hands of God”

_{Homily of Archbishop Eamon Martin during the celebration of Mass for the loved ones of Ireland’s missing persons}

Homily

During this universal Jubilee Year of Hope, I have been able to bring the Christian message of Hope to a wide variety of parishes and congregations, including to many people who struggle to find Hope in their lives.  This afternoon I am truly humbled to meet and to pray with you, the family members and friends of Ireland’s many missing persons.  I offer you today the support of the Church and the comfort of Faith, Hope and Love.

It is difficult for those who have not experienced, as you have, the immense loss of having a loved one go missing, or to fully appreciate the pain and grief you go through.  You have a daily heartache and sense of absence; you experience a whole range of emotions, not knowing what happened, where they are today as we gather here in Drogheda.  In so many ways normal life and living was suspended on the day they went missing, and you have had to find ways to keep going while grappling with the many unanswered questions of an unsolved mystery.

Still, you rightly hold out the Hope of someone or something emerging that might lift the veil of uncertainty, and shed some light into the mist and darkness of ‘unknowing’.  But although in many ways their being missing leaves an empty space, their presence never leaves your hearts and your prayers.  Hence we gather today to remember them, to comfort and encourage each other, to pray for answers, and to intercede for the various investigations and search efforts to find clues to their disappearance, and even, with the help of God to Hope for their return – to “hope against hope.”

I trust that our gathering here this afternoon might also help to raise greater awareness of the sheer scale of the reality of missing people here on the island of Ireland, as well as Irish people missing abroad.  In 2024 alone, more than eleven thousand people were reported missing in Ireland, of whom more than 60 are still missing.  There are currently over 900 unsolved missing people cases in Ireland, sadly including dear children, some from our own parishes here in Co Louth and other parts of the Archdiocese of Armagh.

But you – the families, friends and supporters of the cause of missing persons – you know your loved one not as some statistic, suspended file or unsolved case; you know them as the unique individual that they were and are – the sister, the brother, the parent, the child, the cousin, other relative, the friend, the colleague.

Friends in preparing for this afternoon’s gathering, my mind kept turning to the logo for this Jubilee year of Hope.  The logo shows four figures on a boat, representing the people of the whole world – north, south, east and west – holding on to each other for safety in the midst of choppy and stormy waters.  But the lead figure of the four is clinging to the cross, which is also in the shape of an anchor.  Surrounding the logo are the words: ‘Pilgrims of Hope’.  This message is clear: when we are troubled by uncertainty, worries and fears, and it seems at times that we are forgotten, abandoned and alone, we can find comfort in knowing that our Lord, who suffered such pain and abandonment on the Cross, is truly with us in the midst of the storm.  We hold on to His cross, heeding His words: ‘Do not be afraid’.

As Pope Francis put it:
‘We have an anchor: by his cross we have been saved.
We have a rudder: by his cross we have been redeemed.
We have a hope: by his cross we have been healed and embraced so that
nothing and no one can separate us from his redeeming love.’

There are so many passages in the Bible which speak about the pain of loss and separation and about holding on to Hope.

In his letter last year to launch the Jubilee of Hope, Pope Francis quoted from Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans:
‘Since we are justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing in the glory of God… Hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us (Rom 5:1-2.5).’

We pray this afternoon for the gift of that ‘Hope which does not disappoint’.  We bring our thoughts and prayers firstly, to those missing who are still alive but who, for whatever reason, feel they cannot come home or get in touch.  We trust that God will look after them, so that they will know our enduring love for them, and that they will know how much we think about them always and that we are here today to remember and pray for them.  No matter what has happened in the past, we would love to hear from you, to know how you are and, if it is possible, to welcome you back home to be with us.

We also think of those missing loved ones who have died, either by natural causes; by tragic accident; by the crime and wrongdoing of others, or by their own hand.  How much it would mean to be able to know where their bodies are, to have a grave to visit, to have a funeral and remembrance.  And we are so conscious also of the many unidentified persons’ remains that have been found, and the need for more information, full coordination of resources and the development and use of all new techniques and advances in DNA technology.

We pray for those who are working on various investigations, gathering information and targeting searches for missing people: those involved in forensics, profiling, police and coroner services both at home and abroad, and those who support us in counselling, helplines and other caring services.  Your work is a compassionate lifeline for so many of us.

Our gathering today points us also to be conscious of the global scale of the reality of missing persons.  We do not forget those lost in human trafficking, the millions buried or displaced in the destruction and violence of war, or in the aftermath of natural disasters, air and sea accidents.  And then there are the enforced disappearances in some countries for political reasons, where people are abducted, imprisoned or deliberately killed and secretly buried.

Our thoughts are once more with the remaining families who continue their painful search for the so-called ‘Disappeared’ during the conflict in Ireland.

Down at Kilkenny Castle Park, the National Missing Persons Memorial reminds the people of Ireland of the reality of the suffering of so many families here on this island.  It shows many hands, (the actual hands of family members which were cast in bronze by the sculptor); hands reaching up in Hope and pleading for some answers, some closure; hands like our hands here today which are raised and joined in prayer this afternoon for each other and for the cause of missing persons.

Today we place our hands and our struggles in the hands of God, knowing that if we can have faith even the size of a mustard seed, then anything is possible.  If we can have the hope that does not disappoint, then one day we will be reunited with our loved ones.  And, meanwhile, if we can have love, like the love of Christ our Saviour, whose hands and feet were nailed to the Cross, then we too can one day experience the joy and consolation of His resurrection.

Amen.

Archbishop Eamon Martin is Archbishop of Armagh, Apostolic Administrator of Dromore and Primate of All Ireland.