With great joy, we welcome Archbishop Bashar Warda, from Erbil in Iraq, which is home to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities. But this is a community now under dire threat of extinction.  For the Christian population is now a mere 200,000 – a decrease from some 900,000 over the past ten years.  There are estimated to be 1.6 million Iraqi refugees living abroad of whom 640,000 are thought to be Christian.  Archbishop, we welcome you, we offer you our support, our sympathy and admiration.  The courage of you and your people inspires and humbles us.

The persecution and oppression of individual believers and the community of faith is a consistent theme in the Old and New Testament.  It is present all the time.  Of course in the New Testament Jesus is the model and inspiration for those who suffer persecution for their faith in the Gospel.

In the Old Testament to have faith in Yahweh, means one must have the courage to stand up for that faith and be loyal and faithful to the demands of the covenant in the face of tough opposition.

I am very grateful to Aid to the Church in Need for their 2011 edition of Persecuted and Forgotten.  It is a report on Christians oppressed for their faith in some thirty-two (32) countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America.  It alerts us to the fact of so much persecution of Christians in the world today.

Archbishop Bashar comes to us on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day – Patrick had been persecuted in many different ways.  In the opening lines of his Declaration of Faith – Patrick says:  “I am greatly despised by many”.  

At age sixteen he was carried off into captivity in Ireland – a disaster which he eventually saw as well deserved and something that turned into an occasion of great grace.

Carrying the cross lies at the heart of Christian life.  All too often, and in many places, Christians suffer verbal abuse, discrimination at work, taunts in the media and threats.  The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem says:  “being a Christian in those lands is no accident of birth but is part of their vocation – a vocation that calls them to go deeper into their experience to see that pain and misery unites them to Christ.”    

Archbishop Bashar is a Redemptorist Father, who did part of his studies here in Ireland with his Redemptorist Confreres.  We are pleased that he has come to Dundalk and will celebrate the Vigil Mass in St Joseph’s this evening.

‘Why are you still here?’ – A reflection on the persecution of Christians in Iraq and the World

On the 3 June 2007, Fr Ragheed Ganni, a former student of the Irish College, Rome, who visited this diocese, and three sub-deacons were assassinated by militant Muslims as they left Sunday Mass in Mosul, Northern Iraq. Before killing Fr Ganni, one of his attackers was overheard to scream  “I told you to close the Church . Why didn’t you do it?  Why are you still here?”   The question:  “Why are you still here?” immediately calls to mind St Peter’s great injunction that Christians should be ever ready to give account for the Faith that is within them.

By simply professing their Faith in public, Iraqi Christians are being  persecuted physically, socially and economically, their lives and livelihoods are under continuous threat. The overt and aggressive private and public anti-Christian sentiment so evident in Iraq however is not limited to Iraq. It is to be found throughout the lesser and greater Middle East, throughout Asia. It is to be found also in Africa and increasingly it is being found within the once-Christian lands of Western Europe.

The evidence is clear and it is persuasive, Christianity is being aggressively uprooted from the Middle-East, the very lands from which its first sprang. The evidence may be less clear and the aggression may be less blood-stained but the reality remains that Christianity is under threat in Western Europe and throughout the Western World by aggressive Atheism. Not the old style heavy-handed militant Atheism and tyranny such as was evident in the former Soviet Union but by a more recently-fashioned nihilism which insistently denies the existence of any God-given Truth.

Notwithstanding the fact that the ‘roots’ of European culture are profoundly Christian, an element of the culture of contemporary secularised Europe not only denies this reality but seeks to have Christianity eliminated, or failing that, ‘ghettoised’. Christian culture, Christian values and the Christian faith are under sustained attack in many quarters.

Throughout Europe, and throughout the Western World, Christians are being asked “Why are you still here?”

This fundamental question which was screamed at the about-to-be murdered Fr Ganni four years ago in Northern Iraq has not gone away.  It is the same one which challenges each and every Christian at all times and in all places: Christians are required to “apologise” (in the true sense of the word) to give an account for what they believe.

Self-evidently professing one’s faith and giving an account of it is more “life-threatening”, at least from a physical perspective, in present-day Iraq as compared to present-day Ireland. But does the same hold true from a spiritual perspective? Could it possibly be the case that it is more difficult to be a Christian believer in Ireland than in Iraq?

I also suggest that we should recognise that there is a culture war being fought in the West just as much as there is one being fought in the Middle East. It may be largely bloodless and there may be different rules of engagement but the stakes are the same, namely, the rights of all Christians to gather in public and profess their faith in word and deed.

And here let us be clear, Christians have every right to be “here”,
•    to gather in the public square,
•    to hand on their faith to their children and
•    proclaim to the world the Christian truth about the dignity of every human being and the infinite love of our merciful God.   

Some time ago, there was a cultural moment which was commonplace and largely accepted that,
•    tomorrow’s world would be better than today,
•    technological and scientific advances would solve humanity’s most  intractable problems,
•    humankind’s reason would triumph and subdue its baser instincts and by dint of it
•    a city would be built on a hill where people would happily live in well-fed peace and harmony.
Genuine, well-intentioned efforts to create such “New Harmonies” in both the new and old world did not succeed.  Efforts to radically reshape, “improve” society seemed almost pre-destined to founder upon the flawed nature of the human condition.

One hundred years ago, Europe was the cultural, economic, social and scientific powerhouse of the world. Today, Europe has become eclipsed as a global ‘superpower’. Europe is, in the opinion of many, rapidly becoming a socio-economic ‘has-been’.

Any healthy sustainable vision for a New Europe must embrace, not deny its Christian roots and in this what applies to Europe applies to Ireland.
In a nutshell, my central proposition here is that
•    Europe is floundering because of its failure to warmly embrace its Christian heritage,
•    it is declining because of its failure to respect the God-given dignity of every person and the revealed truths of Christian faith.

I would suggest that when one takes the Christian leaven out of any society, that society’s development is greatly impaired. Indeed I would go so far as to argue that society’s development will regress. We should not forget that
•    It was a Christian ethic which strove for and succeeded in eliminating slavery.
•    Freedom of conscience was formulated from the Christian mindset.
•    Forgiveness for human failings is a supreme Christian imperative.

What type of world would we have when people are not free and where transgressions are never mercifully forgiven?

In all of this it should be clear that the Christian view of the world is founded on the understanding of both the greatness and brokenness of the human person; a greatness and brokenness which is reflected in every individual life and in every human community – from the smallest to the largest.

It is also founded upon the central belief that there is a God, a loving God of infinite mercy who wants what is best for every human being. For the Christian, every life is worth living from the moment of conception to natural death because every life is a gift from God.  

2,000 years ago, Christ’s healing mission on earth was to reconcile man to God. His Church’s enduring mandate is to continue this mission, this process of reconciliation and healing of broken spirits and broken societies. The earthly mission of Christ’s church is to heal the world, to bring people and peoples into the light of God’s kingdom.

That’s why the Church is still here in Ireland. That is why the Church is still in Iraq. That is why Father Ganni and countless others offer up their lives as martyrs, to bring the beauty of Truth, to shed the light of Faith into the dark recesses of the human heart.

We are about to bless this magnificent new stand and grounds.  I congratulate all those who put it here and especially the Armagh County Board led by Paul Duggan and Paddy Nugent.

As we do so we praise God for many things – for the enjoyment of sport – for giving us so many people in Armagh and in the GAA in particular – who are prepared to work to provide facilities like this stand for the benefit of the community.  In this blessing we ask God’s protection on all who will come here that it may be a good experience.  

We are here to thank God for our health and mental well-being and for all the enjoyment which, in the days to come, and tonight in particular, comes from our games.

We are here to congratulate and thank all those who played a part in the provision of this stand and to hope that there will be many to follow in their steps by giving of their time and talents to improve and enhance the games.

Finally, let us hope for a fine game of football as we welcome the Dublin team and their supporters.

Today we celebrate the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.  It is one of the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary.  It is for us to discover the source of that joy and to rejoice in it.  Christ was brought by Mary, His Mother, and St Joseph to the Holy Temple.

Jesus is presented in the Temple and offered to God, the Father, as every first born Jewish child was offered.  He is dedicated and consecrated to God.  His presentation brings great joy to the holy women and men of the Old Testament and represented by Simeon and Anna.  For by presenting Jesus in the Temple Mary and Joseph brought true worship one step closer.  It reaches its fulfilment in the Mass, which is our joy to celebrate together.

This Feast was first celebrated in Jerusalem.  Then it came to Rome where a penitential procession was added.  Then it went to France and they added the candles.  Where did the candles come from? The candles are suggested by the role of Christ who today is proclaimed as the Light of the Gentiles.  The light of the nations – the light of us all.  Now we have the Feast of the Presentation as World Day of Religious Life.

Today when we enter our Church we are also going into the Temple.  We enter in a spirit of worship, the same worship which Jesus brought through His love and His obedience to the Father.  As we enter we remember that we too are temples of God.  Our bodies and our souls are God’s dwelling place.

Today Christ comes to meet His chosen people.  We rejoice in His presence.  Christ comes to meet His faithful people who wait for Him with faith.  He is the faithfulness of God in person, the one who fulfils all our hopes, the light that guides our every step.

So, we lined ourselves up behind dear old Simeon and Anna in procession to follow them and to present ourselves to Christ.  Once again, as on the day of our Profession or Ordination, we entrust ourselves to Christ who is ever faithful, who can never deceive nor be deceived.  We implore Him to be our constant guide to lead us to the fullness of glory.  We renew our own dedication, our consecration and our profession to the Father.  We do this so that we can, in turn, bring Christ to the world around us – a world that is in dire need of Christ to give it hope.

Somebody said to the Presentation of the Child.  Jesus was his Rite of Profession, by which Jesus, or rather his parents vowed him to God.  This put me thinking, today I want to give thanks to God, for the lives of all of you, lives that have been dedicated to God by reason of your religious profession.  We recall that religious life has always held a place of high honour in the eyes of the church.  It is vitally important that we remember that fact.  From the earliest centuries the Church has always celebrated the act of religious profession with great solemnity and beautiful liturgical rites.  Perhaps for a moment you could recall that day.  We recall those who were professed with you on that beautiful day.  The Second Vatican Council directed that the rite of religious profession should be revised with greater unity, simplicity and dignity.

Today we give thanks to God for the millions who have dedicated themselves to the service of God in religious life down through the centuries, for all your colleagues and confreres.  We remember with joy the many various forms which religious life has taken over the centuries,  under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the benefits it brought to the Church and the world.

The Church received your vows.  The Church, the Body of Christ, begs continually God’s grace for all religious and public prayer, as a mark of affection and gratitude and appreciation.

The Church on the day of your Profession placed you in God’s hands.  It blessed you and united the offering which you were then making to the offering which Christ made on the Cross.  As you entered the Novitiate, you asked for God’s grace during that special time of testing and discernment.  First profession followed and then final profession.  Before God and the Church, you asked for God’s merciful love and for the grace of serving God more perfectly in your religious community.  You asked to be allowed to dedicate yourselves to God and to the Kingdom by making profession in your religious community.

Today then we give thanks to God, for every religious profession – First Profession, Final Profession; for every renewal of profession of vows; the profession of those here present, of those of the members of your communities here in Ireland and throughout the world.  We thank God today for the gift of every religious profession.

We remember that every religious profession is a response to a call from God,  a call that is at once an invitation to grow in holiness, in other words, to become more like Christ,  a call to promote the good of the Church, but not only the well-being of the Church but the well-being of the whole human race.