There is a story told of the time Paddy the Irishman died and went up to the Pearly Gates.  The angel in charge gave him a tour of the mansions in Heaven.  As they pass various chambers the angel points out who is who.  “This is where the Presbyterians are and here you have the Methodists.  Over there you have the Church of Ireland.  As they enter another room the angel whispers:  “Sh Sh, this is where the Catholics are.  They think they are the only ones here!!!”

The story is a humorous way of saying that we have a very limited view of the Kingdom of God.  

I once heard it said that Jesus came to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.  The Readings for today’s Mass are a bit like that.  They are comforting in places; and they are also encouraging. But they are also depressing, very depressing.  In fact, they are downright disturbing.

What am I talking about?  Well we heard just now that the Lord is coming to gather the nations of every language.  They shall come to witness His glory.  People will be brought from all nations to the Holy Mountain of the Lord.  That is very consoling.

So, if we look closely at the Readings – we will see plenty of evidence of God’s plan for us.  God wants each and every one of us to be saved.  What do we hear Isaiah say in the First Reading:
‘I am coming to gather every nation and every language”
Just imagine, every nation – to gather them into glory.  That is what we all love – glory – eternal glory.  That is what we are made for.  Nothing else will satisfy us.  God’s plan is there in the psalm:
‘Strong is his love for us – he is faithful for ever’

The big event of the last week, in most locations – north and south – was the exam results.  A lot of people were happy – they got what they wanted.  I congratulate them.  Some were very disappointed – they did not get the results they wanted.  As a result they are shut out of some places they dearly wanted to go to – the door is locked.  I am sorry for those young people but I beg them to remember – it is not the end of the world.

But the most shocking image of all is from the Gospel – it is the image of the Locked Door – the Master is inside – people are knocking to get in and being told to move on.  Just imagine being locked out of Heaven – that would be the ultimate disaster.  What would it profit, any of us, to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of our immortal souls?  Surely there would be every reason for weeping and grinding of teeth.  The tragedy is that then it is too late.

So how do we reconcile all of this about the closed door with strong and faithful love?  What Jesus is saying is that once he has risen from the dead, it will not be enough for someone to come along and simply say: ‘Open the door now, sure don’t you know us well’.  

Is Jesus suggesting that some who think they are sure of a seat at that wonderful feast may be in for a big surprise.  It will not be enough to say “Weren’t we eating and drinking in your company”?

Jesus is saying it will not be enough because:

•    Eating and drinking beside me is not the same as eating and drinking with me.  You can be beside me and not be part of me.  
•    You can hear me and not listen.  
•    You can know me and not accept me.

I am not the one who is locking you out.  You are the ones that are locking yourselves out.  This is a door that is locked not from the inside, but from the outside and the only key that will open it is your own personal response.  Listen to me, accept me, love me and the door will open itself.

Another time Jesus said:  “I am the door – anyone who enters by me will be saved”.  Jesus is the door that we all must use to share the Life of God and enter into His Kingdom.  To enter the narrow door that is Jesus Christ is to enter the narrow way that is called the Way of the Cross. It is the way of repentance.  As we heard in the Second Reading, the Lord trains the ones he loves and he punishes all those that he trains.  “Suffering is part of your training.  Of course any punishment is painful at the time.  Later on, those in whom it has been used will bear fruit in peace and goodness”.  The invitation to the banquet of Heaven is given to you freely but we must not think that this is all there is to the Christian life.  

It is said we live in an age where we get very serious about very unserious things; and very flippant and casual and off-hand about things that are deadly serious.  Really I cannot image anything more serious for each and every one of us – where and how am I going to spend eternity?  

I saw a notice in a Church and it said:  

You call me Master, and you don’t listen to me  
You call me the way and you do not follow me
You call me the truth and you do not believe me
Why should you be surprised to hear me say
I do not know where you come from and you will not recognise me

This week the Parish of Tynan / Middletown marks a historic event in the history of this parish – the departure of the Sisters of St Louis – the Sisters have been here for 135 years.  Naturally there is much sorrow and sadness and loneliness.  The bonds of friendship are strong.  There are big shoes being left behind to be filled.  

This weekend is a time to give thanks – to give thanks to God, first of all – that there are people to be found who are prepared to give up so much in life in order to help others – people who left family and friends to come to Middletown to help children – children from all walks of life – rich and poor, bright and less bright.  

We thank God that the St Louis nuns came first to Monaghan.  Obviously their reputation soon spread to Middletown where Father Quinn decided your ancestors should welcome the Sisters and they got on well together.  

There was farming and schooling and lots of things to be looked after.  Sister Canice was surprised to learn that the first football jerseys for Middletown GFC were knitted by the sisters in black and white wool all those years ago.

Tonight we give thanks for all that the Sisters have done – but more importantly – we give thanks to them and to God for what they are themselves and what they represent.  People who heard the call of God and took it seriously.

This is not a time for great sorrow but a time for great gratitude and great love.  The Sisters have sown the seeds, it is up to this parish to make sure that those seeds stay alive and grow and ripen and bear fruit.  

You see we all share the same call – it is the call of God the Father, issued through His Son.  It is an invitation to share his life – to share his nature.  It is sometimes said of someone – ‘she is a good natured sort of person’.  We are all called to be good-natured – for God is good.  

That invitation begins as a way of listening.  We listen with our ears, with our eyes and with our hearts.  The invitation grows as a desire to know God and to enter into God’s love.  Like lots of invitations it is personal,  only I can decide to accept my invitation.  Only you can decide what to do with your invitation.  But the example of others can inspie us to make the right choice.  

This evening we are thanking God for the presence in this parish, over the past 135 years, of a very special group of people – the St Louis Sisters.  They are people who have heard the invitation to holiness and have taken it very seriously.  It involved a dying to self in leaving family and friends.  It involved an emptying to self that becomes a radical experience of God’s love.  

This experience of God’s love changes each person and oopens them to put on the very mind of Christ and to share the very life of Christ.  It challenges each one of us to have the same values as Christ had, all the same attitudes and to act as Christ acted.
It invites us to be instruments of God’s love and energy in the world.  It binds each one in a union with God and with each other.  It enables people to find God present in all things.  It is not confined to Religious Sisters, Brothers and Priests.  It is extended to all.  But the Religious exist to remind the rest of us that we have not here a lasting kingdom.  We seek the One that is to come.

Religious life is also called consecrated life.  The religious sisters, brothers or priest knows that personal holiness comes before everything else in life.  The religious come before the Lord to humbly ask what way he/she must follow her vocation.  The religious knows that the gospel, preached by Jesus, is the only book that really must be mastered and that spiritual perfection is the only goal to aim for.

This week I got a lovely book.  It is called The Religious Sisters and Brothers of the Diocese of Kilmore.  It lists 1056 women and 109 men who entered religious life from all parts of County Cavan and Leitrim.  They left families and homes, some for the last time, to join 120 different religious congregations.  More than 700 left not only their homes but their beloved Ireland and went abroad to follow the footsteps of Jesus – to save souls and to achieve their goal in life.  Among them were 54 Louis Sisters.  

The book includes many stories including one of Mary McEnree.  She left home at the age of 17 to volunteer to go to work as a Mercy nun in Western Australia – the voyage took four months.

We wish the Sisters God’s special blessings in the next chapter of their life that begins now.  We pray that the same freedom of spirit, which enabled them to come here in the first instance, will enable them to leave now.  

I know that the greatest gift you could give them is the assurance that you have learned well the lessons which they came to teach– that we must all strive to enter by the narrow gate which is Jesus Christ and hear his call to repent of our sins.

The seeds have been sown.  I am confident that they will not fall on hard or stony ground.  It is the invitation for each of us to become God’s instruments in the world and to find God, present in all things.  The challenge is to continue, like the Sisters, with the same dedication to the praise and glory of God and to reveal his compassionate love to others.

I visited your website to find there your Mission Statement when my eyes caught the phrase that you commit yourselves to:

“Standing in solidarity with the poor and marginalised”

And I said to myself:  ‘That is exactly what the Community in St. Joseph’s Convent, Middletown have been doing all these years – long before anyone thought of writing Mission Statement.

I am sure there is a seann focal which says that “you wont’ miss the shelter until the tree falls”.  

I think that society is only now beginning to appreciate how much your care for the poor and marginalised has meant – now that there are no longer religious around to do the sort of work which you have been doing, so faithfully and so generously, over all these years.  

So we gather here this evening to say thanks to God for the vision of the Founders of the Institute of St Louis – Joseph Louis Colmar – Marie Madeleine Louise Humann and Louise Marie Eugene Bautain – and thanks to those who responded to that radical call to conversion and to the needs of their time.  We thank God for the prayer life of this House and for the actions done to transfer and change urgent structures.
I note that the three people mentioned, lived through one of the most troubled periods of French history.  All shared one ideal – to call the society of their day back to the truths and practice of the Christian faith.

We too are living through troubled times in the history of this island and in the history of the Church on this island.  I think of the death of your beloved Sisters in the bomb on the Killylea Road.  As in France, the faith of many has been undermined by influential writers and broadcastes.

The three stalwarts saw the need for a solid Christian formation in tune with the spirit of the times. So they devoted their lives to restoring the Church.  The scene sounds remarkably familiar – the needs of today remarkably similar.  I am sure that there are many Louis Bautains out there.  They too are searching for the truth.  They are also searching for a Louise Humann to come along and guide them back to the Church as an instrument and herald of truth among people – there to be formed into a spiritual direction.

I believe that the crying need of our young people is for spiritual direction of the kind given by Louise Humann who, herself, had been formed by Louis Colmar.

I am convinced that the great need of our time is for this kind of evangelisation.  The Holy Father has set up an Institute of Evangelisation to promote the announcing of the Good News in ways that are appropriate to the people of our time.

Last year a sprightly grandmother call Catherine Wiley founded the Association of Catholic Grandmothers –but these grandmothers will need help and training if they are to be effective.

I ask the help of your prayers for the Church in Ireland that we may know how to announce again the Good News (Mount Melleray – Malachy).

There was a programme  on television last night, perhaps some of you saw it where there was a lot of talk of change and reform and renewal.   I thought Ray Kinsella made the best point – the real change that is needed is a change in our relationship with Jesus Christ.

We all need to put on the mind of Christ in order to have the same mindset as Jesus, that is, his values so that we all have his attitude towards things like truth and justice.  That can only come from our study and prayer and the stories of his life so that we will behave as he behaved.  That is how the Church will be transformed and become, in fact, the Body of Christ.  

Some weeks ago we launched our Aim for the Diocese of Armagh: to be the Body of Christ so that, with the help of the Spirit of Christ, we bring his compassionate love to others.  

Today is the Feast of Ss Anne and Joachim.  We think of our parents – and our grandparents and deceased aunts and uncles and ancestors and deceased Sisters.  They were the ancestors who gave us all they had and made us what we are.  We recall, with joy, the sacrifices they made for love of us – the efforts they made to give us good example.  I wonder, at what point did they realise the wonders that their child Mary was and how did they cope?

Three weeks ago about 300 people from the continent of Europe came to Bangor, Co Down, and Armagh City.  They came mostly from Italian towns and villages. places like Bobbio which are linked to St Columbanus.  They came to celebrate and to give thanks.  Many years ago I visited Bobbio in Northern Italy where I went to pray at the tomb of St Columbanus.  Remember Columbanus was  the man from South Leinster who left, all those years ago, to spread the Good News about Jesus Christ.  In Bobbio, I was delighted to see a vase of freshly cut flowers on his tomb.  Isn’t it amazing, after all these centuries, someone had actually remembered, felt grateful, and expressed their gratitude.  What a joy to see there are still people around who appreciate the gift, brought by missionaries.  They are the sort of people who can sing from their hearts, the words of the Prophet Isaiah  –

How beautiful it is to see a messenger
coming across the mountains
Bringing Good News
The News of Peace

So, it is a real joy to be here in Clonmel today as you too celebrate and give thank for the 200 year history of your beautiful Church of St Peter and St Paul.  I am very grateful and give thanks to my friend Bishop William Lee for his kind invitation to be here on this joyful occasion.  Bishop Willie is Secretary of the Irish Bishops’ Conference, on whom the Conference relies so often and so heavily for its smooth functioning.
I must say I am highly impressed by the huge programme set out by the Bicentennial Committee, under the outstanding leadership of Father Crowley.  I know you began by acclaiming all of the individuals, groups and organisations, who have helped make this remarkable 200 years of parish history.  Today we thank God for each and every one of them.  
I note with joy that the married couples have already honoured their marriages as the foundation of their family life and the bedrock of all parish life.  Today too we pray that their commitment, which they renewed on St Valentine’s Day, in the presence of their families and their parish community, will be abundantly blessed and flourish in the years ahead.

You have already noted that the present sense of a Church under siege links the late 18th and early 19th century to the early 21st century.  I agree that the spirit, strength and commitment- which enabled this great parish to grow and develop, despite adversity, definitely models the present needs, not only of this parish, not only of this diocese, but of the country as a whole.  

To revive our drooping spirits, to rebuild our strength and to renew our commitment, what needs to be done?  We need to rediscover the roots of our faith in Jesus Christ as Pope Benedict urges us to do in the Pastoral Letter.  We also need to drink deeply from the springs of living waters which Christ offers to each one of us, through his Church.
To get to the roots of our faith, we turn to the historians – especially the students of Church history.  I instinctively turned to Mons Michael Olden with whom it was my privilege to be a contemporary in Maynooth and Rome.  He, in turn, reminded me of other Church historians such as Father Colmcille – the Clonmel Cistercian Father and Mr Philip O’Connell – a fellow Cavan man – who wrote the History of the Diocese of Kilmore – my native diocese and who spent his life teaching in Clonmel.

So what are these roots of our faith?  In his excellent booklet, The Story of the Liturgy in Ireland, Dr Edmond Cullinan reminds us that there were Pre-Patrician Missionaries such as Declan of Ardmór.  So while I am honoured to be in the Déise county, following in the footsteps not only of Declan but also of St Carthage, I recognise that here Declan, nor Patrick, is first.

I stayed last night in the great Cistercian Abbey of Mount Mellary, (1832).  There I was reminded of the links between Armagh and Lismore.  In the twelfth century, Celsus of Armagh, was buried in Lismore.  His successor, St Malachy, studied for several years in the Monastic School of Lismore.  Christian  
O Conairce, the first Abbot of Mellifont, was ordained Bishop of Lismore in 1151.   I am also reminded of the contribution of the Cistercian Abbey of Inislounaght and of the Augustinians of Athassel to the religious life and history of this district.

The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.  I could not come to Clonmel without evoking the sacred Memory of Blessed Maurice McEnrathy, martyred here in 1585 and of Blessed William Tirrie, who gave his life in 1654 and Blessed John Carney martyred in 1653.  Coming from the land of the O’Neill’s, I cannot but remember the encounter between Oliver Cromwell and Aodh Dublin O’Neill in this locality.
Having spent 20 years of my life in the Irish College in Rome, I gladly recognise the contribution to the Church in Ireland of Fr Luke Waddina, OFM, He was a Waterford man and , founder of the Irish College and of St Isidore’s in Rome.  His cousin Fr Thomas Whyte, from Clonmel, founded the Irish College in Salamanca in 1592.  Mention of the Irish Franciscans recalls the unbroken presence of the Franciscan Missionaries in this town since 1269.

I am well aware also that I am in the land of Bishop John Brennan, the lifelong friend and companion of my martyred predecessor, St Oliver Plunkett.  Today I gladly pay tribute to the sacred memory of them both for their part in keeping the flame of faith alight and alive in our respective dioceses.

The century after the era of John Brennan was a century of trial and tribulation and persecution.  Yet the flame was kept alight.  When no priest was available or when it would have been too dangerous for a priest to appear in public, the laity conducted the funerals themselves.  Even though the Mass was in Latin, the people remained very attached to the Eucharist.  There were prayers in Irish to accompany the parts of the Mass and even to be recited on the way to and from Mass.  We are grateful to Nioclás MacCrath who collected a beautiful set of such prayers in An Rin.  I love the prayer which was said before Mass.  

During the penal years the people of Waterford and Lismore resisted well the onslaught of this evil.  When the laws, restricting the public expression of Catholicism, were relaxed, the first of the new Cathedrals to be built was that of the Holy Trinity in Waterford City in 1793.  Not to be outdone by the Waterford people, Clonmel made its mark in 1810.  

The building of this great Church took place because the Mother Church, St Mary’s was no longer adequate to the needs of Clonmel.  That tells me one important fact – the people of Cluain Meala – of the Honey Vale in 1810, had their priorities right.  They knew who they were and why they were here on earth, on the banks of the Suir – on the border between Na Déise and the Premier County.  They knew that to receive eternal life, they must love the Lord, their God.  Yes, they must render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar but also to God what belongs to God.  As creatures, what we need to do is to acknowledge who God is – Our Creator and Saviour – the Lord and Master of everything that exists.

‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve’, says Jesus, quoting from the Old Testament.  So the people of Clonmel decided to build themselves a new and bigger and better place of worship – the Church of Sts Peter and Paul.  The building heralded a century of tremendous expansion.  One example was the return of the Cistercian Monks in 1830 – having been suppressed in the 16th century.  This time they came first not to Armagh – that would take place 100 years later – instead they came to Mount Mellery here in this diocese of Waterford.  

Rediscover the roots of your faith.  Cut off from its roots, the tree withers and dies.  It bears no fruit.  Pope Benedict’s second piece of advice is:  ‘Drink deeply from the springs of living water’.  Christ offers us those springs to us through His Church.  To the Samaritan woman, whom he met at the well, Jesus made a fantastic promise:  ‘Those who drink the water that I will give them, will never be thirsty again for that water will become a spring that will provide them with life-giving water and give them eternal life’.  But what does at that mean?  I think it means choosing, like Mary in today’s Gospel – the right thing.  It means sitting down at the feet of the Lord and listening to His teaching.
What does choosing the better part really mean?  Martha decided to go off and make the tea or the dinner or the supper.  She decided not to sit down and listen to Jesus as Mary did.  

I think it can be helpful for all of us – no matter how busy we are or we think we are – to sit down, even occasionally, and face the great questions of life:

•    What does life call me to do?
•    What are human desires all about?
•    What am I, in fact searching and striving for?
•    Who, in fact, am i?

The tragedy is, not even to ask the questions.  The disaster is not even to wonder if life is more than one thing after another.  

It is important to be open to the truth.  For openness to the truth is openness to God – the ultimate mystery.  Those who believe in Christ, see that the goal of all our searching and seeking is, in fact, God – the God who is revealed in Jesus Christ.

You have made us for yourself O Lord and our hearts are restless until they rest in you

We follow Jesus Christ because we believe that the great mystery has been given to us in the person of Jesus Christ.  Christians believe that the real place of rest and stillness is that region where God dwells in our innermost being, where God is experienced in quiet and in silence – a silence that speaks more loudly than word.

In today’s Gospel Mary entertains Jesus. He is the Word made flesh – the real presence of God.  She sat down at his feet and listened to his teaching.  Mary is always there for him.  Mary got her priorities right.  She drank as deeply as possible the words of life – from the lips of Him who came to give us life.

The mystery of God had been hidden for ages, then it was all revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.  He longs for our company.  By baptism we have been grafted onto him who said:  “I am the vine, you are the branches”.  

The Eucharist nourishes and strengthens the bonding of our friendship.  St Paul urges us to put on the mind of Christ.  When I became a bishop I chose as my motto ‘To know Jesus Christ’ We cannot put on his mind and adopt his values, unless we actually know Jesus Christ.  We cannot make his attitudes our attitudes unless we figure out what the attitudes of Christ actually are.  But, if we do so, we experience a remarkable liberation from self-preoccupation.
Today we thank God for all who have come here for 200 years to drink at the fountain of everlasting life.  The Prophet Jeremiah laments the fate of those who have turned away from God – the spring of fresh water. Instead of worshipping God they had dug cisterns – cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all.  Here in Clonmel the problem has probably more often been burst banks rather than that of cracked cisterns. When the banks burst – and I speak here of rivers – not financial institutions – the people of Clonmel turned, not to the broken cisterns of the other gods – the broken cisterns of wealth and power but instead they turn to the spring of fresh water provided by their faith in Christ.  Long may they continue to do so.

AMEN

On Sunday last there was a very sad funeral in my native parish.  Simon Sexton was buried.  He was the young paramedic who died after being flung from an ambulance, as he was caring for a patient en route to Dublin.  From all accounts the community drew on all their gifts and used their many and different abilities, which they placed at the service of the young broken-hearted widow, and her six very young children to give them strength and bring them healing and consolation.  Edel, the eldest, aged 15 was strong enough to read a reading; Catherine, her mother, felt supported enough to offer a Post-Communion Reflection – Gifts – Abilities – Service.  St Paul tells of gifts, abilities and service.  They are present in every Christian Community, in every parish, and they are present in abundance.  It was a case, not just of all working together but of all taking responsibility for what had to be done.  

In recent times Pope Benedict made this same point to the clergy of Rome.  “It is a case of seeing the lay faithful, not just as collaborators but of actually being co-responsible for continuing the work of Christ here and now.”  It is a case of someone saying, “I am only one person; but I am one.”  “I can’t do everything but what I can do, that I will do.”

We have heard, just now, St Paul tell us that Christ is like a single body which has many parts and many functions.  God has established a harmony in the Body.  If one part is suffering, all the rest suffers with it.  If one is treated with honour all the rest will find pleasure in it.  But immediately before that he spoke of the different gifts from the Holy Spirit.  There are different gifts, given by the same Spirit, different ways of serving the same Lord and many different abilities to perform service.

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, e.g., religious life, but there are many others.  The same God gives ability to all for their particular service.  God gives ability to all, to you and to me and to the people we represent.  God does not make junk.

The presence of the Spirit is shown in some way in each person for the good of all.

The Spirit is present in the hearts of all, in each one of us.  In some way, not the same way, but in some way.  

Why?  For what purpose?  For the good of all.  To help all become the Christ.  To help all to serve the Christ as described in the Aim.
This evening we are adopting an Aim for this diocese.  How do we generate enthusiasm, not just for the adoption, but for the actual implementation of this Aim?

Perhaps it would help to ask ourselves two questions – What is the purpose of my life here and now on this planet?  I would suggest that we will likely come to the conclusion that it is in fact to become the Body of Christ, to become the Christ.  But a body dies when it is separated from the Spirit and in the same way faith is dead if it is separated from good works.  It is important therefore that each one of us strives to put on the mind of Christ.  In other words, to adopt the values and imitate the attitudes and behaviour of Christ Jesus.  The Spirit of Christ lives in our hearts in order to pray on our behalf and to bear witness in our lives to the fact that we are children of God.

The main question is: What is the Church for?  The Spirit of God lives in the Church in order to guide it into the way of truth.  The Spirit lives in the Church to unify it and to equip it with gifts so that it can help all of us to become the Body of Christ.  When we welcome the resources which the Spirit provides and work with them patiently and faithfully, then, and only then, will the Church become the Body of Christ.  Then the Church becomes adorned with the fruits of the Spirit, the fruits of the Spirit that are listed by St Paul, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithful humility and self-control.

This year, as I made my way to Confirmations up and down the diocese, I decided to pray the Rosary.  We always said the Glorious Mysteries, no matter what day of the week it was.  We did this to remind ourselves of the basic truth, that we are all made for glory, we love glory.  We find our deepest happiness on earth in giving glory to God.  We are at our happiest when we give praise to God, not only in words, but in our actions.  We decided to offer the third Glorious Mystery, the Descent of the Holy Spirit, first of all, for the teachers of the faith, not only for the bishops and priests and theologians, but also for parents, for secondary teachers and primary teachers and for all who share the task of handing on the faith.  

As we reflected more and more on this task we saw that there is a huge army of people involved, not just teachers but Boards of Governors and Boards of Management and youth workers  Not only that, there are choirs, servers, sacristans, stewards, readers, collectors, Eucharistic ministers, leaders of prayer groups.  

We thought of other people who are building up God’s Kingdom, the Apostolic Workers, the St Joseph’s Young Priests’ Society, Cursillo, the Legion of Mary, St Vincent de Paul, the Pioneer Association, the list goes on and on.  The people who organise pilgrimages, the people who organise prayer sessions, the people who offer preparation for marriage in Accord.  The list is endless.  

They are the people whom the Spirit has equipped with gifts to help the Church to become the Body of Christ.  And my prayer, especially for all those this evening, is that the way we behave and act will be like a light amidst darkness.  

We pray especially that we may not hinder others from having a perfect view of Christ and His Church by bad example or the lack of justice and charity in our own lives.

Some will ask, where are we going to get the resources to carry out this aim?  I believe the resources are there, and there in abundance.  Resources, for example, of time and talent and experience, experience of young and old.  It is a question of going once more to the huge treasure-house of God’s holy people and of drawing forth from the treasures, both old and new.  

I am thinking of the treasure-house of prayer and sacrifice, especially the sacrifice of suffering.  But it is all a question of willingness to share what is being called for with others.  Here we must rely on the greatest gift of all, the gift of love, the gift that will last forever.  And here it is a case of really getting to know Jesus, who said, “There is no greater love than this – that a man should lay down his life for his friends.”  He, and He alone, gave His all for us.  He, and He alone, can inspire and enable us to do likewise.

Jesus said: 

“Behold, I am with you always even to the end of time”.

Then he kept his promise and sent the Paraclete – the Second Advocate – the Counsellor – to make sure, in fact, that he could be with us always.  The Spirit reminds us of what Jesus said and did.  So, all our pastoral plans – and diocesan aims and our deliberations – will come to nothing without the help of the Holy Spirit.  No-one can confess “Jesus is Lord” without the Holy Spirit!

Hence we must ever and always, implore the help of the Holy Spirit.  But there is another thing we must do.  We must remember what the Risen Jesus told his disciples –

“Wait for the gift I told you about.  John baptised with water but in a few days you will be baptised with the Spirit”. 

So they waited but they waited with purpose.  They gathered frequently to pray as a group, together with the women – and with Mary, the Mother of Jesus.  So this evening then, we entrust all our diocesan aims and pastoral plans and pastoral areas and pastoral resource teams to the care of Mary, the Mother of the Good Shepherd – the Mother of the  Pastor Supreme.
Pray for us O holy Mother of God
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, hail our life our sweetness and our hope.

That lovely prayer is said all over the world every day by millions of people.  Why has Mary become our life, our sweetness and, above all, our hope?  Why is it that men and women of every time and place have recourse to her motherly kindness, in all their needs and aspirations, their joys and sorrows, their moments of loneliness and their common efforts?

I want to pick out three moments in the life of Mary which give me great hope.  The first is the time she went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth.  You remember when that happened?  The Angel Gabriel had just left Mary.  Mary had said “yes” to God’s proposal that she should become the Mother of His Son.  In the course of their conversation the Angel had made some fantastic promises to Mary.  Her Son will be great.  The Lord God will make him a King for ever because His kingdom will have no end.  Now these are fantastic promises.  This is a humble daughter of Nazareth, which wasn’t exactly the centre of the world.  Mary thought about those promises.  She believed them, because she believed that the Angel was speaking on behalf of God, and of course we know that nothing is impossible with God.  So Mary said, “yes”.  Then she set out on a long journey to visit her cousin Elizabeth.  She also had got good news.  She too was going to give birth to a son and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to Mary, “How happy you are that the Lord’s Message to you will come true.”  I am really happy that you meet faithfully here every week to celebrate the Miraculous Medal devotion.

I imagine that they give you great hope as you recall the various events in the life of Our Lady.  Last October it was my privilege to celebrate Mass at the famous Shrine of the Miraculous Medal in the Rue de Bac in Paris.  It really is a lovely church, always people there lighting candles and praying to Our Lady, asking for her help.  I was particularly impressed by the large number of people from Asia and Africa who were there.  I was very struck by the fact that these people, far away from home, seeking work, often in trouble perhaps, put their trust in Mary.

Mary put her trust in the Lord, absolutely, and not in herself.  And of course she was not disappointed.  Unfortunately today a lot of people are under the illusion that nothing is impossible for them or to them.  All they have got to do, according to themselves, is to set their minds to it and they can do it.  So they flounder underneath this myth.  They believe that they can save themselves and that they can achieve self-fulfilment on their own.  Of course they inevitably are disappointed and defeated in these efforts and the temptation is to give in to pessimism and despair.  It would seem that poor people, who are far away from home, feel threatened or in danger, turn to Mary for help in their valley of tears.  In our moments of sickness and trouble people of faith turn to Mary to give them hope.  Hope is one of the greatest gifts which last.  It is a gift of the Holy Spirit offered to everyone who is open to Christ in faith.  And that is exactly how Mary was, and is.  She was filled with the Holy Spirit because she said yes to becoming the Mother of Christ.  She put her faith in God and in His promises.  She is a model of hope because hope is all about believing in promises and being confident that they can come true.  Nobody can give what they have not got themselves.  Mary gives hope because she has hope.  The cure of all despair is hope, Christian hope.  It is a gift which God offers to everyone who believes, to help us on the journey to everlasting life.  We may never get to Lourdes or Fatima or even Knock but we are all on pilgrimage.  We know that God is calling us to himself.  We know well that we have not yet arrived at the vision of God, but hope spurs us on.  Hope makes us reach into the interior, beyond the veil, beyond the curtain which death draws down.  

Last Sunday, Pentecost, we celebrated the fact that the Holy Spirit came to fulfil the promises made by Christ.  Through the presence of the Holy Spirit we get a taste of future glory.  Come Holy Spirit, fill our hearts and enkindle in them the light of hope.  The Holy Spirit lives and prays and works in the depths of the soul of each one of us.  Filled with the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth said to Mary, “You are the most blessed of all women and blessed is the child you will bear.”  Every time we say the Hail Mary the Holy Spirit inspires us to pray the same prayer.  Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.  The Holy Spirit keeps us from going astray.  The Spirit guides us to see the true purpose of our existence which is to give glory to God in this life so that we may share God’s glory in the next life.

Our devotion to Mary and our hope in her moves us to say with her, My heart praises the Lord, my soul is glad because of God, my Saviour.  That is the cure for our discouragement.

We know that Mary saved a newly-wed couple huge embarrassment at Cana.  The wedding reception risked turning into a fiasco.  They had no wine.  Just imagine being at a wedding in a hotel that had no drink.  Well, Mary came to the rescue by spotting the disaster that was coming down the tracks.  She turned to her son and enlisted his help.  Of course the rest is history.  And down through the centuries people have taken huge hope from those words of Mary, “Do whatever He tells you.”

It was my privilege, during my thirteen years on the staff of the Irish College, to have celebrated hundreds of weddings.  And I am quite sure that every couple that came to be married had high hopes for the future happiness of their life together.  I have met many of those I married, since returning to Ireland, and I am glad to say that very many of them are happily married.  It is a great joy, especially in places like Knock, to meet people from all over Ireland who are happily married.  But, unfortunately, I know there are some who are not and who have gone their separate ways.  Now that must be a devastating experience and it doesn’t have to be that way.  It is not the wine that can run out in a marriage, people’s faith in each other can run short; people’s patience with each other can fail, people can yield to temptation and if forgiveness has run out, well then disaster looms.  So I would say that every couple preparing for marriage should try and develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  He is our only Saviour.  It is His spirit, the spirit of the risen Christ, living in us, praying in us and working in us who can give us all the gifts we need to meet the challenges of life, whether that life is as a married person or a single person, in religious life or in priesthood.  So I am sure, as you pray these devotions you turn to Mary, who got her Son to work that wonderful miracle at Cana.  I am sure that is often in your thoughts.

The last moment in the life of Mary I would like to think about is, the one described in the First Reading.  It described that after Christ had left them and ascended into heaven the disciples went back to Jerusalem, from the Mount of Olives, which is about a half a mile away from the City.  They went on a Sabbath day walk because you weren’t allowed to walk very far on the Sabbath and St Luke is making a point that the apostles were observant Jews and they kept the law.  They entered the City and went up to the room where they were staying; Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James, Simon, Judas, son of James.  They gathered frequently to pray as a group, together with the women and with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.  You see, at Calvary, Jesus had given Mary to John, to be his mother.  John represents all of us.  He represents the whole Church and there Mary is, with the Church, praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit.  We see there that Mary, the Mother of Christ, was present in the Upper Room during the days of preparation for Pentecost.  Just as the birth of Christ is closely related to Mary, so the birth of the Church is linked with her.  The simple statement that she was present in the Upper Room at Pentecost is enough to show us the great importance which Luke could attach to this fact.  In the Upper Room in Jerusalem, Mary, together with the other disciples prepared for a new coming of the Holy Spirit which would mark the birth of the Church.  Yes, she was already a temple of the Holy Spirit by her fullness of grace, by the fact that she was the Mother of God, but she took part in the prayers for the Spirit’s coming again so that through His power there should burst out in the community the energy to carry out the mission which Jesus had received from the Father and had left to His Church.  Jesus had promised to them that when the Spirit would come, they would be filled with power and would be witnesses for Him in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Somaria and to the ends of the world.  The Apostles needed her presence and her devotedness to prayer.  In the prayer with Mary we see her special intercession, her special powers of intercession which she used at Cana.  That power came from the fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  

The Second Vatican Council said that Mary co-operated in the formation of the Apostles, the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, the brothers and sisters of Christ with her motherly love.  The Church, in her turn, from the day of Pentecost by her preaching, brings forth to a new and immortal life the sons and daughters who are born to her in baptism, who are conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of God.  That is the teaching of the Council.  The Church, therefore, by becoming herself a mother in this way looks to the Mother of Christ as her model and that looking towards Mary, the mother of Christ, began in the Upper Room.  We are here this evening looking toward the Mother of Christ for inspiration for an increase of faith and above all for a stronger, more powerful hope.

I was here for the Christmas Message last year with Bishop Harper.  I saw some of the great things which the followers of Christ were doing to mark the compassionate love of Christ in this town.

May the celebration of this Novena in love of Mary, the Mother of Christ, gladden your hearts and fill you with hope.

I welcome you all to St Patrick’s Cathedral Armagh.  I am very grateful to Fr Dermot Maloney, your Chaplain, for organising this visit here and to your Principal and staff who accompany you.  I know you are some of Year Ten in St Paul’s Bessbrook.  

I was just wondering how many of you have been here before, hands up please, and how many are making their first visit?  What is your reaction on seeing this Cathedral?  It was built between 1850 and 1870, roughly about 150 years ago, soon after the Great Famine.  Who do you think paid for this building?  Well actually it was built by your ancestors, the people of this diocese, this city.  Why do you think they built it?  What is the name of this Cathedral?  It is called after St Patrick.  Why do you think they decided to name it St Patrick’s Cathedral instead of St Colman’s or St Peter’s or St Macartan’s?  If you walk around this Cathedral you will see many lovely frescos and lovely paintings of St Patrick himself and St Brigid, St Malachy and St Oliver Plunkett.  I believe this Cathedral was built to thank God for all his goodness to us.  It was built by people who knew that they are precious to God and God has written their names in the palm of His hand as He loved them.  They had come through tough times and they were very thankful to God for having protected them during the famine.  I just wonder, do any of you feel a similar sort of gratitude towards God?   And if not, if the truthful answer is that we don’t, well then we have lost something very precious.  We have lost something which our ancestors felt very strongly.  They knew that they were loved by God, a God who so loved them, and us, that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ.  He gave His life on the Cross for love of us, to save us from our sins.  He was put to death on the Cross but he rose from the dead and he appeared to many of his followers and he said to them, “Go make disciples of all nations.  Baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Teach them to obey what I have commanded you.”  In other words, to keep the Commandments of God.  And then he returned to the right hand of His Father where He pleads for us.  But at the same time He said that He would be with us always, to the end of time.  That is rather mysterious since He has gone to the Father and He also says He is with us.  To make sure that He remains with us He sent the Holy Spirit, His Holy Spirit, the spirit of the living God, the spirit of the Risen Christ.  Yesterday we celebrated that Feast.  We remember that Jesus promised that He would send the Spirit.  I suggest that the reason people called this Cathedral, St Patrick’s Cathedral, and the reason why they painted so many pictures of St Patrick in this Cathedral is because they felt that he had done something very important for us and for our nation.  He brought us the Good News about Jesus Christ.  He told us about Jesus Christ.  He told us that we are precious in the sight of God.  Patrick baptised everywhere he went.  Over here on your left, my right, there is a stained glass window where we see Patrick baptising the daughters of the King of Connacht, down in the baptistery at the back, he is baptising the son of the King of Cashel.  By baptism we share in the life of God.  My first reaction coming in here is to thank God for my baptism.  It happened a long time ago but on that day I got my name.  I was called Seán, after my grandfather and my uncle but I got more than my name, I got new life, a share in God’s life.  The seeds of faith were sown in my soul and ever since that day the Church has been trying to keep those seeds of faith alive.  My faith is my passport to eternal, everlasting heaven.  If you are going abroad the one thing you need is your passport.  You won’t be allowed into another country without your passport.  We all hope to go to heaven after this life and the passport is our faith.  Patrick brought that faith to us.  That is why they built this beautiful Cathedral at such expense to his honour, to his name.

Last week I got a letter from an Irish nun from Tipperary.  She is in Papua New Guinea.  She says, “This letter is coming to you from the ends of the earth, Papua New Guinea, with a pledge of prayers and loving support.”  Her name is Sister Mary Francis.  She is a Missionary of Charity.  They are Mother Teresa Sisters.  We met briefly, in Calcutta, on the day of Mother Teresa’s funeral.

To comfort and console me she quotes some of Mother Teresa’s words, “You are precious to Him.  He loves you and He loves you so tenderly that He carved your name on the palm of His hand.  When your heart feels restless, when you heart feels lost, when you heart feels like breaking, remember I am precious to Him.  He loves me.  He has called me by name, I am His.”  This nun went on, “You are His, the Church is His, the Archdiocese of Armagh is His.  Do not be afraid, Jesus is the good shepherd.  All the past is in His hand, what really happened.”

When I picked up the readings and those of this Mass, which you have chosen and Fr Dermot kindly sent on, I was amazed.  Here I was getting at the same time the same message, from the ends of the earth and from here at home, from St Paul’s Bessbrook, I said to myself.  This is a remarkable connection.  So, I took those texts with me, out to the garden, yesterday evening.  First, I walked about chewing them over, then I sat down, mulling them over, I began by thinking of my own name, John Baptist, given to me after my grandfather, John Brady and my uncle, John Baptist as well.  But the name goes back to before the time of Christ.  John the Baptist was the cousin of Jesus, but he was also the greatest of the prophets of the Old Testament, put to death for his courageous defence of the truth and yet Jesus said that the least in the Kingdom of God revealed by Jesus is greater than John the Baptist.  I find it hard to figure out what exactly that means.  It has to do with the fact that John the Baptist had been put to death before Jesus was put to death.  Therefore he did not live to see Jesus rise from the dead and share in that fantastic victory.

Do you know the reason your parents chose your name for you?  In the ancient world, your name was thought to be more than a tag which distinguished one person from another, the name was thought to tell something of the kind of person he was.  So as I thought about that reading from Isaiah and the Letter from Papua New Guinea I said, I am being given a very powerful message.  I am being reminded by people, from near and far, that I must not be afraid, no matter what.  You and I belong to God, to the God who made us.  He has called us by name, the same as our parents taught us our names, we are not rubbish, but very precious in his sight.  The God who made us is close to us at all times.  He is with us in the depths of our heart.  He is always close to us, but are we always close to Him?

It is hard to believe that it is already 20 years since the death of our beloved Cardinal Tomas O Fiaich in France on the occasion of the Annual Diocesan Lourdes Pilgrimage.  But it is so and, not alone that, his successor, Cardinal Cahal Daly, of course, passed to his eternal reward during the past year.

I am glad the Committee of the O Fiaich Library has organised and sponsored an exhibition and commemoration of the late Cardinal O Fiaich.  It will evoke memories of his life and his achievements and I hope that as many as possible will attend exhibition.  

Tomorrow morning the famous RTE Radio broadcaster, Donnagh O Dulihan will lay a wreath at the grave of his friend, Cardinal O Fiaich.  Donnagh is taking part in a sponsored walk for the Irish Wheelchair Association.  The Walk consists of re-enacting the journey travelled by the Earls O’Neill and O’Donnell from their surrender at Mellifont down through Louth, Armagh, Tyrone and on to Donegal where they board the ship for Europe.  I think Donnagh and his companions are then going to walk the final stages to Rome later in the summer.

Of course the Annual Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes begins next Wednesday.  There is a certain amount of concern due to the presence of this volcanic ash in the atmosphere.  As you know, a lot of people look forward to this annual pilgrimage to the shrine to remember Mary, especially the sick and the housebound.  So I ask your prayers that this pilgrimage may take place – that everybody may get there safely – and more importantly, get home safely.  

Finally, last week I was up in Crossmaglen where they were celebrating the 175th anniversary of the opening of the Church of St Patrick.  A lovely booklet was published to mark that occasion.  There was an article in it in which Deirdre O Fiaich recalled the memory of her beloved brother-in-law, Cardinal Tomas.  She told of his great love for his family and how he loved to come home and visit the family and call to see the neighbours and talk with them.  There are some lovely family photographs – photographs of Confirmation days with his nephew and niece.  

It was that mention of home that it came to mind for me as we read this evening’s Gospel.  It is the night before Jesus suffered and he is in the company of his disciples.  There Jesus makes this fantastic promise – ‘If anyone loves me – he will keep my word and my Father will love him.  We shall come and make our home’.  

Home is one of the loveliest words in the English language.  ‘Make yourself at home ‘– our first day at school is always a memorable day.  The first day away from home – away from the familiar – away from mother and father and in the company of strangers.  So, when Jesus said that he and the Father will love us, and come to us, and make their home with us, it is something wonderful.

What makes home special?  It is the place where those who love us are!  That is why it is important to consider what home means to us in our lives.  
•    Do we pay enough attention to the people who live there?  
•    Do we ever take them for granted?
•    Do we play our part and make our contribution to ensure that there is a happy atmosphere in our home

And so, this evening I want to thank the Lord Jesus for his great love for me.  Despite the fact that he knew that his passion and death was facing him – staring him in the face – and later on that night he would pray momentarily to have the chalice of suffering removed – nevertheless, he is thinking primarily of his disciples.  He promises them, and through them, he promises us, that if we keep his word and keep his commandments, then he, and the Father, will love us.  Not only this, they love us in any case but if we respond to their love by keeping the commandments, they will come to us and they will make their home with us.  I think we should all listen carefully to understand what exactly that means.

We should all take on board the fact that we are loved by God.  What an honour?  What a privilege?  We cannot ever fully understand it.  That is why the Lord Jesus promised to send the Advocate – the Holy Spirit – our Defender.  He said he would send us another Advocate – He himself is our First Advocate.  The word ‘Advocate’ or Paraclete literally means the one who hears the cry.  Like the parent who hears the cry of the child in the middle of the night and responds to that cry – Jesus is our First Defender – the one who hears our cry for help.  That is why what is known as the Jesus Prayer has been so prophetic down through the centuries.  It goes like this:

Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God
Be merciful to me a sinner

In this Gospel Jesus says that the father will send another Advocate namely, the Holy Spirit – after he shall have gone.  The Holy Spirit will come in the name of Jesus.  The Holy Spirit will teach them everything and remind them of all that Jesus had said to them.  The result was that after Jesus had ascended to Heaven – the disciples retired to the Upper Room with Mary – the Mother of Jesus – and there they prayed night and day for the coming of the New Paraclete – Advocate – Counsellor.  

Next Thursday is Ascension Thursday but we will celebrate it on Sunday next.  Pentecost comes on the following Sunday.  I appeal to all of you for a New Pentecost for each and every one of us.

We all need the Holy Spirit to come to us often.  I pray the Holy Spirit every single day to enkindle the fire of love in my heart and to fill my head with wisdom and to give me the Spirit of courage to actually do what I know I should do.

The Spirit comes in Confirmation in a special way.  We had a lovely Confirmation ceremony in Omeath today.  Tomorrow will be Keady and in two weeks time it will be here in Armagh.  I ask you to pray for all these children that they, and their parents, will prepare for Confirmation.

I was in Kilkenny last night and a lady came to me after the Talk to plead with me to try and insist that we all prepare better for the sacraments and not be giving them out as if we were giving out sweets.

We live in an era of the Holy Spirit.  In other words, the Spirit of the Risen Christ is the person who ensures that Christ will be with his Church forever.

Jesus promised peace to us.  If we are not at peace we should ask the Spirit to give us peace and joy and love.  But maybe we should ask ourselves why we are not at peace.  Might it be because we are not keeping the Word, that is, the commandments of the Lord.  That is the literal test of our love.  Jesus tells us not to be afraid, yet our hearts are troubled and we are afraid.  Love drives out fear.  I tell you the truth.  It is to your advantage that I go away for if I do not go away the Counsellor will not come to you.

Mary and the disciples gathered in the Upper Room.  We will, please God, gather in Church to beg the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit not just for the children being confirmed but for ourselves.  

We are in the Easter season.  In Lent we recalled the tribulations in which we now have.  But in this season – the season of Easter – we recall the happiness which will be ours hereafter.  The Lord’s resurrection and glorification reveal to us the life which is destined to be our Heaven.  Tonight we pray that Cardinal O Fiaich is already enjoying this happiness but we also remind ourselves that to enter that happiness we must remember that Cardinal Tomás has already made that journey.

With my recent health scare I got a timely reminder that I too must die and that we should always be ready.

When I spoke to Bishop Freeman earlier this week, I asked if there was any volcanic ash cloud hovering over Kilkenny.  His reply was clear and emphatic.  “No, definitely not” He said, “The only ash that concerns Kilkenny people is the ash in the camans with which they hope to win more titles this year.

I am honoured to have been asked to speak here tonight.  I congratulate all concerned with the organisation of this timely initiative.  It is good that, from time to time, we reflect even on the most sacred, important and most familiar institutions of our life.  

I am glad to be here in Kilkenny and in the diocese of Ossory.  I attended St. Patrick’s College, Cavan for my secondary education.  I was taught there by a Maths teacher who was a Kilkenny man and therefore I presume a past pupil of some of the academies of Ossory.  He was famous for his colourful language and his witticisms and, as he was teaching in an era before affirmation became an important value, they may seem, by today’s standards, as a little bit harsh.

To a classmate who was not exactly too fast on the mathematical calculations, he offered this career guidance– ‘go out and join a bank; preferably a turf bank’.  To those tempted to back horses he advised:  “The only sure way of making money following horses is with a shovel and a bucket”.  

One summer when he returned and saw his class programme, which was not to his liking, he said, “It is true what the Greeks said:  Those whom the Gods wish to destroy they first make mad”.

In 1957 I again met some of the people educated in the Catholic schools of Ossory such as Seamus McEvoy when I went to St Patrick’s College, Maynooth.  In  1960 I transferred to the Irish College in Rome and there I met people such as Tom Norris and Jim Cassin, who is here this evening.  In 1967 I joined the staff of St. Patrick’s College, Cavan and I was put teaching French.  Since my French was not exactly fluent – I remember coming here to St Kieran’s College, Kilkenny to do a refresher course in French sometime in the 1970s.  I am glad to have Mr John Curtis on the panel this evening.  I have very pleasant memories of our encounters in previous chapters of our existence.

I welcome the presence of Michelle Cullinane from Loreto, Kilkenny.  I have had many links with the Loreto Sisters down through the years.  My only sister was educated and teaches in a Loreto school.  My niece studied in a Loreto school. It just shows that when you go reflecting on the Catholic school you discover how things are fite fuaite tre na ceile.

AN EXTRAORDINARY KILKENNY MAN

I am particularly delighted to open this Conference on Catholic Schools in the week in which the Church celebrates the memory of Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice.  I am honoured to do so here in Kilkenny, his native county, and in Ossory, his native diocese.  Blessed Edmund, as we all know, was a man of enormous energy and vision. He had the ability to see and respond to the most pressing needs of his day. A successful businessman, he understood the importance of profit and entrepreneurial skill. A man of deep faith, he realised that profit and skill are not ends in themselves. He understood that the fiscal economy only has value when it is at the service of the human economy. He realised that personal skill finds its greatest fulfilment in collaboration with others, for the good of all. And so, as you know, he invested his hard -earned wealth in setting others free – free from deprivation, free to become all that God called them to be. He did this by giving young people one of the most valuable and humanising gifts of all – an education rooted in the message of Jesus Christ.

As we open this Conference on Catholic schools today I think it is worth recalling the vision and commitment of this extraordinary Kilkenny man. It is worth remembering that tremendous time in Irish history when God raised up a host of outstanding Irish women and men who gave their lives and their wealth to founding Catholic schools in this country. I am thinking of course of outstanding women like Catherine McAuley, Nano Nagle and Mary Aikenhead as well as Edmund Rice.

Even though later on some darnel grew among the wheat and the legacy of the many may have, in some cases, been tarnished by the sinful and criminal activities of the few, nevertheless, the overwhelming contribution of Catholic education in this country has been enormously positive. Your presence here today, your schools, the happy, confident pupils in your classrooms are ample evidence of that.

THE CATHOLIC SCHOOL – A BEACON OF HOPE

We have every reason to celebrate our Catholic schools. We have every reason to be confident in the future of Catholic education and its importance for our society. We have every reason to believe that God is faithful.  God still offers his charism of teaching and inspiring others to hosts of very talented Irish lay women and men who teach in our schools today. The cultural setting has changed and has changed enormously.  The blackboards may have been replaced by whiteboards and some books by computers and ‘i-pads’, but the fundamental mission remains the same. We are artisans of a new reality, architects of new possibilities for our pupils and for our world. We are builders of the Kingdom of God, of a world rooted in justice and love. We are bearers of hope – of eternal hope – a hope which saves.  For only hope can save us from the emptiness, the superficiality and the temptation to despair which seems to be increasingly gripping our society, including young people, more aggressively in recent years. We are heralds of the Word of life, people who proclaim the Good News that Jesus Christ has come so that we may have life and have it to the full.

TREASURE IN EARTHENWARE VESSELS

In all of this every Catholic educator is a steward of Christ’s mission to the world. We, together, lay faithful, priests, bishops and religious are stewards of a great treasure given to us by Jesus Christ on trust. In spite of the fragility of the earthenware vessels which hold this treasure – and we all experience that fragility at times – we are called to share that treasure with the whole of creation, with the rest of the world.

STEWARDS OF A SACRED TRUST

In recent times the setting up of various Trusts is a feature of the educational scene.  But for teachers of the faith, I think the notion of stewardship is particularly important. A steward is someone who has been given responsibility to protect and nurture something on behalf of someone else. When we speak of stewardship of Catholic education we are talking about a mission we have received.  We have received a sacred trust from Jesus Christ.  The Risen Christ called his followers to ‘go out and teach all nations’. We are also talking about a sacred trust which has been given to us by the community of Christ’s believers, the Church, to continue Christ’s mission of justice, mercy and love in the world.

We are also talking about stewardship of a sacred trust given to us by parents.  I refer to those who wish to have their children educated in a school community defined and inspired by Catholic faith and values on a daily basis. Parents, whatever their denominational background, have a right to have their children educated in accordance with their religious convictions.
This right is recognised in international instruments of human rights, including the European Convention on Human Rights. Catholic schools have a duty to respond to that right conscientiously. Trustees, Boards of Management, Principals, teachers and supporting staff, we all have a duty to ensure the Catholic ethos and identity is a key feature of the life and mission of our schools. This is an identity which is specifically characterised by respect, love and justice for all. It is an ethos based on the vision of a peaceful world and a selfless concern for others modelled on Jesus in the Gospels.  

We are also talking about a whole estate of schools.  The right to establish them was only won after a hard struggle.  The finances were raised from a poor but generous faithful.  The Trustees have been given control of the administration of those schools in trust, with a legal obligation to deploy them for the purposes specified.  

ETHOS ADDS VALUE

It flows from this that Catholic schools have a right to have teachers, staff and management boards who will respect and support the Catholic character and mission of their school. This does not mean that every member of staff has to be a perfect Catholic or indeed to be a Catholic at all.  What it does mean is that the school requires an environment that supports and encourages its ideal and its values.

The values of a particular system of education are fundamental to that system and to its effectiveness. Time and time again research confirms that ‘Ethos adds value’ to a school. Catholic ethos adds value to the educational experience of a child, not just in terms of academic performance but in terms of the complete development of the person.  Perhaps that is why Sam Miller, a prominent Jew in the Cleveland area of the USA, could say in March 2008 “Needless to say that Catholic Education at this time stands head and shoulders above every other form of education that we have in this country and costs approximately 30% less”.  That is why, in my opinion too, that Catholic schools are in demand world-wide and are often over-subscribed.

GENUINE PLURALISM

We should never have to apologise for our Catholic convictions. We should never have to apologise for insisting that our rights as a community of faith are respected and treated on the same basis as others. This is what we should expect from a society which claims to respect pluralism, diversity and the rights of all.

THE RIGHT TO KNOW THAT GOD LOVES US

One right I believe we should particularly cherish as people of faith is the right of a child to know and to love God. Children also have a right – to know God’s love for them. They have a right to receive the truth and life which God offers them in the Sacred Scriptures, in the sacraments and in prayer. If we really believe that Jesus Christ reveals the whole truth about the human person, then children have a right to receive that truth. If we really believe that the message of Jesus Christ is the key to a better world and the source of our eternal hope, then children have a right to be part of a school community in which Jesus and his message are lived, respected and promoted. Children also have a right to worship God as part of their daily activity. They have a right to be trained and formed in the worship and prayer of the faith community to which they belong.

SHINING A TORCH ON THE MEANING OF LIFE

Every education, worth its salt, must, at least, ask the fundamental questions about the meaning of life.  Jesus came that all may have life, and have it to the full.  Surely this includes shining a torch on what life is all about.  What is its purpose?  Why are we here?  Is it simply to seek pleasure at all costs or to find our happiness in giving glory to God? – our first beginning and our last end.  In fact, that discovery could transform not alone the individual human life of the pupil; it could, in fact, through them, transform the wider society which they hope to build.

AUTHENTIC WORSHIP

Renewing our stewardship of Catholic schools has to involve renewing our commitment to respecting and promoting the right of children in our schools to be led and formed in authentic worship of God in the Catholic tradition. This is not some optional extra. Children and their parents have a right to expect a Catholic school to provide children with a formation in prayer and worship. That is why I make a special appeal to you as leaders of your school community – pupils, teachers, parents, principals, members of Board of Management who lead – I ask you to reflect seriously and with commitment on this essential part of our shared duty of stewardship. A Catholic school without worship and prayer is a contradiction in terms. It is also a school which is failing in its fundamental obligation to parents and children.

My hope is that the same attention will always be given to excellence in worship as is given to excellence in academic or sporting performances.  There are also wonderful and very laudable efforts made to teach music, elocution and drama and I wish that pupils would be encouraged to place their musical talents and their speaking talents and their acting talents at the service of their local community and in their parishes at weekly worship.  There is no higher service to be given.

THE NEW ARENAS OF EDUCATION

“Let this mind be in you” St. Paul tells us “that was in Christ Jesus”.  It would seem to me important for anyone involved in Catholic education to ask what is the mindset of Christ regarding children?  Why so?  So that parents and teachers and priests and religious and all involved in the Catholic school may strive themselves to understand and embody that mindset.  Nobody can give to another, what they have not got themselves. It would seem that the mind of Christ in regard to children is that they be initiated and formed into the same mindset of loving compassion that he himself displayed towards all that he met.  

Why did Jesus say of children – “of such are the Kingdom of Heaven”.  It was, in my opinion, because children are his brothers and sisters. They are people who can reveal the face and the heart of Christ.  

Traditionally we speak of the family, the State and the Parish as the main players in the education of children – both in and beyond the school.  But nowadays what about the peer group, the media and the market?  In addition to the home and the school, the school yard and the shopping Mall must be recognised as dynamic arenas of education.  Today in Ireland many children are vulnerable – very vulnerable in a number of ways.  They can sometimes become a quasi pawn in quite a different game than Jesus ever had in mind.  

They can be very vulnerable to the pressures of the market and indeed to the pressures of the peer group, with its role-models, power persons and in language.  Then there are elements in our society anxious to exploit the vulnerability of children and to exploit for their own interests, usually profit, the preoccupation of children with such things as style and fashion.

I imagine that the Catholic school is well aware of that vulnerability.  At every Confirmation ceremony I see the great goodness, earnestness and innocence of those being confirmed.  I would urge all concerned in education – parents, teachers and parish – to do all in your power to protect that goodness and innocence.  In a sense I see the role of the sponsor at Confirmation as pledging the help of the community to protect that innocence and earnestness and goodness.

I return to the example of Edmund Rice.  At the age of 40 he saw that the poor and marginalised children of Waterford City were vulnerable to the danger of losing their faith and being subjected to a life of poverty and degradation.  As a parent himself, with a daughter with special needs – his heart was moved to compassion. So he first of all devoted himself to a life of prayer for the preservation of their faith. Then he established a makeshift school in a converted stable in New Street in Waterford City.  But soon he saw that this was not enough.  The children proved so difficult to manage that the teachers resigned.  But Edmund was not defeated or daunted or disheartened.  He sold his thriving business and devoted himself to training teachers who would dedicate their lives to prayers and to teaching the children, free of charge.  Educational expertise plus the life of prayer and generous sacrifice gave better results.

As I reflect on my own education and experiences of school – I now appreciate the immense part played by the sacrifices made by my parents and siblings and the expertise of teachers to help me on the road of life.

THE POOR

The link with society, with the local parish, the local community and the wider world has been a constant hallmark of Catholic schools. We must work to strengthen and enhance these links at every possible opportunity.  It is vital that our schools also forge links with local organisations which are in the business of helping the less well off, the stranger and the needy.

Solidarity with the poor always appeals to young Irish people.  I have visited many schools where there are magnificent initiatives towards Africa, South America and Eastern Europe.  I know that many teachers and pupils have gone there.  People have fasted to raise funds. They have come up with creative and ingenious ways of raising money and involving people in support and giving that only teachers and young people can.  It is important that we recognise and celebrate this essential dimension of the Catholic school. The John Paul II Awards system, for example, which was introduced in the diocese of Derry, and is now in the diocese of Dromore and Armagh, rewards young people who carry out, into their parishes and local communities, the practice of what they learn from the Catholic ethos of their school.  This programme has caught the imagination of hundreds of pupils in these schools and in these dioceses.  I think it is a very imaginative and praiseworthy way of involving people, bridging school and parish, to the mutual advantage of both.
Catholic schools will continue to play a vital role in civic life if they continue to exemplify, in an outstanding way, how to be better citizens by being better Christians. That is, Christians who are prepared to engage fully in building a more cohesive, responsible and caring society and who are willing to commit themselves to work for the common good.  

LINKS BETWEEN HOME AND SCHOOL

Developing a mutually supportive relationship between parents, the home and the school is also a critical dimension of the Catholic School. Parents are the first educators of their children and the Church recognises that the primary right and responsibility for the education of children rests with them. There is a real danger however, that parents will somehow feel excluded or left merely on the periphery of their child’s education, especially as schools become so comprehensive in the range of curricular and extra curricular opportunities they provide for children.

There is equally a danger that parents might abdicate important areas of responsibility for their child’s education and formation to the school which properly belong to them, including their critical role in spiritual and moral formation. It is so easy to fall into the trap of ‘leaving these things to the experts’ in the school when in fact Catholic education in particular respects and is built upon a partnership between the home, the school and the community of faith. It is important that both parents and the school develop effective ways of supporting each other in this shared and vital task.

FUTURE EDUCATIONAL PROVISION

Some people ask me why I am so anxious to ensure that we keep our Catholic schools. Would it not be easier to have a Church – a community of faith – without them? Well, let me make it clear that I do not believe we should have Catholic schools simply for the sake of having them.  As I have said before, and as other Bishops have been at pains to point out, the belief that Catholic Church wants to manage as many schools as it can, irrespective of parental demands, is unfounded.

The Church is willing to be a constructive and enthusiastic partner in the debate about future educational provision. The Church recognises that changes in the religious demography of our society make it necessary to look at relinquishing ownership of some Catholic schools.  Therefore it will be necessary to look at new models of shared provision in some cases and in other cases to consider how existing Catholic schools can accommodate diversity more effectively.

What is needed is a constructive dialogue based on a realistic assessment of needs and resources. The historic development of ownership of schools and the right of parents to have their choices for the education of their child respected as much as possible must also be considered. If it is a dialogue based on mutual respect and a genuine concern for the rights of parents and children, then there is scope for a wide range of new and creative possibilities. If it is a dialogue which respects the right of Catholic parents to have Catholic schools on the same basis as other groups of parents then I am confident the Catholic Trustees will continue to be a constructive and flexible participant in the dialogue.

Often this is also true in regard to the wider issues affecting our society as it is about education.

It would be enormously helpful if we could all move beyond the superficial caricatures and prejudices which have contributed to something of a false stand-off between faith, politics and culture in Ireland in recent years. There is too much at stake. At this critical moment in our nation’s history, we would benefit from a new, more mature and mutually respectful collaboration between all who can help build a more cohesive, just and sustainable recovery both of our fiscal and of our social economy. Catholic schools have a vital part to play in this recovery. They are a critical part of a society in search of a new realism and balance between the excesses of the Celtic tiger on the one hand and a historic memory of poverty on the other.

THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN FAITH AND CULTURE

In many other parts of the western world, the dialogue between faith, culture and politics has recently taken on a new and more constructive dynamic. The lines of legitimate autonomy and distinction between them are becoming clearer while the possibility of mutual engagement in support of a sustainable economic framework and greater human solidarity is more widely accepted.

I fear that Ireland will lag behind in this important move towards a more constructive engagement with Churches and faith communities. There is reluctance on the part of many in Ireland to talk about faith, to work or meet openly with Churches or to support the legitimate social, legal and ethical concerns of communities of faith. It is as if the fear of criticism from those who would wish to see all religion relegated to the private sphere overrides the legitimate democratic interests of people of faith. There is no significant and ongoing dialogue between the Churches and the main political parties about issues of common concern or interest. This probably reflects as much a lack of urgency and organisation on the part of Churches and faith communities as its does a lack of willingness of political parties to engage. Either way, it is a great pity. We could benefit so much from communicating with each other face to face in a structured dialogue.  I cannot help but note the more active and constructive approach of the main political parties in Northern Ireland to dialogue and partnership with Churches and faith groups.

The Catholic school is a good example of living and lively intersection of faith, culture and the social and moral issues of the day. Catholic schools are not – as some in certain quarters would like to portray – places of staid conformity and arid religiosity. They are vibrant communities of ideas and ideals permeated by the hope and possibility of the Gospel message for the world.

A man of worldly success and competence, Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice was an outstanding Catholic lay man – an example to any Christian businessman today. A dedicated teacher, he became the inspiration for generations of lay teachers, religious brothers and young people in Ireland and abroad.

In wishing you well with your Conference on Catholic schools this evening, I commend his energy and his enthusiasm to you as a guide and inspiration. I also commend to you one of his contemporaries from another land, Don John Bosco, the founder of the Salesian Order. Among his many gifts, Don Bosco was said to have the gift of dreams.  Dreams in the Sacred Scriptures can be one of God’s ways of helping us to see the new and unimagined possibilities of the future. The aim of Catholic education is to help every child to catch a glimpse of the dream which God has for them and for their part in the world. It is to help them see a horizon of possibility which sets them free from all that brings death to the mind, to the heart, to the body and to the soul. To be really part of a Catholic school is to be committed to nurturing that dream. It means being committed to becoming all that God has called us to be. And with that in mind, I leave you with the words of St. Paul to the Philippians, words that I have often thought of as the perfect charter for both teacher and pupil in a Catholic School:

‘Finally, brothers, fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be thought worthy of virtuous or worthy of praise. Keep doing all of these things that you have learnt and been taught…. Then the God of peace will be with you.’ (Philippians 4:8-9).

Thank you and enjoy the rest of your evening.

I first came to know Bishop Francis Gerard Brooks around 1975.  He was then President of St Coleman’s College, Newry – where his many fine administrative qualities served him admirably.  He had earlier been appointed President by Bishop Eugene O’Doherty after many years of dedicated teaching.  

I always found Bishop Brooks to be a very cordial and warm person.  He was kind and interested in people’s stories and history.  He was also an engaging person who loved to meet people with links to the Diocese of Dromore.

An avid reader, on a variety of subjects, he had a particular interest in the history of his own diocese.  

Bishop Brooks loved his vocation as a priest.  This was never more apparent than when he was celebrating the Eucharist and preaching the Word of God.  He believed firmly in the power of prayer.

Bishop Brooks had a great devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes and he enjoyed leading the Annual Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes.  There he would spend a lot of time with the sick and the assisted pilgrims.  Two years ago he made his last pilgrimage to Lourdes which he really enjoyed despite his failing health.  In fact, ministering to the sick was an outstanding part of Bishop Brooks’ ministry.  He gave great emphasis to the care of the sick – it was very much a feature of his preaching, especially at priestly ordinations.

Bishop Brooks worked for many years as Chairman of the Finance and General Purposes Committee of the Irish Episcopal Conference up to his retirement in 1999.  In this capacity he was a diligent and conscientious servant of the Conference.  His excellent understanding of finance and administration was a valuable asset in the efficient functioning of the Conference.  He oversaw the transfer of the staff and offices of the agencies and commissions of the Conference to Maynooth and he did so with grace and sensitivity.

Bishop Brooks was very close to his brother, Brian with whom he lived after retirement.  He was very dedicated also to his nephews and nieces who cared for him with wonderful devotion and attention and to them and his extended family, I offer my sympathy.

May his soul, and the souls of the faithful departed, rest in peace. Amen.