Statement of Archbishop Eamon Martin on the publication of the report by the Commission of Inquiry into Mother & Baby Homes

“Above all we must continue to find ways of reaching out to those whose personal testimonies are central to this Report”

Archbishop Eamon

I welcome the publication of the Mother & Baby Homes Report. As a Church leader today, I accept that the Church was clearly part of that culture in which people were frequently stigmatized, judged and rejected. For that, and for the long-lasting hurt and emotional distress that has resulted, I unreservedly apologise to the survivors and to all those who are personally impacted by the realities it uncovers. Mindful of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which calls us to protect life and dignity and to treat everyone – especially little children and all who are vulnerable – with love, compassion and mercy, I believe the Church must continue to acknowledge before the Lord and before others its part in sustaining what the Report describes as a “harsh … cold and uncaring atmosphere”.

Although it may be distressing, it is important that all of us spend time in the coming days reflecting on this Report which touches on the personal story and experience of many families in Ireland. The Commission’s Report helps to further open to the light what was for many years a hidden part of our shared history and it exposes the culture of isolation, secrecy and social ostracizing which faced “unmarried mothers” and their children in this country.

I ask all those who are in positions of leadership in the Church to study this lengthy report carefully and especially to spend time reflecting on the courageous testimonies of the witnesses to the Commission. Together we must ask “How could this happen?” We must identify, accept and respond to the broader issues which the Report raises about our past, present and future.

Above all we must continue to find ways of reaching out to those whose personal testimonies are central to this Report. They have shown determination in bringing to light this dark chapter in the life of Church and society. We owe it to them to take time to study and reflect on the findings and recommendations of the Report, and commit to doing what we can to help and support them. The Report makes it clear that many are still learning about their personal stories and searching for family members. The rights of all survivors to access personal information about themselves should be fully respected and I again urge the State to ensure that any remaining obstacles to information and tracing should be overcome.

The Commission believes that there may be people with further information about burial places who have not come forward. I appeal to anyone who can help to do so. All burial grounds should be identified and appropriately marked so that the deceased and their families will be recognized and never be forgotten.

This Report will hopefully speak not just to our past but will also have lessons for today and for future generations. As Church, State and wider society we must ensure together that, in the Ireland of today, all children and their mothers feel wanted, welcomed and loved. We must also continue to ask ourselves where people today might feel similarly rejected, abandoned, forgotten or pushed to the margins.

This report will stir many emotions as it further uncovers disturbing and painful truths about our past. I commend those who have fought to have this story told and I thank those who have already been supporting survivors through various organisations and providing a platform for their voices to be heard.

Archbishop Eamon Martin

Catholic Bishops of Northern Ireland: “As many people as possible stay at home for the sake of health, life and the Common Good”

“Faith and prayer can be a tremendous support to individuals and society during these difficult times”

Statement

Following further briefing today by the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Scientific Officer, and in consultation with The Executive Office, we are very concerned at the current serious public health position in which Northern Ireland finds itself: with the extremely high level of transmission of the Covid-19 virus; the continuing escalation of numbers in hospital and intensive care; the number of associated deaths; and, the increasingly unsustainable pressure on our healthcare staff. The clear message from health officials is that this situation is going to worsen significantly over the coming weeks.

We recognise the efforts of so many in our parishes who have been working to ensure that our gatherings for public worship are as safe as possible and we welcome the continuing engagement between the faith communities and the NI Executive which has led to consensus between us on the importance of people being able to gather in person for worship. At this time, however, we acknowledge and support the unequivocal message from public health authorities that the movement and gathering of people should be minimised and that as many people as possible stay at home for the sake of health, life and the Common Good.

In light of our ongoing consultations and of the current serious and worsening situation, and in line with clear public health guidance that people should stay at home, we have decided that for a limited period (from midnight on Thursday 7 January until Saturday 6 February 2021, subject to review in late January), the celebration of the Eucharist and other liturgies should take place without the physical presence of the faithful – with the exception of marriage, funeral, baptismal liturgies and drive-in services (subject to regulations). Arrangements for recording and/or livestreaming, and making individual visits for private prayer are also permissible in accordance with regulations. We encourage parishes, where possible, to continue to broadcast the celebration of Mass – and other devotions and prayer services – online and on other media, knowing that faith and prayer can be a tremendous support to individuals and society during these difficult times.

We make this decision reluctantly, conscious that not being able to gather for public worship can cause pain for all the faithful, but in the hope that this limited period of sacrifice will be for the protection of life and health and for the greater good of all. We once more ask for prayers for the sick, the bereaved and all those whose livelihoods have been particularly impacted by the pandemic. We keep in our prayers all health workers, carers, chaplains and other essential workers. We welcome the announcement that a similar position is being taken by the leaders of the Church of Ireland, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Methodist Church in Ireland and many other denominations and faith communities in response to the unequivocal message from public health authorities that as many people as possible stay at home at this time.

Most Rev Eamon Martin DD
Archbishop of Armagh & Primate of All-Ireland
Apostolic Administrator of Dromore

Most Rev Noel Treanor DD
Bishop of Down and Connor

Most Rev Donal McKeown DD
Bishop of Derry

Most Rev Larry Duffy DD
Bishop of Clogher

Most Rev Michael Router DD
Auxiliary Bishop of Armagh

Homily for World Day of Peace 2021 and New Year message

Archbishop Eamon Martin thanks frontline workers for their “amazing works of mercy” during 2020

“2021 marks the centenary of a year that led to increased separation, discord and polarisation of relationships on this island … All the more reason, then, for us to commit to looking out for each other, developing greater mutual understanding and to building that culture of care.”

Archbishop Eamon Martin

Homily Text

“Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go…”

When the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote those words from In Memoriam back in 1850, he could never have imagined how appropriate they would sound to people today. At the time he was mourning the sudden death of his closest friend and he hoped the New Year bells would, as he put it, “Ring out the grief that saps the mind”.

A century and a half later, many of us are hoping that 2021 will see the end of the pandemic that has disrupted life for almost a year now. I remember last January encouraging a group of final-year students to have high hopes for 2020: “Have 2020 vision for yourselves and for the world”, I told them. Little did I realise that within months their schools would be shut, their final exams cancelled and their leaving Masses forced online. Many of them have already spent a whole term of college life studying and socialising from laptops in university halls or at home.

Like those young people, many others will be happy to “ring out” the year that has been marked by upset plans, postponed celebrations, jobs and livelihoods threatened, dreams put on hold. We pray today, as Tennyson did, for a brighter future in this New Year:

“Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be”.

The Gospel Acclamation in today’s Mass, taken from the Letter to the Hebrews, reminds us to be alert for God’s work in the events of history:

“At various times in the past
and in various different ways,
God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but in our own time, the last days, he has spoken to us through his Son” (Heb 1:1-2).

What might the voice of the Lord be saying to us through the experience of this pandemic? How might God be challenging our priorities, exposing our weaknesses and vulnerabilities, pointing to our strengths and opening our eyes to possibilities for a fairer, safer and more fulfilled future for all?

In his message for today, the World Day of Peace, Pope Francis suggests that the COVID-19 crisis has been aggravating world crises, “like those of the climate, food, the economy and migration, and causing great suffering and hardship”. He hopes that “the coming year will enable humanity to advance on the path of fraternity, justice and peace between individuals, communities, peoples and nations”.

For Pope Francis, the pandemic is teaching us “how important it is to care for one another and for creation”. He entitles his message for today: “A Culture of Care as a Path to Peace”. He sees a ‘Culture of Care’ as “the way to combat the culture of indifference, waste and confrontation (that is) so prevalent in our time”.

The most positive memory I will cherish of the year 2020 is of how the power of love and care was able to overcome isolation, loneliness, suffering, despair and negativity. I will treasure a “2020 vision” of goodness, kindness, generosity and courage shown by neighbours, volunteers, doctors, nurses, chaplains and other carers; by teachers, shop-workers, clergy and so many others who devoted themselves to keeping our essential services going. Their amazing “works of mercy” were concrete expressions of the compassion, love and hope of Christ ringing out in our communities and world.

Pope Francis argues that to build a “culture of care” is the only way to overcome the great challenges of today. He offers four principles, inspired by the Gospel, to act like a “compass”, pointing us in the direction of a “more humane future” for our world. These are: commitment to promoting the dignity of each human person; solidarity with the poor and vulnerable; the pursuit of the common good; and, concern for protection of creation.

Creating a culture of care in this way means “listening for the cry of the poor and the cry of creation”. It ensures we never reduce people to “mere statistics”, but instead we love them as our neighbours, our brothers and sisters. We are moved to showing tenderness and compassion for those in our world who suffer the worst effects of COVID-19 or climate change and yet who have least access to water and other resources, to quality health services and life-saving vaccines.

This past year we have come to realise more than ever that, as a human family sharing this planet, we are interconnected and interdependent. Building a ‘culture of care’ will encourage us to continue to make sacrifices, to wear face coverings, cancel plans and celebrations when necessary to protect life, to keep a safe distance in order to promote the Common Good. At the height of the pandemic back in March, Pope Francis vividly described the importance of care and fraternity when he stood alone in Saint Peter’s Square and led the world in an extraordinary moment of prayer. He said: “We are in the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and needed, all of us called to row together”, since “no one reaches salvation by themselves”.

It reminds me today of other lines from Tennyson’s poem:
“Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times…”

“Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good”.

“Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace”.

Here in Ireland the New Year Bells call us to face with faith, hope and love, what is likely to be another difficult year in tackling the coronavirus. 2021 also marks the centenary of a year that led to increased separation, discord and polarisation of relationships on this island. 2021 will bring its own new challenges to relationships and prosperity arising from the implementation of Brexit. All the more reason, then, for us to commit to looking out for each other, developing greater mutual understanding and to building that culture of care, tenderness and compassion that will be our sure compass and guide along the Path of Peace.

Archbishop Eamon Martin’s homily for Mass on the Feast of the Holy Family

A couple of years ago the family of world famous poet Seamus Heaney found a long-lost unpublished poem of his called A Christmas Rhyme which he had privately written and shared with them as a gift. Like all of our families, the Heaney family had their own Christmas rituals and Seamus’ poem describes how they would do “the rounds”, year after year, of visiting aunties and uncles, setting down memories for life of family characters, kindnesses, love and Christmas cheer.

Someone said to me the other day “sure isn’t Christmas all about family?” But we are all conscious that this year, with the restrictions, there has been much sadness and disappointment in many families that loved ones have been unable to travel home. Many of the usual family “get-togethers”, customs and visits have been curtailed or disrupted completely, or gone virtual, or simply treasured and stored away again in the memory until next year, please God.

At the heart of the Christmas season the Church has placed today’s feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Of course all three have their own individual special days throughout the year in the Church’s calendar, but today they are placed together – in their “bubble” (so to speak) – so that we can think of them as a unit, a household of love.

Today’s feast is not that old in the Church’s history – it will be a hundred years next year, 2021, since Pope Benedict XV declared it as a feast for the Universal Church. But devotion to the Holy Family of Nazareth goes back centuries and the Coptic Christians in Egypt can trace it back to the earliest days of Christianity – probably because it was to Egypt that the Holy Family fled, like refugees, from the threats of King Herod.

In the prayers at Mass today we are encouraged to make the Holy Family of Nazareth a model and an inspiration for our family. Not the easiest thing to do, I suppose, for we know so little about what the life of Jesus, Mary and Joseph was like. Apart from the Christmas stories we get only fleeting glimpses in the Gospels – like today’s Gospel story of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, or the one about the time the Holy Family went up to Jerusalem when He was twelve years old. Otherwise we have to rely on our religious imagination to fill in the gaps.

What was life like for Jesus, Mary and Joseph? They did nothing to attract attention or make the news. No doubt, like ourselves, they had family routines, customs, favourite pastimes – I wonder what their home looked like? Sometimes the Holy Family has been presented in devotional literature as an idyllic, heavenly, picture of perfection.

No doubt the Holy Family was unimaginably special! But to speak realistically of the Holy Family as our model, inspiration and guide, we have to be careful about “bubble-wrapping” them completely – we need to know that they experienced not only the joys and happiness of being together as a family, but also some of the struggles, “ups and downs” and painful daily realities that ordinary families have to live with and through.

Pope Francis reminded us when he was in Ireland two years ago that “no family drops down from heaven perfectly formed”, but still he suggested that: “Every family should look to the icon of the Holy Family of Nazareth. Its daily life had its share of burdens and even nightmares, as when they met with Herod’s implacable violence”.

Clearly the Holy Family’s experience of fleeing into Egypt for fear of their lives must have helped Jesus, Mary and Joseph to build a shared resilience and inner strength as a family; there is also no doubt that Mary and Joseph must have had to draw on deep faith, courage, and trust in God to cope with the many unanswered prophecies, puzzles and questions surrounding Jesus – first as an infant, later as a child, and then as a young man beginning to grasp God’s plan for His life. No wonder, as the Gospel puts it, Mary found herself “pondering all these things in her heart”. Perhaps one of the key inspirations that emerges from the life of the Holy Family is the need for serenity in modern families – as the prayer of that name puts it:

“…Serenity accept the things we cannot change;
Courage to change the things we can; And, Wisdom to know the difference”.

Those three gifts of serenity, courage and wisdom are much needed in our families this Christmas – jostled as we are with the ongoing Covid19 crisis.

Our families share uncertainty about the future, weariness with the ongoing restrictions, confusion of changing messages, nervousness – fear even – with talk of new waves and new variants of the virus. Sadly since the beginning of the pandemic many families among us have had to carry heavy crosses of separation, sickness, grief and loss, worries about employment and finances, or simply missing those comforting family rituals of being together, visiting, and being close and present to each other in the normal way.

At Christmas time, especially, families of faith can find consolation, good news, hope and promise in the wonder of the Christ-child, born into a human family, to be our Saviour. Faith with wisdom, courage, trust and serenity guides our journey as families through uncertainty and the unknown. Just as a loving parent takes the hand of their frightened child, so we firmly grasp the hand of Him who has made us, Who redeemed us and saved us, and Who journeys with us every step of the way.

In 2013, in his first year as Pope, on today’s feast, Pope Francis offered this prayer to the Holy Family:

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,

in you we contemplate

the splendour of true love,

to you we turn with trust.

Holy Family of Nazareth,

grant that our families too

may be places of communion and prayer,

authentic schools of the Gospel

and small domestic Churches.

Holy Family of Nazareth,

may families never again

experience violence, rejection and division:

may all who have been hurt or scandalized

find ready comfort and healing.

Holy Family of Nazareth…

make us once more mindful

of the sacredness and inviolability of the family,

and its beauty in God’s plan.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,

graciously hear our prayer.

Amen.

Homily of Archbishop Eamon Martin for Christmas Eve 2020 Midnight Mass

“Good people all, this Christmas time

Consider well and bear in mind

What our good God for us has done

In sending his Beloved Son”.

Those inspiring words from the ‘Wexford Carol’, transcribed a century ago at Saint Aiden’s Cathedral in Enniscorthy, capture the true meaning of Christmas. If ever there was a year to cling to that comforting message, it is this year, 2020 – the year that a coronavirus shook the world and stopped it in its tracks. A few days ago some newspapers even ran with the headline: “Christmas is cancelled…” But it was only “fake news”. Thankfully the Good News brought by the angel to the shepherds on the first Christmas night rings out as true and as important as ever:

“Today a Saviour has been born to us; he is Christ the Lord”.

Christmas 2020 is certainly very different to Christmases past. For safety sake our congregation here inside the Cathedral is much smaller than usual; we’re ‘socially distanced’, masked and sanitised – even our carol singing is subdued. But thanks to the wonders of modern technology, you and your family members are joining us, along with hundreds – perhaps thousands – ‘live’ from your living room – your little “domestic church”, rejoicing with us in the miracle and mystery of ‘Emmanuel’ – God With Us!

Our thoughts and prayers tonight are with those who are unable to be home with us this Christmas, and especially with our ‘brothers and sisters’ who are struggling to cope this year with the pain of loneliness, suffering, grief and loss of employment. We are thankful that, even in the shadows and darkness of 2020, light has been shining out in countless examples of love and tenderness. Our communities have witnessed an outpouring of goodness, kindness, generosity and courage from neighbours, volunteers, doctors, nurses, chaplains and other carers; from teachers, shop-workers, clergy and so many others who have devoted themselves to keeping our essential services going.

We wish them all a well-deserved and happy Christmas, confident in the knowledge that their selfless efforts these past nine months are concrete expressions of the compassion, love and hope of Christ.

I find the message of the angel on the first Christmas night to be deeply consoling this year: “Do not be afraid”, the angel said to the terrified shepherds. “Listen, I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared with the whole people”.

How much we need to hear those words at this time: “Do not be afraid”. The pandemic has left us uncertain about the future, weary of all the ongoing restrictions, confused by changing messages, nervous – frightened even – about talk of new waves and new variants of the virus. It is only natural that we yearn for good news; we search for a glimmer of hope; we long for the promise of a brighter future.

People of faith find that good news, hope and promise in the wonder of the Christ-child, born in Bethlehem to be our Saviour. Like the Magi who followed the star, faith guides our journey through the uncertainty and the unknown. Just as a loving parent takes the hand of their frightened child, so we firmly grasp the hand of God who has made us, Who redeemed us and saved us, and Who is journeying with us every step of the way.

The hand of God and the hope that Christ brings is offered to each one of us, personally. Christmas invites us to a personal encounter and friendship with God. The angel’s message was direct and personal – not “I bring news of great joy”, but “I bring YOU news of great joy”.

Pope Benedict XVI put it powerfully when he wrote on this day 15 years ago: “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction (Deus Caritas Est 1)”. Today a Saviour has been born for US – for you and for me – personally. And this joyful message that ‘God loved us first’, is not something private or individual, or to be kept to ourselves. It is given, as the angel said, to be shared with others – shared ‘with the whole people”.

That is why it pains us so much when we are restricted from physically gathering to express our faith, when we are unable to be together as a full congregation, praying and praising and singing, “Glory to God in the Highest”! We hunger for Sunday worship and for the nourishment of the Eucharist. We long for this pandemic to be over so that we can safely meet together once more as the People of God, to “sing a new song to the Lord” and to offer each other the Peace of Christ – in person.

Looking forward to that day encourages us to make a special effort this Christmas and in the New Year ahead to keep Christ at the centre of our life – to welcome the Prince of Peace into our heart, home, family and community. We are commissioned by our Baptism to spread the Good News of the angel and to bring the Christmas message to life! We can do this by continuing Christ’s work of love, compassion, care, forgiveness, healing and charity – by keeping alive the light of hope that has already been shining brightly since the beginning of this awful pandemic in the witness of so many good people.

That light of hope is enkindled by reflecting in prayer for a few moments every day on the hope-filled message that is so succinctly captured in those words from the Wexford Carol:

“Good people all, this Christmas time

Consider well and bear in mind

What our good God for us has done

In sending his Beloved Son”.

Perhaps a “happy fault” of the Covid-19 restrictions has been the way that extra time and space has been opening up, away from the usual frantic rush and crazy consumerism – space for reflection and contemplation, and for assessing our lives. Many of us have been asking: ‘What is most important in life? How can I change? Who gives me hope? What carries me through when times are difficult? Where do I find light in the shadows and darkness?’

For Christians the answers to those questions are found right at the heart of the Christmas story – in the wonder of the Christ-child, born to be our Saviour; in the unfathomable mystery of Emmanuel, “God With Us”.

“Within a manger he was laid,

And by his side the virgin maid,

Attending on the Lord of life,

Who came on earth to end all strife”.

Happy Christmas

Prayer of Pope Benedict XVI
From Deus Caritas Est (God is Love)
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
you have given the world its true light, Jesus, your Son – the Son of God.
You abandoned yourself completely
to God’s call
and thus became a wellspring
of the goodness which flows forth from him.
Show us Jesus. Lead us to him.
Teach us to know and love him,
so that we too can become
capable of true love
and be fountains of living water
in the midst of a thirsting world.
Amen

A Joint Christmas Message from the Archbishops of Armagh – Archbishop Eamon Martin & Archbishop John McDowell

‘So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in a manger.’

Luke chapter 2 verse 16

There is an old prayer sometimes used around this time of year which talks about the time when Jesus Christ “came to visit us in great humility”. In one of Saint Paul’s letters, he talks about “Jesus not counting his equality with God something to be taken advantage of but taking the form of a servant …”

Could one of the positive consequences of this Christmas be that we have had to relearn how to approach it with humility and also how to celebrate it as servants of one another, rather than as lords of all we survey? For that is what we have been doing these past months. The face coverings and the empty streets have not been signs of fear and desolation. Instead, they are the evidences of love and of a resolve to secure the future.

They say that Saint Francis created the first Christmas crib back in 1223 because he wanted to capture the humility of the incarnation. When the time was right God humbled himself. He became part of his own creation in a particular way and in a particular place. His Mother was one of the “poor ones” who prayed daily in the Temple for the redemption of Israel. Palestine was an out of the way place and the “Holy Family” of Jesus, Mary and Joseph attracted little attention at the time. That was to be the pattern of his life. He ate his bread in quietness for thirty years, working at his father’s trade as the means whereby he was prepared by his Father for the public vocation had been laid out for him. Apart from the occasion of his finding in the temple, we have no words of his as he grew up in that workman’s family – perhaps he came to speak with such power because he had learned to love silence.

He was not the citizen of a great Empire like Saint Paul, and throughout his life he held no office or position of religious dignity or civic standing. What has survived of his teaching is usually expressed in simple pictorial speech. Like most people of his time, he seems to have had little or no formal education, yet he was never at the mercy of the subtle question, and he was able to cut straight through the pedantry of the scribes.

We are now celebrating the beginning of this life, quietly and perhaps still with some trepidation. We have had to concede that we do not really understand the world and acknowledge that we cannot “manage it”. But Christmas is the time when we call to mind the coming into the world of God himself. And he came, not to manage it, but to redeem it. He came not to dominate it and to exploit if, but to serve it and to bring it to its intended fruition.

He came and he lived (and died) in great humility as the servant of all.

+Eamon
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh

+John
Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh

A pastoral message from Archbishop Eamon and Bishop Michael: “Keep Christ at the Centre of Christmas”

Archbishop Eamon Martin, Fr Michael Router and Cardinal Sean Brady. Pope Francis appoints Fr Michael Router, as auxiliary bishop of Armagh, to assist Archbishop Eamon Martin, Primate of All Ireland. St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, 7 May 2019. LiamMcArdle.com

Dear brothers and sisters in the Archdiocese of Armagh,

Preparations are now well under way across the Archdiocese for the celebration of Christmas – albeit in a very different context this year. We extend our sincere gratitude to priests, parish teams and helpers who are planning to ensure that our churches are as safe as possible for people to confidently assemble for worship. We appeal to you all to cooperate fully with them.

We strongly encourage you to keep Christ at the centre of Christmas this year. Clearly it will be impossible for our usual large congregations to assemble for Mass on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and we remind everyone that the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days remains suspended during the pandemic. But Christmas is about more than just one day. Families are welcome to attend Mass at some point during the twelve days from Christmas Eve to Epiphany. Christmas Masses will also be widely available over webcam and we strongly encourage families to “tune in” from the “domestic churches” of their living rooms and join with those who are gathering in their local churches in welcoming the birth of the Christ-child.

It is possible to experience the spiritual richness of this special season in many ways. Our homes can become “little churches” where we invite the Christ-child in. The age-old tradition of having a Christmas crib in the home and gathering there as a family to pray or to sing a carol will be especially meaningful this year. We also invite families or “household bubbles” to pay a visit to their local church at some time during the twelve days to offer a
Christmas prayer at the crib and pray together for their families and for those particularly impacted by the pandemic.

The hope of Advent and the joy of Christmas inspire us to reach out to those in greatest need. Keep Christ at the centre this Christmas by bringing the hope and joy of his birth to people who are sick, isolated, lonely or poor. A simple act of kindness can make such a difference. Charities, including the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, Trócaire and World Missions Ireland will welcome much needed contributions as they have been unable to raise
funds in the normal way during the pandemic.

In your prayers this Christmas please remember those whose livelihoods have been seriously threatened by the pandemic. We think especially of people coping with bereavement, families that cannot be together, and those in care homes who can only have limited visits from their loved ones. We think also of those who cannot travel home for Christmas this year.

In some ways the Covid-19 restrictions open up greater opportunities for prayer and for reflection, for family time and space to enter into the true meaning of Christmas. This is also a good time to turn back to God. Although it may not be possible for all who wish to go to Confession to safely avail of the sacrament at this time, we encourage you to take a moment to place your trust in God’s mercy through an Act of Perfect Contrition.

We thank you once more for the solidarity you have shown with our health workers and other carers by strictly observing public health advice. Please continue to do so over the Christmas season. Stay Safe and Pray Safe so that the New Year 2021 will see an end to the pandemic.

With every blessing to you and your loved ones this Christmas and into the New Year.

Archbishop Eamon Martin, Bishop Michael Router

Archbishop Eamon Martin launches Ireland’s only online Advent Calendar

Archbishop Eamon Martin has launched the 2020 online Advent Calendar, which will go live on www.catholicbishops.ie on the first Sunday of Advent, 29 November next.

Now in its seventh year, the unique online Advent Calendar offers resources for the parish, school and for families which can be accessed behind a virtual door each day during the season of Advent. The content is aimed at assisting people of all ages to pray and reflect on how best we can keep Christ at the centre of our Christmas preparations during this special liturgical season.

Welcoming this year’s Advent Calendar Archbishop Eamon said, “While it is has been a very trying year for all us due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the season of Advent offers a new beginning and a promise of hope for better times. The First Sunday of Advent is actually the Christian Church’s New Year’s Day. This year – perhaps more than ever – we need more than ever ideas and inspiration to help us delve deeper during our hours of isolation and restriction, to find that glimmer of light, that note of joy, that promise of consolation. The virtual calendar offers ideas to help us spiritually prepare for our Lord’s coming at Christmas with thoughtful reflections as well as challenges for change and conversion. Every day of our lives presents a moment to prepare for the coming of the Lord – we continually stay alert and prepared for the unexpected moment when the Lord comes to us in other people, in our daily experiences, including his presence in the sick, the poor and the stranger.

“Our Advent online calendar is a helpful resource on our ‘journey’ towards Christmas. By clicking on a virtual door we are inviting people to take just five minutes for reflection so as to find moments of peace and to rediscover the true meaning of Advent and Christmas.

“Since the outbreak of the pandemic the people of Ireland have endured testing times with courage, resilience, and compassion. Individuals and communities have made great sacrifices for the protection of life, health and for the common good. Many Christians have been reaching out in generous service and support for their neighbours, the lonely, the isolated, the sick and the bereaved. Faith, love and hope – in the home and in church – have been a huge support during these difficult times. As we continue, in solidarity, to progress together, I invite everyone to be part of #SharingHope this Advent season by availing of the helpful resources on our calendar and through sharing these with others on social media.

“The seasons of Advent and Christmas occur in the depth of winter reminding us that Christ was born to bring hope to a darkened world. As the prophet Isaiah said “the people that wait in darkness see a great light”. During Advent, let us reflect on the eternal message of Christmas, which is, Christ is alive and that He is our hope.”

A popular feature on the Advent Calendar is the audio thought for the day. Contributors this year will include bishops, priests, religious, laity, staff of the councils and agencies of the Irish Bishops’ Conference, as well as primary, secondary and college students. The 2020 Advent Calendar will also include:

Mass Readings and Saint of the Day;
Family prayers;
Advent videos: blessing of the crib in the home, blessing of the advent wreath in the home;
The Words of Pope Francis from Christus vivit (Christ is alive);
Acts of kindness in the family, school and parish;
Suggestions to make Christmas more sustainable so as to care for our common home;
Seasonal prayers;
Resources for Advent including books and music;
Advent events in dioceses and parishes;
Information on Trócaire’s Gifts of Love for 2020 as well special appeals to help families in need.

To add this year’s Advent Calendar to your website or social media pages please use the following link: www.catholicbishops.ie/adventcalendar. You can also follow updates on a special Advent Facebook page [Advent 2020] and on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtags #SharingHope and #LivingAdvent

Archbishop Eamon Martin is chair of the Council for Communications of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

Homily of Archbishop Eamon Martin for the First Sunday of Advent 2020

The First Sunday of Advent is the Church’s New Year’s Day and this year it dawns on a very different world – rocked by the impact of Covid19. Here in Northern Ireland, public worship has once more been suspended for two weeks in a so-called “circuit-breaker” lockdown, whilst south of the border, congregations can return to Mass and the Sacraments from Tuesday next. These are testing times, and it can be difficult for some of us to find the resilience to keep going. Still, we make sacrifices for the protection of health and life – especially for our elderly and other vulnerable family members. It is vital that we continue to show solidarity with doctors, health workers and other carers who are at the front line of tackling the virus – day in, day out.

They tell us these restrictions will help to “save Christmas” or ensure we can have a “meaningful Christmas”. As Advent begins, I think it’s worth asking ourselves: what does this mean – to “save Christmas”? What IS a “meaningful” Christmas?

I expect that for different people, Christmas means different things. Business owners have been speaking during the week about Christmas being their “most important time” – trading at this time of the year is essential for profit margins and to sustain the jobs and livelihoods of their staff. Others speak about the Christmas cheer and celebrations as being important for their mental and emotional health. Families fear that Christmas simply won’t be the same if they cannot spend time at home with their loved ones. And, for some, Christmas might simply be a festive holiday for shopping, parties and presents – a kind of “binge-fest” to be followed inevitably by January sales, dieting and de-tox.

For Christians, however, Christmas has a profound meaning. It is a celebration of the most amazing and miraculous moment of all time – what we call the Incarnation – when God our Creator became a human being, born for the salvation of us all. The Word became flesh and lived among us! For Christians the Christ child of Bethlehem – truly God, yet truly a human person – is at the heart of Christmas. Jesus, born to be our Saviour, is the source of all our Christmas joy and celebration. His birth inspires the outpouring of love, generosity and goodwill that is associated with this time of the year.

Advent, beginning today, provides a four week prelude to pause and prepare to celebrate the wonder of the Incarnation. Advent is our annual “circuit-breaker” – a sacred time to step back from the normal routine and to reflect on the miracle and mystery of Christ’s coming among us. The four Advent candles count down the Sundays – week by week – until on 25 December we rejoice that Christ our light has come into the world to dispel the darkness of sin and death.

Advent is a season of hope. How much our world needs hope: hope, that hearts which are often hardened by selfishness and greed may be opened up in generosity and care; hope, that those who have plenty will not forget the poor; hope, that those at war will work for peace; hope, that refugees will find a welcome, that the resources of our planet can be sustained and fairly distributed; hope, that the homeless can be sheltered, that fresh starts are possible and hurts can be forgiven; hope, that the dignity and life of every person can be protected.

Advent assures us that these hopes are not mirages or impossible illusions but truly achievable by the power of God’s grace: the proof of this is in the reality of “the Word made flesh”, that God the Almighty, the creator of the heavens and Earth and stars, became tiny, poor and vulnerable for our sake.

The Gospel message today is “Stay Awake! Be alert”. Wise words indeed, because it is so easy amidst the rush of our crazy, consuming world, to miss the everyday wonders and miracles of love, beauty and truth; Or, to be so immersed in “getting and spending”, that we fail to notice signs of the transcendent beckoning for our attention.

In a strange way, then, the current Covid19 restrictions might paradoxically help to open up extra space for the sacred this Christmas, to create a gap to let in the Spirit, presenting a quieter time with more opportunity for contemplation and prayer.

It is Advent that holds the key to “saving Christmas” and unlocking its true and powerful meaning. The season of Advent is a four week “circuit-breaker” in preparation for Christmas, a call to come back to God. Today’s psalm response is “God of hosts, bring us back, let your face shine upon us and we shall be saved”.

That might be our Advent song too. “God of hosts bring us back”. Bring us back to the best that we can be. Bring us back this Christmas to what you want for us, for our families, our society, our country and our world.

Reflection by Archbishop Eamon Martin for Red Wednesday 2020 in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral Armagh

The thousands of pilgrims who visit the national shrine of Saint Oliver Plunkett, at Saint Peter’s Church in Drogheda, cannot fail to notice a heavy wood and metal door that is displayed near the sacred relics of the saint. It is in fact the actual door of Newgate Prison in London behind which the condemned archbishop spent his last sixteen days before his gruesome execution at Tyburn on 1 July 1681.

By then, Archbishop Oliver was no stranger to prison. He had been behind bars in Newgate since the previous October and before that he had spent almost a year in prison at Dublin Castle. Conditions in prison were harsh, dirty and noisy and Archbishop Oliver was forced to spend many of those months in solitary confinement – without visitors, bracing himself against the cold of winter in a lonely cell. On occasions he was able to write, and we still have many of his letters. We know from those who guarded him that he prayed continually – the word of God, the prayers of the Mass and the psalms of the Office – and, despite meagre food rations, he fasted three of four times a week. Still, Archbishop Oliver came across to his captors as a cheerful person, calm and completely reconciled to his fate.

In one of his letters written from Newgate Prison, Archbishop Oliver rejects completely the charge of treason for which he was being condemned. He considers it a glorious thing that he has to die on account of his being a bishop, for his profession of the Catholic faith, and for his role as the chief pastor of the flock in Ireland. In the days before he died, Oliver sat behind that wood and metal door in Newgate, preparing the speech he would deliver at the gallows in Tyburn. He completely rejected the false charges that had been levelled against him at the sham trial in Westminster Hall, but, remarkably, he also spoke words of forgiveness and reconciliation for his captors and accusers. It reminds me of those words in this evening’s Gospel (Mt 5:44): “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”.

I recall the story of Saint Oliver’s imprisonment because the theme of Red Wednesday this year is “Set Your Captives Free” – a plea for Christians around the world who are in prison for their faith in 2020 – 340 years since the death of our saintly Archbishop.

I welcome the launch today of the Aid to the Church in Need (Ireland) Report on Christians who are unjustly detained for their faith. In his introduction to the Report, John Pontifex writes that:

“unjust detention of Christians emerges as one of the most prevalent, enduring and serious forms of persecution. It relates to both wrongful arrest and kidnapping – including ‘the abduction and forced conversion of women – frequently accompanied by rape and other sexual violence’. Every month, in the 50 worst offending countries, an average of 309 Christians are unjustly imprisoned (ACN Set your Captives Free Report 2020 page 2)”.

Examples of unjust detention around the world include: prisoners of conscience; arbitrary detention without charge; unfair trial without proper defence; inadequate and degrading prison conditions; torture and beatings; pressure to convert.

The threat of unjust imprisonment of this kind is one of the most prevalent and frightening forms of intimidation and persecution of Christians throughout the world. This year our Red Wednesday prayer service calls it out, and together we pray to Christ our Saviour who was Himself unjustly charged, condemned, scourged and executed: Lord, Set Your Captives Free!

This evening I also wish to draw attention to other religious minorities throughout the world who suffer persecution. I think of the many others who, like our fellow Christians, are imprisoned or displaced because of their beliefs. There are, for example, shocking reports about the treatment of Uighurs in China; the threatened detention of Muslims in the Assam state of India; the targeting of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and Bangladesh; and the plight of Yaszidi in Iraq.

Saint Paul wrote to the Romans (8:31ff): “With God on our side, who can be against us”? He also said “even if we are being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked… these are the trials through which we triumph”!

It is remarkable how those who, like Saint Oliver Plunkett, are called upon to suffer injustice and insult, injury and even death for the faith, have left behind them a courageous and inspiring testimony of witness. That is why Red Wednesday gives way to a “Week of Witness”. The word “martyr” actually means “witness” and we are all called to be witnesses to our faith. We wear red ribbons, red clothing and light up our Cathedral in red tonight, not just to draw attention to the persecution of Christians, but to show that we are personally prepared to witness publicly to our beliefs, – even if at times that brings us ridicule, criticism, downright opposition or something more violent and aggressive.

I am very grateful to two such witnesses who have offered reflections for our Red Wednesday and Week of Witness this year:

Father Meyassar Moussa, a Redemptorist priest who has just returned to Iraq, has recorded a short video for us, where he speaks about the continued difficulties Christians face in Iraq today. He reflects on the long-term effects which the war with Isis has had on Iraq and, specifically, on the Christian community there.

Father Joesph Bature, from the Nigerian diocese of Maiduguri, speaks on video to our Auxiliary Bishop Michael Router about the persecution suffered by many Christians in North East Nigeria. He offers an insight into his ministry as a priest and psychologist in his diocese. He thanks Aid to the Church in Need (Ireland) and his friends here in the Archdiocese of Armagh and other parts of Ireland who have been helping him with their prayers and charitable support.

Father Meyassar and Father Joesph’s videos will be streamed via the Saint Patrick’s Cathedral webcam immediately after our service this evening (8.30pm – 10.30pm) and will be available after that on demand via a link on the Archdiocese of Armagh’s home page and social media platforms. Please watch and see in these testimonies the modern day struggles of many of our Christian brothers and sisters throughout the world*.

You can also go on to the Aid to the Church in Need website where you will find the full report: Set Your Captives Free, which contains case studies from China, Eritrea, Nigeria and Pakistan. Aid to the Church in Need (Ireland) funds and supports thousands of projects throughout the world to nurture faith and support persecuted and suffering Christians.

To conclude this evening’s reflection I would like to quote the words of Asia Bibi who was imprisoned and placed in solitary confinement in the Punjab, falsely accused of blasphemy. She wrote:

“During my darkest moments, I promised that if I should survive my ordeal … I would stand up for those who suffer as I did … One thing [they] … have in common is that they are forced to suffer in silence. It is time that the world hears these stories; it is time to speak truth to power. It is time that those who detain innocent people in defiance of the law are brought to justice. It is time for governments to act, it is time to rally in support of our faithful communities, vulnerable poor and persecuted. We should not rest until the persecutor finally hears our cry: ‘Set your captives free.’”

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Archbishop Eamon Martin thanks frontline workers for their “amazing works of mercy” during 2020