Archbishop Eamon Martin will deliver the following address at a 3.00pm service today in Saint Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast.  The service takes place during the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity on the theme, ‘Celebrating our Reconciling Vision of Hope’. 

The service celebrates the centenary of the Irish Council of Churches and 50 years since Ballymascanlon peace talks, and will be livestreamed on www.facebook.com/belfastcathedral

 “Might we in the Churches offer to help develop an agreed truth recovery process to address the legacy of pain and mistrust that continues to hang over us?”

“Peace, reconciliation and forgiveness on this island can only be progressed if we bring to light the truths about our troubled past that remain hidden and festering”

Address by Archbishop Eamon Martin

 ‘Be-Longing’, it says: ‘Praying for Unity amidst injustice.’  Today’s anniversary celebrations also invite us to look to the future with a holy ‘longing’ for greater togetherness and deeper friendship.

Although I was only eleven years old in September 1973, somewhere lodged in my boyhood memory are news images of Church leaders gathering for an historic meeting – while others marched in protest.  I knew instinctively that something special was happening at Ballymascanlon – it was a beacon of hope in dark times.

Some years afterwards Cahal Daly and Stanley Worrall described a sense of “excitement” and “momentous new departure” as the delegates convened at Ballymascanlon; but they also admitted their anxiety that perhaps the Churches might have been too ambitious and it all might fail (see Cahal Daly and Stanley Worrall, Ballymascanlon, An Irish Venture in Inter Church Dialogue, CJL/Veritas 1978, p 10).

But it couldn’t fail, for its vision was inspired by the longing of our Saviour who prayed, “That they may be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you (John 17:21).”

That high priestly prayer of Jesus is the motivation behind all our working and praying and hoping together as Churches; and the reason why we “be longing” that we may be one!  For decades those words, ‘That they may be one’, have guided visionary people from our various traditions to boldly confront the reality and pain of our divisions and to set out on a pilgrim journey, daring to dream of greater unity.

Sadly, it hasn’t always been so.  On Saint Patrick’s Day 2021 our Church leaders lamented that sometimes in our history we have “failed to bring to a fearful and divided society that message of the deeper connection that binds us, despite our different identities, as children of God”  (Church Leaders’ message: In Christ We Journey Together of 17 March 2021).

Today, then, let us re-commit to being the peacemakers, the healers, the reconcilers that our Saviour longed for his followers to be, even though we know that our ongoing pilgrimage towards unity will always involve risk – just as it did for the pioneers of the Inter-Church bodies that we are commemorating today.

Just four months ago, at the Memorial Service for Queen Elizabeth II here in Saint Anne’s Cathedral, my brother Archbishop John, reminded us that “Reconciliation is about the restoration of broken relationships.  And the word should never be cheapened by pretending it’s an easy thing to achieve … Reconciliation requires the greatest of all religious virtues, love; and it requires the greatest of all civic virtues, courage”.

I also believe Reconciliation requires trust.  And trust is perhaps all the more important on this island where people from different traditions have often regarded one another with fear and suspicion.  I thank God today for the trust and friendship that has already been built up between us – fellow pilgrims – on the path to unity.

At a recent Irish Inter Church Meeting it was agreed that “our friendship allows us to go together places where it might be difficult for us to go as individuals”.  In recent years trust has enabled us to facilitate together shared spaces for encounter, dialogue, healing, conversion and reconciliation.  There have been initiatives at Church leadership level and – even more importantly – on the ground, in partnerships between groups of Christians at parish, congregation and community level.  We long for more of this.  For it is only in safe, shared and prayerful spaces, inspired by the Word of God, that the truth of our divided past can be sensitively unfolded and hopes enkindled for renewed encounter and healthy relationships on this island.

Three years ago, in his message for the World Day of Peace, Pope Francis said, “(every) peace process requires enduring commitment.  It is a patient effort to seek truth and justice, to honour the memory of victims and to open the way, step by step, to a shared hope stronger than the desire for vengeance (Message for the 2020 World Day of Peace p8).”

Peace, reconciliation and forgiveness on this island can only be progressed if we bring to light the truths about our troubled past that remain hidden and festering, and engage in respectful conversations across our communities about what we mean by a shared future.  It may seem ambitious, but might we in the Churches offer to help develop an agreed truth recovery process to address the legacy of pain and mistrust that continues to hang over us?  And might our Churches also work together to create spaces for dialogue at parish, congregation and community level so that all voices can be fully heard about the kind of society and values we want for our children and grandchildren.

Such initiatives are essentially about deep and intentional listening to ‘the other’ who differs from us – and really ‘getting’ where they are coming from.  The Churches have no desire to dominate such conversations.  We are merely servants, inspired by the words of the prophet Micah in this afternoon’s reading:

“What does the Lord require of you,

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with

your God (Micah 6:8).”

The theme for this year’s Christian Unity Week calls on Churches not only to connect with each other, but also to engage with the questions and demands of justice – and to do so together – not separately.  A manifesto for the next fifty years might include: Churches together confronting homelessness; together responding in practical ways to racism and sectarianism; Churches together tackling human trafficking, exploitation and poverty; Churches together welcoming and providing hospitality for migrants and those seeking refuge among us; Churches together addressing climate injustice; Churches together upholding the right to life and dignity of every human person.

To engage in such issues – together, and with honesty – may uncover ways in which we ourselves might be supporting or facilitating unjust systems and structures.  But it will also bring us closer in Christ, and strengthen our sense of common Christian purpose.

It is a credit to our predecessors, the pioneers of Ballymascanlon, that we gather today as much closer companions on the Way; looking around the Cathedral this afternoon we see brothers and sisters – friends – in Christ who can share each other’s joys and burdens, successes and vulnerabilities.

So let us journey onwards with a reconciling vision of hope, singing together an anthem of “be-longing”: “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:5-6).” 

Amen.

+ Archbishop Eamon Martin, Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland.

Homily for Mass to celebrate World Day of Peace 2023

My thoughts on this World Day of Peace are once more with the family, loved ones and colleagues of Private Sean Rooney, the Irish peacekeeper whose funeral took place in Dundalk just before Christmas.  We continue to pray also for Private Shane Kearney and the other members of the 121st Infantry Battalion who were injured that day.

Private Rooney was the 48th Irish soldier to die in the cause of peace while serving with the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon.  During his funeral, the Bible verse that kept coming into my mind was “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God” (Mt 5:9).

Some people are prepared to make personal sacrifices and take heroic risks for peace; in Private Sean Rooney’s case, he made the ultimate sacrifice – giving his life to protect the safety of others.  It is worth asking ourselves today: what am I prepared to do in the cause of peace – at home; in my workplace and community; in my country and in the world?

Today is the World Day of Peace.  Pope Francis situates his message for today in the context of the recent Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine. Peace happens, he says, when we are prepared to go beyond our personal or national interests and think instead, “of the common good, recognizing that we belong to a greater community, and opening our minds and hearts to universal human fraternity.”

Interestingly, ten years ago, in his last Message for the World Day of Peace, the late Pope Benedict XVI – whom we remember especially in prayer during these days – made a similar point, saying that “the attainment of peace depends above all on recognizing that we are, in God, one human family.”

Pope Francis explains this concept further. He says:

“We cannot continue to focus simply on preserving ourselves; rather, the time has come for all of us to endeavour to heal our society and our planet, to lay the foundations for a more just and peaceful world, and to commit ourselves seriously to pursuing a good that is truly common.”

The Holy Father commends the way in which nations of the world united recently in tackling the spread of the coronavirus, Covid-19.  People were prepared to sacrifice some of their personal freedoms – like going out, travelling, visiting loved ones – in the name of protecting life and the common good.  However the Pope cautions how “the virus of war is more difficult to overcome than the viruses that compromise our bodies, because it comes, not from outside of us, but from within the human heart corrupted by sin (cf. Gospel of Mark 7:17-23).”

War and violence thrive on closed hearts, on cold, selfish and stony hearts, that are filled with suspicion and blame, with greed and the thirst for power, and which prefer the talking up of difference while closing down opportunities for reconciliation and hope.  This is something that all of us on the island of Ireland should keep in mind as we mark in 2023 the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement.

The Agreement was an immense historic achievement which involved openness, sacrifice and risk taking.  It provided an opportunity for a new beginning after such an awful period of death, injury, family trauma, devastation of property and livelihoods.  Sadly, twenty five years on, the trauma and hurt of those horrific years remain substantially unhealed. Wounds within, and between, our communities remain open – wounds of body, mind, spirit and heart – and the legacy of suffering continues to fuel mistrust.

In our message for this New Year, the Christian Church leaders in Ireland express our great concern for the state of the fragile peace on this island. We are more aware than ever that the work of peace is unfinished.

The vision of the Good Friday Agreement was one of ‘partnership, equality and mutual respect’ in relationships within and between these islands.  The Agreement was never intended to be an event, or an end in itself. It sought, rather, to provide a framework upon which to build peace and a more prosperous future.  The Agreement depended on people respectfully acknowledging that there are different, but ‘equally legitimate, political aspirations’ here.  The Agreement was not a resolution of conflict; but, it did provide a roadmap towards transforming conflict through sincere good faith and a sustained commitment to its various arrangements and strands.

A quarter of a century later, we could honestly ask ourselves: have we done enough to secure the precious gift of peace, to dismantle the barriers which divide us, while strengthening the links and opportunities for love and mutual understanding?  Are we sufficiently caring for the life and dignity of every person here, recognising their needs, their rights and freedoms?  Are we open to establishing the full truth of our past, so as to enable justice and true remorse, and in that way facilitate forgiveness and healing?

In asking these questions I encourage everyone to approach the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement positively and sensitively.  It is vitally important to acknowledge and give thanks for the lives and livelihoods that have been saved, while honestly recognising a shared responsibility for its vision not yet being significantly accomplished.

The work of peacemaking and reconciliation involves sacrifice, respect for the other and openness to change.  We owe it to the architects of the past – who built the Agreement by taking risks – to redouble our efforts for peace and reconciliation this year in the name of the common good.

Authentic peacemakers look beyond self interest, party interest, or even national interest in order to gain ‘the true and the good’ for all.  In that sense they are open to the transcendent, recognising that true and lasting peace is found in God, and is God’s gift.  Ten years ago, in his reflection on the words, “Blessed are the peacemakers”, the late Pope Benedict XVI reminded us that peace is both a gift of God, and at the same time is the fruit of human effort.

It is my prayer that in 2023 we shall all be open to making a special personal effort in the name of peace; to go beyond our selfish interests or desires in the name of something greater and more worthwhile.

For that intention I invoke the powerful blessing of Aaron, read today from the Book of Numbers 6:24-26:

“May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace.”

+Archbishop Eamon Martin

Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland

Archbishop Eamon offers prayerful condolences on the Death of Pope Emeritus Benedict the XVI

I am saddened to hear of the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.  At this time of mourning in the Catholic Church throughout the world, we remember his gentle soul in prayer, asking God, in His great mercy, to forgive his sins and human failings, while rewarding his generous service and complete dedication to the Gospel and to the Church.  On behalf of the Irish Bishops’ Conference, and the faithful across Ireland, I extend sympathy to Pope Francis, to the family members and carers of the Pope Emeritus, and to all those in his native Germany and around the globe who loved him and will mourn his loss. 

On that rainy day in April 2005, when the entire world had its eyes fixed on the new pope, Pope Benedict XVI described himself as a “simple, humble worker in the Lord’s vineyard.”  As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger he had already been working closely with Pope Saint John Paul II through the final years of the Cold War and the beginning of a new millennium, the fall of communism in central and eastern Europe, growing globalization and the emergence of an international threat of terrorism.  

During his own pontificate Pope Benedict witnessed powerfully to faith, hope and love – the three theological virtues – about which he wrote profoundly in his encyclical letters: God is Love (Deus caritas est); Saved by Hope (Spe salvi); and, The Light of Faith (Lumen fidei) – which was completed by his successor Pope Francis. 

On a personal level, it was his characteristic humility and gentleness which struck me when I first met him in 2009 while visiting the Vatican as Executive Secretary to the Irish Bishops’ Conference.  I found him to be calm and softly spoken, kindly and personable, and genuinely interested in the Church in Ireland.  Having met the Irish bishops in Rome in February 2010, he issued a unique Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland expressing profound sorrow for those grievously wounded by abuse in the Church.  The then pope called for urgent action to address the legacy of abuse which, he said, has had “such tragic consequences in the lives of victims and their families”, and which has “obscured the light of the Gospel to a degree that not even centuries of persecution succeeded in doing.”

Pope Benedict XVI’s interest in Ireland goes back to his friendship with the late Archbishop Kevin McNamara of Dublin when both were young theology professors.  Former students of the Pontifical Irish College, Rome, also remember fondly his visit there as cardinal.  He often admired the huge contribution of generations of Irish men and women to the Church, and to humanity, and he took a special interest in the work of early Celtic missionaries like Saint Columbanus to the spread the Gospel in Europe and to Europe’s spiritual identity.  He followed closely, and prayerfully, the peace process as it matured.  Although unable to travel to Ireland for the 50^th International Eucharistic Congress in 2012, he delivered the key televised address to participating pilgrims.  His message then, about the Church as communion, recalled his remarkable 2007 Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis in which he speaks of the Holy Eucharist as a mystery to be simultaneously believed, celebrated and lived.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was a person of deep spirituality and prayer, an outstanding apostle of Christ.  With his great capacity to listen combined with a personal, discreet charm, the late pope was able to win people to Christ wherever he was: during the World Youth Day celebrations, he attracted the attention of thousands of young people; his encouragement for the World Days of the Sick, World Meetings, and his many travels around the world and meetings with other religious leaders, politicians and academics.  I remembered his commitment to service when I wrote in early January 2013 to accept my appointment by him as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh, just one month before he humbly resigned the papacy due to failing health.

Pope Benedict XVI understood the need and potential for all people of goodwill to work for the realisation of the common good.  On social doctrine more broadly, he emphasised that charity must always be rooted in truth in order to be fruitful (see Caritas in Veritate).  On the eve of his election to the Petrine Ministry, the then Cardinal Ratzinger incisively identified a tendency in society to lapse into ‘a dictatorship of relativism.’ At the same time, his papacy was marked by a commitment to dialogue between faith and reason, between the Church and the modern world, and to ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, as evidenced on his significant apostolic journey to the United Kingdom in 2010.

In his lifetime, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was an outstanding teacher and academic whose impressive intellectual ability, combined with clarity of expression, made of him one of the greatest theologians of our era.  For all his intellectual abilities, he always ensured that the faith was not reduced to academic hair splitting; religion, he emphasised, is not a lofty concept or an ethical ideal; it is rather,  an encounter with a person, Jesus Christ.  His personal writings on Jesus of Nazareth bear witness to his life’s work to share the Good News of salvation that comes through Christ.  In many respects he was similar to the early Bishops and Doctors of the Church, combining great clarity of doctrine with pastoral realism. 

In 2011, declaring the opening of universal Year of Faith, Pope Benedict spoke about how, at baptism we enter the ‘door of faith’ and set out on a journey that lasts a lifetime.  Now that his earthly journey has ended, I pray that, by the help of God’s mercy, the saints will go out to meet him and welcome him into his heavenly home.  Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

+Archbishop Eamon Martin, Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland 

Homily for Midnight Mass of the Nativity celebrated by Archbishop Eamon Martin

Joint Christmas 2022 message from the Archbishops of Armagh

And of his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” (John 1:16)

A highlight of the Christmas season is the solemn reading from the prologue of John’s Gospel with its memorable opening: “In the beginning was the Word …”

Commenting recently on John’s Gospel, the Irish scholar, David Ford, describes it as “the gospel of abundance” because it overflows with the “fullness” of God’s love for his creation – “grace upon grace”.

The Scripture readings at Christmas time leave us in no doubt that this Good News of abundance is God’s ‘Yes’ to the world he made, the climax of God’s plan for the world, the keeping of promises made by God down the centuries.

Of course riches and abundance will mean different things to different people. In the Ireland of today many of us think of those words in relation to material comfort – for most of us, after all, even the spiritual life requires a degree of material security to be sustainable. The problem comes when this one aspect of abundance overwhelms all others; a belief that the price of everything becomes the value of everything, which in turn hardens into an ideology of maximising consumer satisfaction which cannot do justice to the richness of personal life.

The current public understanding of abundance is incapable of healing the divisions in our society.  Society cannot be truly democratic without a strong sense of solidarity and community – something which can often be absent today. When seeking the nomination of the Democratic Party to run for President, the late Robert Francis Kennedy once said:

“The Gross National Product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages … it measures … neither our wisdom nor our compassion … it measures everything, in short, except that which makes our lives worthwhile”.

The Word who became flesh during the reign of the Emperor Octavian, when Quirinius was Governor of Syria, addressed himself to rulers as well as to individuals. His whole life witnessed to fundamental truths – that authority is the exercise of power which is morally justified; and, political life (although it takes very different forms in different ages) is not the servant of any economic or national ideology, but the pursuit of the common good of all people. The unfolding tragedy of what is happening in Ukraine is perhaps a result of ignoring these fundamentals.

We live in an age which has been described as one of “surveillance capitalism”. It is an age of algorithms and atomisation; a global system of behaviour modification which can threaten human nature itself. The coming of the ‘Word made flesh’ drags us back to both the primacy of persons and of their solidarity. The Light that came into the world at Christmas time enlightens every person who has been born or ever will be. Jesus Christ was the first person in the whole of history to have conceived of humankind as a unity, whose good he came to secure and who are secure in him.

But the manner in which he came into the world is crucial to his vocation and ours. As Phillips Brooks’ Christmas carol puts it, “how silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given”. He was born into an obscure Province and into a people despised by many. He avoided all ties of high office or public position. He was an austere man – mistaken by some for the stern old prophet Elijah – yet he had a heart to which children were instinctively drawn. We fear becoming poor; he dreaded that any person should be rich. Yet he had within himself all the riches of the Father’s goodness, enough for the whole world of every age and more besides.

For “… of his fulness we have all received, grace upon grace (John 1:16).”

+Archbishop Eamon Martin, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.

+Archbishop John McDowell, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.