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Go Into My Vineyard: Preparing for Pastoral Leadership

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Go Into My Vineyard: Preparing for Pastoral Leadershipis the new exciting  certificate in theology and lifelong education.  It is being offered by Mater Dei Institute of Education, a College of Dublin City University in partnership with the Office of Pastoral Renewal and Family Ministry, Archdiocese of Armagh. It is being held in St Catherine’ College, Armagh, beginning on Tuesday 3 November 2009.  If you are interested in participating contact your parish priest.

 

Key Aims
The key aims of the programme are:
  • To prepare people to participate in pastoral leadership roles in parish, community, pastoral area and diocese;
  • To heighten awareness of the nature and significance of theological discourse, facilitating its study in the public space;
  • To provide participants with a clear understanding of the theological and philosophical traditions of contemporary Christianity;
  • To enable participants to engage in a dialogue between thses Christian traditions and contemporary experience in a pluralist, multi-cultural Ireland;To facilitate those who are interested in a level 8 award in theology and life-long education.
The Programme
The certificate in theology and life-long education consists of 12 modules offered between November 2009 and June 2011. Further progression to Diploma and Degree is possible. The programme begins with an orientation evening on Tuesday 3 November 2009. Of the six modules offered in the first year four will be held in the dungannon Centre on the Tuesday evenings. Participants will meet twice during each module (for one and a half hours) in small local groups to engage in structured discussion. In addition the internet will be used to provide on-line discourse once during each module.One module will be held on two Saturdays in Mater Dei, Dublin (November 14, 2009 and March 30, 2010) while the last module will be held on the weekend of 16-18 April, 2010 in Dromantine, Newry.

Modular Elements

  • Church: A Pilgrim People
  • Vitality of the Bible: To Act According the the Gospel
  • Doing Theology Together: Mater Dei Seminar
  • Wise Decision: Moral Dimensions of the Christian Life
  • Soul Space: Christian Spirituality in the 21st Century
  • Vitality of the Bible: From Let There Be Life to Let My People Go
  • Fashioning a People: Evangelisation and Catechesis
  • Ecumenism: That They May Be One
  • Doors to the Sacred: Sacraments in the Life of the Church
  • Parish: Tending to the Vine
  • Liturgy: Source and Summit of the Christian Life

Applications
Participants must be sponsored by a parish or religious community. The sponsor pays £1000 /€1125 per year while the participant pays £450/€525 per year. Application forms, available from the Office of Pastoral Renewal and family Ministry or from parish priests are to be returned to Mater Dei by Wednesday 7 October. Interviews will be held on Saturday 10 October.  To request an application form contact the Office of Pastoral Renewal and Family Ministry, 00353 42 933 6649, Armagh Diocesan Pastoral Centre, the Magnet, Dundalk, Co Louth.

 

5 June – Statement on behalf of Cardinal Brady and Archbishop Martin in advance of meeting with Pope Benedict XVI

Statement on behalf of Cardinal Brady and Archbishop Martin
in advance of their meeting with Pope Benedict XVI
on 5 June 2009

The Standing Committee of the Irish Bishops’ Conference discussed the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse Report, by Mr Justice Sean Ryan, on 25 May last.  At the meeting Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh, decided to travel to Rome to provide information to the Holy See on a number of issues regarding the Irish Church, including the impact of the Ryan report.
In Rome Cardinal Brady joined with Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, who was attending a scheduled meeting as a member of the Council of the Synod, whose purpose is to follow up on the work of the Synod of Bishops in Rome of last October.

Cardinal Brady and Archbishop Martin are due to meet with Pope Benedict today.

20 May – Statement by Cardinal Sean Brady on the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse

Statement by Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland,
on the publication of the
Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse
20 May 2009


Today’s publication of the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, by Mr Justice Sean Ryan, throws light on a dark period of the past. The publication of this comprehensive report and analysis is a welcome and important step in establishing the truth, giving justice to victims and ensuring such abuse does not happen again.

This Report makes it clear that great wrong and hurt were caused to some of the most vulnerable children in our society.  It documents a shameful catalogue of cruelty: neglect, physical, sexual and emotional abuse, perpetrated against children.

I am profoundly sorry and deeply ashamed that children suffered in such awful ways in these institutions.  Children deserved better and especially from those caring for them in the name of Jesus Christ.

I hope the publication of today’s Report will help to heal the hurts of victims and to address the wrongs of the past.  The Catholic Church remains determined to do all that is necessary to make the Church a safe, life-giving and joyful place for children.

7 June – Centenary of The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption – Parish of Kinnegad

CENTENARY OF THE CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF THE ASSUMPTION
PARISH OF KINNEGAD
SERMON BY
CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY
7 JUNE 2009

Dear friends in Christ,

It is a great privilege to be here today. It is an honour to be part of the centenary celebrations of this Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in the historic parish of Kinnegad.
•    I want to thank your young and energetic Parish Priest, Fr Tom Gilroy for his kind invitation to be here.
•    I salute your Pastor Emeritus, my friend and one of my predecessors as Rector of the Irish College in Rome, Msgr Eamon Marron.  His energy and unstinting commitment continue to inspire us all.
•    I congratulate your Centenary Celebration Committee.  The wonderful range of activities and events they have put together to mark this important year in the life of your parish is really impressive. Their collaboration with the priests and religious of the Parish represents, I think, a model way of being Parish community.  It is a way of being a Christian faith community, which is crucial to the future of the Church in Ireland.
•    I also want to thank my colleague Bishop Michael for his warm welcome to the Diocese today and for his invaluable wisdom, advice and friendship over many years. Bishop Michael is one of the longest serving members of the Irish Bishops’ Conference and I can’t begin to tell you how much we depend on him in our work.
•    I also extend my gratitude and esteem to all the priests and religious who are gathered here today. I know that this parish has given so many of its daughters and sons to the service of the Church as religious Sisters, Brothers and priests.

In a heartfelt way I want to thank you all for your continued generosity and faithful witness to the Gospel of Christ and the love of the Blessed Trinity in these painful and challenging times. These are difficult times for the Church in Ireland. Much greater difficulties, however, are faced by those who suffered abuse. This is a time for much prayer, great healing and wise discernment.

As a Christian community we must face the full truth about what happened. We must face up to the full challenges of the truth of the past, as well as to the challenge of safeguarding children, of justice and healing, challenges which have been consistently set before us by Pope Benedict XVI.

When this beautiful Church was built one hundred years ago, it was built carefully and patiently. In rebuilding trust and hope in the Church, and within the Church at this time, the respect, love and care we show to every individual will be critical. Our faith calls us to see, in every individual, a unique and cherished child of God. It calls us to respect and protect the innate dignity of every person, irrespective of their age or condition of life. It calls us to care especially for the most vulnerable.

When this beautiful Church was built one hundred years ago, it was also built by a whole community. The local community of faith came together to share the effort. The challenge of rebuilding hope and trust in the future will also involve the whole Christian community. As Christians we are the Body of Christ. In the words of St. Cyprian, we are ‘a people brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.’  The Church ‘is a sign and instrument of communion with God and of unity among all.’ (n.4)

The Blessed Trinity calls each one of us to be in loving communion with God and everyone united with each other.  This is the vision which sustains us. This is the call which beckons us onwards in every challenge and every changing tide of human history.

Building communion with God and community and with each another is at the very heart of being a Catholic. I have noticed how important community organisations are in the parish.  Father Gilroy has mentioned to me the good work of:

Community Council
Social Services;
Tidy Town;
Youth Club and, of course,
The GAA Clubs and
The Juvenile Soccer, and others.

On this feast of the Holy Trinity we are reminded that communion and community are also part of God’s very nature. God is a community of person – not a lone, solitary figure. Not just a static community – but a dynamic community – a community of mutual love – a community of persons, equal in dignity but also diverse in their mission and roles.

The Father creates,
The Son redeems,
The Spirit Sanctifies.

All of their actions however are conducted as one. The purpose of all of their actions is to bring life through their love, a love which they offer to everyone.

As our Gospel today reminds us, at the very moment we begin our Christian life in Baptism, we are baptised ‘in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ When we gather together in prayer we begin ‘in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit’. When we say Amen to the all that we believe in the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass we do so through the Son, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, to the glory and honour of the Father Almighty. The Trinity is at the very heart of our faith. It is important that we think about it, especially on the Feast of the Holy Trinity.

A way I find useful to throw light on the Blessed Trinity is a way used by many early Christians.  According to St Cyprian, the Blessed Trinity lives in an eternal communion of life and love which is perhaps a little like a lively dance. It is full of energy and life. It is full of harmonious movement in which each person is sensitive to and responds almost intuitively to the needs of the other. As with all human analogies about God, the idea of the life of the Trinity as an eternal dance is a limited one. But it may help us a little bit.  I am sure many of the boys and girls here today are excellent dancers. God certainly invites each of us to join that dance through the sacraments and through prayer and especially through the kind of life we live.

This insight into the Christian truth of God as a community of persons, living in harmony and sharing with each other, was of particular importance to the early Christian communities of Ireland. We have it in the emphasis given to monasticism as a practical expression of the life of the Trinity.  There individuals sought communion with God but also lived a common life in community. These communities, like the Trinity, were also intensely missionary.  They sought to share the civilisation and love that came from their life of common prayer, holiness and work, with others.
Of course we have it right here in the Parish of Kinnegad in the great monastic tradition associated with St. Finnian at Clonard. It was here that St. Finnnian became renowned as the ‘tutor to the saints of Ireland’. Many of the founders of the best known monasteries in Ireland, indeed across Europe, are known to have been educated at Clonard or studied with those who had been at Clonard.

We think of St. Colmcille, the founder of the monasteries of Derry and of Durrow before moving to Scotland to found Iona.  We celebrate his feast on Tuesday.  This week, Cardinal Keith O’Brien is coming to Derry, as Papal Legate, to celebrate the centenary of St Columba’s in the Long Tower.   We think also of St Ciaran of Clonmacnoise which became known as ‘the first Celtic University’.  We think too of St. Molaise, pupil of Clonard and founder of a major monastic school on Devenish Island in Fermanagh.

As you know, better than I, Clonard also lists among its highly influential alumni, people like St. Brendan of Birr, St. Brendan the Navigator, St. Colman of Terryglass and those others who are often referred to collectively as the ‘twelve apostles of Ireland’. Clonard is also linked to St. Comgall of Bangor. Bangor, in turn, became famous for its important role in recovering civilisation in Europe after the dark ages, through monastic missionaries like St. Columbanus and St. Gall.

The legacy of Clonard, now part of this parish of Kinnegad, underlines magnificently the power of one person. This was also a key theme in the Year of Vocation which has just come to an end here in Ireland. It was called ‘The Power of One’! The impact of the life of one person, like your own St Finnian, has been both extraordinary and enduring.  One person, faithful to God, fired up with the vision of a strong community of faith, modelled on the life of the Blessed Trinity itself, can do great things.  Rather God can do great things through the lives of those who listen to the words: “Go make disciples” and take them to heart.

I understand that you are already making preparations for the 1500th anniversary of the arrival of St. Finnian in Clonard, which you will celebrate in 2015. I wish you every success for these preparations. You are the holders of a great legacy on behalf of the Irish people. It is important for future generations that you do all in your power to preserve and promote that legacy because it is something of immense importance and good. I pray that your preparations and celebration of the arrival of St. Finnian and the founding of the monastery at Clonard will be a time of great renewal for each of you and for the whole parish as a community of living faith.  I know that in celebrating St Finnian, you will also be celebrating people like Cardinal John Glennon, renowned Archbishop of St Louis, who died in Dublin en route to America after receiving the Red Hat in Rome.

There is a second important lesson, I believe, we learn from the example of St. Finnian and his faithful followers in the Irish Monastic tradition. It is the importance of building communion and community in everything that we do. Across the Western world at the moment, many countries, especially in larger towns and cities, are experiencing a crisis of community. Where there was once a strong sense of community, there is now a growing isolation and fear. In some cases there is has been a dramatic breakdown in social cohesion. This breakdown is often marked by an increase in violence and crime. It can also be observed in a more general attitude of aggression and lack of civility towards others.

Ireland has not been immune from these trends. Even in small rural communities in Ireland I sometimes hear people express concern about a loss of neighbourliness, of loneliness or of regret that many valued community events of the past no longer take place.

The Feast of the Most Holy Trinity is an opportunity to renew our commitment to community as a fundamental part of our Christian calling. It is an opportunity to renew our commitment to being good neighbours and to caring for one another in all sorts of practical ways.  Irish people have always been renowned for and proud of their heritage in this regard.

The community is important to our well being both as individuals and as a country. We know this not just because research tells us but because the very nature of God our creator reveals it to us. We are not only created in the image of God as individuals. We also reflect the image of God in our life as a community of persons. When we live that life in harmony, mutual service and peace we reflect the image of God among us.  We reflect the harmony and love of the Blessed Trinity. This is the ideal which lies behind monastic and religious life. This is the ideal which inspired people like Finnian and Brendan and Colmcille and Columbanus and Gall. This is the vision which fired their imagination and will to go out to the far flung parts of Europe in some of its darkest days and renew civilisation with the vision of vibrant Christian communities doing good in the world. This vision still inspires young people to leave home and to go to developing countries for a spell to help in voluntary projects.  We salute the missionary sons and daughters of this parish – wherever they may be today – and remember them in prayer.  We recall the fact that by baptism we ar all missionary.

When we do not live well as a community, we suffer as individuals and as a society. When we simply look after ourselves and society breaks down and we may even begin to believe that there is no such thing as society.

So how do we build community?  Government sponsored initiatives which promote positive and harmonious relations certainly have an important part to play. Parishes certainly have a critical and irreplaceable role in building community. It is a fundamental part of their mission and duty. Even the parish bingo can create a valued point of contact and interaction for people who would otherwise feel isolated! The challenge is to reconnect people with each other in their community.

At the end of the day however, there is one thing which can do this with more meaning and more value than any other. It is captured for me in a wonderful saying of Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice.  He once said: “Were we to know the merit and value of only going from one street to another to serve a neighbour for the love of God, we should prize it more than silver and gold.”

St. John of the Cross once put it like this: ‘where there is no love, put love, and you will find love’!

Building up community, creating the civilisation of love among us, in the image of the Triune God, is achieved, in the words of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, by living ‘the little way of love’.

Every kind word, every generous action, every thoughtful gesture has immense and incalculable value in the eyes of the Triune God. Every act of love, no matter how small, continues the mission of love by which the Blessed Trinity created, redeemed and now continues to sanctify our sometimes lonely and aggressive world.

Yet, the feast of the Most Holy Trinity reminds us that the power of God’s Triune love to heal and to help us to live by the truth is greater than any evil. Beside this Church lie the remains of the old St. Mary’s Church, destroyed by a tragic fire in 1909. Out of that tragedy this better and larger Church was built. The image of these two Churches standing side by side is a constant reminder of the truth of the Cross itself. Even out of the greatest evil God has the power to bring good. That is why we draw such hope from the final words of our Gospel today: ‘and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” The Lord does not abandon his faithful people. He does not abandon the wounded and the broken. By the power of the Risen Lord [the Church] is given strength to overcome, in patience and in love, her sorrows and her difficulties

The monasteries founded by St. Finnian and other early Celtic saints played an important role in the development of what became known as the ‘golden age of Irish Christianity’.  On this Feast of the Holy Trinity let us commit ourselves to that radical way of living which is the ‘little way of love’.  It is the way of doing ordinary things with extraordinary love – in our homes, our schools, our workplace, our Parish, our Church and our country. This is the surest rock on which we can build our Christian hope for the future. It is the hope for healing, for forgiveness and for every person in this world to be treated with the dignity and love of a child of God.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

31 May – Pentecost Sunday – Diocesan Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady at Knock

PENTECOST SUNDAY 2009
DIOCESAN PILGRIMAGE TO THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY AT KNOCK
HOMILY GIVEN BY
CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY
SUNDAY 31 MAY 2009

Fellow pilgrims, sisters and brothers in Christ from the Archdiocese of Armagh and from elsewhere,

The book of Genesis tells us that in the beginning ‘the earth was a formless void.’ In other words, it was empty and shapeless. There was no order and no life on the earth. There was only what Genesis calls: ‘a darkness over the deep’.  Yet, in the midst of this chaos and darkness, we are also told that ‘God’s spirit hovered over the water’ (Gen 1:2). Through this spirit God breathed his life into the nostrils of man. We are told how, through his Spirit, God brought forth not only life but order and beauty as well into all of creation. In the words of the psalm: ‘By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their array by the breath of his mouth.’ (Ps 33:6) This breath of God is the Holy Spirit – whose coming we celebrate today.  This Holy Spirit – as we profess in the Creed – is the Lord and giver of life – The Spirit of Love.

Today, we celebrate the beginning of another new creation – that of the Church. We remember that on Pentecost day the Holy Spirit once again ‘hovered over’ a situation of confusion, fear and darkness; only this time the confusion was in the lives of the disciples. Out of that confusion and fear the Spirit once again brought hope and courage and light.

As we heard just now in the Reading from the Acts of the Apostles, on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit brought forth understanding and unity, healing and new life. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit confronts the danger of division and disunity which loomed as a result of the departure of Christ.  The Spirit enables us to speak the one same language of love and faith. When this happens, it is always a sign that the Holy Spirit is active in the life of the Church.

Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to the Church to remind us of what he had said and done. In every age we need reminding for we so easily forget. At Pentecost Jesus kept his promise, as he always does. He also promised to send the Holy Spirit to his Church until the end of time. He promised the Spirit to help us to seek out the truth and to understand it, in humility, and to respond to difficult times.

These are difficult times for the Church in Ireland. Much greater difficulties, however, are faced by those who suffered such abuse as that described in the Ryan Report. For the Christian community the innocent and vulnerable who have been hurt must be the priority.

Shortly after the day of Pentecost, the disciples of Jesus turned to St. Peter and asked: ‘What must we do?’ His immediate answer was, ‘You must repent!’. In other words you must first acknowledge and then turn away from all thoughts, words, deeds and omissions that give rise to evil and sin. In the light of the Ryan Report this means the Catholic Church in Ireland taking on board the full implications of all that is contained in that Report. It involves acknowledging the truth and full extent of what happened.  It means acknowledging that evil and criminal acts were perpetrated against innocent and vulnerable children.  The words of today’s Sequence to the Holy Spirit can surely help us:

Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.

However, a wider examination of conscience by the whole Church in Ireland and by Irish society may also be required. What was it in our history and culture that allowed this kind of abuse to take place and to go on for so long? This will require a sincere, humble and careful listening to those who have survived.  It will also require serious and prolonged reflection by the whole community of faith. . The challenge of facing up to the complete truth of what has happened and why, is really only beginning.  Jesus promised that “when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth” – a fantastic promise- a promise worth remembering these days.  For it is the truth that sets us free.

Today, like the Apostles in the Upper Room, we have gathered together here in Knock to be with Mary, the Mother of God. We come, like them, to break the Bread of Life together and to pray. We all need to pray earnestly and humbly for the coming of the Spirit of Truth. The Lord of Light.  Again the words of today’s Sequence seem particularly appropriate:

Holy Spirit, Lord of Light
From the clear celestial height
Thy pure beaming radiance give.

Light immortal, light divine,
Visit thou these hearts of thine,
And our inmost being fill:

As evidence of repentance it is clear that, as a Church, we must make the healing of hurts and memories, the first priority. At the same time, with humility, we must accept and fully respect that some who have been hurt, will be enraged at the very idea that the Church would have a part to play in any healing process. This, however, does not remove the obligation on the Church to make amends and to atone in ways that are appropriate.

We need to pray, as the Apostles prayed so often in that uncertain time between the Ascension and Pentecost, in the company of Mary. We need to pray that the survivors can be given hope – by being allowed to tell their story, by being listened to and believed. We need to pray that acknowledgement of the truth by the Church and by wider society will be a stepping stone to a healing of the horror and terrible memories of the past.

The Gospel reminds us that one of the fruits of the Resurrection and of the Holy Spirit is peace.  This is the greatest peace of all. It is the quiet rest which people experience when they see their lives are lived in the radiance and beauty of God’s love. It is an inner peace – peace of mind, peace of soul. I hear survivors say often that what they desire, most of all, is peace. The whole Christian community must pray to the Holy Spirit of Love – to the consoling and healing Spirit that all survivors will come to know that inner peace.

In the Sequence of today’s Mass we prayed:
‘Thou, of all consolers best,
Thou the soul’s delightful guest,
Dost refreshing peace bestow;
Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
on our dryness pour thy dew.’

Let this be our earnest prayer, not only for survivors but for all those gathered here today who are burdened in any way in mind, body or spirit.

Mary is the Comforter of the Afflicted. What a lovely name! Yet it is not just a name.  She is a real woman who suffered so much affliction in her own life. She lost her only Son.  Courageously she stood on the Hill of Calvary and watched him die.

I think it is significant that Mary, the Mother of God, has been appearing in recent centuries to the poor and the lonely and the humble of heart. Here in Knock, in 1879, Mary appeared to the poor and broken-hearted people of Ireland. She came to us in a time of great need and trauma. She came as Mother of Sorrows and Comforter of all the afflicted.  She pointed us towards the consoling and saving power of the Holy Spirit in every celebration of the Eucharist.

In the Eucharist, just as at the first moment of creation, just as at the moment of the Annunciation, just as on the day of Pentecost – the Holy Spirit hovers over.  The Spirit ‘overshadows’ the gifts of bread and wine and brings forth in them a new creation. That new creation is the real and living presence among us of the Risen Christ. Our often broken and sinful lives are represented in the individual grains of wheat pressed together to make the offering of bread.  Our lives are also represented in the grapes, pressed together to make the wine. They represent us as individuals and as a Church.  We offer our lives to the Lord to be changed, strengthened and renewed in the Eucharist. Under the power of the Holy Spirit the bread and wine become the source of our closest most intimate union with God and of our unity with one another.  They become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. 

The Eucharist gathers together the scattered children of God in one place.  We gather to break the bread and to pray.  The Apostles united and prayed with the Mother of God in the Upper Room. In this way, through our active participation in the Eucharist, the Holy Spirit makes us the Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that: ‘In every liturgical action the Holy Spirit is sent in order to bring us into communion with Christ and so to form his body. The Holy Spirit is like the sap of the Father’s vine which bears fruit on its branches… For this reason the Church is the great sacrament of divine communion which gathers God’s scattered children together. Communion with the Holy Trinity and fraternal communion are inseparably the fruit of the Spirit in the liturgy.’ (n. 1108) – ‘I am the vine’ Christ said – ‘You are the branches’.

This means that we also have a responsibility to help one another and pray for one another. We are fellow pilgrims on our way to the new and eternal Jerusalem. But we do not travel on our own. We are united to the Church in heaven as well as to the Church on earth, the Body of Christ.  We believe in the Communion of Saints.

Again Mary, the perfect disciple, is our model in this regard. She guides her Church and each of us on our pilgrim way with a motherly care. She leads us lovingly through all the trials of life to the peace and joy which comes from complete trust in the Holy Spirit.

Several times Mary demonstrated that complete trust in the Holy Spirit – for example, at the moment of the Annunciation. She did so in spite of her understanding of the difficulties and obstacles ahead. Under the prompting of the Holy Spirit she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth, in spite of her own needs at the time.  She was worried and concerned for her cousin.  In this way she modelled for us the unity and solidarity of the Body of Christ, the Church.  At Cana, she responded sensitively to the needs of a newly married couple. She revealed her desire to intercede on their behalf, and on our behalf, with her Son. In other words, she revealed to us that part of Christian kindness towards others is to pray for them and for their needs, as well as for our own. At the foot of the Cross, she reminded us of the need for perseverance in the midst of trials. It was here too that she accepted the responsibility to be a mother to every disciple of her Son – that is, of you and of me. At Pentecost, she was present at the birth of the Church, just as at the birth of her Son. From her place in heaven she continues to care for and guide that Church in spite of all the tribulations of history.

The challenge for each one of us is to continue to trust, like Mary, in the promise that has been made to us. This is the promise that the same Holy Spirit, which brought order and beauty out of chaos at the beginning of creation, continues to ‘hover’ over the Church today.  It is the hovering – not of a hawk ready to swoop- but of the gentle dove ready to guide and protect and keep safe.

The Litany of Loreto in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been used for almost 500 years. In fact litanies to Our Lady go back much further than that, including a Gaelic one which was used as early as the 8th century. Just imagine our ancestors for 1200 years have been calling on Mary – the Mother of God – to come to their aid using those 50 gracious and lovely titles. Very often they did not have much else to sustain their faith and their hope in times of trial and persecution.
Gathered here, before the Lamb of God, we pray for the Church in Ireland today

Lamb of God, spare us
Lamb of God have mercy on us,
Lamb of God grant us peace

Entrusting our Church at this time to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, we ask Mary, the:
Mother of Christ
Mother of the Church
Mother of Good Counsel
Seat of Wisdom
Cause of our Joy
Mystical Rose
Gate of Heaven
Morning Star
Health of the Sick
Comfort of the Afflicted
Help of Christians
Queen of the family
Queen of Peace….

Pray, pray for us now. Pray that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ and remain always open to promptings of his Holy Spirit. Amen.

11 May – Service of Thankgiving and Commemoration – College Chapel, Trinity College, Dublin

TRINITY MONDAY
SERVICE OF THANKSGIVING AND COMMEMORATION
COLLEGE CHAPEL
TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
11 MAY 2009
ADDRESS BY:
CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

Introduction:  Progress on the Ecumenical Journey
I am very honoured to be here today.  I know that Trinity Monday is a very important day in the calendar of this University.  It is a day on which the names of the new fellows and scholars are announced.  It is a day of great joy for many.  They see the merit of their work recognized and rewarded.  I congratulate all concerned and I wish them well in their future studies, research and lecturing.

It is a great privilege to be asked to preach in this historic chapel.  I am conscious of the role it has played in the lives of so many illustrious alumni of this University.  I am conscious too of the enormous contribution made to the life and progress of the Irish nation by Trinity College Dublin since its foundation in 1592.  I suspect it would have been almost unimaginable at that time to foresee a Catholic Archbishop of Armagh preaching in this chapel at something called an ecumenical service.  I thank God this morning for the immense progress we have made on the journey of mutual respect and Christian solidarity between the Christian traditions of Ireland.  That the greater part of this progress has happened in recent years, and more quickly than many could have imagined, is grounds for even greater hope about God’s plans for the unity of his followers.  It is a timely reminder to us, in the words of St Paul, that God’s power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask for or imagine.

I would like to thank Reverend Darren McCallig for his kind invitation to be here.  I would like to express my esteem and prayerful good wishes to him, to my classmate, Fr Paddy Gleeson, and to all the other chaplains and clergy who have joined us here today.

I hear many great things about the Chaplains and their work.  I know that they organise a huge range of religious and social services and communicate the relevant information expertly to all who are interested.  The Chapel Choir plays an important role in giving praise and glory to the Most Blessed Trinity after whom the University is named.  Pastoral outreach to the poor and needy, pilgrimages and prayer are, I believe, all part of the normal activity of this very highly esteemed chaplaincy.

This is not the first time I have spoken in this chapel.  On a much less formal occasion, during the Michelmass term last year, I was here with:

– Archbishop Alan Harper, the Primate of the Church of Ireland;
– Dr John Finlay, Moderator last year of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland; and,
– Rev Roy Cooper, President last year of the Methodist Church in Ireland.

We were here to share our experience of an extraordinary pilgrimage we made this time last year to the Holy Land.  It was the first time the leaders of the four largest Christian traditions on this island made such a pilgrimage together.  It was another sign of the immense distance we have travelled on the ecumenical journey here in Ireland.

The Holy Land and the Role of Religion in the Search for Peace
The pilgrimage was an extraordinary occasion of grace for us all.  The grace was in the friendship and faith we shared with each other.  The grace was also in the reaction of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim representatives in the Holy Land to our visit.  Without exception the religious leaders, political leaders, NGO’s and the Israeli and Palestinian victims of violence whom we met spoke of the hope that they derived from the joint witness of four Christian leaders from Ireland.  They were anxious to explore with us our experience of the peace-process in Ireland, about which they were already well informed.  They pointed to the combination of religion, politics, land and long collective memories which were at the heart of both the Irish conflict and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  They were quick to agree with us that there are also important differences between the two conflicts.  For our part we stressed that we were not there to offer advice on solutions but to listen and to simply share our experiences.  Most importantly of all we were there to offer our solidarity and support to the beleaguered Christian community in the Holy Land, dramatically diminished in numbers in recent years.

A senior member of the Palestinian Authority said that he thought that religious leaders had a great role to play in resolving the conflicts of our world and in building a better future for the human family.  He pointed out that Christianity, Judaism and Islam – the three religious traditions of the Holy Land – each have peace, justice and love as defining themes of their respective religions. They have millennia of wisdom and experience of the human condition, he said.  This has to make them well placed to contribute more substantially to the search for a more just and peaceful world!

I have to say that his comments struck a chord with me. I have long believed religion played a much more significant role in resolving the conflict in Northern Ireland for example than it did in creating or sustaining it.

What was interesting about the remarks of the Palestinian representative though was his acknowledgement that religion is a vital component in human affairs.  He had no hesitation in believing that dialogue between Christianity, Judaism and Islam has a positive contribution to make to the future peace and well-being of the human family.

Pope Benedict: Faith and Reason in the Service of Peace
I know that Trinity Monday is essentially a celebration of university life and culture.  Pope Benedict XVI is someone interested in university life.  Actually he spent most of his life in universities and has a really keen awareness of the potential of good universities to make a big contribution to the peace and well-being of the human family.

Pope Benedict arrived in the Holy Land last Friday.  In his first address to the civil authorities on arrival in Amman, Jordan, he emphasised the importance of ‘trilateral’ dialogue among Christians, Muslims and Jews.

On Saturday past he showed his interest in universities once again, this time by blessing the cornerstone for a new university in Madaba.  Speaking to the students who would soon begin their courses there the Pope said: “You are called to be builders of a just and peaceful society composed of peoples of various religious and ethnic backgrounds.  These realities – I wish to stress once more – must lead, not to division, but to mutual enrichment.”

Pope Benedict then set out three objectives which would help the new university to achieve this ‘noble task’.  They apply of course to any university.

* Firstly, it will do so by preparing the students to serve the wider community and raise its living standards;
* Secondly, by transmitting knowledge and instilling in students a love of truth, it will greatly enhance the adherence of the students to sound values and their personal freedom;
* Finally, this same intellectual formation will sharpen their critical skills, dispel ignorance and prejudice, and assist in breaking the spell cast by ideologies old and new.

I hope, and I am fairly certain, that many here, in this great university, especially the new scholars and fellows, share those ideals.  Today Ireland is also a country composed of peoples of various religious and ethnic backgrounds.  It will take people of wisdom, justice and godliness – like those mentioned in the First Reading – to build a really just and peaceful society.  I am sure Trinity graduates, scholars and fellows will have a great contribution to make to dispelling ignorance and prejudice and in healing the spell cast as ideologies.

Today Ireland has a still-bitter legacy of the recent conflicts.  By transmitting knowledge, and instilling in its students a love of truth, Trinity can play its part in addressing that legacy.  Trinity can play its part in facing the recession.  It will do so by preparing students to serve the wider community and raise its living standards.

I am told that Cardinal John Henry Newman and his idea of a university are much discussed and admired here.  Pope Benedict is also a great admirer of Newman and of the broader education which is expected of institutions of higher learning and from their cultural milieu, be it secular or religious.  Both Newman and Pope Benedict would hold that belief in God does not suppress the search for truth.  On the contrary, belief encourages it.

Saint Paul asked the Christians of Philippi to open their minds to all that is truth, all that is noble, all that is good and pure.  I imagine that this College of the Most Blessed Trinity does exactly the same.  Unfortunately, there is a growing tendency in our Western culture to regard religious belief as irrational, and religious difference as a de facto threat to peace.

The Compatibility of Faith and Reason
As recently as last Saturday, Pope Benedict addressed this precise point in Jordan when he said, and I think it is important to hear his words in full:

“Mature belief in God serves greatly to guide the acquisition and proper application of knowledge. Science and technology offer extraordinary benefits to society and have greatly improved the quality of life of many human beings…. At the same time the sciences have their limitations. They cannot answer all the questions about man and his existence.  Indeed the human person, his place and purpose in the universe cannot be contained within the confines of science …  The use of scientific knowledge needs the guiding light of ethical wisdom.  Such is the wisdom that inspired the Hippocratic Oath, the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva Convention and other laudable international codes of conduct.

“Hence religious and ethical wisdom, by answering questions of meaning and value, play a central role in professional formation.  And consequently, those universities where the quest for truth goes hand in hand with the search for what is good and noble, offer an indispensable service to society.”

As Cardinal John Henry Newman, reflecting on the idea of a university, said as far back as 1852: so often the “fundamental dogma” of the scientist today is “that nothing can be known for certain about the unseen world.”  The pursuit of theological studies therefore is the pursuit of a mirage and in the mind of the scientist lacks the credentials necessary for inclusion in the university curriculum.

This idea that “religion is a delusion” has enjoyed something of a resurgence recently.  It has been re-energized in the popular media by what one author describes as the “New Atheists”.  The fact is that the popular assumption that faith and reason are incompatible is false.  Faith and religion remain an essential part of the human experience and of the search for meaning and truth.

The real clash of cultures in our world at the moment is not between the religious traditions of the world.  All the indications are that the major religions of the world are moving towards greater understanding.  The real clash of cultures is between those who believe in God and those who disdain such belief and aggressively oppose any tolerance of its influence on law, morality or the public square.

Irish Universities as Leaders in the Science of Peace and Inter-Religious Dialogue
The universities of Ireland, including this esteemed seat of theological reflection and learning, are well placed to become world leaders in the search for what Saint Paul calls ‘the things that make for peace’.  They are well placed to play an integral part in the dialogue between the religious traditions of the world at this critical time when interest in the constructive and destructive capacities of religious faith are beginning to re-emerge.

The reading from the Book of Ecclesiasticus, reminds us that in all our knowledge we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us.  As I congratulate all those who celebrate the receipt of Fellowships and scholarships here today, I appeal to you to respect the wisdom of previous generations of students in this great university.  Remain open to the reason of faith.  Value that which we can know and trust beyond the bounds of science.  Approach the religious beliefs of others with respect for the good it brings to them and to the whole of society.

Conclusion: A Love beyond all telling!
In the Gospel passage faith lies at the heart of the discussion.  Jesus and his disciples discovered themselves, to their great amazement, being met and challenged by the faith of a pagan woman.  Where did her faith come from if not from her love of her daughter?

It was precisely this strong faith-generating love which had enabled her to endure and transcend rejection and insult.  It may be possible to glean from a more in-depth consideration of this incident some hints for more fruitful encounters between people of different faiths and of none.

To begin with there is the ambivalent attitude of both Jesus and the disciples towards the Canaanite woman.  There is the woman’s own crucial contribution towards a healing reconciliation by humorously and ironically moving beyond the reach of insult.

In the course of the encounter Jesus himself moves significantly.  He moves from the certainty of traditional Jewish righteousness – of being the chosen people of the Lord and a certain disdain for Canaanites to an inclusivity that we can only admire and applaud.  He moves to an acceptance that this pagan woman was living in real love and real faith which is something beautiful and efficacious – which was, for her, an experience of God.

In my opinion this amazing passage raises some pertinent questions for all of us to ponder.

* What brought Jesus and the disciples into this alien territory if not to encounter and be challenged by the great faith of a pagan woman?
* Today who are the lost sheep of Israel?
* How often have Christian colonisers relied on the paradigm of Joshua’s treatment of the Canaanites to justify their treatment of pagan territories?

When the Canaanite woman approached Jesus, she was coming to Him with one of the most difficult situations that will confront almost every human being one day – the suffering of a loved one – in this case, her child.  She came to him as a person.  She placed her complete trust in Him and He responded completely to that faith and love.  Jesus knew that where there is charity and love – God is there.

As Pope Benedict reminded us in the opening verses of his first encyclical Deus Caritas Est “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.”  Jesus is that person.

We have never progressed so rapidly in our scientific knowledge as we have in recent decades.  Yet the fundamental questions of life remain.  Jesus did not come to answer those questions as a great scientist.  He came to tell us much more simply, in language that every person could understand – that God is love, that where there is charity and love, God is there.  I may not be able to measure that love, to weigh it.  As sure as I know that I am loved by family and friends, so I know that God’s love exists and that I can trust it.  That is what I, and every other Christian, has decided to do like the Canaanite woman.

Thank you.

8 May – Requiem Mass for Fr Brian O’Higgins – All Hallows College Chapel, Dublin

REQUIEM MASS FOR REV BRIAN O’HIGGINS
ALL HALLOWS COLLEGE CHAPEL, DUBLIN
HOMILY GIVEN BY
CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY
FRIDAY 8 MAY 2009

More than a year ago, Father Brian O’Higgins was home in Ireland.  We met for a meal and as we sat chatting afterwards he asked me to preside at the celebration of his funeral.  I was a little taken aback and I said:  ‘Sure Brian, I might very well be dead before you’.  ‘Well’, he said, ‘that is my wish in any case’. It was typical of the man that he had that amazing maturity to face reality – the reality of his illness and to make preparations accordingly.

Father Brian has indicated that today there should be no eulogies.  Not even from the Homilist.   I am quite happy to respect his wishes in this matter. At the same time, we know it is the wish of the Church that on occasions like this, the homily should help all present to see God’s love and the victorious death and resurrection of Jesus Christ present in the life and death of the deceased.  That makes my task much easier because the love of God and love of neighbour were the outstanding features of Father Brian life.

Since he returned to Ireland some weeks ago, Brian wrote a letter to his beloved parishioners in St Michael’s Parish, East Ham.  I think it deserves to be quoted in full and you deserve to hear it all…….

My dear friends,

By the time you read this, I will have left St. Michael’s Parish forever.

When I was in hospital last week, I was given the bad news that my cancer was much worse than previously believed, and that (at that point, and if I didn’t respond to the treatment they were giving me) I had possibly only days, and at the most weeks, to live.  Happily I responded to the antibiotics – but that hasn’t altered the fact that my time is now very short indeed.

So I have now gone to Ireland to be with my family, and in due course I will be admitted to a Hospice in Dublin where I will die.

I am sorry that I could not face the ordeal of saying good-bye to you all, but I lacked the courage and the physical strength to do so.  It would be too much for me, and too emotionally draining, because I have come to love you all, and to feel very much at home here.

I want to thank you all for the love and support that you have given me throughout my six years here in East Ham, and especially for the understanding and patience with which you have accepted, over the last three years, that due to illness, I was limited in the service I could offer.

I must thank all the people who help in the parish – Eucharistic Ministers, Readers, Servers, Singers and Musicians, Catechists, Flower Decorators, Launderers, Church Cleaners, everybody who helps in any way, but especially, I want to thank Christopher Lukose, without whose generous and constant help I could not have remained here so long. 

I am not afraid of death – I believe strongly that none of us need fear death, because we have a God who loves us and – far from seeking reasons to reject us – has already gone to considerable trouble to save us.  He has after all invested the life, death, and resurrection of his Son in order to save us.  He is not going to let us go easily

So my dear friends, I bid you farewell, full of confidence that we will meet again.
Brian O’Higgins

That letter says so much, so well.  ‘I have come to love you all and to feel very much at home here’ he says.  He loved his native land – its culture; its history and its literature and, above all, he loved its people and especially he loved his family.  But he also loved his adopted country – England – and above all, he loved his parishioners. 

I had the joy of visiting him in Chelmsford and in East Ham.  It was simply wonderful to see how easily and how affectionately Brian related to people of all ages and of all nationalities. 

I was preaching in his native Dundalk last Sunday.  It was Good Shepherd Sunday.  I said there that when I think of a good shepherd – I think of Brian O’Higgins.  Christ said:  “I know mine and my own know me”.  I know of nobody who exemplified that Christ-like quality better than Father Brian O’Higgins.

I first got to know Brian over forty-four years ago.  He had been ordained that summer and had been asked to go to Rome to do post-graduate studies at the Angelicum University, while living at the Irish College.  Today I want to thank God for these forty-four years of treasured friendship. We are here in the great missionary College of All Hallows – the College of all the saints – both living and dead. 

•    Here Brian studied and was ordained priest. 
•    Here he came to know and respect and admire so highly the Vincentian Fathers.  They were his friends for life.  This was a place that was especially dear to him. 
•    Here he built on the solid foundations of faith and love which he had received from his parents and family on the Carrick Road, Dundalk Foundations  which he had developed at the Christian Brothers Schools, Dundalk.
•    Here Brian learned to meet the Risen Christ in word and sacrament, in people he met and in the events of life.
•    Here he chose to follow the gentle spirit of St Brigid rather than the more aggressive one of Cuchullian.

In Rome Brian studied at the Angelicum University – or the University of St Thomas – to give it its full title.  Twenty years earlier one Karol Wotyla, the future Pope John Paul II, had also studied there under the learned care of the Dominicans.  Their motto is “Truth”.  In a lovely biographical note Brian’s friend, Father Stewart Fosters says:  “To the end Brian was a scholar, a voracious reader and wise counsellor”.  He researched meticulously and prepared diligently.  Father Stewart delightfully recalls once meeting Brian in the Catholic Central Library, Westminster. On asking what he was doing there, Brian bashfully replied that he was doing some research, on cricket.  He had been asked to preside and preach at the Memorial Service for the late President of the Essex County Cricket Club.  He felt his knowledge of the sport had grown a bit rusty and needed brushing up. So he decided to do so by looking through John Harriott’s columns in back issues of the TABLET.

Father Brian died on the Feast of the great Dominican saint, Catherine of Siena.  She once wrote in her Dialogue: On Divine Revelation: ‘With the light of my understanding, in your light, I have tasted and seen the abyss, which you are, Eternal Trinity, and the beauty of your creation’.  With the light of his understanding, but always in the light of divine revelation, Father Brian had also tasted and seen the abyss of the Eternal Trinity.  He certainly loved and admired the beauty of God’s creation wherever he found it whether  in people – in nature – in literature – in works of art. 

This came home powerfully once when went on holidays together to Scotland. It was most enjoyable because of all the people and all the information Brian had about everywhere we visited.  We visited gracious nuns in Largs – who had links with Tyburn in London; called on some parishioners in Ullapool; toured the Queen Mother’s palace in Mey; sipped some neat Scotch at John O Groats before embarking on a tour of Cistercian Monasteries in Moray and East Lothia.  It was quite a tour de force. 

Typically on his last visit to Armagh Brian came bearing gifts.  He had brought with him some original sketches commemorating the inauguration of His Holiness Pope John Paul II.  They were taken from the original sketches made in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, October 22nd 1978 by a distinguished Polish artist, Feliks Topolski.  Brian had ordered these from Blenheim Fine Arts Ltd and I now treasure them as wonderful mementoes of his many kindnesses to me. 

I think that Brian would not consider it inappropriate that his funeral is taking place in between the Mass celebrated last Wednesday at Arbour Hill here in Dublin for the executed 1916 leader and the Church of Ireland Synod this weekend in Armagh.  Right in the middle, in Dundalk, comes his funeral.

I can just imagine a sparkle in his eye and a chuckle in his voice at the idea – which I think he would regard as totally appropriate. For he was well aware and proud of his family’s Fenian and Parnellite  roots – as the wealth of volumes on Irish political history in his vast library indicates.  At the same time he was vitally interested in ecumenism, having served on the Catholic-Methodist Committee and as a Consultant to the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission.  Bridge-building came naturally to Father Brian O’Higgins with his warm personality and respectful courtesy to all.

One of the prayers in the booklet at his bedside in the hospice was Lead Kindly Light by the servant of God, John Henry Cardinal Newman.  It goes as follows:

‘Lead kindly light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on;
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead thou me on.
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me

So long thy power hath blest me,
sure it still will lead me on.
Oer moor and fen, oer Craig and torrent till the night is gone
With the morn those angel faces smile which I have lost
Long saints and lost awhile.

  • May the kindly light of the memory of Father Brian’ life lead all of us on during these days.
  • May the kindly light of his patient endurance of suffering inspire us in our times of suffering.
  • May the kindly light of his admirable serenity in the face of death give us courage too.

Cardinal Basil Hume once wrote a piece about death:  He said:

“First thoughts of death are normally ones of fear and dread….But there is another voice that speaks within us.  It is not a voice that depresses and frightens.  It has a different message.  You have loved so many people in your life; are you to be frustrated and denied that love which you have sought throughout your life?  It is not so.

This is an instinct which speaks of hope leading to life after death…That instinct beckons us…Then faith finally takes over and triumphantly declares ‘It is so’.  The instinct for survival is a true one.  It does not deceive.  How could it be otherwise since it is God given?  Faith brings the reassurance which instinct was seeking’.

Father Brian O’Higgins could have written those words – he certainly believed them and he lived them.

May he rest in peace

AMEN

8 May – 40th Anniversary of St Mary’s Primary School, Cabragh

40th ANNIVERSARY OF ST MARY’S PRIMARY SCHOOL, CABRAGH
HOMILY GIVEN BY
CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY
FRIDAY 8 MAY 2009

I am very pleased to come here to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the opening of St. Mary’s Primary School, Cabragh.  I am very grateful for the word of welcome on the part of Mr Kelly. 

It is a sign of maturity on your part.  It is a sign that you appreciate the important place which education has as a preparation for life. 

I thank and congratulate the committee who organised this evening’s function.  I am glad that you decided to mark the occasion with a Mass and I thank you for the beautiful setting for this Mass. 

I note that the school is dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God.  The Celtic cross reminds us of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, and I am delighted to hear that the development of faith and prayer in St. Mary’s Primary School has always been at the core of the school’s Catholic ethos.  Over the years some 1,200 people have heard the sound of that bell. 

Tonight is a good night to stop and see what it means to have a Catholic school.  I am usually coming here for Confirmation and I remember some outstanding features of those in particular the excellent music.

I come as a successor of St. Patrick this evening.

I come to make a special plea to each and every parent here-present to work in close co-operation with the great teachers here in this school.  They say there are three legs on the stool of education.  If any one leg is missing, the stool heels over.  The three legs are:

Pupils                    teachers                parents

I want to pay tribute to parents and teachers who are doing their best to pass on all that is best to the children over the last forty years.  Don’t deny the children what they are entitled to.  They are entitled to be taught how to pray – not just in school – but to be taught how to pray at home.  A good example of parents and families is what counts.

I had the joy of being down in Attymass about a week ago to the native place of Father Patrick Peyton – the Rosary Priest.  He said three things:

Try prayer – it works

So, as a family, try prayer, it works.

The family that prays together stays together.

The third thing he emphasised was:

The world that pray, is a world at peace

Pope John Paul II took up that phrase:  The family that prays together stays together and quoted it in his letter on the Rosary.  He said the Rosary was his favourite prayer.  He had used it all his life but, in a special way, during his twenty-five years as Pope and that he had confided his toughest problems Our Lady and she had never let him down. 

I think children are entitled to be given a sense of responsibility.  Everybody must take responsibility for their actions. 

I thank in particular the teachers for the work of preparing children for the sacraments – First Confession; First Communion and Confirmation.  But the one big task is for you to try and introduce your children to know Christ.  He is our one and only Saviour.

When I became a bishop, I chose a motto.  I chose as my motto:  To know Christ Jesus   As a task for myself i wanted not just to know about him but know him as a person and to try to model, in my own life, the values and qualities he had. 

I have just returned from Dublin where I was at a funeral of a friend – Father Brian O’Higgins.  We had known each other for 44 years.  He was a Parish Priest in London and it was fantastic to see a busload of people who came for the funeral this morning to celebrate his life.  Brian O’Higgins was a man who gave his life to serve those people in London and to help them to know Christ Jesus. 

Earlier this week I was also in Dublin for Mass for the executed leaders of the 1916 in Arbour Hill.  It was a bit of an experience.  Again these people are honoured because they made sacrifices for the sake of other people.  They were prepared to volunteer.
There is a great need for people to volunteer to give some of their time and their talents for the sake of others – for people who are less well off. 

I appeal to parents therefore to make every effort to pass your faith.  It is not easy in these times.  There are a lot of difficulties – there are a lot of opposition but is it passport to Heaven to eternal life.  Don’t let anything prevent you from trying.  

The Ascension of Jesus

In the Luke’s gospel, the Ascension takes place on Easter Sunday evening.  In 1 Peter, Jesus has ascended to heaven and is at God’s right side.  The traditional ending of Mark (Mk16) includes a summary of Luke’s resurrection material and describes Jesus as being taken up into heaven and sitting at God’s right hand.  The image of Jesus rising bodily into the heavens reflects the ancient view that heaven was above the earth.
Christ’s ascension occurs in the original Nicene Creed.  It is affirmed by Christian liturgy and, in the West, by the Apostles’ Creed.  In terms of belief, the Ascension implies Jesus’ humanity being taken into Heaven.
We celebrate Ascension Day 40 days after Easter and is one of chief feasts of the Christian year. The feast dates back at least to the later part of the fourth century
But what is it about?  What is its significance for us today? Well it celebrates Agape – the great gift of charity. It is love that looks away from itself to another and gives itself away for another.  The Divine Word did not become man or endure the cross because something was in it for Him. Charity shares in the beloved’s joys and sorrows (John 14:28).
Also another  thing to remember about the Ascension is that it is about sharing in Jesus’ joy.  It is about celebrating his return to the heavenly glory to which he refused to cling (Phil 2:6-11).  It is also a feast of hope.  Yes, there is something in it for us.  Jesius has gone to prepare a place for us (John 14:2).  We will also one day wear crowns made of gold instead of thorns.  At God’s right hand Jesus showers down his blessings upon us as we await our redemption and his return. In the meantime he promises us that he will send the Holy Spirit to guide us and lead us in his ways

Soil for Seed Celebration

During the celebration the Cardinal congratulated the participants on their commitment and enthusiasm and expressed the hope that they would be able to use their gifts in service of their families and communities.
A video of the evening, which gives a flavour of the programme, is available here.

Soil For the Seed: Exploring our Faith as Adults is a two-year, one evening a week introduction to some of the key themes of Christianity, as experienced in the Catholic tradition.  The course is for adults, of all ages, who wish to explore their faith, who are willing to listen and participate, and are open to new ideas and ways of ministry. No academic qualifications are necessary.

The first session will begin at 7.30 pm on Monday 7 September. Participants can sign up for the whole year or for any of the individual modules.

More information is available here or you can contact the course co-ordinator by clicking here or Tel +353 42 933 6649.

Soil for the Seed, organised by the Office of Pastoral Renewal and Family Ministry, was previously held in Cookstown.