Homily at the funeral Mass for the Rt. Rev. Mons. John McGrane

Church of St. Mochua, Derrynoose
Sundsay 10th. February, 2008.
The Most Rev. Gerard Clifford.
Auxiliary Bishop of Armagh.

Monsignor John McGrane was ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Armagh on 21st June, 1953. He served in the parishes of Darver, Togher, Cooley, Ardee and was appointed Parish Priest of Mullaghbawn in August 1981. He was appointed Parish Priest of Cooley in 1991 from where he retired to become Pastor Emeritus in Derrynoose in 2000 as Pastor Emeritus. I use the word ‘retired’ with some caution because it was in his so-called years of retirement that John McGrane did some of the most challenging work of his life.

John was first and foremost a pastor. He was a man who set high standards for himself and for others. In many ways he was a mentor to the young priests of the diocese. As Parish Priest people often commented that John McGrane was so lucky always to have young priests around him. That was not altogether an accident. In fact repeatedly he was sent young priest because he was well known to be an outstanding mentor and teacher. In previous times young priests were sent out to their new parishes under the guidance of wise and learned men. John fulfilled that role admirably. In fact I remember as a young Bishop visiting John on many occasions and going on long walks to be guided and directed by a man of wisdom. Today many priests of the diocese owe much to the encouragement and direction given them by John McGrane.

John McGrane was one of the outstanding priests of the Archdiocese of Armagh, a pastor, mentor, iconic figure for generation after generation of priests. Parish after parish he was exemplary in his ministry and in his work. His commitment as a priest was total. At Diocesan Assemblies, Conferences, gatherings of all kind John was first in the field and last to leave.

All his life he was surrounded by family and friends. His native Parish of Kilmore may not be the biggest parish in the Diocese but Kilmore and Mullavilly were given unparalleled prominence in any discussions and debates at diocesan level. Mullavilly was home. It would be the arbiter and judge of all projects. All plans were assessed on how the people of Mullavilly would react. That was the esteem John had for his native parish. Family gatherings were part and parcel of weekly life. There were the calls home, the family celebrations and, of course, the football. Wherever John ministered the GAA was an important part of parish and community life but Armagh County was in a totally different sphere. Armagh was the love of his life and Armagh’s victory in the All-Ireland in 2002 was the highpoint of his involvement in football over many years. It was all reflected in the new wave of enthusiasm for the County team and was celebrated handsomely the length and breadth of the county.

John Mc Grane is remembered in the parishes where he served as a man of vision. He had a vision for renewal of the Church and was proud to be involved in renewal at parish and diocesan level. He saw the need for change and he was first to point out the need for structural reorganisation in the parishes he served. If Vatican II changes in liturgy were to be implemented then structural changes had to be made to the fabric of the Church. If we were to have full participation of lay people in the liturgy then reorganisation of the Church was part of that.

He took that work seriously. So much so that everywhere he went the churches, parochial houses, the Church plant, the schools were of the highest standard. John was a superb architect. He knew what was wanted and he addressed the need. It was all done efficiently and efdfectively. Nothing was too good for God’s house. Only the very best was good enough.

When the restoration and refurbishing of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh was begun by Cardinal Brady it was obvious that John McGrane was the ideal man to head up the work. He was appointed chairman of the Restoration Committee. It was an inspired choice. From the beginning of the work John McGrane applied himself with an energy and enthusiasm that inspired the rest of us. This was an enormous undertaking. There were sensitive decisions to be made, work of previous generations to be respected, architects to be employed, plans to be drawn, sites to be cleared, builders to be instructed, engineers to oversee the work and endless meetings. It was an awesome task. The great ceremony of rededication on 25th May, 2003 will be remembered for generations to come. The groundswell of admiration was a clear affirmation of the work done. All of it was done in the name of God. When it came to the Cathedral nothing was too good for the house of God. Today the completed work is regarded as one of the most successful restorations of our time.

Today we thank Cardinal Brady for that. We also thank Mons John McGrane for his commitment and dedication in seeing that work brought to fruition. As a token of appreciation for his outstanding work in the restoration of the Cathedral John was appointed a Prelate of Honour, ‘Monsignor’, on 1st. October 2003.

One might have thought that the work of restoration of the Cathedral was sufficiently challenging and exhausting to suffice for one lifetime. Mons McGrane went on to refurbish and renew this beautiful Church of St Mochua here in Derrynoose to include the ambo, tabernacle and altar brought from the Cathedral in Armagh. It was an opportunity he could not resist and we see the results in this beautiful Church today.
Today we thank God for the example and dedication of a priest who was dear to all of us. We have lost one of the men who inspired and directed generation after generation of priests and lay people here in the Archdiocese. To his sisters, brothers and wide circle of family and friends we extend our deepest sympathies. We pray that he may be with God in Heaven.

World Day of Peace – 1st January, 2008.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh.
Homily by the Most Rev. Gerard Clifford.
Auxiliary Bishop of Armagh.

Every year on the first of January Christians throughout the world are asked to pray for peace and every year the Holy Father selects a theme in the whole area of peace and reconciliation and encourages Christians worldwide to reflect on it. The practice began in 1968 when Pope Paul VI called for a World Day of Peace. Today we celebrate the fortieth anniversary of that event.

Over the years here in Northern Ireland we have celebrated that day and repeatedly we have had to call for peace in our country. The so-called ‘troubles’ in Northern Ireland began in 1969 and year after year we have reflected on how peace might be brought to Northern Ireland and to the world. This year we can look back in thanksgiving and say, for the first time in many years, we now have solid foundations in place that will hopefully ensure that a lasting peace is established in our country. Today is an opportunity to thank God for that. It is an opportunity to thank politicians and people of goodwill who worked tirelessly over the years to ensure there would be a new beginning for Northern Ireland. The signs are positive that a brighter future lies ahead for all. However, we cannot take it all for granted. Our politicians, our leaders, our communities need our continual support and encouragement. They need our prayers.

The political progress has been described by some as a real miracle and we thank God for that but forty years of strife and division in Northern Ireland has left its own legacy of bitterness, hatred and distrust. For some the hatred of the past has cheapened life. We have seen the awful destruction of life and property over the years. The results remain with us today. The taking of life in the past has desensitised us to the value of life. Punishment beatings remain the unacceptable face of a hang-over from past violence. We condemn such punishment beatings and violence of any kind as totally unacceptable, totally unchristian.

This year his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has chosen the theme ‘the human family, a community of peace’ as the focus for our reflection. He reminds us that the family is at the very heart of society. The family is the first teacher of peace in the world. We have an obligation to support family, to encourage legislation that supports the family unit. Any legislation that threatens to weaken the family unit is totally unacceptable.

Pope Benedict reminds us that as families we live in our common home, this world, and we have a responsibility not just to family but to all of society, those alive today and also to generations to come. We have an obligation to care for society and for our world.

In the nineteen sixties and seventies society began in a new way and with a new urgency to talk about our responsibilities to the world around us. The concept of ecology was given a new priority. The word derives from the Greek for house or home. We have responsibilities to those who share that home with us but also to future generations. We have a moral responsibility to protect and to preserve our world so that we can hand it on intact to those who come after us. The resources of this world like water, fuels, land and air are not unlimited. We have responsibilities towards the environment and the world around us. Greed, avarice and careless waste of the world’s resources damage all of us.

That presents a challenge to all. It demands a change of life-style for many. In today’s world we stand condemned for the waste of natural resources given to us in trust. We see the waste of energy and materials on a daily basis. We see it in the waste of scarce resources like water and fuel and the pollution of the air that we breathe. We see a major part of the world suffering from hunger, malnutrition, disease and want. All of the deprivation in family and community is linked in one way or another to the abuse by society of the resources given to us in trust. The call to all of us is to live simply so that others may simply live.
When the Apollo XI astronauts started on their historic journey to the moon they brought recorded messages from leaders throughout the world. The messages were deposited on the surface of the moon. Pope Paul VI sent his own message, a quotation from Psalm VIII. The words, recorded on a small disk of indestructible metal, are now embedded in the surface of the moon. They are a reminder to us that God’s own word in Sacred Scripture is forever new, it does not pass away. His words stand as a sign of lasting hope for all of us. The words of the Psalm challenge all of us;

‘O Lord Our God, how wonderful is your name over all the earth…
When I see the heavens, the work of your hands
the moon and the stars which you arranged
What is man? That you keep him in mind
Mortal man? That you care for him’.

Every one of us is called to care for our home in this world. It is a gift given to us in trust. I pray that all of us may recognise that and live accordingly.

ANNUAL MASS FOR THOSE WHO DIED IN 1916

HOMILY BY THE MOST REV GERARD CLIFFORD
AUXILIARY BISHOP OF ARMAGH

ARBOUR HILL, 9th MAY 2007

We gather today to commemorate those who fought and died for Irish independence in the 1916 uprising and especially to remember those buried in the cemetery here at Arbour Hill. Ninety one years later we look back at the ideals of those men and women who fought for Irish freedom, the sacrifices they made, their hopes for the future, the legacy that they have left to us and we ask some pertinent questions about the society of our time and how it measures up to those ideals.

It is well known that the events of Easter 1916 set in train a whole series of events that eventually would lead to Irish freedom. Easter 1916 became the catalyst that would awaken, in the minds of Irish people, the will and determination to campaign and fight for freedom and democracy. It changed an apathetic people into a formidable force for change and for freedom. The leaders of 1916 were agents of change. They were instrumental in the foundation of the Irish Free State. The importance of the Rising cannot be underplayed. It was a serious attempt at insurrection by people whose beliefs were soon to move from the fringe of political life to its very heart. In the words of William Butler Yeats;
‘All changed, changed utterly,
A terrible beauty is born’.

Today we are the inheritors of the aims and objectives of the Rising. Ninety years on we look back to the aims and objectives of those involved. The Proclamation was written at a time of widespread poverty, under-nourishment among the poor, considerable hunger and low life expectancy. Housing in certain areas was amongst the worst in Europe, unemployment was high and emigration to England and the U.S. was the only alternative to destitution for many people. Young people from all over the country had little option but to emigrate. Coupled with this the overall standard of education of the majority of the population was low which meant that when people did emigrate they did so to poorly paid and low skilled jobs.

Ireland of 2007 presents a very different picture. We currently have a confident economy, low unemployment and a good standard of living for many. Today we have a mainly confident and educated people. For some the country is awash with money, more mobile phones than people in the Republic of Ireland. Yet the affluence of many is full of anomalies.

October last year the Irish Bishops went on their ‘ad limina’ visit to Rome. The message of Pope Benedict at the conclusion of the visit spelled out some of those anomalies. He said;

‘The present time brings many new opportunities to bear witness to Christ and fresh challenges for the Church in Ireland. After centuries of emigration, which involved the pain of separation for so many families, you’re experiencing for the first time, a wave of immigration. Traditional Irish hospitality is finding unexpected new outlets. Like the wise householder who brings forth from his treasure ‘what is new and what is old’ (Mt.13:15) your people need to view the changes in society with discernment and here they look to you for leadership’

Indeed, Ireland, as we well know, has had an unprecedented influx of people to our country. People come here with buoyed up hopes for themselves and their families. They see Ireland as the land of opportunity; a place where dreams can be fulfilled. They feel welcome and most feel secure. For many Ireland is the new land of promise and opportunity. Some come here to escape from tyranny and poverty in their own country, others come to seek a livelihood, an opportunity to return home with new confidence and new financial security. Others come to a place they want to call home. They see Ireland as the land of welcome, the new land of promise for themselves and their families. ‘Failte Ui Cheallaigh’will hopefully live up to its name.

In the church context we know that migrants make a positive contribution to the Church to which they belong. For many their faith and their attachment to the Church give support and encouragement. They come with their own gifts. Already we have experienced much of this; their vibrancy in liturgical celebration, their harmonious musical tradition, their distinctive mode of celebration, their strong family involvement in every liturgical celebration, their popular piety, their support for each other. They have enormous strengths from which all of us can learn.

That presents a challenge to all of us. If I may quote words from the late Pope John Paul II when he was talking about the hopes for unity between the Orthodox Churches in the East and Rome, he said that we each have gifts to exchange. Equally I believe that with the recent phenomenon of migrants to our country we too have gifts to exchange. We have much to give but equally we have much to receive.

There are some 420,000 new migrants to Ireland at present making up 10% of our total population. We have large numbers of migrants from the UK, Poland, Lithuania, Nigeria, Latvia and several other countries. Many of the migrants are contributing to the workforce of our country and many are making a significant contribution to our economy and to our culture. They bring their distinctive cultural, religious and spiritual gifts to our people. The important factor in all of this is that we are challenged to encourage and allow diversity. They do not come to be subsumed into our way of life. They come to make their own distinctive contribution to our country.

I believe we are part of an overall process that involves different stages. The first is the stage of welcome assuring them a truly fraternal welcome. In the words of St. Paul; ‘Welcome one another as Christ welcomed you’ (Rom.15:7). At this stage they will depend greatly on local social services and support agencies. The key document on the Pastoral Care of Migrants from the Pontifical Council in Rome reminds us that mere tolerance is not enough. The next stage is the invitation to be part of the community through local projects, offering advice and opportunity, becoming involved in community, sharing their skills and their strengths with the local community. They seek affirmation and they seek to make their contribution to our society. The third stage is integration within the local community and the Church community. It is integration without being subsumed or forced. Ireland of the future, hopefully, will reflect the gifts of all, the culture, involvement and the contribution of all.

Those who arrive here have rights that go far beyond mere welcome. These include the right to provide for oneself and one’s family. It includes the right to a quality of life comparable to the rest of the community, the right to work, the right to protection in the workplace, the right to family life.

The Irish Bishops Conference at its March, 2007 meeting in Maynooth said;
‘We can readily see the invaluable contribution which has been made to our country and particularly to our economy by the thousands of migrant workers who have come to our country over the last decade. However, we must realise that those who have come here are not just workers but persons who have dignity and must be treated in ways that are just and fair. They are persons who have rights and entitlement not only in the workplace but in all other aspects of life, not least the right to family life’. This of course would include major issued like integration, recognition of a multi-faith society, a multi-cultural community, migrant identity and diversity.

I believe that all of us Church and State are challenged by this new situation. The Gospel message is clear. Jesus himself was an asylum seeker in Egypt, fleeing from the wrath of Herod. Mary was a migrant. The lack of welcome extended to her brings to mind the increasing number of women migrants worldwide who are victims of exploitation and trafficking. Christ’s sermon on the Mount challenges all of us;
I was hungry and you gave me to eat
Thirsty and you gave me to drink
A stranger and you made me welcome’.

In the Church we all have an indispensable part to play in that welcome. We can be key people in giving the feeling of belonging, to assure our visitors that they are participants and decision makers. Integration implies involvement, participation, joy in sharing, making a real contribution to society and to the Church without being subsumed by either. Mar a deireann an sean fhochal; ‘Ar scath a cheile a maireas na daoine’.

Ireland has, for generations, been familiar with the whole concept of emigration. Gaelic literature is full of stories of Irish emigrants heading out into an uncertain future. There were the traditional farewells, the ‘American wake’ as it was often called, the farewell that was for life. The emotional taking of leave is rehearsed many times in our Gaelic literature. Many of you will remember, from your school days, Mici Mac Gabhann’s ‘Rotha Mor an tSaoil’, Padraig O Conaire’s ‘Deoraiocht’, Seosamh and Seamus Mc Grianna’s short stories and many others writing about the pathos of it all, the grieving that was involved. Of course many will also remember the letters home, the clothes parcels and the registered letter that ensured that those at home were not forgotten. Today thankfully things have change greatly. For the most part those who emigrate from Ireland do so freely and not out of compulsion. The mobile phone ensures that there is constant contact but the journey of the heart is still painful. It is no different with the migrants to our country.

There are currently some 100 religious services in place in Ireland for some 14 ethnic groups with 41 chaplains providing these services. We now have priests and religious full-time or part-time ministering to the Polish, Portuguese, Lithuanian, Latvian, Filipino, African and other ethnic groups. Some of those ministering to our migrants are from the migrants own countries, others are native Irish priests, religious and lay people conversant in the different languages. These Church services provide a space for people to gather. People come, not just for the religious event, but also to build bonds of friendship and community.

Much of this work is part of the journey towards integration. When that integration comes about hopefully our migrants will feel that they are part of our community. They will be the Irish with their own distinctive culture guaranteed and shared with the community. Many Government schemes including the National Action Plan Against Racism are doing invaluable work. Other State groups like the Social Services, the Gardai, the Vocational Education Committees and the Health Boards are instruments of welcome and of integration. The Bishops’ Commission for Emigrants and Migrants together with numerous voluntary groups within the various Churches and communities are making their own distinctive contribution.

I believe that Ireland is making its own distinct efforts to address this new situation. At many levels across the country there are positive efforts to cultivate a culture of welcome. There are still bridges to cross. We are challenged to raise people’s sights to what is ultimately fulfilling, recognising the giftedness and uniqueness of every one. It is a life’s work. I believe that it is also a recognition of the aims and objectives of those who struggled for independence more than ninety years ago. Mar a deireann an sean fhocal; ‘Ni neart go cur le cheile’. There is real strength when we work together. It is the only way forward and it is the way of the follower of Christ.

HOMILY TO MARK THE MOVING OF THE DIOCESAN PASTORAL CENTRE
FROM MOUNT OLIVER
TO THE NEW BASE AT ST PATRICKS HALL DUNDALK

Most Rev Gerard Clifford, Auxiliary Bishop of Armagh
1 March 2007

‘How lovely on the mountain are the feet of one who brings Good News, who heralds peace, brings happiness, proclaims salvation’. The words of the Prophet Isaiah (Ch.52:7-10) capture vividly the coming together of the Catechetical and Pastoral Centre here in Mount Oliver at the place where Mother Kevin fulfilled a dream and founded a Missionary Community here to train Sisters for missionary work in Africa. The words of the Prophet capture the hopes and aspirations of the Franciscan Missionaries to Africa and those of the new Catechetical and Pastoral Centre opened here by Cardinal William Conway on 29th September, 1969. In his opening address the Cardinal quoted one of the key documents from the Second Vatican Council ‘Lumen Gentium’ – Christ the Light of the World. He said; ‘the foundation of the new Centre ‘would help to make the light shine more clearly, more brightly, more intensely in God’s vineyard’. That was the hope and aspiration of those responsible for setting up the Centre. It remains the inspiration and the challenge of the Diocesan Pastoral Centre to this day.

The Centre was the brain child of the Diocesan Advisors for Religious in The Northern Province. Under the inspiration of Fr.Bobby McKenna and Fr. Peter McConville, Dromore and the direction of Bishops from the Northern Province the Centre was opened here in 1969 under the direction of Fr. McKenna and a core group of catechists and lecturers. Fr. Tom Hamill, whose expertise in Biblical scholarship was well recognised, would take care of Scriptural formation, Fr. Enda Lyons, Tuam would take responsibility for theological formation, Sr Rose Devlin would look after Primary School catechesis, Sr Nano Brennan Post Primary Catechetics.

At that time Sr. Benedict was Superior General of the Franciscan Missionaries for Africa. She welcomed the new team, the new project and kindly released Sr. Gervaise Woods to look after the library and the cataloguing of documentation and she appointed Sr. Theresa Daly as secretary, receptionist and liaison person with the Franciscan community. It was a formidable team. It began a relationship between the Northern dioceses and the Franciscan community that would last some forty years under the various directors of the Catechetical Centre; Fr. Bobby McKenna, Bro Albert Traynor, Fr. Ray Brady and Fr. Tom Hamill.

Later the same happy relationship was maintained when the Centre was set up as a Diocesan Pastoral Centre under the direction of Fr. Colum Curry(now Dean Curry) and later still under Sr. Rhoda Curran, the present director.

The Catechetical Centre welcomed students from all over Ireland, from England, Scotland, Wales, from America, Canada, and Australia. It was the epicentre of a new revolution in catechetics that would reverberate throughout the English speaking world. Today its past pupils continue to bring the Good News ‘ that heralds, peace, brings happiness, and proclaims salvation’. (Is. 52 v10).

At the end of the nineteen eighties the Institute, as it came to be known, was beginning to find it difficult to sustain numbers. Other catechetical and pastoral centres were being set up throughout Ireland. The Mount Oliver Institute had done its work and so, under the leadership of Cardinal Cahal Daly, the Diocesan Pastoral Centre was set up in 1993 with Fr. Colum Curry, (now Dean Curry) as its new Director. Very quickly the Centre became the hub of renewal within the Archdiocese with outreach to those looking for renewal and formation at local level. It was a local initiative and it worked extremely well. In time Fr. Curry moved to new challenges and Sr. Rhoda Curran, Mercy Convent, Dundalk took over the challenge of leadership with the same enthusiasm and success. That work continues with various outreaches through the Rainbows programmes, the Beginning experience, counselling in grief and other counselling services. Under the auspices of FAS the Centre has been the base for projects at local level.

One of the pioneering new initiatives at he Centre was the establishment of the Family Ministry programmes for the diocese under the direction of Fr. Andy McNally, and Ms. Debra Snoddy with Milanda Kelly as part of the support team. Their work continues to have a beneficial and rewarding impact throughout the diocese.

Over the years the Centre became the base for many other projects including the regular meetings of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting (Ballymascanlon Conference). The work of the Conference goes back to the nineteen sixties when under the direction of the Irish Bishops’ Conference and the Irish Council of Churches (presently 16 churches and denominations as members). The work of the Inter-Church meeting is the flagship for official ecumenical contact between the Catholic and Protestant Churches in Ireland.

The various initiatives at the new Centre will include Fr. Tom Hamill’s Armagh Diocesan Biblical Initiative and his ministry of care to the sick; the National Vocations Commission under Fr. Patrick Rushe and other youth projects in the Diocese. . The new Diocesan Pastoral Centre at St. Patrick’s Hall Dundalk will be available to the Parish of Dundalk as a centre of prayer and renewal. It will take on the challenge of bringing the Good News to a wider audience at the same time as it addresses the growing challenges of our time.

Earlier this week I represented the Bishops’ Conference at the inauguration of a dialogue between the Irish Government and the Churches, philosophical bodies and non-confessional organisations in Ireland held in Dublin Castle. The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, spelled out the challenges facing all of us in a new and distinctively secular society where people are searching for answers to the deep questioning and insecurity of our time. He spoke of the new secularism that would attempt to confine religion and religious beliefs to the purely private and personal parts of life. He was insistent that one cannot ignore the importance of the spiritual element in life. He was eloquent in his praise for the work done by Irish religious, priests and lay people as missionaries at home and abroad who worked unstintingly to educate and care for others and to bring the message of faith to a waiting world.

The words of the Gospel of St John (17:18-21), sum up that continuing challenge for all of us in a new world context;

‘That they may be one
May they all be one.
Father may they be one in us
As you are in me and I am in you
So that the world may believe
It was you who sent me.’

We are challenged to be one in our commitment to the truth, to the affirmation of the uniqueness of the human person, to respect for each other, to respect for life from its beginnings to the end; for respect for the environment, for the marginalised, the poor, and the underprivileged in society, for those of other traditions, for those who believe and for those who do not share our worship of the God.

The new base for the Pastoral Centre in Dundalk will hopefully provide opportunities for discussion and for sharing on all of these topics. It is a great challenge. The words of the letter of St. Paul to the Romans capture that challenge;

‘They will not ask for help unless they believe in him
And they will not believe in him
Unless they have heard of him,
And they will not hear of him
Unless they get a preacher
And they will never have a preacher
Unless one is sent’.

That is the challenge; that is the programmes for all of us. It is a life’s work.

On behalf of Cardinal Brady I thank all who have been involved in the Mount Oliver Pastoral Centre. It has been a fruitful endeavour between the Centre and the Franciscan Community here in Mount Oliver. I thank Sr. Miriam Duggan, Provincial of the Franciscan Community, Sr. Mary Ryan and the Franciscan Council for their sharing of a vision with us. I thank Sr. Genevieve, leader of the Community here in Mount Oliver, for the support, encouragement and commitment given to the Centre. It has been a happy collaboration. I am reminded of the words of St Paul: ‘the footsteps of those who bring Good News is a welcome sound’. I pray that sound may continue to reverberate through the corridors of Mount Oliver as you undertake your own work of refurbishing and renewal.

Finally, I hope that the move to Dundalk will prove rewarding for all of us. In particular I wish Sr. Rhoda and her team every blessing in the challenges that lie ahead. Guim beannacht De oraibh agus ar bhur saothar.