ST. PATRICK’S DAY 2001
HOMILY BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY
12.00 NOON MASS
ST PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, ARMAGH

The scare of foot and mouth disease has cast a damper over this year’s celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. I know I have received very few St. Patrick’s Day cards. Perhaps people think we are not celebrating the National Feast-day this year. But, here and in Britain, our usual confidence has suffered an unexpected setback. Suddenly we have realised how little power we have in preventing the spread of a virus, how much we depend on the co-operation of the entire community and how much we need the help and protection of God.

So, our first prayer today is to our National Apostle – St. Patrick. He was himself once a shepherd boy, tending sheep during his captivity. Our prayer is to ask him, most sincerely to intercede for us that we may be rid of the terrible plague of foot and mouth disease.

We shall, however, still celebrate, with great joy and gratitude, the Feast of St. Patrick. Patrick was not only a shepherd of animals; he was much more importantly, the shepherd of the Irish – of Irish men and women. He was very much concerned about the well being of the people entrusted to his care and about their spiritual well being. Patrick, I am sure, would be extremely anxious about the spiritual well being of the Irish if he were alive today. Yes there is a great sense of confidence among Irish people today; there is a strong feeling that we have never had things so good. The Celtic Tiger in the South has transformed society – economically and socially. There is much to be thankful for and much of which to be proud.

At the same time, many people are experiencing growing difficulties in maintaining the balance they want in their lives – between their family and their work, between their standard of living and their compassion for people less well-off than themselves. It is becoming more difficult to give practical expression to spiritual values. Yet it is important to remember that a job, while it is paid, is above all, about service to others. It is essential to protect the quality of time given, first of all, to family and to friends. It is necessary to find time and space for quiet and solitude and to practice prayer and contemplation.

As a young adult, Patrick, realised that he had been neglecting God in his life. That was part of the reason, he believed, for his captivity. Let us listen to his own words:

“I am Patrick, a sinner. I was almost sixteen at the time I was taken captive and I did not know the true God. I was taken into captivity to Ireland with many thousands of people. We deserved this fate because we had turned away from God; we neither kept His commandments nor obeyed our priests, who used to warn us about salvation”.

I love the honesty of those words. “I am Patrick, a sinner, I did not know the true God”. We live in an age and at a time when it is fashionable to blame someone else for all our faults and failings. How refreshing therefore to find Patrick freely admitting that he deserved what he got. It was the best thing that ever happened to him, he says, because it brought him to his senses. Later Patrick came to see the foolishness of his ways. He was very thankful that he got, what he calls, the great and beneficial gift of knowing and loving God, even if it meant, “leaving my home life and my relatives”.

Patrick was never tired of thanking God for rescuing him from the danger of totally losing his faith. “I give thanks” he says, “to God tirelessly who kept me faithful in the days of trial, who preserved me in all my troubles”. “I am very much in debt to God” Patrick wrote, “who gave me so much grace that through me many people were born again in God”. Yes, Patrick realised that God had made him to be a light to the nations, so that he could be a means of salvation to the ends of the earth. Today, thousands march and celebrate, in so many nations on so many continents, to celebrate the fact that this prophecy has come true.

“All this”, he wrote in another place, “was for a people newly come to belief”. People who the Lord took from the ends of the earth and, as he promised long ago to his prophets, “to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and will say how false are the idols our fathers made for themselves, how useless they are”.

Well the idols, like the saints, are always liable to make a comeback. It is so easy to get so caught up in the culture of getting and having that it becomes the driving force in life and leaves little or no time for God. The result is that people neglect God in their lives and ignore the faith, which St. Patrick brought to us. The result is that when some difficulty arises, where we cannot rely solely on our own resources, such as the death of someone close or the sickness of someone very dear to us, we find it extremely hard to cope. The result often is deep discouragement and the temptation to despair. But, the best antidote is the support and hope that comes with a strong faith in God.

Patrick lived in an age when the pace of life was slower. Life appeared simpler. Yet his message of faith in God has lessons for our own time. It is a time, which sets such a high store on affluence and trusts solely on one’s own resources. The message brought by Patrick tells us that wealth has an enormous power for doing good in a world as needy as our own. The message of Christ helps us to see that either wealth is shared or its owners become the owned and are diminished in themselves. This message sets both rich and poor free. It invites everyone to see through the falseness of making material possessions the goal of human life. Patrick had his faith strengthened here in Ireland. Here in the north of Ireland he got the wonderful gift of knowing and loving God. Yes, it meant leaving his homeland and his relations. It was a price well worth paying. For, removed from his family he had time to think and to pray. In a single day he says, he would say as many as a hundred prayers and almost as many in the night. Separated from his family and homeland, Patrick found himself in a fearful situation. Working in poverty and in slavery Patrick turned to God in prayer for help. Thanks to his perseverance in prayer and trust in God, Patrick survived.

He not only survived but he discovered what God wanted him to do. He got the courage and the strength to do it. When God asked Patrick to come back to Ireland, he simply could not refuse. He had experienced the love and the care and the protection of God so powerfully in the hour of his need, that God won his heart totally and forever. Patrick simply could not say no to God, who had stood by him in his troubles.

Did you know that for the past three weeks a group of seventy and upwards, lay missionaries and priests, from many parts of the world, have been preaching a mission in Dungannon? The group, which includes young people and couples, have taken time off to host this mission. The central focus is on the love and mercy of Jesus. The missionaries are members of the Emmanuel community and they offer a rich spiritual programme of healing, reconciliation and hope. I think that St. Patrick must be very happy that so many missionaries are once again retracing his footsteps to invite people to open the door to Christ.

This feast always raises a few difficult questions for oneself.

· How grateful do I feel for the faith brought by Patrick?
· How much do I feel moved to share that faith with others and to hand it on to those who come after me?

Every time we come to Mass we are reminded that creation is a shared table. God invites all of us to that table equally. Everytime we go out from Mass, the faith brought by Patrick, commits us again to do our best to change the experience of life for everyone we meet into a pleasant surprise at the bounty and goodness of God.

LITURGICAL RECEPTION OF APOSTOLIC NUNCIO TO IRELAND
HIS EXCELLENCY MOST REVEREND GIUSEPPE LAZZAROTTO,
HOMILY BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY
PRESIDENT OF THE IRISH EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE
ST. PATRICK’S COLLEGE, MAYNOOTH
12 MARCH 2001

Your Eminence, Your Excellency, My Brother Bishops and Reverend Fathers in Jesus Christ,
At this, our first meeting of 2001, we give God thanks for many new things: the new Irish Cardinal; a new Nuncio, sent by the Holy Father to represent the Catholic Church in Ireland and from the Holy See to the Irish Government; a new system of organisation for those who work in the various Commissions and Agencies of the Irish Bishops’ Conference.

All of us gathered here this evening are engaged in work which extends to many areas of Church life in Ireland today. The activities of all of us are, in one way or another, aimed at contributing to the promotion and strengthening and handing on of the faith in this country. So, this evening we give thanks to God for that faith.

The work of all of us is linked, in one way or another, with the wonderful works of God among His people. Our activities are linked especially by the work of Christ in saving humankind and in giving glory to God. Yesterday, down in Tuam, we buried Archbishop Joseph Cunnane. His motto was: Aedificare Familiam Dei, ‘To Build Up the Family of God’. Each one of us is, or ought to be, concerned with building up the Family of God.

In every Mass the Church celebrates and remembers the deeds by which Christ carried out the work of saving the world. Not alone that but through the liturgy of the Mass, Christ continues the work of saving us from sin and death. Christ gives the dignity of a royal priesthood to the people he has made his own. To that people His Father gives gifts of grace for every time and season as He guides the Church in the marvellous ways of His providence. From the beginning the Church has been marked by a great diversity of gifts and a great richness of grace. That diversity comes from the variety of God’s gifts. It also comes from the variety of all those people who receive the gifts.

This evening we thank God for all those gifts and all those people, especially those working in the Commissions and Agencies. There are different gifts, offices, conditions and ways of life. We ask the guidance of the Holy Spirit to help us meet the challenge of a new situation.

St. Paul urges us to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace so that the richness and diversity of God’s people may not be a threat to its unity. The Church knows that it has been entrusted to the pastoral care of Peter and of his successors. The Church in Ireland appreciates and welcomes that care. That care is exercised in a variety of ways. One of those ways is the practice by which the Holy Father appoints Apostolic Nuncios to represent him in various parts of the world. This evening we welcome Archbishop Lazzarotto, Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland. He comes as the representative of Pope John Paul II, a man who has a special place in the hearts and affections of Irish Catholics.

Pope John Paul II once had an Irish Secretary, Bishop John Magee. Bishop Magee was not only his Secretary but later his Master of Ceremonies. The Holy Father came to Ireland. He not only came to Ireland, he came to this College and to several dioceses. The notable thing was that he came very early in his Pontificate, immediately after visiting his native Poland, and the much- persecuted Mexico. The Holy Father did so because he wanted to pay tribute to the heroics of the Irish people, to the Catholic faith despite the centuries of opposition and persecution.

So, Archbishop Lazzarotto, we welcome you with great joy. We ask God’s blessing on you and on our work. You come as the representative of the successor of Peter, to whom the Lord entrusted the task of confirming faith of his brethren. That was never an easy task. It is not an easy task today but it is a noble task. We know that the Holy Father is the centre and bond of unity in the Pilgrim Church on earth. Through him and in union with him, we remain in communion with the universal church. We appreciate that we have been entrusted to his pastoral care. We rely on that pastoral care to ensure that we share in a communion of holy things, which Christ, out of love, gives to his holy people, for the building up of his kingdom on earth.

I believe that our new Apostolic Nuncio is excellently prepared to carry out his new role. He comes with considerable knowledge of conditions in Ireland and has followed the knowledge acquired over the years from Irish colleagues, and from his work in six native states. His last posting was in Iraq and Jordan, troubled areas in a troubled Middle East. Here in Ireland we hope and pray that we are at present moving out of a period of troubles into a more peaceful phase of our history. Nevertheless we believe that the experience of the new Nuncio will be invaluable, especially his appreciation of the effects of violence on the lives of people and on their faith.

Finally, our new Nuncio comes from the diocese of Padua, a diocese renowned as the centre of learning, as a centre of art and above all, as a centre of holiness.

Your Excellency, you come to visit us in a week in which we prepare to celebrate the Feast of our national apostle. In his Confession, Patrick reveals his tremendously strong faith in the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Patrick never ceased to confess his sinfulness and his unworthiness for the task which the Lord had called him. He put his trust totally in God. In the midst of his many difficulties he, Patrick, united himself to Christ, especially in his suffering and death.

As we strive to carry on the work of Patrick, this evening’s First Reading gives us inspiration. It is from the Book of Daniel and is one of the loveliest penitential prayers of the Old Testament. The speaker addresses God in the name of the entire people. He confesses the sinful characters who are so forgetful of their Creator and so reluctant to listen to the voice of the prophets. He recalls the great majesty of God. It was prayers like these that hastened the times and nourished the spirituality of the people of St Patrick.

‘Be compassionate, as your Father is compassionate. Be merciful as your Father in Heaven is merciful’ the Gospel tells us this evening. ‘Do not judge or condemn but instead grant pardon. Give not only pardon, give a full measure’. Those words remind us that the moral behaviour of the follower of Christ is inevitably an imitation of God’s behaviour. The emphasis is on the total generosity of our giving. In return we are promised not just an equivalent measure as reward but a super abundant measure. In the celebration of the Eucharist the Christian is united in the charity of Christ. That charity is a perfect imitation of the Father. We are not on our own – we rely on that charity always for in you, Our Lord, we put our trust, we shall not be put to shame.
AMEN

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HOMILY EXTRACT
CONFIRMATION
HOLY FAMILY CHURCH, COALISLAND, CO. TYRONE
ARCHBISHOP SEÁN BRADY
SATURDAY, 3 MARCH, 2001, 11.00AM

CURRENT POLITICAL SITUATION

St Paul lists peace as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Peace comes about when people know what they ought to do and also have the courage to do it fearlessly, despite all the obstacles.

When the Good Friday Agreement was signed, I believe the Holy Spirit was very much at work. After long negotiations the parties agreed that certain measures had to be taken in order to establish a lasting peace. They found the courage to take the risks involved and to sign up to the Agreement. As a result there was great joy – which is another fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit.

Since then significant progress has been made in many areas of the Peace Agreement. However, there are other areas where there has been some but insufficient progress.

In the Agreement there is a commitment to the total disarmament of all paramilitary organisations. There is a promise to work constructively and in good faith with the Independent Commission. There is an undertaking to use influence to bring about the decommissioning of all paramilitary arms. Again there was great joy when people read those words in the Agreement.

Good faith is crucial to the survival of the Agreement. If that good faith is to survive more progress has to be made in this area and it has to be made now.

I am delighted to hear that the pro-Agreement parties are planning to meet soon. I pray and I ask all of you to pray that they will sit down together. I hope that in their discussions all will see honestly and truthfully what they have got to do now to ensure that the peace process survives. If they do so I am confident that they will once again get the courage to play their part and to help each other play their part fearlessly, in spite of all difficulties.

If they do so I believe that they will find the Holy Spirit and a huge number of people once again very much on their side. Understanding and trust will grow. The search for a lasting peace to which the pro-Agreement parties have so courageously and so wisely committed themselves could once again breathe life and hope. I ask all who sincerely want peace to pray that this may happen – for the sake of us all and especially for the good of the young people confirmed here today.
ENDS.

ATTENTION NEWSDESKS
IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE – FOOT AND MOUTH CRISIS
FROM DR SEÁN BRADY, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH
2 March, 2001

In a letter to the priests of the Archdiocese of Armagh today, Archbishop Seán Brady said the following:
I ask you to do all you can to offer comfort and hope to all who are affected by the latest threat to the agricultural industry.

I want you to urge people to co-operate fully with the advice of the Departments of Agriculture (North and South) and to act with the greatest responsibility. People should be encouraged to listen attentively to and carry out fully the regulations and restrictions imposed by the civic authorities at local and national level.

Following advice received by the Department of Agriculture I ask priests to take the necessary precautions and to put in place disinfectant mats at all entrances to churches and car parks.

All Masses in the following churches in the restricted zone have been cancelled this weekend: St Joseph’s Church, Meigh; St Patrick’s Church, Dromintee; Sacred Heart Church, Jonesboro; St Mary’s Church, Mullaghbawn; St Oliver Plunkett Church, Forkhill; Our Lady, Queen of Peace Church, Aughanduff; St Brigid’s Church, Glassdrummond; Sacred Heart Church, Shelagh; St Malachy’s Church, Carrickcruppin (Camlough); Sacred Heart Church, Lislea; St Michael’s Church, Killean; St Brigid’s Church, Kilcurry; St Brigid’s Shrine, Faughart. Parishioners who normally attend these churches are excused from the Sunday Mass obligation and are encouraged to assist at Mass via radio or television. They are encouraged to pray fervently in their own homes for an end to this crisis.

In view of the risk involved people from these areas are not encouraged to travel elsewhere to attend Mass. Anyone who believes that by attending Mass this weekend they might risk spreading the disease is similarly excused.

I leave it up to other parishes to decide to cancel or postpone parish functions in view of the risk involved to the common good of the community.

Prayers should be offered at all Masses that further outbreaks of the disease may be avoided. Parishioners affected by the crisis should be contacted by telephone and assured of support and solidarity.
Schools in all parishes should provide disinfectant mats at all entrances and exits.
May St Brigid, Patroness of flocks, fields, and farmyards, protect us at this time.

No interviews will be given.

SILVER JUBILEE CELEBRATION
PARISH OF ST JOSEPH, DUNDALK
SUNDAY, 18 FEBRUARY, 2001, 12.30PM
HOMILY BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY
OF ARMAGH

“O Israel, Hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast Love
And with Him is plenteous redemption” (Psalm 129.7)
Every anniversary gives an opportunity to look back and see how the Lord always cares for His people with steadfast love. Every anniversary enables us to look forward and renew our hope in the plenteous redemption of the Lord, so clearly professed, lived and preached by the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.

As we look back at the history of the Church here in Dundalk we realise how fortunate it has been, especially over the last 150 years in attracting religious congregations:

The Sisters of Mercy came in 1847
The Marists in 1861
The Christian Brothers in 1869
The De La Salle Brothers in 1899

Of course the Dominicans came much earlier and the Rosminians, St Louis Sisters, Franciscan Missionary Sisters and Sisters of Our Lady of the Mission came a bit later. The Redemptorists came in 1876. The presence of so many communities, dedicated to the glory of God and to the following of Christ in a special way, is a great blessing for any town. They are an outstanding sign in the Church of the glory which we all hope to enjoy in heaven. They remind us, very powerfully, that we have not here, on earth, a lasting kingdom but we seek one that is to come.

REDEMPTORIST LEGACY

It was on 9 November 1732 that St Alphonsus Ligouri and his companions dedicated themselves to the Most Holy Redeemer. They decided to dedicate their lives to preaching the Gospel to “the most abandoned souls”. This dedication took place in the village of Scala in Italy, near the beautiful City of Naples. So the Redemptorists were “born”.

The Congregation grew rapidly. In 1853 they came to Ireland, a country that was still recovering from the trauma of the Great Famine. Their first foundation was in Limerick. Parish Missions were conducted in Dundalk by the Redemptorists in 1859 and in 1867. At that time the Redemptorists were eager to extend their ministry in Ireland. They were conscious that Dundalk was an important juncture in the country’s train system. They knew that from Dundalk they would have easy access to several parts of the country. They were also well aware that while Dundalk enjoyed much prosperity as a centre of trade and commerce, a lot of poverty existed there. So the Redemptorists, truly guided by God, decided to found a house in this town.

This they did in 1876 in Park St, where Dunnes Stores now stands. Five years later in 1881, under the leadership of Fr Henry Harbison, the community moved to the present monastery in Alphonsus Road, appropriately named after the founder of the Congregation. Father Henry Harbison was ordained for the Archdiocese of Armagh but later felt called, by God, to leave the diocese and join the Redemptorists. One year later in 1882 Archbishop McGettigan opened and blessed this Church of St Joseph. In his dedication homily on that occasion Bishop Healy of Clonfert expressed the hope that the new church would be a worthy successor of the great Abbeys of Mellifont and Monasterboice. We thank the Lord that his prayer was heard and that his hope was not misplaced.

FOUNDATION OF ST JOSEPH’S PARISH

Exactly a century after the foundation of the Redemptorist community in Dundalk, on Sunday, 15 February, 1976, Cardinal Conway came to inaugurate the new Parish of St Joseph and to install Fr Michael Clancy as the first Administrator. The Redemptorists, eager to mark 100 years of their arrival in Dundalk and to answer the call of Vatican II to all Religious Congregations to share their charisms and resources as generously as possible with the People of God and within the diocesan system, had offered to take pastoral responsibility for that portion of East Dundalk in the vicinity of their monastery. This offer Cardinal Conway prudently accepted. In 1976 the new Parish had 600 families. This has now more than doubled to 1,300 families and the Parish continues to grow.

St Joseph’s we could consider as a beautiful and successful marriage between a religious congregation and a parish. This church is renowned in Dundalk and its large hinterland for the traditional Redemptorist devotion to St Gerard Majella and to the Mother of Perpetual Help. None of us can exaggerate the inestimable blessing which the 10 daily sessions of the annual St Gerard Novena, catering for the 12,000 daily participants, bring. St Joseph’s, Dundalk, has been for several generations a great source of grace for the people of the North-East, a spiritual oasis, a place of pilgrimage and spiritual help and consolation, an occasion of confession and sacramental healing. Long may it continue to be so.

St Joseph’s Parish has built upon this rich Redemptorist legacy and has become a most vibrant Christian community. A strong spirit of partnership between priests and parishioners, what we sometimes call collaborative ministry, prevails. An appropriate emphasis on excellence in the liturgy exists with the active participation of the laity. Readers, Ministers of the Eucharist, Collectors, Ushers, Altar Servers, Choirs, junior and senior, and Folk Groups, all play their role to make the liturgy what it should be – a glorious hymn of praise to God, a spiritual encounter between humanity and our Creator, a foretaste of the heavenly banquet. This church has an active ministry to youth – I think of your Growing in Faith Programme, Peer Ministry Programme and Children’s Liturgy Group. You also have a committed Pastoral Council who have worked very hard in preparation for today. You have several pastoral groups and activities – Martha Ministers, Weekly Envelope Collectors, Senior Citizens Group, St Joseph’s Young Priests’ Society, Dues Collectors, St Brigid’s Community Centre, St Vincent de Paul Society – to mention but some.

You have been blessed in your administrators, Fathers Michael Clancy, Brian McGrath and John McAlinden, in your Curates, currently Fathers Cathal Cumiskey and Dan Bray. I also wish to pay tribute to the Superiors and Sacristans, currently Fr Michael Cusack and Br Dermot McDonagh, respectively, and to your parish secretaries, Nuala Begley and Teresa Power, of whom more anon.

SUNDAY AS RED-LETTER DAY

Today, the silver jubilee of the foundation of this parish, is a “red-letter day” in the history of St Joseph’s, Dundalk. Each Sunday, however, is a “red-letter day” for the Christian community. On this day the Church celebrates Christ’s resurrection. It is our weekly Easter. It is the Lord’s day. The Lord’s day is the lord of days. The Psalmist’s cry is rightly applied to Sunday: “This is the day which the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad.” (Ps 118:24). It is extremely appropriate that we should give thanks to God for the past 25 years at a Sunday Eucharist.

The Latin for Sunday is “dies Domini”, day of the Lord. The Irish word, Domhnach, derives from this. On this day we celebrate Christ’s victory over sin and death through the power of his resurrection. St Jerome once said: “Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, it is the day of Christians, it is our day”. It is right and proper, therefore, that we should come to Mass each Sunday to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus. Dying he destroyed our death. We come to praise God, to honour and to thank Him for His majesty and for His outstanding kindness to us. We open our hearts and our lives to Him. We open our time to Him. We commend the week just completed to Him and beg His protection and blessing for the week just beginning.

In the story of creation in the Book of Genesis we are told that God rested on the seventh day. On Sundays we too are invited to rest a little from our daily toils and to re-discover “God’s joyful gaze”.

SPIRITUAL CHURCH

A beautiful church, an impressive building like this is not enough. St Peter reminds us that we must become a spiritual church, a spiritual house. When St Peter was preparing candidates for baptism he reminded them:

“(Christ) is the living stone ….; set yourselves close to him, so that you too, the holy priesthood that offers the spiritual sacrifice which Jesus Christ has made acceptable to God, may be living stones making a spiritual house. ….You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart to sing the praises of God who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people at all and now you are the People of God.” (1 Peter 2:4-5, 9-10).

It takes much longer to build the living house of God which is the parish itself than it takes to erect the visible church building; it is the work of a lifetime. But the architect, the builder, the artist is God Himself. We must open ourselves to His power at work in our lives. The final result is something of a beauty that far outshines the beauty of this splendid building, a beauty that nothing in this world can ever surpass.
We must work tirelessly in becoming the Body of the Christ which is the Church. Prayer and love will be our main tools as Our Lord tells us in today’s Gospel (Luke 6:27 – 38). We must grow in virtue and diminish in vice. As individuals and as a community here at St Joseph’s we must become visible signs of God’s presence and power at work in our lives.

HYMN OF THANKS
Today we thank God for His loving care for all of His people. We thank God for always raising up in the Church people who will be signs of that love, who are, like the apostles, leaving their fishing nets and boats, prepared to leave all in order to follow Christ more closely and to preach his message in season and out of season, who have the generosity of spirit and the courage to say, ‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who treat you badly’. That is often not a popular message but it is the only basis for true peace and happiness.

Thanks be to God for St Joseph’s Parish, Dundalk and for the Redemptorist Community. Thanks be to God for the faith, hope and love of the past twenty-five years and for the hundred years before that. We give glory for the generosity of so many people who have made St Joseph’s Parish, past and present, possible and who have been the channels of His graces and blessings. Long may the people of Dundalk come here to listen to the Word of God and to ponder it, like Mary, in their hearts. We can truly make our own today the Psalm for this Sunday’s Mass:

“My soul, give thanks to the lord,
all my being, bless his holy name.
My soul, give thanks to the Lord
And never forget all his blessings.” (Ps. 102)

In the spirit of today’s Gospel may all associated with this church and this parish be rewarded both in this life and the next – “a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into (their) lap”. For dear friends, the amount we measure out is indeed the amount we will be given back.

ST JOSEPH

I pray that under the patronage of St Joseph, chaste spouse of the Blessed Virgin and loving foster-father of Our Lord, this community of St Joseph’s, Dundalk, may add and increase in the love and presence of God.

BENEMERENTI MEDAL

The Holy Father was last year informed of the Silver Jubilee of St Joseph’s Parish, to be marked today. Pope John Paul II deemed it appropriate that someone closely associated with St Joseph’s should be honoured in celebration of the occasion. Very prudently the Pope has decided that Teresa Power, faithful secretary of this parish over the past twenty-five years, be awarded the Benemerenti Medal. Benemerenti translates from the Latin as well-deserved and no one of us today can dispute that Teresa is not deserving of this singular honour.

TERESA POWER

Teresa Power, daughter of the late Lawrence and Mary Ellen Power, was born in Ballycotton, Co Cork. Her father worked as a lighthouse keeper. Like many others in public service he was transferred a number of times, so that the Power family lived in various coastal locations over the years. Very fortuitously the Power family moved to Dundalk and it was in Dundalk that Teresa spent most of her youth and settled permanently. Her working career began in the Accounts Department of Hallidays’ Shoe Factory and she retained that post when Clark’s took over that company. During those years at Clark’s Teresa became increasingly involved in the various activities and organisations connected with St. Joseph’s Church. 25 years ago, when St. Joseph’s Parish was first established, Father Michael Clancy, the first Administrator of the new parish, wisely employed Teresa as a full-time Parish Secretary. Teresa has retained that post to this day!

As parish Secretary, Teresa has been very much a part of the overall development of the parish. She has served under three Administrators – Fathers Michael Clancy, Brian McGrath and, now John McAlinden. She has served them well and has left them greatly in her debt.

She has served the whole parish with remarkable dedication. A truly selfless worker, Teresa has made a lasting impression on us all by her constant and untiring efficiency and her remarkable grasp of detail. In addition to her work as Parish Secretary, Teresa has been Receptionist for the local Redemptorist Community. Redemptorists have come and gone over the years, as priests do. Teresa has stayed, however, and has been an anchor, a very useful and necessary link with the past on whom the Administrator and Superior have always so heavily depended.

The parish of St. Joseph’s is profoundly grateful to you, Teresa, for the past 25 years you have given to this parish and to its people. The Priests of the parish, past and present, join with the parishioners in rejoicing at the great honour being bestowed on you by the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II.

HISTORY OF MEDAL

In 1925, the concept of awarding the Benemerenti as a mark of recognition to persons in service of the Church, both civil and military, lay and clergy alike, gained currency. The medal has since been conferred on people who have given extraordinary service to the Church.

The medal which will be conferred on Teresa today portrays the image of Christ on a gold Greek cross. It represents Jesus Christ, who is the same today as he was yesterday, as he will be forever. The Saviour, depicted in radiant splendour, has his hand raised in blessing. The last visible action of Christ on earth which he bestowed on his Church is his blessing. A blessing is a gift from God which touches our lives. It is a gift expressed in words and our prayer today is that the Lord may continue to bless Teresa abundantly.

On the left of the transverse arm of the Cross is a modern depiction of the tiara and crossed keys, symbol of the papacy. On the right, the shield of John Paul II and his motto, Totus Tuus, Totally Yours. On the reverse of the Medal is the word, Benemerenti. The insignia is suspended from a ribbon of the papal colours, yellow and white.

The citation of the diploma which Teresa receives translates from the Latin as follows:
“Pope John Paul II, Supreme Pontiff, has deigned to bestow this gold medal on Miss Teresa Power for singular merit in the Christian state and declares her worthy of being decorated with this insignia. Given at Rome, 21st December, 2000.”

CONFERRAL OF MEDAL

Teresa Power, I now ask you to come forward to receive this award:
Brothers and Sisters, we gather here this afternoon to acknowledge and honour our friend, Teresa, for her outstanding service to the Church. St Paul reminds us that all good gifts come from God who distributes them as he wills to build up the Body of Christ.

Eternal God, source of very gift and talent, through your Son, Jesus Christ, you grant us your blessings that the Church might be nourished and strengthened.

Bless Teresa and confer upon her the gifts of your Spirit that she may remain humble in heart as she serves your household, the Church.

Bring us all into the peace of your Kingdom where all honour and glory are yours, Lord our God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Congratulations, Teresa! Well done, good and faithful servant…..

RESPONDING TO RACISM CONFERENCE
SPONSORED BY THE IRISH COMMISSION FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE
GORT MHUIRE, DUBLIN
8 FEBRUARY, 2001
OPENING ADDRESS BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

I welcome everybody to this Conference. I hope it will be a fruitful experience. The organisers intend it to be a contribution to the evolving response of the Catholic community in Ireland to the challenges of welcoming and living with people of different backgrounds, cultures, race and religion.

The purpose of the Conference is twofold. Firstly, it intends to deepen the reflections of the Catholic community in Ireland on the question of racism. Racism is a matter which touches the heart of our faith. Secondly, it is meant to help develop an appropriate answer to the question: How can we, how should we, respond concretely as a faith community to the racism which confronts us in our society? Yes, of course, words and denunciations are necessary. They are not enough, however. We have to develop a comprehensive pastoral response. Racism needs to be named as sinful wherever it occurs.

Some may ask why the title of the Conference emphasises the Catholic community in Ireland. Well, the reason is straightforward. It is simply to acknowledge the fact that we should look to our own house and examine our own conscience, as well as working with others in building a more inclusive society. As many of you already know there exists a strong body called the Churches’ Asylum Network. That Network meets regularly. It includes representatives of seven different Christian Churches in Ireland.

The Many Forms of Racism

Racism can take many forms. It is not true to say that there was no racism in Ireland prior to the arrival of refugees and asylum-seekers. It is salutary to realise how widespread racism is. Racism can be directed against members of the Travelling Community in our midst. In 1972 a travellers settlement committee, in a provincial town in Ireland, had this to say: “We who burn with righteous indignation at the lack of civil rights in the North blindly ignore the fact that in our own town nearly 200 Irish men and women and children are being denied their human and civil rights which are guaranteed and enshrined in our constitution under God. In our courts they are condemned to prison and to payment of exorbitant fines for offences of a comparatively minor nature while members of the settled community, coming from good homes, are treated with kid gloves”.

Racism can also be directed against Irish citizens whose skin colour is not white. It can take the form of anti-semitism. The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace has noted a number of generic forms of racism in its examination of the question.

One form of racism is ethnocentricity. This has been defined as “a widespread attitude whereby a people has a natural tendency to defend its identity by denigrating that of others to the point that, at least symbolically, it refuses to recognise their full human quality”.

Another form of racism is the denial of minority rights. When these are not respected ethnic conflicts can take place. The new European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights addresses a broad range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights and seeks to protect people more effectively against discrimination, particularly racial discrimination.

The acknowledged weakness of the European Convention on Human Rights in respect of minorities eventually led to the formulation of the European Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities in 1994. This has been ratified in both jurisdictions in Ireland. Both the Irish and British Governments have ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The most important rights of members of minority communities under the Framework Convention are:

· to full and effective equality in all areas of economic, social, political and cultural life;
· to maintain and develop their culture and to preserve the essential elements of their identity, i.e. their religion, language, traditions and cultural heritage;

· to practise their religion and use their language;
· to be taught or educated in their distinctive language; and
· to participate effectively in public affairs, especially on matters affecting them.

Yet another form of racism is that of social racism within a country. “There is no great difference”, says the Pontifical Council, “between those who consider others their inferiors because of their race, and those who treat their fellow citizens as inferior by exploiting them as a work force”.

Spontaneous racism is another expression of racism. The analysis of the Pontifical Council of this form of racism is particularly pertinent to our current situation where we aggressively seek immigrant workers to help us maintain our high level of economic growth. It says:

“The prejudices which these immigrants frequently encounter, risk setting into motion reactions which can find their first manifestation in an exaggerated nationalism. This is a nationalism which goes beyond legitimate pride in one’s own country or even superficial chauvinism. Such reactions can degenerate into xenophobia or even racial hatred. These reprehensible attitudes have their origin in the irrational fear which the presence of others and confrontation with differences can often provoke.”

Finally, eugenic racism arises when people yield to the temptation to push the genetic manipulation of the human species to unethical lengths.

Responding in the light of the Bible and of Catholic Social Teaching

Once upon a time travellers were seen as a problem, a social problem. Of course the real social problem lies in the consequences of discrimination against travellers.

In the same way asylum-seekers and refugees are now seen as a “problem”. The real challenge is to see how the needs of asylum-seekers can be addressed alongside the needs of host communities. There is need to respect one another’s dignity rather than pitting people against the other. There is need to value our differences, as gifts that can enrich our lives. There is the need to be welcomed into one another’s lives. There is a need to be understood both in terms of language and in terms of the human heart. There is need for work and activity. There is need to accept that we have responsibilities on a global, not just on a national level.

The response of the Catholic Church is made in the light of the bible and of Catholic social teaching. All Christians hold dearly their conviction about the dignity of every human person and the unity of the human family. That conviction has come from biblical revelation as its main source. From the beginning the Christian community has reflected on this source. It did so in order to deepen and enrich its response to the challenge of contemporary life. It is important to keep doing so.

The first paper today, by Fr Kieran O’Mahony, OSA, is just such a reflection. It contains biblical insights into St Paul’s approach to communal inclusion. Fr O’Mahony is the author of “What the Bible says about the Stranger”, one of the titles in the Ecumenical Adult Study Guide series, What the Bible says about. This series is produced jointly by the Irish Council of Churches and the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace. It is yet another welcome sign of already well-established ecumenical endeavours in the response to the changing face of Ireland.

Catholic Social Teaching

The Church, of course, has in every age had to confront and dialogue with the society, with the cultures in which it lived and lives. So there has been a continuous interaction. The Church is simultaneously challenged by and challenging the values and experiences of different ages and different peoples. In recent centuries the response of the Church to many such issues has been stated in what we call Catholic social teaching. This is a very rich, organic, and it has to be said, often untidy growth, reflecting as it does the Church’s immersion in the daily business of living and of history. Rev. Dr Kevin Doran, in the second paper of the morning, will discuss the implications of the modern Catholic teaching on solidarity in a single human family for our response to racism. He will ask the question, how it can or should be further developed and applied to our evolving situation in this island? The Second Vatican Council expressed with great clarity and without any equivocation the elements of a considered Church judgement. It said, “Forms of social or cultural discrimination in basic personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, colour, social relation, language or religion must be curbed and eradicated and are incompatible with God’s design”.

The Task of Making Our Response Real

The second half of this day is given over to examining how the Catholic Church in Ireland can develop an increasingly effective and well-rooted pastoral response.

In his Message for World Day of Peace this year, Pope John Paul II issued a challenge to all of us. It is “to combine the welcome due to every human being, especially when in need, with a reckoning of what is necessary for both the local inhabitants and the new arrivals to live a dignified and peaceful life.” The rights of both the local inhabitants and of the new arrivals must be respected. Words must be accompanied by appropriate action.

The thrust of the afternoon session will be, hopefully, to generate the raw material from which an eventual Code of Good Practice regarding Racism will be developed for the Catholic Community.
Such a code would provide a checklist against which to assess our conduct, pastoral practice and institutional provision. Developing such a code may also, I suggest, act as an examination of conscience for us all.

Areas in which a Pastoral Response is indicated

The Church is challenged to develop its pastoral response in many areas. An appropriate response will be called for at parish level. Schools will be receiving children from many different backgrounds. Our catechesis will have to promote acceptance of difference, respect for the stranger and the practical demands of the Gospel in a multi-ethnic society. Differing liturgical traditions may have to be accommodated. I cite these merely as examples. No doubt the discussions will draw attention to others.

The Church has the sublime vocation of realising, first of all within itself, the unity of humankind. Racism in any of its forms is the negation of the community desired by Christ. Any ethnic, national, social or other divisions are now obsolete because they have been abolished by the Cross of Christ. This demand is stark and radical and asks a great deal of us as individual Christians and of the Church as an institution. If I were asked to summarise what response Catholics should make to those who differ from them in culture, race and tradition, I would say, firstly, they should actively welcome, secondly, listen and dialogue, thirdly, reflect and adapt where necessary in the light of the Gospel.

Let me end by quoting the Irish Times editorial of yesterday: “Our own experience as a people, which saw generations of poverty-stricken Irishmen and women forced abroad to make a living and to subsidise their families at home, should make us particularly sensitive to the needs and rights of asylum-seekers”.
Of course the Government has the right and the duty to protect the common good of its citizens.

Nevertheless they should be aware that asylum-seekers are experiencing various forms of exclusion. Under the direct provision benefit regulations asylum-seekers are in general not allowed to work (apart from those who came in a particular year) and are not entitled to employment training. State-funded language training is being introduced and this I warmly welcome.

One has to wonder – if the generations of Irish people forced to go abroad to make a living in the past had experienced similar exclusion – would they have made the contribution to the land of their adoption which we like to recall and of which we are so proud?

The Irish Times editorial says there is need to be generous to the dispossessed of the earth and to ensure that racism will not be tolerated. There are very many generous initiatives being conducted at present by religious orders and parishes throughout the country.

I am happy to recount a couple of initiatives which reflect the generosity required. One World Spirit is the name of a Dundalk refugee support initiative. It has established groups to offer services like computer training, counselling, English language training, legal advice to asylum-seekers and refugees. It intends to hold a social gathering on the last Saturday of each month and “Open Meetings” on the second Thursday of each month.

I was speaking recently to a Parish Priest who has a number of Russians and Ukrainians in his parish. Last month he organised a special welcome for them at the Sunday Liturgy. They were welcomed by name. Special places were reserved for them. They were greeted in their own language. They were invited to say a few words to the congregation. They were treated to a meal in a local restaurant. The response of the host community was warm, spontaneous and very generous.

I would encourage you today to listen carefully, and to contribute actively, so that others can benefit from your insights and experience. I know that the Commission for Justice and Peace together with the Bishops’ Refugee Project, the Council for Social Welfare and Trocaire, who are supporting this conference, intend to work up the input from the afternoon workshops into a draft Code of Good Practice for the Church. I look forward to the outcome, and wish God’s blessing on the day.

LARAGH CAMOGIE DINNER
HOTEL KILMORE
ADDRESS BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY
FRIDAY 2 FEBRAURY 2001

I am very thankful to Laragh Camogie Club for their kind invitation to come here tonight, and to Louise Reilly, for passing on the invitation. I am very pleased to be here and to have the opportunity of meeting and greeting so many friends.

I think it was an excellent decision of the Club to honour the 1951 team, on this, the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of their first historic winning of the County Championship. That team went on to win three more Championships in 1952, ’53 and ’54 and that was quite an achievement.

I congratulate the Club on producing The Golden Years. It is a well researched account of the history of camogie in part of the parish of Laragh. I say part because we mustn’t forget that Stradone had won the Championship in 1948, ’49 and ’50. This book spans the history of the Laragh Camogie Club over the last 50 or 60 years. I think a special word of congratulations is due to the Editorial Committee of nine ladies and two gentlemen. As the headings of the chapters indicate, with titles like: Stars Through the Years, the Good Old Day, The Early Years, Memories, Looking Back, As I Look Back, Fond Memories, this history is, of course, a journey down memory lane.

I must say that I found it quite moving. It brought back a lot of memories of my own youth when we, at Caulfield School, were very proud to have, I suppose, the foundress of the second Laragh Camogie Club, Annie Gallagher, as she was then known, as our teacher. She was the full-back on that Championship winning team of 1951, ’52, ’53 and ’54. I suppose we all basked in the reflected glory of that all-conquering side.

I found the photographs fascinating. There is one photograph where there are only two people identified but I am sure there will be people who will be able to put names to these faces before very long. The spark that was ignited in Shann’s field in 1944, developed into a flame in 1951. I think anyone reading these pages will see that Laragh Camogie Club has served the girls, and indeed much of the parish, very well over these years.

That flame has continued to burn brightly for many years as the article says, even if it did dim a little from time to time. When it dimmed there were always people to revive it as Annie Gallagher did in the mid-forties, as Rose McKenna, Teresa Colhoun (King), Nancy O’Rourke and Brigid Brady, did in 1969. It was revived later still by Bridie Smith (now Bridie McCahey) in 1979 along with Brigid Brady and Rose McKenna.

Brigid Brady writing in her article ‘Fond Memories’ says: ‘Little did I think starting my camogie career back in 1951, that five decades later I would still be involved’. Looking back, she says she has enjoyed every moment of it. I think that is a tremendous record of voluntary service. It is a marvellous example of dedication and it is that kind of spirit that has kept camogie alive in Laragh Club.

I think tonight we celebrate, not just the championship wins and the league wins and the many distinctions like playing in the Ulster Club Final or playing in Croke Park, but the deeper things that were required. Whether it was on Laragh rock or Shann’s field, I suppose you could call this club ‘The Institute or the University of Technology of the 50s’, where friendships were formed and loyalties were developed.

One thing playing on a team teaches is that you have to depend on others. No one person is a team in himself or herself. I can see that the qualities and the virtues which these girls learned as they played with each other and for one another, helped them immensely later in life as they came to become outstanding spouses, mothers, and I suppose, grandmothers now.

I am delighted to see that their daughters, and I suppose now, granddaughters, in some cases, are carrying on the tradition of loyalty to their club, friendship and fidelity with one another and that is something really worthy of praise.

Another club, which brought distinction to our parish in the early 1950s, was the athletic club. Its fame is not sung very often but I would hope that at some stage they too, will have a Golden Jubilee celebration in this decade because they have a lot to celebrate.

There is a programme on Radio Ulster called ‘Your Place and Mine’. I suppose the reason we are all here tonight is because this Laragh Camogie Club has got to do with ‘your place and mine’. It gives us a sense of who we are and where we belong. It builds bonds of friendship and interest and history. Teresa King (Colhoun) speaks about her mother playing in Drumboe. It was funny. It brought back memories of my own mother telling about her playing in Upper Lavey around the same time, at the beginning of the last century.

Tonight we celebrate everyone associated with the Laragh Camogie Club, whether they won a medal or whether they didn’t – it doesn’t really matter. They did have that experience of belonging to a team, of depending on each other, of playing for each other. That is the important part. They belonged to an organisation that gives of its time for the good of the community, for the good of the society in which they live, of handing on the skills, passing on the tactics, building understanding and respect for each other, on and off the field.

So tonight, I gladly salute the ladies of Laragh Camogie Club from its start in 1935 right up to the present day. I wish them continued success and hope that success will come every year, whether they win championships or leagues, because it will call forth great dedication, devotion, loyalty to each other and to their club and bind them together in striving for a common goal.

I hope the Club will forgive the wiseacre, the literary genius whoever he was – who once described the team to Nancy O’Rourke as being “like a batch of pigs on a pan looking for a sup of milk”.
I am sure the ladies are big enough and generous enough to ignore remarks like that now and that the person concerned is now wise enough to know that the ladies have come a long way since then.

THE APPOINTMENT OF ARCHBISHOP DESMOND CONNELL
AS CARDINAL
STATEMENT BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

I welcome the news that Pope John Paul II has chosen Archbishop Desmond Connell to become a member of the College of Cardinals. I congratulate Archbishop Connell on his appointment.

He has given outstanding leadership to the Catholic Church in Dublin over the last thirteen years and I am confident that he will provide excellent assistance to the Holy Father in his new role.

January 21, 2001

APPOINTMENT OF BISHOP DIARMUID MARTIN
AS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE HOLY SEE TO THE UNITED NATIONS
STATEMENT BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

I am delighted to hear the news that Bishop Diarmuid Martin has been appointed as Representative of the Holy See to the Office of the United Nations in Geneva.

The outstanding work which he has carried out in Rome for many years, first at the Pontifical Council for the Family and more recently as Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, means that Archbishop Martin is ideally prepared to be the Permanent Observer of the Holy Father in this important post. I wish him success and God’s blessing.

17 January, 2001