THOUGHTS FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM
MESSAGE FROM
CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY
1 January 2000

The Millennium for me is all about the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, the fact that it is 2000 years since Jesus Christ came into the world. Now that’s what makes Christianity different from all other religions. Its belief that God became one of us in Jesus Christ. God comes in person to speak to man and to point out the way by which God may be reached. We are going through a period of immense change, very fast change and humanity and society need to grasp the question, “Where do I come from? Where am I going? How do I get there?”

One of the tragic aspects of western society at the moment is that of religious indifference. Many people live as if God did not exist, or, they are happy with a very vague superficial religiosity. The Western World is very highly developed in technology but really impoverished in spirituality. The result is that it tends to forget God or it keeps God at a distance. Another result is that we are not well equipped to come to grips with questions about truth especially in matters of hard choices or crisis.

The fundamental question today is one of faith. By faith I mean a free act by which I accept that Jesus Christ is the truth and I freely commit myself to him. The results of that kind of religious indifference, which we are experiencing here in the West, is a neglect of religious duties. We forget God. We have no place for religion in public life and sometimes even there is no place in private life. An indifference to God leads ultimately to indifference to our neighbour as well. The cause of God nowhere humiliates the cause of the human person. Some people are suspicious that the glory of God will lead to a reduction and humiliation of the human person. The existence of God and His presence in history are the foundation and guarantee of our authentic liberty. It is rather, promises, which are purely worldly, that reduce human persons to slavery, in a totalitarian fashion, as recent history has shown.

All Christians celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ in the world. So the Millennium for me will be an important year along with other Christians to look together to Christ and to renew our faith in him and renew our commitment to him. We look back at what has happened in the past one thousand years and what is happening at present as a condition for looking to the future. As we look back we will see many divisions, of course, and see that people on both sides were to blame, but out of that I would hope that there would come a deep desire to continue to pray for unity. The importance of spiritual ecumenism is vital and the hope is that the widespread discussions with other Churches would continue. Indeed this Holy Year is a call to overcome indifference and division. Not just among Christians but among believers of all nations. But this Holy Year should strengthen Christians in their belief in God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. I keep going back to the problem of religious indifference. My prayer is that the abandonment of the practice of religion will be halted, because really that abandonment of religious practice leads eventually to atheism. People, because they are really weak as regards religious and faith education, come to see religious practice as useless or senseless in their lives.

There has been a lot of talk about moving on here in Ireland in recent times. Hopefully we are moving to a new kind of society where the bitter legacy of division is going to be left behind. Certainly the problem of division, the division between Christians but also the divisions on the grounds of race, the division on politics between Nationalist and Unionist, these divisions hopefully will become less strident and more dialogical.

There is also the division between people who are spiritually minded and those who are materialistically minded. We must address all of those, awaiting for a New Year therefore a new Decade, a new Century, a new Millennium. It is a time for looking forward and a time for looking back. As regards the Church, the Church must commit itself by words and deeds and above all by prayer to creating a culture of life and love. A civilisation which will replace the civilisation of death and hatred. We look back with thanks. We look forward with hope and joy.

The coming of Jesus Christ was the dawn of a new era and yet still two thirds of the world do not know him. And so we look back and critically analyse Church life with a view to getting the energy to continue to try to carry out his command of bringing his message to the ends of the earth.

The time, as we wait for the coming of the new Millennium, the new Decade, the new Century, obviously will be a thoughtful time, a time that is tinged with sadness but nonetheless rich in memories and hopefully very rich in hope and love. Endings are sometimes sad. They remind us of our mortality, our frailty. The Risen Christ tells us that, for his followers endings are never final. God and love last forever.

The Church of Christ must recognise the confusion and the desperation which are found in so many lives and give them new hope and direction. We live in a world that is waiting and searching. The Church must always be a voice for the voiceless. We live in a world that is searching for something new. That search is really for happiness which will last forever. It is a search for fullness of life. A world, dominated by buying and having, eating and drinking, promises everything but knows well that it cannot give true happiness.

Instead it offers a wide variety of substitutes such as superficial amusement, hectic activity, drugs, alcohol, lots of material goods, craving for prestige and power. That is not really what satisfies. We believe and we know from experience that Jesus Christ is alive and present in his Church. That life and that presence is a source of immense hope for the world. We are all called to play our part in announcing that news. We are all called to bring that good news. We are also called to celebrate that hope and that life in our liturgies, in our prayer life, in our community life. We are called to serve that hope by our solidarity with the poor, with those less well off, with the homeless, the asylum seekers. We are to be in solidarity with aids victims, those on the margins of society. The civilisation of love and life has to be built by the followers of Christ. It must be built on the foundations of justice, truth, freedom, solidarity and peace.

My hope for the New Millennium is that civil society would respect its duty to honour the family as the basic building block of society and protect the stability of the marriage bond and the institution of the family. Another hope is that the threats to peace and the causes of war, namely injustice, excessive inequality, envy, lack of trust and pride, be tackled and eliminated. My hope is that the potential of the sacrament of Reconciliation, as a source of pardon and forgiveness and peace, be rediscovered.

ECUMENICAL PRAYER SERVICE
IN
ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, ARMAGH
31st DECEMBER 1999
ADDRESS BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

There is a lovely story told about King Edwin of Northumbria. In the year 627 he was trying to make up his mind whether to accept the Christian message or not. One of his counsellors stood up and said:
“Your Majesty, when you sit at table with your guests, in the winter when the fire burns warm and bright, and the snow storm is howling outside, it sometimes happens that a little bird flies into the hall. For the few moments that it is inside the hall it doesn’t feel the cold, but as soon as it leaves your sight, it returns to the dark of winter. Now it seems to me that the life of each one of us is like that. We do not know what went before, we do not know what is going to follow. If this new doctrine about Jesus Christ can speak to us with certainty about these things it is well for us to follow it”
The king followed the advice of his friend.

Over the last 2000 years countless millions have asked the same question: Who am I? What is the meaning of life? What is this creature that comes into the brightness and warmth of this human day, hurrying from the mystery of its origins to the mystery of its destiny?

And, over the past 2000 years Jesus Christ has certainly spoken clearly about these things. He has told us that, out of the fullness of His love, God the Father, created us. He sent His Son into the world that we may have access to the Father through him, and become His friends and share His everlasting life, and happiness.

Jesus stands at the door of our hearts and knocks. He is waiting for us to open that door. This is beautifully illustrated in Holman Hunt’s famous painting – Christ, the Light of the World. Christ stands with a lantern outside a door that has no handle. The handle is on the inside. It is up to each one to decide whether to open the door or not.

The beginning of a new millennium is a time for hopes and dreams. My hope is that we all become so convinced of God’s love for us and so secure in that love, that we will be able to reach out to others and assure them of our love for them. My hope is that when we realise that Christ has already reconciled us to the Father and to each other, we will see that he is calling us to become a community of reconcilers.
My dream is the dream of the prophet Isaiah, which we are about to hear in the next reading. He speaks of the nations of the world, coming to the light of Jerusalem. Jesus is the light, not only of Jerusalem, but also of the world. And yet, only one third of the world’s population believe in the name of Jesus. My dream is of a new springtime of missionary activity so that many more faces may grow radiant, and hearts throb with delight, at the name of Jesus.

My other dream is that the new millennium will see the great religions of the world join hands to help the developing countries so that the people there can live their lives in dignity and peace.
As we move into the new millennium we rely on the Risen Christ, to calm our fears and give us hope. Love drives out fear. May God’s love be with you, all and always, during this New Year.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
BBC RADIO ULSTER
BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY
WEDNESDAY, 29 DECEMBER, 1999

One of my late father’s favourite prayers was, Thanks be to God. Being a farmer those words were often on his lips around harvest time as the last load of hay was pitched into the hay shed, as the last stack of corn was built in the haggart or as the last potato pit was sealed against the rain and the frost. I suppose they were an expression of gratitude to a bountiful God who each year repeats the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes on the farms and in the oceans of the planet.

Of course not all endings in this life are happy. The end of a friendship, the end of a marriage, the end of a life are often sad and sometimes bitter. Endings remind us of our frailty and of our mortality. Yet there are also many endings in life which are happy. We can all remember the joy of the end of the school term, the end of waiting for results. The rejoicing at the birth of a newly-born baby comes at the end of the mother’s pregnancy.

With God, with Jesus, endings are never final, for God and love last forever. He tells us that at death, life is changed, not ended, for those who believe in Him. As we approach the end of this year and this decade, I am trying to remember some of the things for which I have to thank God over the past year and indeed over the past decades. There are the obvious things, like the historical accommodation reached between unionists and nationalists in recent times. It’s rich in promise for a society more happy in itself, more reconciled to its differences and more accepting of the benefits of working together for the common good. Each one of us will have our own reasons for being grateful. Personally I am forever thankful that during my years working in the Irish College in Rome, it was my privilege to officiate at a huge number of weddings. It is always a special moment when a couple say to each other those marvellous words, I take you for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness or in health, all the days of my life. I like to say to them that none of us knows what the days of our life will bring. One thing, of which we can be absolutely sure, however, is that they will always bring us the unchanging love of God. It is this thought which gives me most strength and consolation as I face into the new millennium. Jesus Christ, the Lord of life and history, came to reveal the Father’s love. All time belongs to him and all the ages. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He will lead us safely into the Third Millennium. Have no doubt about that.

He will bring light into our darkness, joy into our sorrow, hope into our hearts and his special peace into our world. A very happy and peaceful and blessed new year to you all and to all who are dear to you.

EASTER 1999
MESSAGE BY
ARCHBISHOP SEÁN BRADY

The Resurrection is the crowning truth of our faith in Jesus Christ. Some people are surprised by the statement that Easter is the most important of all Christian festivals. After all, they ask, does not that distinction belong to Christmas?

Of course, Christmas is a very significant feast because it celebrates the birth of Jesus. But Easter marks the most significant event of all, when Jesus suffered, died, and rose from the dead.

He passed from death to life. He set the world free from the slavery of sin and from the fear of death. He led us all into a freedom that will last forever. He is the Saviour of the world. St Paul’s frank assertion to the Corinthians proclaims a compelling truth: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain”.

Easter means that through the Son, God the Father stoops down to every woman and man and offers each one of us the possibility of freedom from sin and liberation from everlasting death.

When we celebrate the Easter ceremonies, commemorating the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ, we are placing our own bodies and sufferings under the sign of the cross. It is our way of saying to Christ: “We want to share in the mystery of your bodily dying and rising”. It is our way of expressing the hope that one day God will raise up and transform these poor, sick bodies, and our divided world as well.
Easter is a time of new life and new hope. The earth is waking from its winter slumber; buds are on the trees and the flowers of spring are in full bloom.

The light of the Easter candle is a powerful reminder to us of the sure hope that the Spirit of the Risen Lord continues to act in our lives and in our world. This is a time when we realise that what we yearn for in the depths of our hearts can become a reality.

We long for a safe and peaceful world where people can live in peace with God and with each other. A world where people can live with dignity, free of fear and intimidation. A world where everyone is made welcome – especially the sick, the weak and the old. At Easter, we do not simply commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as an event which occurred many years ago. The Risen Christ is with us here and now. His victory over death gives real grounds for hope that our deepest human hungers can be satisfied. One of the challenges of Easter is to confront honestly the weaknesses inherent in the human condition. At Easter we name the forces of darkness present in our world and in our own lives. We ignore these dark forces at our peril.

But we must not let these forces determine and control the course of our lives. Our prayer must be that the light of Christ, rising in glory, may dispel the darkness in our hearts and minds. Only the light of Christ is powerful enough to drive out hatred and anger from our hearts, hatred and anger nourished on the memory of ancient wrongs powerful enough to sour and embitter us. Only the light of Christ can enable us to move hearts hardened by bigotry and prejudice.

At Eastertide we celebrate the victory of Christ over those very forces of darkness. We celebrate that victory with joy because it points to God’s final triumph over the power of evil. Only Christ gives hope that does not deceive.

The light of Christ can help us to see ourselves as we really are. It can also help us to see and respect others as they are, not as we would wish them to be. They, like us, are equal and precious in the sight of God. We are all sinners, sinners to whom the real possibility of becoming saints is offered.

In the tomb Jesus conquered death with death. The continents of our planet are constantly being studded with fresh tombs. The culture of death would have us believe that death is the end; that there is nothing beyond the tomb which awaits each one of us. But all who look to the empty tomb of Jesus Christ, and the stone rolled back, are filled with resurrection faith.

May Christ’s victory over death fill you with resurrection faith this Easter. May the greeting “Peace be with you”, pronounced by the Risen Christ on Easter morn, become a powerful reality in your life now.
March 31, 1999

CHRISTMAS 1999 AND THE NEW MILLENNIUM
MESSAGE FROM CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY
TO THE PEOPLE OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF ARMAGH

Dear People,
We are about to celebrate the greatest Christmas of our lifetime. May it also be, for everyone, the happiest. This Christmas, we thank God for the coming, 2000 years ago, of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the world. For 2000 years he has inspired countless millions of people, and influenced, more than anyone else, the course of history. The calculation of the passing years begins with the year of his coming into the world. It is very pleasing that so many people are accepting the Church’s invitation to rejoice and to celebrate. There is a lot to celebrate. We have a lot to be grateful for. We celebrate, not just what has been done in the name of Jesus, we celebrate Jesus himself. We celebrate the One who came from God to reveal to us the truth and to show the Father’s love for us.

To mark this special occasion Pope John Paul II has announced the Great Jubilee. This coming year will be a holy year. It will begin in every parish with the solemn lighting of the special Jubilee Candle at midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. That lighting will take place with a candle brought from Bethlehem on the occasion of the recent Diocesan Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The little light of Bethlehem reminds us that Jesus is the light of the world. He offers us light to see God’s loving plan for all of us. He gives us strength to return that love and so become what he has created us to be.

On New Year’s Eve the sun will set for the last time this century. It will be a thoughtful time, tinged with some sorrow, rich in memories and hope for the future. Thoughts will inevitably turn to other endings, to our own frailty and mortality. My hope is that the light of the millennium candle in the home will remind us that for Christians, endings are never final, life changes but does not cease. The Risen Lord proves that God and love last forever. Let His light shine brightly in our hearts and have us know that He is God among us.

In a special way the joy of the Jubilee is that of forgiveness and reconciliation. It is probably easier to forgive than to accept that we need forgiveness and to ask for reconciliation. Forgiveness is, of course, a great grace, but in the love of God there is something more. Reconciliation opens the door to deep joy and freedom. It repairs damaged relationships and restores friendships. I hope that the Sacrament of Reconciliation will, this year, play an important part in preparing for the coming of Jesus.

Many celebrations will be organised for the year 2000 in the Archdiocese. The Jubilee is not a series of functions to be held. It is an experience to be lived. It is an inward journey to be travelled. That journey moves us away from whatever is contrary to God’s law. It enables us to accept Christ fully, live our faith in him and receive his abundant mercy.

I invite you all to pray fervently to the Lord for a gracefilled celebration of the forthcoming Jubilee. I ask, both priests and people, to open their hearts to the promptings of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit will not fail to arouse enthusiasm and lead us all to celebrate the Jubilee with renewed faith and joyful hope.

The recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land ended with Mass on Mount Carmel in the Star of the Sea Basilica on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Two thousand years ago Mary of Nazareth offered to the world the Word made flesh. May she now be the star that leads us towards her Son, who is the true light that enlightens everyone.

STATEMENT FROM CARDINAL SEAN BRADY,
ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH

AT THE FUNERAL OF MRS. MARY GRIMES, BERAGH, CO. TYRONE

WEDNESDAY, 19 AUGUST, 1998, 11.30AM

Today, once again, our hearts go out to the Grimes family as we gather for the funeral of Mary, loving wife, devoted mother, and outstanding grandmother. We are all here to offer our sympathy and the support of our prayers as they struggle to cope with this tremendous loss. The death of a beloved wife and mother always brings great pain and sorrow but when that death coincides with the tragic killing of her daughter, Avril, and grand-daughter, Maura, the pain becomes unbearable, the grief incredible. If this triple tragedy were due to natural causes or an accident it would be already immensely sad. But this is the work of fellow human beings and our hearts are filled, not only with sadness but with anger and outrage. That it was carried out under the pretext of patriotism, adds shame to that outrage and sorrow.

We are here to pray with you and for you. We are joined by hundreds of thousands of people who are thinking of you at this time and asking God to give you the strength which you need during these terrible days. We pray especially that your pain may be eased and your sorrow lessened and your memories healed.

Father James, Mary’s brother-in-law, has prayed for forgiveness for the people who carried out this terrible atrocity. This prayer is yet another example of the wonderful courage and dignity which the Grimes family and so many other families have shown over these days. As we re-echo that prayer, we know that there are people who cannot find it in their hearts to share those sentiments at this time. We also know that God pardons those who turn to him with a sincere heart, no matter how terrible the sin. But we mortals find it more difficult to forgive. It would make it easier if those responsible were to show remorse and indicate a change of heart.

The efforts made in recent days to offer an explanation show that the bombers realise that something went terribly wrong. They need to go further, much further. They need to realise that their whole campaign is utterly wrong and totally evil and completely devoid of justification.

How could the murder of baby Maura, of baby Brenda Devine, of eight year old Oran Doherty, of nine teenagers, of twelve adult women and of four adult men, all of them innocent victims, be other than something very evil? If those responsible will not listen to the voice of the ballot box, let them at least listen to the voice of revulsion, expressed so clearly and so powerfully and so consistently. Let them listen to the voice of their own conscience and ask: Is this the kind of person I really wish to be? Are these the kind of values I wish to live by? Let them answer those questions honestly and end this senseless campaign of violence permanently now.

Last Saturday’s tragedy has once more brought home the lesson of the dreadful horror of violence. That is the sort of thing which bombs, once primed and planted, do. They kill and they maim; they wreck and they destroy. The experience must galvanise all of us to reject the path of violence totally once and for all.

The Omagh bomb has united a community in grief. Let it bring us all together to work to ensure that the hopes of peace are not ruined. Let it unite us all in praying and hoping that the worst atrocity may in fact prove to be last. We must continue to pray and to hope and to work. We do so in the belief that lasting peace is ultimately a divine gift as well as a human task. To do anything else other than to work and to hope and to pray for peace is to yield to despair and to give in to the temptation to believe that such peace is impossible. That would be the final surrender to those who instil terror and inflict violence. We owe it to the memory of those who have died to make sure that this does not happen and to do all we can to guarantee that they have not died in vain.

In the early Church the day of the death of a saint was regarded as her real birthday – the day of her birth into real and everlasting life. Mary Grimes was called from this earthly life on her birthday. We commend her, and Avril and Maura to the Lord, that the Lord may receive them into his place and raise them up, restored and renewed on the last day. As we do so I offer to her husband, Mick, to her family, to Father James, to all her relatives and friends, my sympathy, the sympathy of Bishop Clifford and of the priests and people of the Archdiocese of Armagh.

May she rest in peace.

CATHOLIC YOUNG MEN’S SOCIETY IN IRELAND
150th ANNIVERSARY OF ITS FOUNDATION
DUBLIN
ADDRESS BY ARCHBISHOP SEAN BRADY
SATURDAY, 6 NOVEMBER, 1999

I have been asked to say the traditional “few words at the dinner”. I am happy to do so. I gladly congratulate the Catholic Young Men’s Society of Ireland as it celebrates the 150th anniversary of its foundation in 1849.

As the Society looks back it sees much to be thankful for. It can be proud of what it has done to help and prepare lay people to assume and carry out their responsibilities in the Church and in society. As the constitution approved in 1994 indicates the Society intends to continue to do so. For that constitution presents the challenge of the Gospel of Christ. It shows how the Society helps its members to match that challenge. In a spirit of service it helps and encourages young men, and maybe sometimes not so young men, to strive towards those high ideals.

I am very pleased that so many representatives of so many other voluntary organisations have joined you for this happy occasion. The Young Men’s Christian Association is particularly welcome. CYMS is the oldest Lay Catholic organisation in the country. Dean O’Brien was a man of great vision. The Society spread rapidly throughout Ireland. It was soon set up in Britain, Australia and South Africa and I suppose the secret of its success was that it recognised the abiding needs of young people and tried to meet those needs in a deep, not superficial way.

It has been stated that, since about 1950, CYMS has been in decline in terms of the number of branches. But happily in terms of the activities of those branches the Society is very much alive. It provides a safe, drug free environment where young people can relax. It offers guidance and formation. I know the Society is of great help to the local community in lots of ways.

As the Society looks around it, I believe that it will see that there is today as great a need as ever for the CYMS and for similar societies. Despite the Celtic Tiger there are still some people very short of material goods. Perhaps because of the Celtic Tiger there are plenty of young people whose parents are very short of time to spend with them. There are lots of young people who, for various reasons, are insecure and sometimes depressed and discouraged. There are statistics there to prove that. There are very many parents who, would, I imagine, welcome the kind of help which the CYMS can offer. I know the help is on offer, the problem is getting it accepted. Take the long summer holidays for example, where young people have less to do and greater expectations than ever. The challenge is to devise programmes of activities which will contain elements of formation, maybe of meditation, as well as recreation. There is an undoubted hunger there for spiritual growth. Only societies which have tried to remain faithful to their own spiritual ideals can even begin to think of how to meet that spiritual hunger. Let us never forget the basic needs of the human person are the same today as they were in Dean O’Brien’s day, 150 years ago.

I know that all voluntary organisations are meeting difficulties in recruiting new members and in retaining the loyalty of existing ones. There is a wide range of voluntary organisations here with a proud record of generous service and a wealth of practical experience.

Perhaps you have already come together to discuss your common problems, to see how, in this very individualistic age, you can persuade people of the values of voluntary work undertaken on behalf of the community. If not, I suggest you start to do so. You can persuade them, and only you can do it, of the satisfaction that such work brings to the person concerned. You can get people to look within and find that there are motives pulling them to get involved in such work as well as the motives which tend to attract them to avoid it. I would suggest that the success of this society lies in its fidelity to its ideals.

At the recent Synod in Rome on the Church in Europe, the example of Christ walking with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus was often mentioned. It was pointed out that he did not rebuke them for having abandoned Jerusalem. Rather he walked the road with them. He shared their concerns and was able to lead them to a new faith and to a new hope. Today the Church is called to walk and talk with people of all faiths and of no faith. To bring hope we have to be prepared to go into lots of situations. The often hidden but extremely important example given by Christian men and women in ordinary daily life is invaluable. Without fuss or noise they bring the message of God’s love and mercy to those in need through all kinds of humble and valuable service. I salute the service given by the CYMS over the last 150 years and I wish them a new lease of life, lots of fresh energy and vitality, plenty of creative ideas as they begin another chapter in their existence.