WORLD DAY OF PEACE
HOMILY BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY
1 JANUARY 1997

The celebration of the World Day of Peace takes place this year in a context of great uncertainty in Northern Ireland. Many are asking what has or has not been achieved in the search for peace.

There is at once a great yearning for peace, horror at the prospect of a return to violence, and the earnest hope that the peacemakers may not lose heart but continue to do all they can to resolve the tragic situation.

The yearning for peace becomes more intense at this time of year when we celebrate the birthday of the Prince of Peace. The desire for peace is one of the most powerful desires of the human heart. People everywhere long for that peace which the angels promised to the shepherds on the first Christmas night.

The longing for peace was made all the more intense by the experience of the cease-fires that were in operation one year ago. People realised then what they had been missing over the previous twenty-five years. It was hoped that the return to normal living would have become enduring. Hope turned to frustration as the opportunities for negotiation were let slip and the hope was almost totally shattered by the bombing at Canary Wharf last February.

There is also great fear at the prospect of a return to violence. Now is the time to stop and assess what that would involve. New Year is traditionally a time for heart-searching and self-examination. Let all of us ask ourselves what we can do to prevent a return to a situation which is a recipe for misery and disaster. Let those who are tempted to go back to the use of physical force realise that a just and lasting peace could never be produced by such means.

Now is the time for all to reflect and see that there is another way which can bring about a resolution of the problem. It is the way of dialogue and negotiation. Once again I appeal to the IRA to restore their cease-fire and open the door to negotiations.

There is still hope. Despite all the obstacles and difficulties, a great number of people work away courageously and ceaselessly in the cause of peace. The events of 1996 have dealt a huge blow to their morale.

There is still hope that those contemplating a return to violence to achieve their ends will see the futility of that approach and reject the temptation to inflict further suffering and disaster. There is still hope of a restoration of the IRA cease-fire. There is hope that the loyalist paramilitaries will maintain their cease-fire and ensure that they continue to make their very commendable contribution to the search for peace.

There is hope that people will abandon intimidation and economic boycotts, harassment and attacks on Churches, which are so destructive of community harmony and so favourable to the creation of suspicion and distrust. This cannot be the road to enduring peace.

There is still hope that those who have the responsibility of protecting and promoting the common good, namely those in government, will refuse to sacrifice that good in the service of their own personal interest or in the service of the short-term interest of their party and will take some positive steps to prevent the drift towards chaos.

There is hope that people, especially people with power to influence the situation, will recognise that there is much that could be said or done to bring about significant change and that they will renew their commitment to do all they can to help.

There is hope that it will be clear that there can be no peace dividend without a prior peace investment.

Peace is a victory. Any peace that is going to last will not necessarily be the victory of the strongest over the weakest. Neither will it be the victory of evil over good. Rather it will be the victory of justice over injustice, it will be a victory of truth over falsehood. It will be a victory of freedom over tyranny, and over every form of domination and oppression. It will be a victory of solidarity and development over hunger, poverty and humiliation.

It will not be an easy victory but it is possible. Hope strives for the achievement of some future good that is difficult but possible to achieve. Patience is part of hope.

The achievement of the victory of this lasting peace will require a lot of patient effort. It is important that we support the patient efforts of the peacemakers with our prayers and sacrifice.

For there are great difficulties to be overcome – difficulties that have roots in the different identities, cultures and religious beliefs. These differences do not arise solely from our present circumstances. Our history carries a heavy load of violence and conflict. That load cannot easily be set aside. The destructive effects of past suffering live on, fuelling fear and suspicion. hatred and distrust.

We cannot remain prisoners of our past as Pope John Paul II reminds us in his message today. A sort of “healing of memories” is needed so that past evils will not come back again. This does not mean that we forget the past. It means looking at the past with a new attitude. It means learning from the past the important lesson: “only love can build up”. Hatred produces nothing but destruction and ruin. We must learn to read history without bias. A correct reading of history will make it easier to accept the differences that exist between the communities here. It will show that mistakes are not all on one side. Respect for difference is a necessary condition for genuine and harmonious relationships.

How can that peace be achieved?

Firstly by dialogue and negotiation which will inspire confidence and generate trust. Only dialogue can drive out fear and hatred and create the climate for peace, a climate where trust and mutual respect can begin to grow.

Secondly, by offering and accepting forgiveness as Pope John Paul II has stated. No process of peace can ever begin unless an attitude of sincere forgiveness takes root in human hearts.

There have been some marvellous examples of forgiveness – one thinks of the late Gordon Wilson and his magnanimous forgiving of those responsible for the death of his daughter.

One of the most moving statements of 1996 was that of Mr. McGoldrick father of Michael McGoldrick killed in Lurgan in July – when he urged those in conflict to bury their differences with his son Michael.

Pope John Paul appeals to everyone to seek peace along the paths of forgiveness. Of course forgiveness can seem contrary to human logic but forgiveness is inspired by the logic of that love which God has for every man and woman, for every people and nation.

The Church continues to proclaim what from a human standpoint appears to be folly. It does so confident in the infinite love of God. God’s forgiveness becomes in our hearts an inexhaustible source of forgiveness in our relationships with one another.

Lasting peace is built on mutual acceptance and the capacity to forgive from the heart. We all need to be forgiven by others. So we must all be ready to forgive. Asking and granting forgiveness is something profoundly worthy of the human person. It is the only way out of situations like our own that are marked by age-old and violent hatred.

Forgiveness does not come spontaneously or naturally to people. Forgiving from the heart can be heroic. The encounter with forgiveness is liberating and can be experienced by wounded hearts, thanks to the healing power of love which has its first source in God who is love.

Ultimately the only peace that will last among Christians will be the peace of Christ. That peace comes to the hearts of those who go out of themselves and meet the love of God which is given in Jesus Christ, secure in the love of God the heart finds a fullness of life and becomes capable of forgiveness and goodness, of patience and meekness.

These are the sentiments which ultimately build up unity and peace in any community. Peace is a victory over the lusts of the heart for power and the greed to possess things.

Peace is a victory of good over evil. It is the gift of the Prince of Peace – Our Crucified and Risen Lord.
Our faith gives powerful reasons for hope despite all the setbacks. The love of God for each one was revealed in the coming of Christ. We celebrate that coming at Christmas. That love has brought and continues to bring, new life and mighty power to change the world. This truth drives out of the temptation to despair.

“I know the plans I have for you. Plans for good and not for evil to give you a future and a hope”
This marvellous promise was given in the darkest moment of Judah’s history. God has plans – they are plans which are good. He needs our help to carry them out.

All through His life Jesus promised God’s forgiveness. God plans to forgive us but he needs our mutual forgiveness as the condition for obtaining it. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”. We hold in our own hands the measure by which we will be judged by God. Those who are not willing to forgive cut themselves off by that very fact from the forgiveness of God and frustrate God’s plans.

May Christ who is our Peace and who has made us one bring just and lasting peace to our troubled land.

CORRYMEELA SUNDAY
MASS IN ST. JOHN’S CATHEDRAL, PORTSMOUTH
Sunday, 16 March, 1997, 10.30 am
HOMILY BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

I want to begin by thanking your Bishop, Bishop Crispian, for his invitation to preach at this Mass in your Cathedral this morning.

His interest and support for us in Ireland in these troubled times is greatly valued. Indeed the support and understanding and patience of you all in our present difficulties is immensely important. I bring you greetings and good wishes from the Primatial City of Armagh and from the people of the Archdiocese of Armagh.

I am here in Portsmouth today, Corrymeela Sunday, to preach on the work of reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

Corrymeela is a centre of reconciliation in Co. Antrim on the Northern coastline. The Corrymeela Community has been in existence for over thirty years since its foundation in 1964 by Reverend Ray Davey, a Presbyterian Minister. Over these thirty years it has succeeded in bringing together people from both sides of the divide, people who might not be prepared to be seen to meet in public. They come to discuss, to talk, to listen, to analyse.

The Vision of the Corrymeela Community is to heal the social, religious and political divisions that exist in Northern Ireland and throughout the world. In our dangerously divided world the Gospel of Jesus Christ speaks of the need to be reconciled firstly with God and then to be reconciled with one another. The Gospel challenges all that keeps us apart and threatens our life as persons and as communities.

The Corrymeela Community is committed to Reconciliation. Its experience in Northern Ireland over the past thirty years is that, despite all the difficulties, reconciliation is possible.

It is entirely appropriate that Corrymeela Sunday should be held on this Sunday, the Sunday nearest to St. Patrick’s Day. Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day, the feast of the Apostle of the Irish. Patrick was, at once, a Model of Reconciliation and an Apostle of Reconciliation. Patrick was a Briton, born probably somewhere near Carlisle, although there is no certainty about this. The high probability is that Patrick’s home was somewhere in the western parts of Britain, open to Irish raids. He was born probably around 415. When he was sixteen, raiders from Ireland descended on the district around his father’s farm. Patrick along with many others was carried off into slavery in Ireland. This was a great disaster. He was separated from his family, his education was interrupted with life-long effects. Patrick had to suffer great hardship.

Yes to the eyes of the world it appeared a great scandal, a great injustice. In later years Patrick came to see it as a blessing, a punishment, yes, but a well-deserved one. Let us listen to his own words:

“I was then barely sixteen. I had neglected the true God, and when I was carried off to captivity in Ireland, along with a great number of people, it was well-deserved. For we cut ourselves off from God and did not keep His commandments…….. Then the Lord made me aware of my unbelief, so that ……. however late, I might recollect my offences and turn with all my heart to the Lord, my God.”

Cut off from his family and his homeland Patrick now saw that he had earlier been cut off from his God. His Exile from his Creator was much more serious than his Exile from his homeland.

Like the Prodigal Son, Patrick found himself feeding pigs. Like the Prodigal Son Patrick came to his senses:

“More and more the love and fear of God came to me and faith grew and my spirit was exercised until I was praying up to a hundred times a day”.

“I, Patrick, a sinner”. That is how Patrick begins the two letters written by him which have survived. Patrick realises that he has sinned, that he had cut himself off from God by not keeping his commandments. Once he became aware of his offences, Patrick turned with all his heart to the Lord and was restored to God’s friendship.

Then, secure in the knowledge that he was loved by God, Patrick was set free of the bitterness and the hatred in his heart, which, I am sure, that he felt towards the Irish, his captors and his oppressors. Patrick was not only set free from anger and fear. He was set free for greater things. When God called Patrick to return to Ireland and bring the faith there, Patrick was free for this call, free for this service of love and labour towards the Irish, some of whom had been his oppressors and his captors.

Patrick quite rightly decided that only a few of the Irish had oppressed him. He had seen the goodness of the vast majority of the people. He saw that the vast majority were open to hearing the Good News and would be receptive to it. So Patrick takes up the challenge. Today we give thanks to God for sending us Patrick and to Britain for providing such a noble and inspiring apostle of the Good News.

So what has gone wrong? Foreign journalists and visitors from abroad often ask: “Why this scandal of such bitter conflict among people who profess to follow Christ? Why do Irish Church leaders not come together and settle it all up? Why a religious war at the end of the 20th Century?” To this we reply, yes, we do meet. There are probably few countries, if any, in Europe where the official Church leaders meet as frequently as they do in Ireland. We agree and state the right things. “Well then?”, is the next question, “if that is so, why do the troubles not end?”

It is difficult for someone outside our problem to fully understand the situation. The question is often asked, “Is it a religious conflict or a political conflict?” Most of our problems are political but they are also social and economic. There is also a religious dimension to them. Any war is a religious war if it is marked by a failure to live up to the standards set by Christ. However, a too simplistic division of people into two divisions, Catholic and Protestant, may be unhelpful. Each community can be sub-divided into at least three sub-groups.

On the Catholic side there is an apolitical group, not particularly identified with the traditional political view of the Catholic Community. There would also be the Republican or Nationalist group and there would be a Militant Republican group. On the Protestant side there would be the same sort of division, an apolitical grouping; there would also be Unionists and there would be the Militant Unionists, otherwise known as the Militant Loyalists.

Tensions are, for the most part, caused by Militant Republicans and Militant Loyalists. Those are the groups that need to be in some way made more aware of each other’s vision and problems. It is possible that ecumenism could make for an improvement here but only if the Militants are to be affected by it. There are little signs of that happening. Most of the Militants are not even influenced by their own Churches. So they are not particularly interested in what another Church will say.

However, all is not doom or gloom. There is still hope. Despite all the obstacles and immense difficulties a great number of valiant people struggle on courageously and ceaselessly in the cause of peace, people like the Corrymeela Community for instance. As a result of such efforts some people are now talking to each other who never spoke to each other before. Last year the refusal of the peacemakers to give up or to lose heart bore fruit in the City of Derry. There is hope that similar processes of negotiation and dialogue at local level will produce similar successful outcomes in other political flash-points this year. Nobody should fear entering negotiations. Nobody should have to negotiate out of fear. True parity of esteem ensures civil and religious liberty for all. It guarantees that the right to express one’s identity and culture is respected as well as the rights of other sections of the Community.

There is hope that those who persist in using violence to achieve political ends will see the folly of their ways and the futility of that approach. There is still hope of a restoration of the IRA cease-fire if a place at the negotiating table could be assured. Despite provocation, the Loyalist cease-fire remains in place and their place at the talks is assured. There is hope that a similar solution can be worked out for the Militant Republicans.

What is needed is a total cessation of violence. No-one can really claim to be for peace in Northern Ireland who rationalises or justifies the use of force to pursue political ends. There must be an end to the killing and bombings, to the punishment beatings, to every type of intimidation and boycott, to the harassment and attack on churches and church-goers.

The current impasse in the peace process does not justify a return to violence. Neither does it justify the maintenance of the Status Quo. Political leaders in Northern Ireland, as well as the British and Irish Governments, must be urged persistently to move forward to serious and substantive political talks.

There is hope that through dialogue and understanding the two communities will begin to appreciate and take account of each other’s fears, resentments and suspicions. Some feel isolated, betrayed and insecure. Others feel hurt, powerless and ignored.

All of this calls for a renewal of hearts as well as a renewal of society. The Churches have indeed a particular role here. Only the message of Christ can reconcile our two communities. The Churches must tirelessly and fearlessly proclaim that Message.

“See the days are coming, it is the Lord who speaks, and I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah, but not a covenant like the one I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.” These words of today’s reading from the prophet Jeremiah foretell the new alliance, the new covenant which Jesus is going to establish once and for all with his people by the shedding of his blood.

We are busy preparing for a new Millennium. The idea of newness is found frequently in the Bible. There, people and the earth grow old like a garment. We talk about things being “old hat”, but in God nothing is old, all is new. All creation belongs to God. So in the Bible things which have not been profaned by use, are sacred. The first fruits of the harvest and the new-born are reserved for God. The prophets were waiting for a new David, a new Temple, a new Holy Land, a new Jerusalem. All these things will be characterised by the eternal unchanging love of God. Yahweh and Israel, his Chosen People, will resume their relationships of love. This covenant, this pact, this agreement, will be everlasting, but at the same time it will be a new covenant, a new agreement.

Such a new agreement will be possible because God will give His people a new heart and a new spirit. It is the divine wisdom which effects the renewal of all things.

Six years ago precisely, when the Talks Process began in March 1991, all the participants, the British Government together with the four Northern Ireland parties, and the Irish government agreed that their aim was a new beginning for relationships within Northern Ireland, within the island of Ireland and between the people of these isles. That Talks Process led to the announcements of cease-fires made by the Irish Republican Army on the 31st August 1994 and by the Combined Loyalist Military Command on 13th October the same year.

We are too painfully aware that the journey is still unfinished. However, a good portion of the road has already been travelled. God has placed our two communities, Protestant and Catholic, Nationalist and Unionist, Republican and .Loyalist, together as neighbours on the island. God has placed our two communities side by side in this part of Europe, not that we should be warring but peaceful and respectful of each other.

Person to person reconciliation is not enough. There must also be community to community reconciliation. It is not only hearts that need to be renewed but also structures. But as Pope John Paul II has said, it is the human heart that must be renewed in order to renew systems, institutions and methods.
“Grant to us, O Lord, a heart renewed. Recreate in us Your own Spirit Lord”.

ST. PATRICK’S DAY 1997
12.00 NOON MASS
IN
ST- PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, ARMAGH
HOMILY BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

I was in Portsmouth Cathedral yesterday for Corrymeela Sunday. When I arrived there on Saturday a great Irish lady was busy cleaning and shining the statue of St. Patrick to make sure he was looking his best for the feast.

Last night I came to London to St. Augustine’s Church on Fulham Palace Road and again the statue of St. Patrick was very prominent – and with lots of beautiful flowers and candles to honour the saint. In the early hours of the morning the strains of Danny Boy were wafting their way towards Hammersmith Bridge as the London Irish lost no time in getting the celebrations under way. The Irish had already gathered in Westminster Cathedral yesterday for a special Mass, of course, the place to be on St. Patrick’s Day is Armagh City where devotion to St. Patrick exists all the year round and reaches its climax on March 17 each year.

So it is a great honour for me to celebrate this Mass in honour of our Patron Saint with you all here today. It is a daunting thought to be his Successor – therefore I ask your prayers, especially today and I thank you for your prayers at every Mass that is offered in this Cathedral and in this Archdiocese.

In a sense we are all successors to St. Patrick, for we have all inherited the faith which he brought to this land. We who live here in the City of Armagh, in Patrick’s own city, and who pray and worship here in Patrick’s own Cathedral, are especially proud and happy today. We give sincere thanks to God for Patrick and for the faith which Patrick brought. We ask God for all the strength and grace and help which we need to live up to that faith. We think of all who are dear to us and we pray that they too may be loyal and faithful to the God whom Patrick made known to us and that they may reject Satan and all his empty promises.

We think of all the Irish, wherever they may be today that, in the words of Patrick: “they may give faithful testimony of God until their death”. Indeed we can all make our own Patrick’s prayer:.
“Therefore let God never permit me to lose the people that He has won in the ends of the earth. I pray God”, says Patrick, “to give me perseverance and to deign to allow me to give faithful testimony of Him, until my death, for the sake of my God”.

So today, St. Patrick’s Day, let us try to get behind the snakes and the shamrock and try and get to know the man himself. For that we have to turn to the two letters written by him and which have survived his Confession and his Letter against the soldiers of Coroticus.

You may be interested to know that the earliest manuscript which we have of these letters was copied into the Book of Armagh early in the Ninth Century soon after the year 800. These letters give us very little factual information about the details of his life but they tell us quite a lot about the kind of person Patrick was.

Patrick was a Briton, born probably near Carlisle in England. It is probable that his father’s farm was somewhere in the western part of Britain – in a part which was open to raids by Irish pirates. When he was sixteen years of age Irish plunderers descended on the district around his home. Patrick, along with many others, was kidnapped and taken as a slave in Ireland. After six tough years Patrick escaped from his slavery. He eventually arrived home. His family expected him to stay and settle down, but that was not to be. Patrick had a dream, calling him back to Ireland. Remarkably, against all the odds, and against the wishes of his family, Patrick followed that dream.

He probably came to the North East of Ireland. He would have come as a Bishop, not on a mission to a totally pagan country, but to some sort of Christian community that was already established.
He wrote the Confession to defend himself against accusations. These accusations were made before a gathering of His seniors. He makes three points:

Firstly, he defends what he has done in going to the ends of the Earth among the heathen Irish – to preach to them.

Secondly, he insists that God had guided him, guided him directly by inspirations received in a dream.
Finally, he says that he did not profit financially from his mission.

These are the external facts. Now what of the inner life, the story of his soul.

Patrick begins his Declaration “I, Patrick – a Sinner, am a most uncultivated man and the least of all the faithful and I am greatly despised by many”

I, Patrick, a sinner – Patrick takes responsibility for what he has done. He does not blame anyone else, it is His own fault. Even though he was only sixteen when he was kidnapped he says it was well deserved. “I had neglected the true God and when I was carried off to captivity in Ireland it was well deserved for we cut ourselves off from God and did not keep his commandments. Then the Lord made me aware of my unbelief so that however late, I might recollect my offences and turn will all my heart to the Lord my God”.
Cut off from his family and his homeland, Patrick now saw that he had been cut off from his God also. His exile from His Creator was much more serious than his exile from his homeland.

Like the Prodigal Son Patrick found himself feeding pigs. Like the Prodigal Son Patrick came to his senses. “More and more”, he tells us “the love and fear of God came to me and faith grew and my spirit was exercised until I was praying up to 100 times a day and in the night nearly as often”

In the midst of his loneliness Patrick discovered God to be a real father. In the middle of all his sufferings Patrick came to know Jesus as his Saviour. In the hour of his need the Holy Spirit taught him to pray. It was all God’s doing. Patrick cannot stop praising God.

“I was like a stone that had fallen into deep mire, and He who is mighty, came and in His mercy picked me up and lifted me high to place me on top of a wall”.

Perhaps that image was inspired here around Armagh. Maybe he was out walking and had seen someone lift up a stone out of a drain, down near the Callan River and perhaps maybe that same stone is still lying around on top of the wall – who knows? One thing is certain, Patrick was reconciled to His God because of God’s love for him. Then, secure in the knowledge that he really was loved by God, Patrick was set free of the bitterness and hatred which he probably felt towards his Irish captors and oppressors. Patrick was set free from anger and fear as well.

He was set free for greater things. When God called Patrick to return to Ireland, Patrick was free to answer that call. He was able to overcome the obstacles and the protests of his family and give himself to this work for the Irish, despite the fact that some of them had been his gaolers and his oppressors.
Patrick quite rightly decided that not all the Irish had wronged him. He had seen the goodness of the majority of the people. He saw that they were open to hearing the Good News of God’s love for them. Today we give thanks that Patrick was reconciled first with his God and then with his former enemies.
So what would Patrick say to us today? He would probably begin: “I Patrick, a Sinner, wish to remind you that you are all sinners”. We have all failed. We have all fallen short of God’s plans for us. We are all like that stone that has fallen into the mud. He would also urge us to recollect our offences and turn with all our heart to the Lord.

Yesterday was Corrymeela Sunday. Corrymeela is a Centre of Reconciliation on the North Antrim coast. It has brought thousands of people together from both sides of the divide over the past thirty years. The come together to tell their story and to listen to the story of other people. The Sunday nearest to St. Patrick’s day was chosen as Corrymeela Sunday because Patrick is seen as a model of reconciliation and an apostle of reconciliation. Patrick was someone who lived the words of St. Paul: “forgive each other as soon as a quarrel begins. The Lord has forgiven you.. Now you must do the same”. Offer Forgiveness, Accept Peace was the message of Pope John Paul for World Peace Day – 1 January of this year.

Yes, Patrick defended his rights, especially when he was attacked by his seniors but I am quite certain that he would be the first to recognise that other people have rights as well.

Patrick, Apostle of Reconciliation, would certainly be working to reconcile conflicts and to reduce tensions. As his letter to the soldiers of Coroticus shows, Patrick would never approve of violence as a means, he condemns it in the strongest terms.

So as the advent of another marching season begins to cast its long shadow over the lives of us all, I imagine Patrick would be advising us to draw hope from what happened in Derry last year. There, the peacemakers simply refused to give up or lose heart. Those efforts bore fruit and an accommodation was reached.

There is hope that this year a similar process of negotiation at local level will produce success in other places where parades are contentious. Nobody should fear taking part in negotiations. Nobody should have to negotiate out of fear. Let us all pray earnestly that an accommodation may be reached and that the trauma of last year may be avoided.

A total cessation of violence would create the climate where these and other negotiations could take place. No-one can really claim to be for peace in Northern Ireland and rationalise or justify the use of force to pursue political ends. I hope that the IRA will come to see this and restore the cease-fire. Only the power of Christ can reconcile our divisions. In Christ Jesus, those who used to be so far apart have been brought very close.

Yes, the journey may remain unfinished but a lot of the road has been travelled. It is Patrick who first told us about Jesus breaking down barriers and destroying hostility. Patrick revealed the plans of Jesus to restore peace through the Cross and to unite this world in a single body and reconcile them with God.
Today Patrick would want to say “Get on with the job, finish the journey, continue to break down the barriers caused by fear and mistrust. This is the greatest border of all. It separates people in a deeper way than any physical border. Only by overcoming this legacy of fear and suspicion can the true border be crossed into the land of real freedom”.

Grant us on Lord, a heart renewed, recreate in us your own spirit O Lord. We say and pray those words in these weeks. May they become a reality in the life of each one of us. A heart renewed with the knowledge that we can be and will be restored to God’s friendship if only we ask.

A spirit recreated and energised within us for the task of breaking the barriers that divide us and seeking all that unites us. Praise to the Lord of my Salvation. Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

AMEN

CHRISM MASS
ST PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL
Thursday, March 27, 1997
HOMILY BY MOST REV. SEAN BRADY

Grace and peace to you from Jesus Christ the faithful witness.
The words from the Book of Revelation, which we have just heard, were written during the time of persecution. They were meant to give hope and determination to people suffering for their faith. They are read today to give us hope and determination.

Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, carried out his Father’s plan for the world. He revealed his Father’s love for all of us. No one has ever seen God – we read in the Gospel of St John. It is the only Son who is nearest to the Father’s heart, who has made Him known.

Jesus not only revealed the love of God. He himself loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood. He has made us a line of Kings – to serve his God and Father. Christ has come as the High Priest of all the blessed. He has entered the sanctuary once and for all, taking with him, not the blood of goats and bull calves, but his own blood.

It is Holy Thursday. Today we remember the events of the first Holy Thursday: The Last Supper of Jesus with his apostles. His farewell words to them. His washing their feet. His agony in the garden; his betrayal by Judas and his abandonment by the others.

Today we remember with gratitude the three great gifts given by Christ to his Church on this day: the Sacrament of the Blessed Eucharist; the Sacrament of Holy Orders and the new commandment: to love one another as He had loved us – a commandment dramatically illustrated by the washing of the feet. These three gifts lie at the heart of our faith.

This particular Holy Thursday occurs in the middle of the first year of immediate preparation for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, the Millennium. The first year is centred on Jesus Christ.

The Mass of Chrism focuses our attention on Jesus Christ – the Priest. The Preface of the Mass sums it all up well. Addressing God the Father it says:

“By your Holy Spirit you anointed your only Son, High Priest of the new and eternal covenant”.
Jesus has come as High Priest of all the blessings. He has gone through to the highest heaven. He has offered himself once and for all on the cross.

God’s plan is that this priesthood of Jesus Christ should continue in the Church. Since it is God’s plan it will continue. We need have no fear or worries on that score.

Christ gives the dignity and gift of priesthood to the people. He has made his own by baptism. When baptised, people do works which are befitting followers of Christ, they offer spiritual sacrifices. When we live lives worthy of our dignity as children of God, we proclaim the power of God to the world. Whenever the followers of Christ pray and praise God, they make of themselves a living sacrifice which is holy and pleasing to God.

So offering sacrifices, proclaiming the “Word of God”, praying and praising God, these are all priestly works. Those who do them are faithful witnesses. They bear witness to the love of Christ active in their lives. Those who do these works are exercising their priesthood. That priesthood belongs to all of us by our baptism. We are all a chosen race, a royal priesthood.

Yes, Christ gives the dignity of a royal priesthood to those he has made his own in baptism. But from these, with a brother’s love, he has chosen some to share his sacred ministry by the laying on of hands.
Let us listen again to today’s Preface. He calls them to lead his Holy People in love. Nourish them by God’s Word and strengthen them through the Sacraments. The Letter to the Hebrews puts it this way: Every priest has been chosen by God to act for people in their relations with God. It is a tremendous honour. No-one takes this onto himself but each one is called by God as Christ was appointed by God, the Father, who said. “You are a priest according to the order of Melchisedek”.

Yes, it is a wonderful honour to have been called by God to lead his holy people in love. To bring them Good News and to strengthen them through the sacraments. It is a tremendous challenge to bring Good News to a world that is fed up to the teeth of bad news. It is something special to announce freedom to people who are captured and captivated in so many ways by the superficial, the cynical and sensational. It is a joy to be called to announce new sight to people who have been blinded by hatred and anger and despair.

We are to bind up broken hearts, hearts aching from broken promises and broken hopes, hearts hurt by broken resolutions.

The Good News that we announce is Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born from the dead. The amazing thing is that despite all our sins he continues to love us and has washed away our sins with his blood. To those held in captivity by sin it is our privilege to say: “I absolve you, I set you free from your sins”. Yes, this text has been fulfilled in our regard. We have been anointed by the spirit of the Risen Christ.

Today, in his message to priests, Pope John Paul suggests that we meditate on the words of Christ’s farewell to the apostles at the Last Supper. “There is no greater love than this: that someone would lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants for the servant does not know what his Master is doing, but I have called you friends”.

Jesus calls the apostles ‘friends’. This is what He wishes to call us, who, thanks to the sacrament of Holy Orders, share in his priesthood. As priests of the new covenant Jesus allows us to act in his name. Is there any more eloquent proof of his friendship? Jesus has chosen all of us and has appointed us to go and bear fruit that shall last. Today we give thanks to God for the fruits of our priestly life, for the service given to God’s people. We ask the Creator spirit to raise up new generations of young people who will be ready and willing to go to the Lord’s vineyard, to spread the Kingdom of God to the ends of the earth.

Yes, we are called to be like Christ, faithful witnesses. In fact so often we find ourselves having to settle for being just weak witnesses. This must not discourage us, but rather spur us on to put our trust in Jesus. The Letters to the Hebrews tells us to never let go of the faith we have professed. For it is not as if we had a high priest who is incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us, but we have one who has been tempted in every way that we are, though he is without sin. Jesus understands our weaknesses and wants to help us overcome them.

Yes, we know that we are quite unworthy servants. Nevertheless we are very thankful to God for having wished to make us His servants.

It is our privilege to carry the Holy Oils from this Cathedral to the parishes and to the people we serve.
Perhaps we sometimes let that word ‘serve’ slip too easily from our lips, but it is a fact that the ministerial priesthood is at the service of the priesthood of the faithful. When we celebrate Mass and administer the sacraments we lead the lay faithful to a greater awareness of their own sharing in the priesthood of Christ.
Bearing the Holy Oils is a privilege, bearing the blessings of God of which the Oil is a sign is a far greater privilege. For oil is at once a symbol of love and friendship, a sign of happiness and joy. What a challenge then to be at once the ministers of God’s love and friendship to His chosen people. To be the bearers of joy and happiness to the people Christ has redeemed with his precious blood. The world will always need that love and friendship. It always welcomes that joy and happiness.

Perhaps this is a day for us to ponder how Jesus has in fact been faithful to us down through the years. It is a day to get in touch with the deep causes of our joy at being a priest and to savour and to let that joy sink in – to the depth of our being – not in any sense of smug superiority or complacency but in a spirit of profound humility and gratitude.

We can all make our own the prayer that Pope John Paul wrote to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of his priesthood:

And you, Mary, Mother of Christ,
who at the foot of the Cross accepted us
as beloved sons with the apostle John,
continue to watch over our vocation.
To you we entrust the years of ministry
which Providence will grant us yet to live.
Be near us to guide us
along the path of the world
to meet the men and women whom your Son redeemed with His blood.
Help us to fulfil completely the will of Christ,
born of you for salvation of humankind.
O Christ – you are our Hope.
In you Lord we put our trust, we shall never be put to shame.
Amen.

RE-DEDICATION MASS – ST. PATRICK’S, DUNDALK
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 30, 1997
HOMILY BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

Local history tells us that in 1748 an Army officer was so impressed by the fidelity and devotion of the Catholics of Dundalk to the Mass that he persuaded the Earl of Clanbrassil to give them a site for a permanent church. He had seen them at Mass gathered in and around an old shed one Sunday morning on St. Helena’s Quay. The result was that the old St. Patrick’s was built in 1750 in Chapel Street. It served its purpose for almost a century.

With the achievement of Catholic emancipation the need for a larger church became evident. Doctor Matthew McCann secured the site in 1834. In 1845 its Trustees were listed as: Archbishop Crolly, Father Coyne, Parish Priest, James Carroll, merchant of Earl Street and Nicholas Martin, merchant of Clanbrassil Street. Dr. Matthew McCann engaged Mr. John Duff, Newry, as architect and the foundations had just been laid when Dr. McCann was called to his eternal reward early in 1837. Mr. Duff was the original architect of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh also.

We know that owing to Dr. McCann’s illness slow progress was made with the work during the years 1835 and 1836. The new Parish Priest was Fr. John Coyne formerly Parish Priest of Tandragee. The work really got underway in 1837. On New Year’s Day a Committee of ninety people was appointed to speed it up. A Building Committee of twenty-six was chosen to see to all matters connected with the building. Mr. Duff chose to use Newry granite and to build the church in the Gothic style. St. Patrick’s was built by direct labour with two members of the Building Committee in strict rotation, undertaking the duty of supervising the work, ordering the materials, employing workmen, paying wages and ensuring that the decisions of the Committee were carried out.

All of these were busy people, with their own jobs to look after. We are told that not one of them ever failed to do his allotted part of the work. It is a tremendous tribute to their self-sacrifice and generosity. St. Patrick’s was in use in 1842 but wasn’t considered finished until 1847. It was built at a cost of £25,000 and without any outside help. This huge sum, huge for those Famine days, was realised by weekly contributions from the parishioners. St. Patrick’s stands as a noble testimony to their strong faith and immense generosity.

Father Coyne’s other great contribution to Dundalk was the introduction of the Sisters of Mercy. Their contribution to the educational and health care life of this town has been enormous.

Dr. Coyne died in early February 1848. Before his death he had the great consolation of seeing this beautiful Church completed. Daniel O’Connell described him as a “most learned, respectable, and exemplary clergyman”. His mortal remains rest here before the altar and a mural tablet to his memory may be seen on the right wall.

St. Patrick’s Dundalk was one of thirteen churches built in the diocese of Armagh during the 1840s. Here in County Louth the Church of St. Mary, Kilsaran, was built in 1840 and the Church of the Assumption, Sandpit, Termonfechin parish, was built in 1846. In a publication called: “Centenary Record of St. Patrick’s Dundalk” the author makes this comment:

“By adding his own valuable quota each Administrator, with the able assistance of the Parochial Committee, has contributed to render St. Patrick’s what it is today, one of the finest churches in Ireland”.

The present Administrator, Father Gerry Tremer, and the other priests, and the Parochial Committee, continue that fine tradition. I congratulate them on planning and carrying out an extensive programme of events to commemorate this 150th anniversary. I congratulate Father Murtagh on his excellent history published earlier this year: ‘St. Patrick’s Dundalk, an Anniversary Account’. I thank and congratulate all who were involved in the renovations and repairs undertaken in the Church itself. They not only render St. Patrick’s one of the finest churches in Ireland but will ensure that it remains such for a long time to come. The improved lighting will enable us all to see more clearly and admire the splendid mosaics which adorn the walls of the sanctuary. There are many features of the work done such as the raised sanctuary, the new altar, ambo and chair which will definitely contribute to and enhance the liturgy.

So tonight a new chapter in the history of St. Patrick’s, Dundalk, opens with the blessing and dedication of this lovely new altar. We give thanks to God for the people who put St. Patrick’s here in the first place and who have kept it in existence over the last 150 years. We rejoice to see so many native sons and daughters present on this happy occasion. We give thanks to God for all who have celebrated Mass here over the last 150 years and again it is good to see so many of those present, especially Cardinal Daly. We give thanks for all who have played an active part in the ceremonies celebrated here over these 150 years, the choir, the organist, the collectors, the stewards and many other people, especially the Sacristan, who has completed fifty years of wholehearted service and is about to retire. We wish him many blessings in his retirement.

We praise God for all the parish groups and organisations involved in the various processions here this evening. As the altar is dedicated we are reminded it is the place where people offer their lives and their gifts. Where they unfold their good intentions and pour out their prayers. So I hope that this altar really will prove to be that sort of place for all who enter St. Patrick’s who come in here whether it is simply to say a prayer or to attend Mass, whether they come in joy or in sorrow in their youth or in their old age.
The altar will be anointed with oil, the oil of Chrism. Oil is one of God’s most powerful gifts. In many countries it is used as food. It gives strength and nourishment. One of the prayers this evening asks that we may find nourishment and strength as we stand at the Lord’s table. Oil is a great source of healing, from wounds, from pain, from illness. Friends of Christ who gather around the altar which has been anointed with oil, cast their burdens and their cares upon the Lord and take up their journey restored. The altar is a visible sign of Christ who offered himself for the life of the world. He offers himself to each one of us in Holy Communion to be our nourishment and food on the journey of life – that we may have the strength to do what he tells us to do.

The Gospel we have just heard is taken from words spoken by Jesus in the temple. It says: In the daytime he would be in the temple teaching but he would spend the nights on the hills called the Mount of Olives (presumably in prayer), and from early morning the people would gather round him in the temple to listen. Jesus spent his time in the temple teaching. He prepared for that teaching by prayer. The people listened to him. There is a lesson there for all of us, especially for those of us who preach.

Jesus was well aware of what was going around him. Rich and poor came to hear him. He saw them putting their offerings into the treasury. It was then that he was moved to praise the poverty-stricken widow who had put in all she had to live on. Then Jesus goes on to speak of the coming of the Son of Man. He will come again in a cloud with power and great glory. His first coming was without power and glory in a stable in Bethlehem. In this passage the Gospels speak of men dying of fear as they await what menaces the world. Jesus urges his disciples to stand erect and hold their heads high because their liberation is near at hand.

There is a third coming of the Son of Man. It is taking place here and now. Now he comes in word and sacrament and is really present in our midst. He comes in word, calling on us to believe in him, not to put our trust in anything else. Not to put our trust in the false Gods of power or wealth or popularity or success. He comes in his Word now to warn us to be on our guard and not to allow ourselves to become pre-occupied with too much feasting and drinking, nor with the worries of this life. The writer of the Gospel doesn’t want us to be caught unprepared when the day of the Son of Man could be sprung on us like a trap and catch us off our guard. So he tells us to be on the alert and to pray that we will have the strength to go safely through all those things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man.
So as St. Patrick’s Church begins it 151st Advent Season the message of Advent is and always will be the same. To pray that we will have the strength to go through safely all that will happen, and have the wisdom to hear the Son of Man speaking to us in his Word and beckoning us to follow him no matter what the cost. He is inviting us to believe in him, to believe that he is present in his Words and in his Sacraments and in our lives and in our neighbours. If we see him and serve him there, well we may have no fear. Then we can confidently stand and hold our head on the last day for he will be coming to set us free.

Jesus told us that he came into the history of the world not to bring peace but to bring a sword. Christmas is not a feast of display and show-off. It is feast of the powerlessness of the love of God, a love which only through death will reveal its super power. The time that intervenes between the first Christmas and the last Judgement is nothing else than the time given to people to decide whether to believe in Jesus or not. He came not to judge the world but to save it. Those who reject him and do not accept his message have one who will judge them. The words that he has spoken will be their judge on the last day. Jesus came into the world as light so that everyone who believes in him should not remain in the darkness. May St. Patrick’s continue to reflect that light ever more brightly. May everyone who comes in here be helped to accept the message of Jesus so that they may have life and have it to the full. May Mary, who is honoured here so lovingly and so tenderly, especially in the month of May, watch over and protect the people of Dundalk.
AMEN

BURNING OF THE CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, MULLAVILLY
MASS IN THE COMMUNITY CENTRE
SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER
HOMILY BY CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY

I am sure that we can all say where we were when we heard the shocking news of the burning of your Church, the Church of the Immaculate Conception, on Monday morning last.

It is something that we are not likely to forget for a long time. Since then a lot of people have contacted me to express their sympathy. Those messages came from all parts of Ireland and from overseas. They were from people of many different religions. I know that the sympathy and support of your own neighbours here on Monday last were particularly impressive and have meant a lot to you. So this morning I wanted to come here to convey those messages of sympathy personally to you and to express once again my own sorrow.

So, I come to do that and to celebrate this Mass with you and for you. I want to be here to show my support for Father MacOscar and Father Gates and for all of you in this difficult time. I know well that you all feel numbed and saddened and sickened at what has happened as people feel numbed and shocked and saddened when they lose someone or something that is very dear to them. I recall coming here on Tuesday 4 March last for Confirmation. It was a very joyful occasion. I particularly enjoyed meeting so many of you afterwards here in the Community Centre. Yet on that occasion someone spoke to me of the fear and sense of isolation which Catholics feel here. It seems as if that person had a premonition of what was going to happen.

You, the priests and people of this parish have suffered a lot, far too much, at the hands of the arsonists and bombers over the years. Of course innocent people have suffered similar, indeed in some cases, far greater wrong and hurt and harm all over Northern Ireland as a result of the violence and destruction. Is there any point in asking why do people- act in this way? It has been suggested that your Church has been burned out of a sense of grievance, a grievance caused perhaps by acts of arson in other parts in recent times. Others have wondered why a Catholic Church belonging to a small, peaceful, and peace-loving people has been targeted? It is yet another example of bitter sectarian hatred and you are the innocent victims in this case. One thing is certain. Violence is not the way to resolve conflict. Neither the desecration of a Church in Mullavilly nor the attempted murder of a policewoman in Derry, is going to make any contribution to the resolution of our problems here in Northern Ireland. Desecration of the House of God is an insult to God in whose honour the Church was built. The destruction of a human life is at once an insult to God, the author of life and a terrible injustice to the person concerned.

As the clergy in Portadown said in response to the fire here in Mullavilly:
“Destruction and violence have caused pain and suffering for so many people in this community”.
Destruction and violence are never going to give us the respect and dignity which we all seek. The lesson is clear: violence is not the way to resolve conflict. There are other ways and better ways. Conflict can only be resolved satisfactorily when those in conflict begin to talk to one another and to understand one another more fully.

On Monday morning I noticed three things which had survived the fire: the Celtic cross on the gable end of the Church, the Trócaire boxes in the porch and the notice giving information about ACCORD, the Catholic Marriage Advisory Service, also in the porch.

The Cross is at once the sign of suffering and of hope. “We adore you O Christ and we bless you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world” is a prayer which we often pray in Lent. To the world, the suffering and death of Christ on the cross appeared senseless and stupid. Yet God allowed that suffering and death to take place as the means of saving the world. In the same way, God has allowed this suffering and destruction to take place for some good purpose. Have no doubts about that. It is not clear to us at the moment but it has some good purpose.

‘Hail O Cross our only hope’ is the title of a hymn we often use in Holy Week. The Cross is the sign of hope because Christ, who died on the cross, rose from the dead. Dying he destroyed our death, rising he restored our life. By so doing he give us all the hope of victory over death.

The Cross here is a Celtic cross which is a symbol of the presence of the Irish Roman Catholic identity. Some people resent that presence. They fear it. They feel threatened by it. Let me assure them that they have nothing to fear from that presence. There is no need or cause to have it smashed. As for the other two items which survived the fire, the Trócaire boxes and the ACCORD notice are symbols of what is best in Irish Roman Catholic identity. Trócaire is as you know the name of the Catholic agency established by the Irish Bishops in 1973 to express the concerns of the Church for needs and problems of the people of the developing world. Trócaire is also the Irish word for ‘mercy’.

ACCORD on the other hand is a voluntary organisation in the Irish Church, a lay organisation, which aims to promote a better understanding of marriage. It helps people to prepare for marriage and to sustain their marriage. It offers help to people experiencing difficulties in marriage. So concern for the poor of the world, help for people in difficulties, those are the kind of things which the Irish Catholic Church cherishes dearly.

The Catholic Church like many Christian Churches is deeply involved in advancing the human dignity of those entrusted to its care by the Lord. It considers human dignity a Gospel value. That dignity cannot be despised without greatly offending the Creator. The struggle for advancement is only a threat to those who want to infringe the rights of others. It poses no threat to those who uphold values such as freedom and the right to profess one’s religion. The Church vigorously defends human rights. It considers them a necessary part of the recognition which must be given to the dignity of the human person, a person created in the image of God and redeemed by Christ.