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Death of Fr Tommy McNulty PE, Cooley

The Archdiocese of Armagh is sad to announce the death, on 18 January 2024,
of Fr Tommy McNulty PE, Cooley. 
May he rest in peace.

Archbishop Eamon extends the sympathy of Cardinal Seán, Bishop Michael, the clergy and the people of the Archdiocese to Fr Tommy’s family, former parishioners and friends.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Very Rev Thomas McNulty PE

Born: 9 January 1937, Parish of Loughgilly

Studied
St Mary’s National School, Ravensdale         1941-51
Dundalk Technical College                           1951-53
Jesuit Vocation College, London                   1953-57
Holy Trinity Abbey, Kilnacrott, Co Cavan       1957-63

Ordained:        21 June 1963, Holy Trinity Abbey, Kilnacrott, Co Cavan
Ordained for:   Norbertine Order
Incardinated:    Archdiocese of Armagh 28 June 2005

Appointments
Holy Trinity Abbey, Kilnacrott                                          1963-73
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Kilmarnock, Scotland    1973-80
Prior, Holy Trinity Abbey, Kilnacrott                                  1980-85
St Joseph’s Priory & Parish, Perth, Australia                      1985-93
Assisting, Lower Killeavy                                                 1993-93
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Kilmarnock, Scotland    1993-99
Pastoral Renewal Centre, Shrewsbury, England                  1999-01
Curate, St Patrick’s, Dundalk                                            2002-06
Curate, Armagh                                                               2006-09
Curate, Cooley                                                                 2009-16
Pastor Emeritus                                                                2016-24

Date of Death: 18 January 2024, Carlingford Nursing Home, Carlingford, Co Louth

 

Vacancy: Diocesan Administration Team Member

 

St Patrick’s Archdiocesan Trust Limited

Vacancy

Diocesan Administration Team Member

Archdiocese of Armagh

The Archdiocese of Armagh seeks to appoint a highly motivated and talented professional, to be a member of the Diocesan Administration Team.

This is an administration post providing support to the Armagh Diocesan Curial Office. The Job holder will be responsible for performing a variety of administrative and financial duties to ensure the efficient and effective administration of the Office.

Starting salary will be commensurate with experience.

Click Here for Role Specification

If interested in making an application for this position, please apply by letter enclosing a current CV outlining your experience and qualifications to date and clearly stating your suitability for the role.

Please return your application to:

Diocesan Financial Administrator

Ara Coeli

Cathedral Road

ARMAGH BT61 7QY

Tel: (028) 37522045

Fax: (028) 37526182

Or by email attachment to: [email protected]

 

Closing date for receipt of completed applications is Friday 26th January 2024

 St Patrick’s Archdiocesan Trust Limited is an Equal Opportunities Employer

Evening of Prayer on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception

A moment of peace in a turbulent world

St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh
Friday 8th December
Mass at 7.30pm
followed by a Candle-Lit Vigil
and Benediction

Music provided by the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal

Confirmation 2024

Click the following link to view the 2024 Confirmation dates for the Archdiocese of Armagh:

Confirmation List 2024

Prayerfest 2023 organised by Prayer & Spirituality Group – 25 November

Prayerfest 2023 organised by Prayer & Spirituality Group – 25 November

Franciscan Missionary Sisters , Mount Oliver, Dundalk,

Sat 25th November 25th, 10.00 am – 1 pm.

The morning will consist of Holy Mass, some input talks, discussions and Taize prayer in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

The theme for the morning is ‘Jesus our servant King’.

Folk who are coming – please just arrive.  We will have a basket for a small donation to reimburse the Community for heating, Tea & Coffee during the break.  All are welcome.

Archbishop Eamon calls for Prayer for Peace – Friday 27 October 2023

On Friday morning at 9am in St. Patrick’s Cathedral Archbishop Eamon will lead a holy hour followed by Mass at 10am when we will unite with Pope Francis and the global Church in praying for Peace.
 
At 7:30pm in St Malachy’s on Friday evening we will also celebrate Mass for peace. All are invited to join us in person or online.
 

 

Theology Programme

SEEKING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR FAITH?
Why not consider the theology programme run by the Armagh Diocese?
The programme runs for two years, with one evening per week and two weekend modules in each academic year.
 
It is accredited by St Patrick’s Pontifical University, Maynooth. There are no educational entry requirements, just an interest in learning about God. Assessment is based on written assignments at the end of each module; there are no written exams.
 
Our Theology programme will be continuing this year, starting on 12th September.
 
You don’t have to be from the Armagh diocese, this programme is open to anyone who would like to know more about their faith.
 
If you would like more information, please see attached documents or contact Milanda at [email protected]. 
 

Statement of Bishop Michael Router on the Publication of the Instrumentum Laboris for the First Session of the Synod on Synodality

Statement of Bishop Michael Router on the Publication of the Instrumentum Laboris for the First Session of the Synod on Synodality

I welcome the publication yesterday, June 20th, of the Instrumentum Laboris (IL), for the first session of the Synod in October with the theme “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission.

The description given to the Document for the Continental Synod (DCS) is also valid for the IL. It “is not a document of the Church’s Magisterium, nor is it the report of a sociological survey; it does not offer the formulation of operational indications, goals and objectives, nor a full elaboration of a theological vision”. This is because it is part of an unfinished process. The IL, however, takes a step beyond the DCS. It draws from the insights of the first consultative phase but also from the work of the Continental Assemblies and articulates some of the priorities that emerged from listening to the People of God. Crucially, the IL avoids presenting them as assertions or stances. Instead, it expresses them as questions addressed to the Synodal Assembly.

The Synodal Assembly will have the task of discerning the concrete steps which enable the continued growth of a synodal Church. These steps will then be submitted to the Holy Father. Through this method of active listening each group will have something to learn, the faithful people, clergy, College of Bishops, and the Bishop of Rome, as they all listen to one another and to the Holy Spirit, “to know what He ‘is saying to the Churches’ (Rev 2:7)”. In this light, the purpose of the IL is not to be a first draft of the Final Document of the Synodal Assembly, rather, it outlines an initial understanding of the synodal dimension of the Church on the basis of which further discernment can be made. The IL was made public to encourage participation in the synodal process at the local and regional levels, while waiting for the outcome of the October Assembly. It provides further material on which the local Churches will be called to pray, reflect, act and make their own contribution.

Section A of the IL outlines a series of fundamental characteristics or distinguishing marks of a synodal Church. It then articulates the awareness that a synodal Church is also marked by a particular way of proceeding. The first phase of the synodal process has shown us that spiritual conversations are the way to continue. Section B of the IL, “articulates, in the form of three questions, the priorities that most strongly emerge from the work of all the continents, thus placing them before the Assembly for discernment”. Five worksheets are prepared for each of the three priorities, allowing them to be approached from different perspectives.

What has emerged strongly from all the continents is an awareness that “a synodal Church is founded on the recognition of a common dignity deriving from Baptism, which makes all who receive it sons and daughters of God, members of the family of God, and therefore brothers and sisters in Christ, inhabited by the one Spirit and sent to fulfil a common mission”. Baptism then is the foundation of true co-responsibility among all the members of the Church, “which is manifested in the participation of all, with the charisms of each, in the mission of the Church and the building up of the ecclesial community”. As awareness of this understanding of baptism increases so does the desire for a Church that is truly synodal in its institutions, structures, and procedures. A synodal Church is a Church where co-responsibility for mission is affirmed, exercised, and practiced. In such a Church the exercise of authority is seen, not as an obstacle, but as a gift. It is modelled on the ministry and service of Jesus who stooped to wash the feet of his disciples (Jn 13:1-11).

The IL poses fifteen questions for the members of the synod to reflect on communion, participation, and mission. These questions cover various topics such as social justice, care for our common home, ecumenism, ministry, authority, decision making, discernment, the role of women, collegiality etc. They will open an interesting and important debate on the future of our Church in a challenging and rapidly changing world. I pray for the success of the synod and the creation of  a respectful atmosphere where the issues can be debated in a prayerful and reflective way.

Bishop Michael Router

Auxiliary Bishop of Armagh

The IL can be found at:

(All quotes in the above statement are from the foreword of the Instrumentum Laboris)

Pope Francis recalls the 25th Anniversary of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement at Easter Monday Regina Coeli

Archbishop Eamon Martin welcomes Pope Francis’ Good Friday Agreement anniversary prayers

“I recall the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. I pray to the God of peace that the peace that has been maintained over those years may continue to offer peace and harmony in that land”
Pope Francis

 

Archbishop Eamon’s Statement

I am very pleased that today, to mark the anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, Pope Francis has included a prayer for lasting peace and harmony in Ireland during today’s Regina Coeli Queen of Heaven prayer at Saint Peter’s Bascilica, Rome. The Holy Father has shown great interest in our peace process and is always anxious to be kept up-to-date with developments here. I am confident that his prayerful thoughts today will be welcomed by all people of goodwill.

I remember when he visited Dublin in 2018 Pope Francis encouraged us to persevere in the work of peace and reconciliation. He acknowledged on that occasion the huge efforts that had been made to reach the Agreement and to find a peaceful settlement to end the conflict here which he said had caused such ‘untold pain’ to everyone.

He has often spoken about the importance of reconciliation in the world and about being willing to break down barriers by crossing the road “to the other side” in the spirit of the Good Samaritan.

Just yesterday in his Easter Sunday Urbi et Orbi message ‘to the city and to the world’ he encouraged everyone to pursue the paths of peace and fraternity, and he drew attention to the awful impact of war and violence in so many troubled parts of the world today. I am always struck by the way that Pope Francis draws out the horrific consequences of conflict, especially on families, children, and communities, and how violence drives displacement of peoples, forced migration, social and economic hardship and humanitarian crises.

As we mark the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/ Good Friday Agreement today, Pope Francis would want us to redouble our efforts at finding solutions to our ongoing problems and to work earnestly at restoring relationships here in order to bring deeper healing and reconciliation on this island, and between these islands.

May God bless Pope Francis and give him health and strength to continue his mission of peace in the world.

+ Archbishop Eamon Martin

Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland

 

Easter Monday Regina Coeli 

Easter 2023 message from Archbishop Eamon Martin

Christ is our peace

On Good Friday afternoon a group of young people carried a large cross up the centre aisle of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh. I was conscious that their procession was taking place on the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.  These young people were not even born in 1998. They have no recollection of the terrible violence which brought so much destruction, bloodshed, grief and trauma within our communities.  And thank God for that.

This Easter I thank God also for the lives and livelihoods that have been saved since then, and for the architects of the Agreement who took such risks for peace, making political compromises to secure a better future for us all.  Many of them  – including John Hume, David Trimble, Martin McGuinness, David Ervine, Mo Mowlam, Seamus Mallon – have gone to their rest. 

I attended the anniversary event in the Assembly buildings at Stormont earlier on Friday.  I had mixed emotions during that moving, but hope-filled ceremony.  On the one hand, on behalf of the thousands of people who were killed or injured during the ‘Troubles’, I am grateful that hostilities were largely ended in 1998 and the lethal bombs and bullets were removed from politics on this island.  On the other hand, on behalf of our children and grandchildren, I am saddened that we remain a people divided, separated by distrust, sectarianism, and by the continued threatening presence of paramilitaries.  We seem to be unable to agree to govern ourselves in a normal manner for any reasonable length of time. 

We must all share responsibility that the Agreement’s vision of a peaceful and reconciled society has not yet been accomplished.  We have not found a way of healing the awful open wounds of the past or sustaining positive relationships within, and between these islands.

On this Easter weekend I am conscious of what Saint Paul writes about our crucified and risen Saviour (Col 1:15-20): 

‘All things are to be reconciled, through Him and in Him – everything in heaven and everything on Earth, when He made peace by His death on the cross.’

Christ is our peace.  The late Pope Benedict XVI once pointed out that “Christ does not conquer through the sword, but through the Cross.  He wins by conquering hatred.  He wins through the force of his greater love. The Cross of Christ expresses His “no” to violence.”

The work of reconciliation is compulsory for Christians.  Reconciliation was not an optional extra in the Gospel message and teaching of Jesus: it was a core value.  To leave unchallenged the existence of sectarianism, bigotry, hatred and violence between Christians, is a grave scandal.  The cross and resurrection which are at the core of the Easter message, confront us to go beyond ourselves to the other, and to make sacrifices for peace, harmony, forgiveness, and healing.

That is why, during these days, I ask you to join with me in prayer that the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement might be a catalyst for greater engagement by all of us in the unfinished work of peace, healing and reconciliation.

Happy Easter to you and your families. 

+ Archbishop Eamon Martin
Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland
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