Bishop Michael Router’s Homily for the , 15th August 2021.

Divine Renovation is a programme developed by Fr. James Mallon’s from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada which tries to move parish life away from maintenance and tries to re-orient it towards mission and evangelisation.

Homily Text

Today’s gospel on this Feast of the Annunciation recounts the visit of Mary to Elizabeth.  Mary had just received the news that she was to be the mother of God’s Son, and that he was to come into the world to bring salvation to all who received him. The gospel today includes her remarkable statement known as the Magnificat in which she outlines how the power of God was working through her to bring salvation to the world. Through the child in her womb, the child that she had said yes to, God would turn the world on its head. He would show the power of his arm, he would rout the proud of heart. He would pull down princes from their thrones, exalt the lowly, fill the hungry with good things and send the rich away empty.

It is a remarkable statement of mission from someone who was young, humble, poor, and powerless and who lived in a land that was oppressed, on the margins, and politically unimportant. Yet though she would know much suffering, confusion and pain in her life, what she proclaimed would come true, and her child Jesus would grow into the single most important and influential man who ever walked the earth. Jesus revealed the Father to us as a merciful and just God and therefore undermined all systems of government, power and influence that survived through injustice and brutality. From humble beginnings, from deep confusion, from a moment of crisis Mary’s yes to her mission brought the savior into the world and nothing was ever the same again.

It is possible to look at the condition the Church finds itself in today and say that it is in a situation similar to Mary’s, powerless, immersed in confusion and crisis. But in many ways being in crisis is a good place to be. It sparks the creative energy within people and helps them to dream about new methods of mission and new approaches to religious life. Necessity is the mother of all invention, and it is true that when we are in most need good things begin to happen.

Today the challenge is clear to those of us of faith in Ireland, that we need to move away from trying to preserve in an unreflective way the model of church that we have had for the past 170 years since the famine, to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and to begin to focus our thoughts and our energies on renewing the mission of the Church that Jesus founded. The mission of the Church has always been to bring the life-giving message of Jesus to all people wherever they are to be found. Jesus himself did not stay within the walls of the temple or the synagogue, important as those places were for him as a Jew. He strayed beyond their safe and comfortable boundaries and wandered into the marketplace, through the fields and farms, into the houses and the places where people gathered to relax and to socialise. It was in those places that he encountered people where they were at, doing the things that were so ordinary yet so important. It was there that he made a real and lasting impression.

It seems to me that if we are to go forward as a Church in this challenging century we must go back to Jesus’ own model of leadership. Those who take their faith seriously both lay and religious must shed their fears and engage with others in the workplace, the school, the football club, the bingo hall, the pub, on internet sites such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, or indeed wherever it is that people gather. It is, however, very important that we do so in a delicate and sensitive manner. There is nothing worse than someone forcing what they believe to be certainties down someone else’s throat no matter how well intentioned they may be. It is simply our job to witness to the faith through our actions as much as our words and not be afraid to talk about the joy and comfort it brings into our lives.

In the age in which we live there is a very strong temptation in religious matters to play it safe and to mix only with the dwindling number of people who share our faith and who don’t challenge us. Such an approach makes us feel secure and we priests, in particular, feel appreciated. Such an inward-looking approach, however, will not bring success in the long-term task of building the Church. The alternative approach of reaching out to and journeying with those who don’t share our faith is much more dangerous but also much more effective in the long term.

Jesus is always our role model for evangelization in a secular society, and we can learn much from reflecting, particularly, on the story of Jesus on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-25). In that post-resurrection encounter Jesus meets people who are struggling with loss. He walks with them and listens. He asks questions. He gives meaning to the complicated mystery of life. His words burn within them and make a deep impression because they have the ring of authentic truth. He eventually reveals his identity at a simple supper table. This encounter offers guidance to us on how to be Church in a secular world. Like the disciples on the road, we are so disheartened by what we have lost – status, large congregations and young people in our churches – that we have forgotten that the one resource we really need is Jesus, the one who is alive and well and who walks beside us on the journey. Please God the synodal pathway we have embarked upon as a diocese, as a national and universal Church may reawaken new energy and a missionary zeal within us.

The process of divine renovation, which we launch in the parishes of Knockbridge and Kilkerly today, is a call to move away from the burden of maintenance, of trying to frantically preserve what we have, and instead trying to embrace the uncertainty and the challenge of mission wherever that may take us. To help lead the Church in Knockbridge and Kilkerly in this process of divine renovation of moving from maintenance to mission, I will shortly commission a leadership team who will help to overhaul the focus of the Church here and to encourage everyone who is baptized to accept their call to mission and to participate in the great work of evangelization which can no longer be left, if it ever could, just to priests and religious.

+ Bishop Michael Router

Bishop Michael Router: Homily for the 15^th Sunday of Ordinary Time.

“100^th Anniversary of the Signing of the Truce”

St. Peter’s Church, Drogheda, 11am on the 11th July 2021

The second reading of today’s Mass is taken from the letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians. The letter touches on the issue of living in a world where there are many differences between people. The author St. Paul was a Jew, but he was writing this letter to a gentile, non-Jewish, audience. He was trying to teach the Church in Ephesus that in Christ God had broken down the walls and barriers between people and has given us the means to overcome the hostility that can be present because of differing beliefs. The letter acknowledges that living with difference is not easy, it requires great effort, humility, gentleness, and patience. As the section of the letter read today reminds us, God adopts not a single group with one ethnic or religious identity, but he chooses and adopts a diverse group of people. Unity and equality will eventually be found under Christ.

It is a very appropriate message for today’s Mass on this the 100^th Anniversary of the truce that brought to an end the War of Independence in Ireland. The truce was called on this date, July 11^th, 1921, and it brought to an end a two-year conflict that, like many wars, was notable for its acts of brutality. It is also important for us to acknowledge today the role that devotion to St. Oliver Plunkett made to bring about peace and the beginning of a process that brought a long sought-after Irish freedom.

The months leading up to this day in 1921, where amongst the bloodiest in the war of independence. The IRA killed many civilians who they claimed were collaborators and traitors. On the other side the Black and Tans and the Auxiliary’s sought revenge for IRA attacks and did so in a very harsh and bloody way. These reprisals, and the general cruelty of these rogue British units, began to turn public opinion around the world in favour of Irish independence. There were many attempts at peace initiatives undertaken during the first six months of 1921 and some of the most notable ones were undertaken by church personnel such as Cardinal Logue of Armagh, Bishop Fogarty of Killaloe, and Archbishop Patrick Clune of Perth in Australia.

During 1921 many government buildings were destroyed around the country including numerous RIC barracks, courthouse’s, tax offices and other local government offices. The customs house was destroyed on the 25^th May and this was a devastating blow to the administration of Ireland as most of the tax records and local government records for the country where kept there. These, among other smaller incidents, made Ireland ungovernable, and the war almost unwinnable, for the British. By July 1921 things were descending rapidly into chaos and there was a real risk of a blood bath. Over 1000 deaths alone were recorded from the beginning of the year and many people were beginning to suffer severe hardship.

Throughout the whole conflict the Church maintained a strong stance in opposition to the violence perpetrated by all sides, but also used its voice to put increased pressure on the British government to find a solution. Time and again, Catholic Bishops, both individually and collectively, asked for prayer and there was a huge response both at home and abroad to their request. Just a year before, in 1920, Saint Oliver Plunkett had been beatified, the final step before becoming a Saint. His beatification was a big occasion for the Irish and many people began praying to him for a cessation of violence and a renewal of peace. Their prayers finally and remarkably came to fruition with the coming into effect of a truce between the British Armed Forces and the IRA on the 11^th July, the very first day that the feast of blessed St Oliver Plunkett was celebrated in Churches around the world. Many people came to realise that this was more than a coincidence and that in St. Oliver we had gained a powerful intercessor for peace in this land. Saint Oliver’s feast day changed to the July 1st after his canonization in 1975 and it is to be noted with joy that the first meeting of the new Northern Ireland Assembly, an essential element of the Good Friday Agreement, was held on 1st July 1998 the new Feastday. The sharing of power, symbolised by that event, has led to a greater level of cooperation between nationalists and loyalists in Northern Ireland and subsequently to a more stable peace.

As we celebrate the anniversary of the truce today and give thanks for all the progress that has been made over the past 24 years in particular, we have to be mindful that the peace in this island is still fragile. The truce, unfortunately, didn’t bring the hostilities to an end. A horrific civil war blew up within months and tensions in the years since have at times led to conflict, terrorism and murder most notably between 1969 and 1997. The reluctance over the years by all sides to accept a peaceful solution to the problem of finding a shared identity and purpose, have led to many innocent deaths and many shattered lives.

Violence achieves nothing. It is destructive and holds back genuine progress. The violence perpetrated from 1969 onwards held back the progress on civil rights that was being made in the late 1960’s and held back progress on this island for over thirty years. We pray to St. Oliver Plunkett today that those who still advocate violence or who excuse past atrocities will have a change of heart so that we can overcome our differences and know, as St. Paul reminds the Ephesians, the freedom that comes from such a change of heart and attitude.

Recent events have shown us that there is a long way to go if all the people of this island are to respect each other and live together without division or violence. All of us must strive to create a place that will be inclusive and welcoming. A united Ireland, if that is to become a reality, will have to be a place where religious and cultural differences are recognised and are protected not dismissed or ignored.

All of us who want to achieve peace and true freedom will need to be very vigilant and work hard to achieve God’s plan for us. In the gospel Jesus sent out his disciples in pairs to bring the good news of salvation to all. He anticipated that they would meet opposition as the enemies of truth and love are unfortunately many in this world. He gave them however, a very wise piece of advice. He told them if they faced opposition and hostility, they were to wipe the dust of their sandals and start all over again.

The road to genuine peace, which can only be achieved through the power of Christ and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, will continue to be a difficult one but we must never give up. Today, through the intercession of St. Oliver Plunkett, we ask for the blessing of genuine peace in this country, a peace that will only come about when we respect the primacy of God and respect each other as his adopted sons and daughters.

+Bishop Michael Router