Homily of Archbishop Eamon Martin for Good Shepherd Sunday

“A number of words come to my mind today as I reflect on my own vocation story – gratitude, encouragement, unworthiness, trust, and openness.” – Archbishop Eamon Martin

On this Sunday seven years ago I was ordained as a bishop here in this beautiful Cathedral of Saint Patrick in Armagh. It was a day of great joy and celebration for me and for my family and friends – surrounded by the people, religious and priests of the Archdiocese of Armagh. I prayed that day that God would help me, in my life as a bishop to be like the Good Shepherd – I’m still trying, and still praying!

The Cathedral is empty this morning – social distancing is still keeping us physically apart, but I know that despite the restrictions we, the sheep of God’s flock, continue to be linked spiritually in this new kind of community and communion.

Good Shepherd Sunday is also the world day of prayer for vocations. A number of words come to my mind today as I reflect on my own vocation story – gratitude, encouragement, unworthiness, trust, and openness. Pope Francis also uses some of these words in his message for today.

Gratitude – I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude for my parents, family members, close friends and for you, the People of God, for sustaining me in my vocation as a priest, and now as a bishop. I am grateful for the opportunities I have had for education, for growth and change, and I am humbled by the immense love and support I continue to receive. I think that gratitude and thankfulness help to sustain every vocation – it’s vitally important in marriage and in the caring vocations of any kind. And it’s related to my second word, encouragement.

One of my favourite bible verses is in the letter to the Hebrews: “every day, as long as this today lasts, keep encouraging one another”. Encouragement literally means to “put fresh heart” into someone. It acknowledges that in our chosen vocations we make mistakes, but it tries not to dwell on these – it searches for the good in others, rather than concentrating on their weaknesses. Encouragement is built on the premise that we can all change, we can all do better – despite our sinfulness and unworthiness.

Unworthiness- that’s my third word. And it’s especially important for us priests, never to think that we are better than others, more especially chosen or comfortable on a pedestal- even when some good people want to put us up there. I am a sinner, and so are all priests. Sometimes young men say to me “I couldn’t be a priest, I’m too unworthy of it”. I say to them – “precisely the opposite – it is God who calls us, knowing that we are sinners”. God’s grace helps us through and no matter what our vocation, we must trust that God is always with us, despite our failings.

Trust. I choose that word because I have found that without trust in God, I am nothing at all. I love the way that Good Shepherd Sunday is chosen for vocations Sunday. The sheep know the shepherd. They hear and recognise his voice. They trust the shepherd to care for them, to pick them up when they get stuck, to search them out when they are lost and to carry them home. They rest gently to know that the shepherd sleeps across the gate of their sheepfold to protect to them from the danger of wolves and brigands. And it’s the same with us and Christ – our Good Shepherd. No matter what our chosen vocation – to marriage, to the single life, to parenting, to teaching, caring, to being a priest or religious sister or brother – trust in God is essential. It is trust that fuels my final word for today – openness.

Vocation is always open to new challenges, to new aspects of the call. It does not end with the day of ordination or the first “I do” on the wedding day. In fact the opposite. I have found that vocation unfolds gradually; all it needs is our openness and generosity to respond to what God’s will is for us. There’s an old medieval saying – “to those who do what is in them to do, God does not deny his grace”. Those words came to me last week when I spoke to a young nurse who qualified five years ago and who is working with Covid-19 patients in one of our hospitals. “I’m only realising now, she said, that nursing is my vocation from God, and although it’s really difficult and I’m afraid, I thank God for choosing it for me, and me for it”.

Without mentioning it I heard in her testimony all five of my words about vocation:

Gratitude, encouragement, unworthiness, trust and openness. May the Good Shepherd bless her and all those who are searching to find their vocation in life today. Amen.

Easter 2020 message to the people of Ireland from Archbishop Eamon Martin

“The sun dances on Easter morning … as surely as Christ rose on Easter morning, we will come through this, hopefully as better people, strengthened by the experience” – Archbishop Eamon

Easter message
I have an early childhood memory of my mother leaving a basin of water out in the back yard on a bright Easter Sunday morning and inviting us to look in and watch the sun dance! ‘The sun dances on Easter morning’, she told us.

It’s the kind of message of joy and hope that we all need during these difficult days.

The Easter story begins in darkness and sorrow. The disciples were hidden away behind locked doors, isolated and feeling alone, fearing for their lives. But when Christ rose from the dead he brought back the light of hope into the darkness of despair. The stone was rolled away from the entrance to the tomb. He entered through the closed doors of the place where the disciples were and he said to them ‘peace be with you.’

Easter reminds us that, as Pope Francis keeps saying, we must never let ourselves be ‘robbed of hope’. As the children’s hymn joyfully puts it:

‘They buried my body

And they thought I’d gone,

But I am the Dance,

And I still go on.

Dance, then, wherever you may be, I am the Lord of the Dance, said he’.

We know how important it is to continue to make sacrifices and to maintain the current restrictions in order to protect and save lives. Please God it won’t be too long before we can go back to singing and dancing together, to meeting and greeting, travelling and discovering, and gathering in church to celebrate and praise God.

But what will we have learned? What is this crisis teaching us about ourselves and others, about faith and hope, about the importance of caring and loving, of living simpler lives and managing our expectations? In a strange way these days of seclusion have been helping us stop and think about what we value and perhaps even question some of the ways we have been living our lives.

An old medieval carol about the life of Jesus promises that ‘Tomorrow shall be my dancing day’. We still have a long way to go in the fight against Covid-19 and its consequences. There will be many more sacrifices to make before this is all over. But as surely as Christ rose on Easter morning, we will come through this, hopefully as better people, strengthened by the experience.

A very happy Easter to you all, and to our loved ones and friends across the world this Easter time.

Church Leaders’ joint statement

“The announcement that we are moving to Step 1 of the pathway is an important and much-needed sign of hope. We welcome the cautious approach adopted by the Executive, which continues to prioritise the protection of health and wellbeing, with particular emphasis on those who are most vulnerable.

As Church Leaders, we appreciate the recognition in this recovery plan of the importance of the local church, and public worship, in the lives of many people. A great flourishing of creativity and a strong community spirit has enabled local churches to continue to provide pastoral care and social outreach in spite of the restrictions, but there is a strong desire to increase the level of pastoral contact where that can be done safely. In particular, we are keen to respond to the appeals from those who find great comfort in visiting their church for private prayer, from couples who are anxious that they can proceed with their marriage ceremony and from parents who wish to have their child baptised.

At the same time, we are conscious that the Christian call to be good neighbours is a call to civic responsibility in the protection of public health. As outlined in the Executive’s recovery plan, partnership across all sectors of society, in solidarity with the most vulnerable, will be critical to minimising the threat of Covid-19, which is likely to be with us for some time. In our churches, we are currently undertaking risk assessments and putting in place response plans that reflect the unique circumstances of each local context and will be sustainable in the long-term. We are very grateful for the efforts of those who are leading this work on behalf of their congregations.

Finally, in our letter, we welcomed the opportunity to discuss the importance of protecting social cohesion in plans for recovery. During lockdown, the burden of suffering has not been shared equally, and the benefits of recovery will come more quickly to some than others. One of the signs of hope to emerge from this crisis has been the way local communities have pulled together in support of their most vulnerable members. That same spirit needs to shape a vision for recovery that leaves no one behind.”

Rt Rev Dr William Henry

Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland

Most Rev Eamon Martin

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Dromore & Primate of all Ireland

Most Rev John McDowell

Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh & Primate of all Ireland

Rev Sam McGuffin

President of the Methodist Church in Ireland

Very Rev Dr Ivan Patterson

President of the Irish Council of Churches

Click here to access Archbishop Eamon Martin’s video message on the reopening of the Churches in Northern Ireland

Trócaire Campaign 2020 – Make your box count

Pentecost is linked closely with Easter and with Trócaire’s mission.

‘You shall receive power … and you will be my witnesses’ (Acts 1:8).

As the disciples received their mission to go out and share the Good News, we in Trócaire are missioned by the Irish Church to go out to the world to care for the most vulnerable.

As you know, donations made through the annual Trócaire Lenten Campaign, especially the Trócaire box, fund lifesaving programmes around the world. Due to the necessary restrictions related to COVID-19, thousands of Trócaire boxes are sitting in homes across Ireland.

This is the worst possible time coming just as the world’s poorest people need us most. Millions of people who live without access to adequate water supplies, sanitation and healthcare are now faced with the threat of COVID-19. We have done – and continue to do – so much to protect each other. Now it is time to protect the worlds’ most vulnerable.

The contents of each and every Trócaire box, no matter how small, come together to make a significant difference. This virus knows no borders, but neither does our compassion.

This year, people can return their Lenten donation in several ways:

Online at www.trocaire.org
By post to any of our offices: Trócaire, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, 50 King St, Belfast BT1 6AD
By phone 1850 408 408 (ROI) or 0800 912 1200 (NI)
By checking with their local parish about how to safely return their box

Archbishop Eamon speaks to the Irish Catholic about the reopening of Churches

Over the weekend the leaders of Ireland’s Christian Churches asked the Executive in the North to reopen churches for private prayer, as they are currently closed due to government restrictions despite many churches that can maintain health guidelines in the south staying open for that purpose. It is expected the Church will also be bringing several measures to health authorities to ensure sacramental life can continue once more.

Speaking to The Irish Catholic this week, Archbishop Eamon Martin highlighted the need to listen to the advice of health authorities regarding current restrictions in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus, but also that the Church needs to prepare to be able to give assurances, that as restrictions are eased, social distancing and other regulations can be followed to accelerate the reopening of aspects of Church life that have been unavailable since lockdown.

In addition, he said “spiritual, mental and physical health are interrelated”, and the Church has a role in offering people consolation and hope at this time.

“We are asking for our churches to be open to allow people if they choose, to pop in, say a prayer, adore the blessed sacrament, spend some time in the solace of the sacred space that is a church,” Archbishop Martin said.

“This is a particular concern within the Catholic community, because for Catholics, to visit your church during the day, to spend some time in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle, to light a candle at a shrine, this is very much part of our Catholic culture and tradition, devotion and spirituality, it’s an intrinsic part of who we are as Catholics.”

The closure of church buildings for individual or private worship is “particularly painful”, he said and commended the “solidarity” shown by the other churches leaders in agreeing to call for the opening of churches for individual prayer together.

For some of the other Churches, he said, “it is not part of their cultural tradition, they normally would open their church doors for a service or for collective worship and they don’t have the tradition of people coming along during the week to offer a private prayer inside their church building. Whereas for us as Catholics this is part of who we are”.

“So I was quite pleased that all of the Church leaders on this island united to call for the opening of churches for individual prayer and private worship and I personally believe this can be done, I know it can be done because it’s already happening in many parishes around the country in the south were they have continued to keep their church building open, ensuring that there’s good social distancing, ensuring that there’s good sanitary services and hygiene services being provided.”

This is a point Archbishop Martin made to the First Minister and Deputy First Minister in the North. There was also discussion of the closure of places of burial which was called for by Covid-19 health regulations. Since that meeting cemeteries have been reopened in the North as they were not seen as a threat to public health as long as health guidelines continued to be followed.

Regarding returning to congregational gatherings and collective worship, Archbishop Martin said the Churches are accepting the decision can only be taken in conjunction with the world health situation.

With the south publishing a roadmap for a phased return to somewhat normality, Archbishop Martin said they are currently waiting on a similar roadmap to be published in the North and that when this happens the Church “will be able to study and reflect more carefully on where and when it might be possible to have small gatherings”. In the Republic’s plan, the return to church services is set for July 20.

“I think that it’s probably a little early for us to really understand when the moment might be right for churches to be opened for collective worship, you can see in the roadmap that the government suggestion is that that will not happen until July 20 which in my view is quite late in the roadmap and I would certainly like to have the opportunity as time goes on to reflect on that and to consider whether it might be possible to have even small gatherings, particularly for the likes of a baptism and a wedding and to allow a little bit more flexibility on that provided good social distancing is maintained and provided,” he said.

“I can understand the nervousness of the Government here, that sometimes these sacramental moments are also linked to gatherings and receptions outside of the church setting, which might be causing them some alarm and concern regarding the spread of the virus.”

The Churches are not “lobbying selfishly” for special circumstances, Archbishop Martin insisted, and they are committed to playing their part “for the common good”.

He said that for him, “allowing access to churches for individual prayer and worship and to allow the churches some flexibility is to acknowledge the importance of our spiritual health in addition to our physical health. Keeping the body and soul together”.

“I believe that spiritual, mental and physical health are all inter-related and dependant on each other and for that reason I would like to see the Churches, not just the Catholic Church, but all churches playing their part in healing the spirit of the nation, in feeding the soul of the nation at this time.

“I think we’re hearing a lot about anxiety, fear, mental health, and to me to allow the churches space to build positivity, resilience and hope in the communities on the ground and also in the nation as a whole I think is very important indeed and therefore for that reason I would see the spiritual well-being of the people of this island as being a key factor in helping us through the months ahead, assuring our positivity and hopefulness and our resilience because there are many more challenges still to come.”

Archbishop Martin said that there needs to be an open conversation and dialogue between the Church and health authorities, as well as with government.

“Critical to this will be the kinds of assurances that Churches will be able to give to show that they’re protecting life and minimising any potential danger to health,” he said.

“Therefore I don’t see it as being maybe one sector competing with another sector but what I would say I think it’s very important for us to keep the lines of conversation open between the churches and the state both north and south so that together the best possible relaxing of measures can be taken whenever it is deemed safe for our people to do so. We’re very conscience that we have a lot of work to do in the Church as well, so therefore I’ve already begun the process of inviting priests and parishes to consider how they might begin to open up whenever the Government will allow that to happen.”

Currently he said they are asking questions such as where would people sit to make church buildings safer and whether they will continue to keep the Sunday obligation suspended so that people might be able to attend Mass at various times in the week.

“Perhaps at parish level, could we consider the possibility of Masses being available for different areas in the parish at different times of the week?” he asked, “What do we do to ensure our churches are kept clean? Do we need to develop new rotas for cleaning, new cleaning strategies, do we keep our doors open to increase ventilation, do we monitor the ways that we can safely receive Holy Communion?

“These are all questions that I want our parishes now to begin to engage in, because like many others in society we hope to be able to say to government, and to the health authorities: we have a plan, we can do this safely, we believe it will not compromise the health of our people, particularly maybe some vulnerable people who may be very keen to return to Mass quickly.”

Lourdes 2020 – Virtual Pilgrimage

It is with great sadness that because of the Covid-19 pandemic the Archdiocese will not be travelling to Lourdes this year.

Pilgrimage director Fr. Mark O’Hagan and Spiritual director Fr. Michael Sheehan have developed a ‘virtual pilgrimage’. In this video Bishop Michael Router introduces this years virtual pilgrimage and speaks about the special nature of Lourdes and the peace it imparts to so many people.

The Virtual Pilgrimage will be broadcast live from St. Patrick’s Parish Dundalk on their parish Facebook page, through the Archdiocesan Live stream and via the Armagh Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes Facebook page.

Click Here to view this years virtual pilgrimage programme.

Click Here to access St. Patrick’s Dundalk Parish Facebook page.

Click Here to access Armagh Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes Facebook page.

Click Here to access Archdiocese of Armagh’s Live stream provided by Church Services TV

‘Hold on to Hope’ – Archbishop Eamon offers a message to Leaving Cert and A-Level pupils.

‘Hold on to Hope’

Archbishop Eamon offers a message of encouragement to all Leaving Cert and A-Level pupils during the current Covid-19 pandemic. He acknowledges their worries and concerns in the beautiful video and letter below. He assures them that they will not be robbed of their hopes and dreams and offers his continued support and prayers in the coming days, weeks and months.

Click Here to access the video

Click Here to access Archbishop Eamon’s letter

Special Masses in Middletown and Tynan Parish Cemeteries

Special Masses in St John’s and St Joseph’s Cemeteries

Conscious that so many people are unable to visit the graves of loved ones at this time because of the Coronavirus Pandemic/Covid-19, Fr Moore from Tynan and Middletown Parish celebrated Mass in both cemeteries this week and blessed the graves.

On Monday 27^th April at 7.30 am he celebrated Mass and blessed the graves in St John’s Cemetery.

On Thursday 30^th April at 8.30 pm he celebrated Mass and blessed the graves in St Joseph’s Cemetery.

We pray for all our deceased relatives and friends.

Bishop Michael – World Day of Prayer for Vocations

Bishop Michael Router offers this beautiful reflection video on the vocation we each hold through our baptism and speaks about the gifts and graces offered through the call to priesthood, the diaconate and to religious life.

Click here to access

“The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock; the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out. When he has brought out his flock, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they know his voice.”

On this Good Shepherd Sunday we celebrate the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. We pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and consecrated life, especially for our diocese, that God will raise up good shepherds in our midst. Do you hear the voice of the Lord, the Good Shepherd calling you to a particular way of life?

If you think God is calling you to serve the Church as a priest or in the consecrated life, contact the National Vocations Office, email: [email protected] or our local Diocesan Vocations Director Fr. Peter McAnenly email: [email protected].

Archbishop Eamon in Conversation with Eamonn Maillie

Archbishop Eamon Speaks to Eamonn Maillie

Earlier this week Archbishop Recorded a Podcast with Eamonn Mallie. In the episode Archbishop Eamon engages in a wide ranging and philosophical conversation, he spoke to Eamonn about a wide range of issues including the question of squaring the Coronavirus pandemic with what some argue is a just God.

It is a meaningful and interesting listen. The Podcast can be accessed by clicking the link below.

Click Here for Archbishop Eamon’s Poscast.

Other Agencies