This evening as a diocesan community we gather to mark the Diamond, Golden and Silver anniversaries of the ordination of five sons of this diocese. We do so in a spirit of genuine gratitude to God for the witness and the service given by these men over all these years. We do so also with thankfulness in our hearts to them. Their long years of service reflect the importance of the Church’s ministry of pastoral care and missionary activity.
Our celebration this year marks the missionary outreach of this diocese in a special way. Monsignor Finnerty, Fr Tony and Fr Aidan represents the many priests of this diocese who, over so many years, have worked abroad on the missions, especially in Africa and in the United States. The ministries of Frs Kevin and Peter underlines the important role played by those who keep the home fires burning.
“We priests are apostles of joy: we announce the Gospel, which is the quintessential ‘good news’ – the words of Pope Francis recently. I think that, if we are honest, most of us would find it difficult to fully agree with Pope Francis that we, priests, are in fact ‘apostles of joy’ in our ministry today. The lifetime of our Golden Jubilarians, the past fifty years, have been particularly trying for everyone in the Church. We have seen Church leadership fail to live up to its duty. We have seen the innocent and the young betrayed and damaged for life. We have seen anger and hostility towards the Church in Ireland grow steadily. And, in particular, the past half century has made the life of the priest, nun or brother working in the pastoral ministry in our country extremely challenging, if not burdensome. Fintan O’Toole, in a recent column in The Irish Times, captured this and balanced it; giving some hope that our ministry of joy may be on the verge of a new era. Speaking of the Ireland in which we live, he said; “There is a deep and justified rage at the cruelty and treachery of an institutional church… On the church’s side, there is distress and bewilderment among religious orders, a feeling that all the good that any nun or priest or brother ever did is being incinerated in the furnace of that rage. And between these two poles there is a struggle to keep open a civilised space in which we can recognise two truths: the evil of an institution and the good of so many individuals who gave their lives to it”.
This evening we recognise not only the good of our jubilarians but also the good of so many nuns, brothers and priests who gave their lives to the Church, on the missions and here at home. We acknowledge their sacrifice, their contribution to the life of the Church and the good which would never have been achieved, were it not for the fact that they committed their lives to doing this work. This evening, also, we rededicate our own efforts to discover and keep open that ‘civilised space’ in which not only the truth of the past but the truth of the Gospel can find a home and a place for growth.
Many priests and religious would identify with the words of O’Toole that we have been ‘incinerated in the furnace of that rage’. The scars which this has left are many, marked and deep. But Fintan O’Toole went on to say; “When the church honors and celebrates the defiant good within its ranks, we can believe that it has come to terms at last with the evil”. This evening, while being deeply conscious of the hurt and the wounds suffered by so many in recent years, I want to honor and celebrate the ‘defiant good’ of so many nuns, brothers and priests and, in this way, come to terms with the evil which we hope has been consigned to the past. When we are confident that this has been done then we can begin the process also of becoming what Pope Francis challenges us to be; ‘apostles of joy’ both priests and people.
For a few moments, allow me to focus on what Fintan O’Toole calls ‘the civilized space’ between the two poles of the bewilderment felt by so many in our country and the good done by so many in the past and at present. In the Acts of the Apostles, which we have just heard, for me, this ‘civilised space’ is the place where the ‘marvels of God’ can work themselves out as we journey towards the future.
I think it is fair to say that, very often right down through history, the marvels of God have worked themselves out in circumstances which, on the surface and at that particular time, did not seem at all ideal. On the day of Pentecost, for example, what seemed like the end, with the death of Jesus, was in fact a new beginning. The many foreign languages gathered in Jerusalem all heard the same message, despite their diversity, and the fear in the city, which was palpable, turned to courage and mission. About one hundred and fifty years ago in Italy, when the Papal States fell and the walls of the city of Rome were breached, many predicted the end of the Papacy. Today, about a century and a half later, the influence of the Pope in the modern world has never been stronger. In Ireland, when the Penal laws looked as if they would put an end to Catholicism in this country, Catholic Emancipation dawned and the examples are many. The point I would like to make is that ‘the marvels of God’ are always with us, leading us into new territory, along paths which are unfamiliar and often seem hostile and even disastrous.
Today, sixty years after the ordination of Monsignor Finnerty, fifty years after the ordination of Frs Kevin, Peter, Tony and the late Fr Deaglan, twenty five years after that of Fr Aidan, we find ourselves between the shame of the past, the indifference of many at present and our own awareness of the manifest good done by so many nuns, priests and brothers in our country and abroad. Therefore, when we recall ‘the marvels of the Lord’ in our day, we need to put the sins of the past in the wider context of the great good done by so many. We need to put the anger which has arisen within the context of the good that has come from it; a new awareness of our need to care for children today and heal those hurt in the past. And we need to believe that ‘the marvels of God’ will continue to show themselves in the new ‘civilised’ space which the Irish Church must continue to claim for itself in the marketplace. In that space, with God’s help, each of us priests will rediscover the joy of being apostles in an Ireland where the Catholic Church now finds a new place for itself in society; doing what the Lord always wanted it to do; proclaiming the Gospel in its own right, independent from the State, helping people to discover the place of faith and meaning in their lives and working with a new found freedom to voice the truths of the Gospel to an Ireland which has relegated the past to the past and looks to the future with hope.
Monsignor Joe, Kevin, Peter, Tony and Aidan, you have served the Church at one of the most difficult periods of its history. You have kept the flame of faith alive in the parish communities in which you have ministered. A host of unknown, unnamed people, whose lives you have touched during your years of ministry, would want all of us to voice their thanks to you tonight. This we do, together with our own.
Aidan, all of us here wish you well for the second half. Joe, Kevin, Peter and Tony, we hope that your extra time will be long, healthy and happy. And when the great ref in the skies blows the final whistle, may each of you hear the words; ‘well done, good and faithful servant’.