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24 August 2010 | Statement by Cardinal Brady and Bishop Hegarty in response to the Public Statement of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland into the RUC investigation of the Claudy Bombing, 31 July 1972
The bombing in Claudy, on 31 July 1972, was an appalling crime. In reading the Public Statement of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, published today, we can never lose sight of the terrible human cost of this atrocity. Nine people died, including children. Many were injured. Many more were rendered homeless or had businesses destroyed or damaged. The entire community of a small rural town was traumatised by a horrific attack on innocent people.
On a day such as this, it is important to recall the pain suffered by thousands of people through bereavement, loss and trauma over the years of the Troubles. However, our focus today is very much on those who suffered in Claudy through the bombing on 31 July 1972. We realise that the publication of the Ombudsman’s Statement today will bring back many painful memories for them and we want to assure them of our prayers and concern at this time.
We accept the Ombudsman’s findings and conclusions.
All known material in the possession of the Catholic Church has been made available to the Ombudsman.
Throughout the Troubles, the Catholic Church, along with other Churches in Northern Ireland, was constant in its condemnation of the evil of violence. It is therefore shocking that a priest should be suspected of involvement in such violence. This case should have been properly investigated and resolved during Father Chesney’s lifetime. If there was sufficient evidence to link him to criminal activity, he should have been arrested and questioned at the earliest opportunity, like anyone else. We agree with the Police Ombudsman that the fact this did not happen failed those who were murdered, injured and bereaved in the bombings.
We acknowledge the finding of the Police Ombudsman that: ‘With regard to the role of the Catholic Church, when informed of the level of concerns others had about one of their priests, they challenged Fr Chesney about his alleged activities, which he denied. In the course of this enquiry the Police Ombudsman’s investigation found no evidence of any criminal intent on the part of any Church official.’ (6.24)
The Catholic Church did not engage in a cover-up of this matter. As the Ombudsman finds in his Statement today the Church was approached by the Secretary of State at the instigation of senior members of the RUC. Furthermore, the Church subsequently reported back to the Secretary of State the outcome of its questioning of Fr Chesney into his alleged activities. The actions of Cardinal Conway or any other Church authority did not prevent the possibility of future arrest and questioning of Fr Chesney. As the Ombudsman’s Statement points out, Fr Chesney until the time of his death in 1980, ‘is known to have regularly travelled across the border but was never arrested, questioned nor further investigated by the RUC in connection with the Claudy bombings or other terrorist activity.’ (6.12)
Fr Chesney is dead and, as a suspect in the Claudy bombing, he is beyond the justice of earthly courts. Clearly a number of people were involved in the planning and carrying out of this terrible atrocity, some of whom may still be alive. Those bereaved and injured deserve to know the truth. We appeal to anyone who has information in relation to this horrific crime to provide it to the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
It is only with honesty and bravery that we as a community can address these painful issues and do our best to ensure that the dreadful lessons of the past are learned and never repeated.
ENDS
Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678
Brenda Drumm, Communications Officer, 087 310 4444
24 August 2010 | Statement by Cardinal Brady and Bishop Hegarty in response to the Public Statement of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland into the RUC investigation of the Claudy Bombing, 31 July 1972
The bombing in Claudy, on 31 July 1972, was an appalling crime. In reading the Public Statement of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, published today, we can never lose sight of the terrible human cost of this atrocity. Nine people died, including children. Many were injured. Many more were rendered homeless or had businesses destroyed or damaged. The entire community of a small rural town was traumatised by a horrific attack on innocent people.
On a day such as this, it is important to recall the pain suffered by thousands of people through bereavement, loss and trauma over the years of the Troubles. However, our focus today is very much on those who suffered in Claudy through the bombing on 31 July 1972. We realise that the publication of the Ombudsman’s Statement today will bring back many painful memories for them and we want to assure them of our prayers and concern at this time.
We accept the Ombudsman’s findings and conclusions.
All known material in the possession of the Catholic Church has been made available to the Ombudsman.
Throughout the Troubles, the Catholic Church, along with other Churches in Northern Ireland, was constant in its condemnation of the evil of violence. It is therefore shocking that a priest should be suspected of involvement in such violence. This case should have been properly investigated and resolved during Father Chesney’s lifetime. If there was sufficient evidence to link him to criminal activity, he should have been arrested and questioned at the earliest opportunity, like anyone else. We agree with the Police Ombudsman that the fact this did not happen failed those who were murdered, injured and bereaved in the bombings.
We acknowledge the finding of the Police Ombudsman that: ‘With regard to the role of the Catholic Church, when informed of the level of concerns others had about one of their priests, they challenged Fr Chesney about his alleged activities, which he denied. In the course of this enquiry the Police Ombudsman’s investigation found no evidence of any criminal intent on the part of any Church official.’ (6.24)
The Catholic Church did not engage in a cover-up of this matter. As the Ombudsman finds in his Statement today the Church was approached by the Secretary of State at the instigation of senior members of the RUC. Furthermore, the Church subsequently reported back to the Secretary of State the outcome of its questioning of Fr Chesney into his alleged activities. The actions of Cardinal Conway or any other Church authority did not prevent the possibility of future arrest and questioning of Fr Chesney. As the Ombudsman’s Statement points out, Fr Chesney until the time of his death in 1980, ‘is known to have regularly travelled across the border but was never arrested, questioned nor further investigated by the RUC in connection with the Claudy bombings or other terrorist activity.’ (6.12)
Fr Chesney is dead and, as a suspect in the Claudy bombing, he is beyond the justice of earthly courts. Clearly a number of people were involved in the planning and carrying out of this terrible atrocity, some of whom may still be alive. Those bereaved and injured deserve to know the truth. We appeal to anyone who has information in relation to this horrific crime to provide it to the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
It is only with honesty and bravery that we as a community can address these painful issues and do our best to ensure that the dreadful lessons of the past are learned and never repeated.
ENDS
Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678
Brenda Drumm, Communications Officer, 087 310 4444
24 August 2010 | Statement by Cardinal Brady and Bishop Hegarty in response to the Public Statement of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland into the RUC investigation of the Claudy Bombing, 31 July 1972
The bombing in Claudy, on 31 July 1972, was an appalling crime. In reading the Public Statement of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, published today, we can never lose sight of the terrible human cost of this atrocity. Nine people died, including children. Many were injured. Many more were rendered homeless or had businesses destroyed or damaged. The entire community of a small rural town was traumatised by a horrific attack on innocent people.
On a day such as this, it is important to recall the pain suffered by thousands of people through bereavement, loss and trauma over the years of the Troubles. However, our focus today is very much on those who suffered in Claudy through the bombing on 31 July 1972. We realise that the publication of the Ombudsman’s Statement today will bring back many painful memories for them and we want to assure them of our prayers and concern at this time.
We accept the Ombudsman’s findings and conclusions.
All known material in the possession of the Catholic Church has been made available to the Ombudsman.
Throughout the Troubles, the Catholic Church, along with other Churches in Northern Ireland, was constant in its condemnation of the evil of violence. It is therefore shocking that a priest should be suspected of involvement in such violence. This case should have been properly investigated and resolved during Father Chesney’s lifetime. If there was sufficient evidence to link him to criminal activity, he should have been arrested and questioned at the earliest opportunity, like anyone else. We agree with the Police Ombudsman that the fact this did not happen failed those who were murdered, injured and bereaved in the bombings.
We acknowledge the finding of the Police Ombudsman that: ‘With regard to the role of the Catholic Church, when informed of the level of concerns others had about one of their priests, they challenged Fr Chesney about his alleged activities, which he denied. In the course of this enquiry the Police Ombudsman’s investigation found no evidence of any criminal intent on the part of any Church official.’ (6.24)
The Catholic Church did not engage in a cover-up of this matter. As the Ombudsman finds in his Statement today the Church was approached by the Secretary of State at the instigation of senior members of the RUC. Furthermore, the Church subsequently reported back to the Secretary of State the outcome of its questioning of Fr Chesney into his alleged activities. The actions of Cardinal Conway or any other Church authority did not prevent the possibility of future arrest and questioning of Fr Chesney. As the Ombudsman’s Statement points out, Fr Chesney until the time of his death in 1980, ‘is known to have regularly travelled across the border but was never arrested, questioned nor further investigated by the RUC in connection with the Claudy bombings or other terrorist activity.’ (6.12)
Fr Chesney is dead and, as a suspect in the Claudy bombing, he is beyond the justice of earthly courts. Clearly a number of people were involved in the planning and carrying out of this terrible atrocity, some of whom may still be alive. Those bereaved and injured deserve to know the truth. We appeal to anyone who has information in relation to this horrific crime to provide it to the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
It is only with honesty and bravery that we as a community can address these painful issues and do our best to ensure that the dreadful lessons of the past are learned and never repeated.
ENDS
Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678
Brenda Drumm, Communications Officer, 087 310 4444
24 August 2010 | Statement by Cardinal Brady and Bishop Hegarty in response to the Public Statement of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland into the RUC investigation of the Claudy Bombing, 31 July 1972
The bombing in Claudy, on 31 July 1972, was an appalling crime. In reading the Public Statement of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, published today, we can never lose sight of the terrible human cost of this atrocity. Nine people died, including children. Many were injured. Many more were rendered homeless or had businesses destroyed or damaged. The entire community of a small rural town was traumatised by a horrific attack on innocent people.
On a day such as this, it is important to recall the pain suffered by thousands of people through bereavement, loss and trauma over the years of the Troubles. However, our focus today is very much on those who suffered in Claudy through the bombing on 31 July 1972. We realise that the publication of the Ombudsman’s Statement today will bring back many painful memories for them and we want to assure them of our prayers and concern at this time.
We accept the Ombudsman’s findings and conclusions.
All known material in the possession of the Catholic Church has been made available to the Ombudsman.
Throughout the Troubles, the Catholic Church, along with other Churches in Northern Ireland, was constant in its condemnation of the evil of violence. It is therefore shocking that a priest should be suspected of involvement in such violence. This case should have been properly investigated and resolved during Father Chesney’s lifetime. If there was sufficient evidence to link him to criminal activity, he should have been arrested and questioned at the earliest opportunity, like anyone else. We agree with the Police Ombudsman that the fact this did not happen failed those who were murdered, injured and bereaved in the bombings.
We acknowledge the finding of the Police Ombudsman that: ‘With regard to the role of the Catholic Church, when informed of the level of concerns others had about one of their priests, they challenged Fr Chesney about his alleged activities, which he denied. In the course of this enquiry the Police Ombudsman’s investigation found no evidence of any criminal intent on the part of any Church official.’ (6.24)
The Catholic Church did not engage in a cover-up of this matter. As the Ombudsman finds in his Statement today the Church was approached by the Secretary of State at the instigation of senior members of the RUC. Furthermore, the Church subsequently reported back to the Secretary of State the outcome of its questioning of Fr Chesney into his alleged activities. The actions of Cardinal Conway or any other Church authority did not prevent the possibility of future arrest and questioning of Fr Chesney. As the Ombudsman’s Statement points out, Fr Chesney until the time of his death in 1980, ‘is known to have regularly travelled across the border but was never arrested, questioned nor further investigated by the RUC in connection with the Claudy bombings or other terrorist activity.’ (6.12)
Fr Chesney is dead and, as a suspect in the Claudy bombing, he is beyond the justice of earthly courts. Clearly a number of people were involved in the planning and carrying out of this terrible atrocity, some of whom may still be alive. Those bereaved and injured deserve to know the truth. We appeal to anyone who has information in relation to this horrific crime to provide it to the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
It is only with honesty and bravery that we as a community can address these painful issues and do our best to ensure that the dreadful lessons of the past are learned and never repeated.
ENDS
Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678
Brenda Drumm, Communications Officer, 087 310 4444
23 August 2010 | Bishop John McAreavey to lead fourth National Grandparents' Pilgrimage to Knock Shrine
23 August 2010
Bishop John McAreavey to lead fourth National Grandparents’ Pilgrimage to Knock Shrine
- Special feature now available on www.catholicbishops.ie
A special feature on the pilgrimage is now available on the Catholic Bishops’ website – www.catholicbishops.ie. The feature includes:
- An interview with Bishop McAreavey in which he talks about his expectations for this years pilgrimage and of the importance of grandparents in the handing on of the faith
- Video highlights from last year’s pilgrimage which was led by Cardinal Seán Brady
- Background information on the pilgrimage and details of this year’s event
- A gallery of images from previous pilgrimages
A new association for Grandparents was launched as part of the 2009 Pilgrimage. The Catholic Grandparents' Association (CGA) has been established to support grandparents and to affirm them in the important mission of handing on the faith to the next generation. The CGA was formally blessed by Pope Benedict XVI earlier this month. The blessing was received by Catherine Wiley, founder of the CGA. The text of Pope Benedict’s blessing reads as follows:
“Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI invokes God’s Blessings of Joy and Peace upon you and all of the Association.
“Make them [grandparents] teachers of wisdom and courage, that they may pass on to future generations the fruits of their mature human and spiritual experience.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
- This year’s National Grandparents Pilgrimage will take place in Knock Shrine, Co. Mayo, on Sunday, September 12th, at 3pm, preceded by Anointing of the Sick at 2.30pm.
- Bishop John McAreavey will be Principal Celebrant and he will preach the homily. Breda O’Brien, teacher and Irish Times columnist will also offer a reflection at this year’s pilgrimage.
- The music will be led by Michael English, Dana and Tyrone girl Chloe Coyle.
- The Catholic Grandparents Association was born out of the National Grandparents Pilgrimage, which was first held in Knock Shrine in 2007. Over 5,000 people attended the first pilgrimage. Since then up to 10,000 grandparents and their families have been coming to the pilgrimage.
- A National Prayer appeal has also been launched in the run up to the pilgrimage. Grandchildren across the country are invited to write prayers for and about their grandparents. These will be blessed at this year's pilgrimage.
- See www.catholicbishops.ie for further information.
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678
Brenda Drumm, Communications Officer 087 310 4444
22 August 2010 | Welcoming comments by Monsignor Hugh Connolly, President of St Patrick's College Maynooth, to new seminarians
22 August 2010
Welcoming comments by Monsignor Hugh Connolly, President of Saint Patrick’s College Maynooth, to new seminarians Dear Class of 2010,
I wish to extend a very warm welcome to you and to your families and friends who have accompanied you here to St Patrick’s College Maynooth this afternoon. For people of faith this past year has been a difficult one as more and more details have rightly and justly come to light of the abuses and calamitous failures of the Church in our country. In some respects the fact that you are here at all today is remarkable and is a tribute to your courage and generosity of spirit.
Of course this might well be your first day in seminary but it is certainly not the first step in your journey. Indeed that journey began some time ago when you first discerned Our Lord calling you to reflect on how you might live your life in his service. Neither is today a point of no return, it may be that this time in seminary is a prelude to ordained ministry and service of the Gospel as a diocesan priest , it may also be that it is a time which allows you to discern with greater clarity that your calling lies elsewhere. Either way you are most welcome.
Your friends and family are also welcome; these are the people who are a part of your life and who love and support you. Dear friends and family please don’t think of today as a definitive leave-taking. These men will continue to need your love and support throughout their time in Maynooth. The best way you can support them is to continue to make a space in your lives for them and to remember that for a diocesan priest or student priest ties of friendship and family are especially important.
Ironically, despite the difficult backdrop of the past year and the sombre mood that has ensued, the last two years in the life of the national seminary have been very positive ones. A considerable number of men drawn from all walks of life have had the generosity, the faith and the enthusiasm to come to seminary to explore and discern a vocation to priesthood together.
I hope you like they will flourish here and make new friendships and form bonds of solidarity and shared values which will serve you well for the rest of your lives. It is precisely during challenging times such as the present that people wish to express their profound appreciation for the extraordinary work that today’s priests do.
Earlier this week a DVD entitled In Praise of Priests was launched which admirably makes this point. Its contains five brief testimonies from a cross section of lay people paying tribute to the contribution of a particular priest to their lives.
It takes courage and great commitment to embark on a religious way of life today and we in St Patrick’s College Maynooth are very firmly of the view that our very best advertisements today are our wonderful students both lay and cleric as well as a high calibre staff across the four principal areas of formation namely human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral. But seminary is never easy. It requires hard-work, commitment and trust. I ask you today not to forget that generosity of spirit that brought you here in the days and months and years ahead. And to give of yourselves generously as you undertake your priestly training.
Forming priests and seminarians of prayer, solid faith, pastoral sensitivity and wholesome lifestyles has always and will always be Maynooth’s mission. The people of God need good priests, holy priests, priests who are faithful to Church teaching and especially priests who in the words of the late Pope John Paul II are prepared to ‘mould their human personality in such a way that it becomes a bridge and not an obstacle for others in their meeting with Jesus Christ’. We should resist therefore making a false juxtaposition between holiness and human wholesomeness. The age old wisdom of the Church reminds us that ‘grace builds on nature‘. In human formation you will be asked to openly and honestly work toward ensuring that your lives are truly bridges and not obstacles to building up the faith of God’s people.
In seminary the call to priestly holiness is always to the fore but so too is the realisation that holiness today must always takes account of the welfare and safety of the most vulnerable people whom a future priest is called to minister. Our late Holy Father and his successor Benedict XVI are equally insistent that priestly holiness is not just about external piety but also about a host of other human pastoral and intellectual and spiritual qualities which must all be present in sufficient measure in order for a person to be called to diocesan priesthood.
Here at St Patrick's College we are resolutely committed to assisting you and providing a favourable and appropriate formation environment where you can develop those qualities to the full. I cannot promise the class of 2010 that the way ahead will be smooth that all the problems of the Church in Ireland have been resolved nor that your life as a seminarian and God willing, a priest will be trouble free - but then again I suspect you already know this. You are here because despite all that is wrong, despite all that is a source of anger, alienation, hurt, disappointment, and dismay in our Church today you have each in your own way heard what the prophet calls that still small voice, a voice saying: "come follow me, feed my lambs, feed my sheep and proclaim the good news to all nations."
May God bless you and support you as you seek to follow his voice and his will at work in your hearts and in your lives from this day forward.
Cead mile failte romhaibh go leir!
ENDS
Notes for Editors
- By the end of September the number of seminarians training in St Patrick’s College Maynooth will be 66.
- St Patrick’s College Maynooth is the National Seminary for Ireland and has been forming men for the priesthood since 1795, see www.maynoothcollege.ie. The College is also a major provider of formation in theology and in pastoral ministry for 350 lay students.
- The Trustees of the College are the Governing Body of the College.
- The membership is defined by successive Acts of Parliament. The current Trustees are the four Archbishops of Ireland together with 13 other senior Bishops. The College comprises the seminary and the Pontifical University, which offers degrees in theology, philosophy and theology and arts.
Further information:
President’s Office, St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Tel: 01 708 3958, Fax: 01 708 3959, email: presoff@may.ie
Fr Patrick Rushe, National Coordinator of Diocesan Vocations Directors on 086 8807470 and info@vocations.ie.
Martin Long, Catholic Communications Office, Maynooth, 086-1727678.
22 August 2010 | Sixteen new seminarians commence priesthood studies for Irish dioceses
Today sixteen men begin formal studies for the priesthood for Irish dioceses. Covering a wide range of ages – from the late twenties up to early sixties – and with an array of life experience, the new seminarians can look forward to a concentrated period of studies in the four principal areas of priestly formation, namely at a human, spiritual, pastoral, and intellectual level.
Ten seminarians will pursue their studies at the national seminary in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth; four in St Malachy’s College, Belfast; one in the Irish College in Rome and one seminarian begins his studies in the Royal English College, Valladolid, in Spain.
Commenting on the intake of new seminarians, Father Patrick Rushe, Ireland’s National Co-ordinator for Diocesan Vocation Directors said "The new seminarians represent a great hope for all our future. As these men step forward we are witnessing the continuation of the work of bringing the good news of Jesus’ message of healing and hope to our troubled world. I admire the strength and conviction as they follow Christ, particularly in these challenging times.
"Having worked with Vocation Directors in every part of the country, many of these men have already been discerning their vocation for a significant period of time before making this important step. This discernment has highlighted their integrity, maturity, knowledge of the human soul, and a capacity to relate to others, all essential qualities in a priest. As priests their responsibility will be to communicate the love of Christ in any meaningful way, and to vigorously promote God’s work through our humanity," Father Rushe said.
Welcoming the students, Monsignor Hugh Connolly, President of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, said, "It takes courage and great commitment to embark on a religious way of life today, and we are very firmly of the view that our very best advertisements are our wonderful students both lay and cleric as well as a high calibre staff across the four principal areas of formation namely human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral."
In his address to the new seminarians in Maynooth, Mgr Connolly said "Forming priests and seminarians of prayer, solid faith, pastoral sensitivity and wholesome lifestyles has always and will always be Maynooth’s mission. The people of God need good priests, holy priests, priests who are faithful to Church teaching and especially priests who, in the words of the late Pope John Paul II, are prepared to ‘mould their human personality in such a way that it becomes a bridge and not an obstacle for others in their meeting with Jesus Christ.’"
Welcoming the announcement Bishop Donal McKeown, chair of the Bishops’
Council for Vocations, said, "Today’s good news for the Irish Church calls to mind Pope Benedict’s words as he reviewed the Year for Priests in June:
‘Priesthood, then, is not simply ‘office’ but sacrament: God makes use of us poor men in order to be, through us, present to all men and women, and to act on their behalf. This audacity of God who entrusts himself to human beings – who, conscious of our weaknesses, nonetheless considers men capable of acting and being present in His stead – this audacity of God is the true grandeur concealed in the word ‘priesthood’. That God thinks that we are capable of this; that in this way He calls men to His service and thus from within binds Himself to them: this is what we wanted to reflect upon and appreciate anew.’"
Bishop McKeown concluded, "This profound observation is a valuable reflection for all seminarians and clergy. We need the prayerful support of the faithful at all times and so I ask for prayers for all seminarians, priests and for future vocations."
ENDS Notes to Editors
A breakdown, by diocese, of the 16 first year seminarians for 2010 is as follows:
Armagh 1 Clogher 1 Cork & Ross 1 Derry 1 Down & Connor 3 Dublin 4 Galway 1 Kildare & Leighlin 1 Meath 1 Raphoe 1 Tuam 1
- By the end of September the number of seminarians training in Maynooth will be 66.
- In the last five years the total number of new seminarians beginning their studies was: 36 in 2009, 30 in 2008, 31 in 2007 and 30 in 2006.
- St Patrick’s College Maynooth is the National Seminary for Ireland and has been forming men for the priesthood since 1795, see www.maynoothcollege.ie. The College is also a major provider of formation in theology and in pastoral ministry for 350 lay students.
The Trustees of the College are the Governing Body of the College.
The membership is defined by successive Acts of Parliament. The current Trustees are the four Archbishops of Ireland together with 13 other senior Bishops. The College comprises the seminary and the Pontifical University, which offers degrees in theology, philosophy and theology and arts.
- The website for the Vocations Directors of Ireland is available on www.vocations.ie - An electronic map of the 26 dioceses of Ireland is available on www.catholicbishops.ie
Further information: Fr Patrick Rushe, National Coordinator of Diocesan Vocations Directors on 086 8807470 and info@vocations.ie. President’s Office, St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Tel: 01 708 3958, Fax: 01 708 3959, email: presoff@may.ie Martin Long, Catholic Communications Office, Maynooth, 086-1727678.
19 August 2010 | National Catholic Church collection for Pakistan this weekend
Trócaire staff are reporting that children are filling plastic bottles with filthy water from canals for their families and using it for washing, cooking and even drinking. This puts them at extreme risk of contracting illnesses from water-borne diseases, but they have no choice - Bishop Kirby
A national collection will be held this weekend, 21 and 22 August, in Catholic churches across Ireland in aid of survivors of Pakistan's devastating floods. Bishop John Kirby, Bishop of Clonfert and Chairman of Trócaire, is urging Irish parishioners to support collections in their local parishes so as to help Pakistani people cope with the worst flooding in the history of the State. Trócaire is the official overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland.
Bishop John Kirby is asking parishioners to help raise life-saving funds for Pakistan’s suffering people. Bishop Kirby said:
“These floods have left unimaginable destruction and families are in a desperate struggle to survive. Up to 20 million people have had their lives ruined. Entire communities have been washed away, leaving millions homeless and hungry. People are being forced to drink dirty, polluted water and the fear is that children and adults will contract fatal water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea, which is a leading cause of childhood death.
“This weekend, as the situation continues to deteriorate and more heavy rains are predicted, the I am asking people to give what they can through their local Church collection and to answer the call of our brothers and sisters in Pakistan during this crucial time. Whilst this is a financially difficult time for many Irish families, I am asking that - this weekend - we remember the life-and-death plight facing many Pakistani families who are considerably worse off than ourselves.”
Bishop Kirby continued: “I hear stories from Trócaire staff about small children filling plastic bottles with filthy water from the canals for their families and using it for washing, cooking and even drinking. This puts them at extreme risk of contracting illnesses from water-borne diseases, but they have no choice. Already the first cases of cholera have been confirmed.”
“The saddest thing of all is that this story is being played out all along the 1,000 km of the Indus River from the Northern provinces all the way south to Karachi,” said Bishop Kirby.
Trócaire is providing emergency food, clean water, water purification tablets, cooking utensils, sleeping mats, sanitary goods and other essential items for thousands of affected families. It is ensuring that children and the most vulnerable get enough calories to protect their health. The organisation will work with the Pakistani people to recover in the long-term by rebuilding homes and helping people to begin farming and earning a living once the flooding subsides.
To find out more about Trócaire’s work in Pakistan please visit trocaire.org or call 1850 408 408.
ENDSFurther information:
Emer Mullins, Communications Manager, Trócaire, 086 812 4352
Martin Long, Catholic Communications Office, Maynooth, 086 172 7678
17 August 2010 | Bishop Freeman to concelebrate Mass of Thanksgiving today with Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor in St Mary's Cathedral, Kilkenny
As part of the universal Year for Priests 2009 - 2010, the past pupils from many parts of the world gathered today for a keynote address, by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop Emeritus of Westminster.
Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor is to deliver the homily at a public concelebrated Mass of Thanksgiving at St Mary’s Cathedral at 6.15pm this evening, Tuesday 17 August, and all are welcome. Bishop Séamus Freeman S.A.C., Bishop of Ossory, who will be principal celebrant at the Mass of Thanksgiving. This Mass will officially mark the end of the ‘Year of Priests’ in the Diocese of Ossory and it is hoped laity from all over the diocese will attend to offer their prayerful support and thanks to the priests. Members of the diocesan St Joseph’s Young Priests Society will have a special role in this unique celebration.
Ahead of welcoming Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor to the Diocese of Ossory, Bishop Freeman said “Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor’s words will challenge and give hope to those who hear them. I hope as many as possible will come to Saint Mary’s Cathedral in Kilkenny on Tuesday evening.”
Speaking in Maynooth earlier this year Cardinal Murphy O’Connor said: “We should not fear. In our prayer, our worship, our contemplation before God, and following the teaching of the Church, for those who believe in Christ, the future is always full of hope and open to new life. Nor should we forget the words of Mother Teresa: God has not called me to be successful — he has called me to be faithful.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
St Kieran’s College, Kilkenny
St Kieran’s College, Kilkenny is called after the patron of the Diocese of Ossory, St Kieran of Saighir, (near Birr, Co. Offaly), who, according to tradition, preached the Gospel in Ireland before St Patrick’s and was described as “the first-born of the saints of Ireland”.
The original College dates back to 1782 and was the first Catholic school to be opened in Ireland after the relaxation of the Penal Laws in that year, (through an Act passed by Grattan’s Parliament). “The earliest Catholic College in the Kingdom”.
The first site of the College was Burrell’s Hall where St Mary’s Cathedral, Kilkenny now stands. In the following decades the College was housed in different places around the city: the Old Academy, (in the grounds of the Loreto Convent), Maudlin Street and Birchfield. In 1836 the foundation stone of the present College was blessed. Two years later, the College has a new and permanent home.
“The College was now before the World, not only before the people of their own country, but before the people of Ireland, England, America and Australia”. The Crest of the College was chosen in 1874, and replaces an earlier one. St Kieran is represented with mitre and staff, standing between two pillars. The motto of the crest is HIEMS TANSIIT (Winter is Past) (Song of Songs 2: 11). By ‘winter’ was meant the era of the Penal Laws. Year after year for two and a half centuries her pupils have gone forth to embark on their careers in life and to take their places in the Church, in the State and amongst the people.
In 1982, some seven hundred priests from St Kieran’s were ministers in the Church all over the world: England, Scotland, Wales, United States, Canada, Newfoundland, South Africa, Tasmania, New Zealand, as well as at home in many of the dioceses in Ireland. This number has now dropped to just over three hundred working in diocese around the world mainly in Great Britain, U.S.A. and Ireland. Seminary studies were suspended in 1994 and now the facilities of the former seminary house the Maynooth (N.U.I.M.) Outreach programmes.
Some Significant Dates in the Life of St Kieran’s College
1782 Bishop Troy rented Burrell’s hall in James’ Street and appointed two priests to look after the school which opened its doors to some forty pupils on 13th January 1783. (This building was demolished to make way for St. Mary’s Cathedral in the 1840’s)
1789 The School was moved to a building called the ‘Old Academy’ (Now the Good Shepherd Brothers Home for the homeless).
1792 Historic year – the Seminary side of the College began with the first group of young men offering themselves to study for the priesthood.
1811-1814 Seminarians housed in Maudlin Street
1814-1838 Seminarians housed in Birchfield House on the Kells Road
1817 Secondary School returns to Burrell’s Hall
1836 Site for new College bought on the Callan Road
1838 New College opened for Seminary & Secondary School
1877 Moran Wing built (refectory, Theatre, Dormitory)
1905 First year halls, and glass hall
1933 Remainder of halls and glass hall area
1956 Bishop Collier Wing to correspond with the Moran Wing and complete the Architects plan for the front of the College
1970 New Seminary buildings were built and named Burrell’s Hall and Birchfield
1978 New Extension for Senior Classes, Science halls etc.
1982 Bicentenary of the College’s foundation
1994 Suspension of Seminary Studies
2004 Closure of the Boarding School
St Kieran
St Kieran was born on Cape Clear Island near the end of the fourth century. His family was one of the wealthy noble families of the kingdom of Ossory. (Offaly, Laois, Kilkenny). They were among the first Christians in Ireland before the coming of St Patricks. His mother was a native of west Cork.
As a young man he was sent to school in France and later in Italy. He studied for the priesthood in Rome and was ordained there. While in Rome he met with St Patrick who asked him to return to Ireland as a missionary. Before he left Rome he was ordained a Bishop.
St Kieran founded his first monastery at a place called Seir near Birr. Today it is called Sier-Kieran in his memory. From the monastery at Seir he preached the true faith all over the kingdom of Ossory. Everywhere he met with great success, young men came forward in great numbers to study for the priesthood at Seir. When St. Patrick came to Ireland in 432, St. Kieran joined forces with him and together they worked for the spread of the Gospel. As far as is known St. Kieran died before St. Patrick. He is remembered as a very holy man who had a great love of the Bible. He became the first Bishop of Ossory. On his death the people of the diocese regarded him a Saint. In fact in the very old books he is called: “The first born of the Saints of Ireland”. March 5th is his feast day.
St Kieran’s College, Kilkenny 1782-1982
On 29th September, 1782, two priests from the city of Kilkenny, Fathers John Dunne and James Lanigan, secured a house called Burrell’s Hall from Ann Carpenter for 14 years, at a yearly rent of £22.15s. The house, an old 17th century mansion, stood on the site of the present St Mary’s cathedral and faced St. James’s Green. Two weeks later, the lease was signed and soon afterwards a prospectus sent out “To the Public”. In this house, on 13th January, 1783 in a city long famous for its schools, the first Catholic college in Ireland since the relaxation of the Penal Laws opened its doors to students thirsty for learning. The long Winter of discrimination was past. A Spring full of hope had dawned. And the biblical motto on the college crest, “Hiems Transiit” (Winter has passed) stands as a permanent reminder of this historic moment.
The Relief Act of 1782 had made this possible. It enabled Catholics to set up schools on taking the Oath of Allegiance and obtaining a licence from the Protestant Bishop of the diocese. Dr Troy, then Catholic Bishop of Ossory, took immediate advantage of the new situation, and with the help of his two able and zealous priests, who were to be his successors in the See of Ossory, he set an example which the rest of the country gradually followed. The school was intended especially for those destined for sacred orders, but it prepared students for all walks of life. English grammar, writing, arithmetic, French, Latin and Greek were on the original curriculum. So too, were geography, mathematics, ancient and modern history, “in short, every branch of useful and polite literature on the most improved plan”. The “strictest care would be taken to inculcate religion, and form a taste for virtue and purity of manners”. The fees were relatively high - £20 a year for boarders, exclusive of washing and £4-11s. for dayboys. There were to be quarterly examinations, a solemn distribution of prizes and but one vacation.
All the respectable Catholics of Ireland who were educated at home were to be found there, wrote one of the first pupils. There were rebels there too. And one of its early pupils, John Henry Colclough, was executed for his part in the Rebellion of 1798. Another, Philip Hay, was tried and acquitted.
It took over 50 years for the academy, as it was called to find a permanent home. In 1789 it moved to a house near St Canice’s Cathedral which is now occupied by the Loreto nuns. Here ecclesiastical studies began in 1792, the first such course in modern Ireland. Dr. Andre Fitzgerald, its first professor of philosophy, provided a link with another famous college – Kilkenny College. He had received his early education there. From its earliest years, many of the students came from the North of Ireland, thus establishing a link that has lasted to the present day.
Famous Students
Lay and ecclesiastical students studied side by side for close on 20 years in the Old Academy. John Banim (author) was a student here. So too were Theobold Matthew, the Apostle of Temperance, who won the medal for good conduct in 1806, and Laurence Renehan, later to become President of Maynooth College.
Growing numbers caused the ecclesiastical students to move to Maudlin Street in 1811. But only some of its 150 students from many parts of Ireland found accommodation in the house. The rest were boarded out in the city. The first stirrings of a missionary spirits were to be felt here as priests left for Newfoundland with the fishing fleets that called regularly at Waterford harbour. Three years later the students moved to more spacious surroundings in Birchfield, just outside the city. Here, for the first time, it was called St Kyran’s College. Missionaries went from here to Newfoundland, Canada, the United States and Australia.
The lay students, meanwhile, stayed on in the old academy and returned to Burrell’s Hall in 1817. From its halls went forth the ‘Callan Curates’: Father Matt O’Keeffe and Tom O’Shea who founded the ‘Callan Tenants’ Protection Society in 1849, and did sterling work for tenants’ rights.
The foundation stone of the present Gothic style building was laid in October 1836, and three years alter lay and ecclesiastical students were together again under the one roof, St Kyran’s College had at last established a permanent home. Work continued on the building right through the harsh years of the Famine, but lack of funds caused it to cease in 1849.
The original plan would remain incomplete for over a century. Difficult times were in store for the seminary over the next 20 years. But it survived. And, as in every generation, the College had its luminaries: Fr. Healy, author of The Antiquities of Kilkenny and Dr. Wattie McDonald, long time professor at Maynooth College.
Moran Wing
During his 12 years as Bishop of Ossory, Dr Moran left a deep imprint on the life of the college. The Moran wing completed the original design on the east side. The grounds were extended and athletics began to figure prominently in college records. The Ossory Archaeological Society was founded in the college; the college museum was set up, and a new crest adopted. The seminary took on a definite missionary aim and sent a stream of priests throughout the English-speaking world.
Among those influenced by the learned Bishop’s ardent interest in history was one pupil of the time. William Carrigan. He wrote: History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory, recently republished and this is, arguable, the finest diocesan history in Ireland. A distinguished visitor to the college in those years was Mr. Gladstone, whose wife had some of the art of handball explained to her by a student during the trip.
The turn of the century brought memorable successes in the academic line. It also brought to the staff two men, Thomas McDonagh and Francis Sheehy Skeffington, who were later to achieve national fame. Hurling, rugby and handball were the games played in those years. Rugby was the only one played on a competitive basis but under Fr. Doody, Gaelic games came into their own the college won the first unofficial hurling All-Ireland in 1909. The War of Independence did not pass unnoticed. British soldiers paid ‘visits’ to the college and on one such ‘visit’ a student, James Butler, was arrested and detained at Woodstock for a day or two.
Additions were made to the college to cope with growing numbers of students in 1905, 1933 and in 1958, when the original design for the front was at last completed. Missionaries continued to go forth in ever-increasing numbers and two successive Presidents of the college, Father Collier and Dr. Staunton, became Bishops of Ossory and Ferns respectively.
Needs
The episcopacy of Dr. Birch, past pupil, past professor and college historian, witnessed many developments in the life of the college. New seminary buildings were constructed during the Presidency of Canon Holohan and ecclesiastical studies were reorganised. The number of students has decreased, but there is an upward trend – this, the Bi-Centenary year, with 49 students to join the over 700 priests from the college scattered throughout the world preaching the Word of God. Major changes have also taken place in the secondary school with revolution in secondary education. Numbers have increased dramatically, from 333 students in 1965 to 517 in 1982. Co-operation with the City Vocational School, which began in 1966, has developed during the Presidency of Fr. Tommy Maher into a unique working relationship which merited the recent praise of the Minister for Education. A new complex of buildings owned by the college and the local V. E. C. and completed in 1980, provides a full range of academic and technical subjects to meet the needs of the pupils in both schools.
The college has come a long way from Burrell’s Hall and its wine cellar, which was its first schoolroom. Its original curriculum has changed beyond recognition.
But its students continue to distinguish themselves in all walks of life; in the service of the Church; in politics; in business; in the professions and in the arts. St Kieran’s looks forward confidentially to the third century, new beginnings and to furthering its own – unique contribution to education in Ireland. The Winter is long past. The Spring is full of life and hope.
ENDS
Further information:
Fr. Dan Carroll, Diocesan Communications Officer 087 907 7769
Martin Long, Catholic Communications Office, Maynooth 086 172 7678
16 August 2010 | Bishops launch of In Praise of Priests DVD in All Hallows, Dublin
In Praise of Priests consists of five brief interviews with a cross-section of Irish lay people expressing their admiration for the contribution of a particular priest in their own lives. It is now available to view on www.youtube.com/irishcatholicbishops. The individuals who contribute to the DVD are: - Ms Ashleigh O’Neill who speaks about Fr Paul Dempsey of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin - Ms Alice Taylor who speaks about Fr Denis O’Connor CSsR - Mr George Hook who speaks about Fr Alphonsus Moran OP - Mr David Begg who speaks about Fr Aengus Finucane CSSp - Mr Mickey Harte who speaks about Mgr Eoin Thynne HCF
Launching the DVD Bishop Boyce said:
“The Church in Ireland has marked the Year for Priests in different ways with dioceses organising various events and organisations like Saint Joseph’s Young Priests Society playing an important role in this regard. The brief visit of the relics of St John Vianney at the end of April offered us an opportunity to pray for priests as well as venerate the relics of this inspirational French priest. During May and June Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York and Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor spoke at different gatherings in Ireland for the Year for Priests. The production of this DVD is another form of marking this important Year.
“The past year too also saw the serious sins and crimes of some priests highlighted as well as the failure of Church leaders to deal adequately with these cases. This is a source of deep shame and sorrow.“These revelations must not obscure the outstanding and exemplary ministry lived by priests throughout this land and beyond, whether in parishes, hospitals, schools, offices, prisons, chaplaincies, or foreign countries, often being courageous and gentle voices bringing healing, comfort, inspiration, and truth to the people of our time.”
Also addressing the event Bishop McKeown said:
“In my opinion the experiences of the five interviewees, on this special DVD In Praise of Priests, are quite different. For Alice Taylor, what came across to me was the companionship that she and her family have received from a fellow pilgrim, a fellow seeker after holiness and the Transcendent, a person who has dug deep to find integrity in the human journey. For George Hook, it was the liberating and spontaneous wisdom that came from a priest in whom he had confided as a teenager – and with whom he has had no contact since. Ashleigh O’Neill was struck by a young priest who sought to share his enthusiasm with young people on pilgrimage and in parish. Mickey Harte reflects on a number of priests who helped him to proclaim a God who was interested in all that matters to us, an infinite God who gives infinite meaning to the finite. And David Begg remembers a man whose patent faith in the God of love gave him a passion for justice in the world."
Please see below, after 'Notes for Editors', the scripts for Bishop Boyce and Bishop McKeown from today's DVD launch of In Praise of Priests.
Notes for Editors
The five video interviews on In Praise of Priests will be available separately on a special feature on the websites www.catholicbishops.ie and they are also available on www.youtube.com/irishcatholicbishops.
Year for Priests
The Year for Priests, which was launched by Pope Benedict on the Feast of the Sacred Heart 19 June 2009, is a call to renewal and conversion for the whole church. Pope Benedict has expressed his hope that the Year for Priests would support the faithfulness and holiness of priests, and deepen their commitment to 'interior renewal for the sake of a more forceful and incisive witness to the Gospel in today’s world'. The website for the Year for Priests is: www.annussacerdotalis.org.
St Jean Vianney
St Jean Vianney, the patron Saint of all priests, was born on 8 May 1786 and died 4 August 1859. After many difficulties including military service, academic struggles, and the anti-clerical context of the French Revolution, he was ordained priest on 13 August 1815. He served as an assistant priest in Ecully and as Parish Priest in Ars where he was famous for his sanctity and radical spiritual transformation of his parish and its surroundings. His ministry of the sacrament of reconciliation was legendary with him devoting up to eighteen hours a day in the confessional. He was canonised in 1925. Earlier this year Benedict XVI proclaimed St Jean Vianney as patron saint of all the priests of the world.
The Year for Priests in Ireland
Parishes and dioceses organised individual celebrations for this special year. At a national level, the relics of St Jean Vianney visited the four provinces, with thousands of visitors coming to venerate the heart of St Jean Vianney in Cork, Dublin, Knock and Armagh. St Patrick's College, Maynooth hosted a seminar on 27 May, at which Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh, officially welcomed Archbishop Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, who delivered the keynote address: “God is the only treasure people desire to find in a priest”. This special event was attended by priests and laity from throughout Ireland along with representatives of religious congregations and missionary groups, as well as students and staff of Maynooth.
The Archbishop Emeritus of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor was the guest speaker at the Maynooth Union Celebrations on Tuesday 15 June 2010 where he reflected on his personal experiences of priesthood.
For further information on the Year for Priests, including video footage of the Visit of the Relics of St Jean Vianney to Ireland and an interview with Archbishop Timothy Dolan, recorded exclusively for the website, please visit the website www.catholicbishops.ie
Speaking Notes of Bishop Boyce at Launch of In Praise of PriestsAs chairman of the Council for Clergy of the Bishops’ Conference, I am delighted to welcome you all to the launch of the DVD In Praise of Priests that has been put together by the Catholic Communications Office to mark the Year for Priests 2009-2010 in this country. Thank you especially to those who participated in the DVD as you spoke about the positive contribution made by a priest to your lives. I also pay tribute to those who produced the DVD. I acknowledge as well those who are gathered for the Intercession for Priests here in All Hallows as you come together to pray for and renew the priesthood in the context of reflection and communion with God. This DVD is a snapshot of the immense good work done by Irish priests at home and abroad and it is right that we mark this dedication and generosity.
Pope Benedict XVI, speaking at the close of the Year for Priests in Rome, said that the role of a priest is to speak in Christ’s name. He said, “[The] audacity of God who entrusts himself to human beings – who, conscious of our weaknesses, nonetheless considers men capable of acting and being present in his stead – this audacity of God is the true grandeur concealed in the word ‘priesthood’.” Countless priests have lived this commitment in fidelity and perseverance and this is highlighted in this DVD as the speakers talked about the bonds of love between priests and people.
The Church in Ireland has marked the Year for Priests in different ways with dioceses organising various events and organisations like Saint Joseph’s Young Priests Society playing an important role in this regard. The brief visit of the relics of St John Vianney at the end of April offered us an opportunity to pray for priests as well as venerate the relics of this inspirational French priest. During May and June Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York and Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor spoke at different gatherings in Ireland for the Year for Priests. The production of this DVD is another form of marking that Year.
The past year too also saw the serious sins and crimes of some priests highlighted as well as the failure of Church leaders to deal adequately with these cases. This is a source of deep shame and sorrow. Again, quoting Pope Benedict, “We insistently beg forgiveness from God and from the persons involved, while promising to do everything possible to ensure that such abuse will never occur again; ...[these revelations have been] a summons to purification.” This purification is an ongoing task for all in the Church to be converted to build an environment where all Christ’s people are cared for and cherished. Today the Church works closely with civil authorities and the independent National Office for Safeguarding Children to achieve this aim.
These revelations must not obscure the outstanding and exemplary ministry lived by priests throughout this land and beyond, whether in parishes, hospitals, schools, offices, prisons, chaplaincies, or foreign countries, often being courageous and gentle voices bringing healing, comfort, inspiration, and truth to the people of our time.
Bishop Donal McKeown will speak shortly particularly on the issue of promoting vocations to the priesthood but before that I invite you to enjoy the DVD In Praise of Priests.
Speaking Notes of Bishop Donal McKeown, at the launch of DVD, In Praise of Priests
There are those who find it a bizarre time to launch any material in praise of priests, in that it might well be seen as piously self-congratulatory or blindly arrogant. We all know lots of people – some in our own family circles – who have no time for clergy, either because of bad personal experiences or because of the disrepute into which religion in general - and clergy in particular - have fallen in the last decades. And yet, as the five simple interviews on this DVD show, there are many people in Ireland who have great memories of at least some of the priests that they came to know in many different contexts.
The experiences of the five interviewees are quite different. For Alice Taylor, what came across to me was the companionship that she and her family have received from a fellow pilgrim, a fellow seeker after holiness and the Transcendent, a person who has dug deep to find integrity in the human journey. For George Hook, it was the liberating and spontaneous wisdom that came from a priest in whom he had confided as a teenager – and with whom he has had no contact since. Ashleigh O’Neill was struck by a young priest who sought to share his enthusiasm with young people on pilgrimage and in parish. Mickey Harte reflects on a number of priests who helped him to proclaim a God who was interested in all that matters to us, an infinite God who gives infinite meaning to the finite. And David Begg remembers a man whose patent faith in the God of love gave him a passion for justice in the world.
Now some people will look at the unpretentious interviews and say, ‘so what?’ But a few things struck me.
Firstly, these are people whose hearts have been touched, whose desire for the good and beautiful has been nourished. Church people sometimes, maybe often, seek certainty in either a spirituality that seems to hate the world and or in the trite search for fatuous popularity that Jesus rejected in is initial temptations. One of the strengths of Catholicism has been the ability to appeal both to the head and the heart, and to cherish the here in the light of the hereafter. That is a combination that Jesus maintained. He was clear about good and bad, right and wrong, the Father and the Evil One. But Jesus also talked to the broken hearts of people, he engaged their imagination with story and he responded to the need for a healing touch that spoke louder than words. People still need those who can speak to the heart and the head and do so with integrity, seeking to serve the other, rather than themselves, trying to heal rather than just to criticise or judge. There has been ample spiritual and other abuse. We can learn from the many examples where there has been spiritual growth and inspirationSecondly, Ireland can turn to NAMA to sort out the bad debts of the consumerist ideology that had consumed us all. It will take an awful lot more to sort out the rubbish heap of shattered dreams, lost trust and broken promises that fester in the corner of modern Ireland. Church, politics, bank and even the weather seem to have conspired against the hopes of Sean and Mary Citizen. The ground is unsteady under our feet. It is hard to know where we can build reliable foundations for the future. And it is precisely in a time like this that we need people who have what even secular management theory calls ‘spiritual intelligence’, that ability to take the rubble of the past and make it into foundations for the future. In the North we know just how much there is the uncertainty as to whether that rubble is best used for foundations or just as a store house for new weaponry. But every period of crisis has produced wise figures who could transform the story about the future. The Old Testament produced the prophets, the fall of Roman Empire made space for the energy of Irish monasticism - and post-war Europe saw Schuman, de Gasperi and Adenauer dream the impossible dream of a united Europe. It is interesting that in times of human crisis, it has been from these from people with religious faith that great wisdom has come. Ireland still needs people who will have the confident restlessness that characterises wise leaders. A depressed people does not need more mass produced cultural negativity. We need the happy complainers who can name evils of the past and present - without losing faith in human nature and institutions into the future. Pope John Paul, writing in 2003 in his letter Ecclesia in Europa, focused on the need for hope in our modern continent,[1] whose widespread nihilism has infected our Irish psyche as well. It was the former Czech president Vaclav Havel who is quoted as saying that hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. That makes it possible for everyone to confront and even live with the reality of evil and pain. It is with that sort of conviction that we need to face the future with a little less trepidation. Priests, religious and lay leaders at all levels – whatever their personal frailties and even sin – reflect that language, that longing. If that voice is snuffed out, the country will be immeasurable impoverished.
Thirdly, there is much self-loathing in our society. People are pained by their own experience, or detest their bodies or seek salvation in having or doing rather than in being. The associated reality of addiction is more to be pitied than condemned. These priests mentioned in the DVD seem to have been able to help individuals to knit together the various fragmented parts of human life and to see good despite the apparently insurmountable odds that some of them faced. There is a huge hunger to be loved and to believe in love. Every society needs, not just more biscuits, face cream and electronic gadgets but people who can promote love, belonging, community and identity. Pope John Paul II spoke of the need, not just for any sort of spirituality but for a ‘spirituality of communion’[2] . And Pope Benedict XVI was so clear about the power of loving and being loved.[3]. A message that I am lovable only because of what I have or wear or look like is a recipe for self-hate. Good preachers of the Word of God – like those named in the DVD - have always known how to knit up the ‘ravelled sleeve of care. That means human beings who have a human warmth, emotional intelligence, a personal integrity and a desire to serve others. Ireland without those would be a hell on earth - and that is how too many of our people already experience life. The priests praised in the interviews – and thousands of other clergy, religious and laity - have known how to face that reality.
We are here in All Hallows because in this month every year, priests gather here to seek nourishment, fraternity, encouragement and grace. It is also the time of the year when exam results come out and serious life choices face our school leavers.
To the priests here, I say, ‘thank you’ for all your quiet dedication and service. There might not be a DVD made about you – but that does not mean that your work and witness, your repeated experience of Cross and Resurrection have been in vain. There are people out there who would be happy to testify to the good work that you have done, to the heads and hearts you have touched. But most of you wouldn’t even be aware of what good you have done and certainly wouldn’t want a DVD made about you.
To young people, I say, Ireland needs people of idealism and generosity. Don’t let anyone beat your dreams out of you. Live up to the best that you can be, not down to the level that some will say is all you can expect of yourself, others and life. Don’t vanish into a private world where rights are less important than privileges. Believe in better – but don’t expect it to be delivered by a new Sky TV HD package. You can see life in High Definition around the corner and it is at the same time beautiful and frightening. Seek for self-transcendence in life, not just self-fulfilment. Seek to live a good life and not just to endlessly chase after the good life.
I welcome this DVD. I don’t see it just as an empty voice singing the praise of some clergy. Ultimately, it is not even praise of priests, even though specific names are mentioned. Rather it reflects what spiritual people can do – and how much they are appreciated. It could be used in parish, at home or in education to reflect on a variety of things:
- for personal reflection when a person/group asks/shares on what memories they have of clergy – good and bad;
- to reflect on what the interviews say about the deep needs of the human heart in modern Ireland and on how ministry might be honed to respond to that in Jesus’ name;
- to reflect on what role church personnel might play in relation to
The challenge for the Catholic Church in Ireland is not to ask how we can get our strength back. Renewal will not come by sniping at the new ideology that now holds sway. The answer will come when we open ourselves together to Jesus’ teaching and silence, to his activity in word and sacrament – and make ourselves humbly available to be used by him to heal the broken heart of the world. Where that happened and happens, God’s grace can heal lives and give strength to weary limbs. Good priests, great religious men and women and marvellous lay people have always done that. They deserve to be celebrated. [1] Ecclesia in Europa, 2003, para 7-10 [2] Novo Millennio Ineunte¸ 2001, para 43 [3] Deus Caritas Est, “Love is indeed ‘ecstacy’... a journey, an ongoing exodus out of the closed inward-looking self towards its liberation through self-giving, and thus towards authentic self-discovery and indeed the discovery of God.” Para 6 ENDS
Further information: Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 1727678
15 August 2010 | Personal reflection of a diocesan bishop by Bishop Christy Jones on the occasion of the Elphin Diocesan Pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine of Knock
I have been invited to share with you some reflections on my life as a Bishop. Of the many rich experiences I could share with you, I have decided to speak about a few: the participation of lay-people in the life of the church; reaching out to our youth; the challenges of rapid social and economic changes and our response to scandals within the church.
I feel very fortunate that as the second youngest of a family of eleven I had, as a child, been formed in a home of love, faith and prayer. I am also always grateful for the quality of education I received in Summerhill College in Sligo. Later, I embarked on discerning God’s call to priesthood in St Patrick’s College Maynooth and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Elphin. Over the years, I worked in parishes, taught in my old alma mater - Summerhill College. I also helped found and manage Sligo Social Services for many years and was administrator of the Cathedral Parish in Sligo before being appointed Bishop in 1994.
On this very day, the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, sixteen years ago, I was ordained bishop. It was a day that in a very real sense was to change my life. During the ceremony, I remember the ordaining bishop addressing me as follows:
As a father and brother love all those whom God places in your care. Love the poor and infirm, the stranger and the homeless. The title of bishop is not one of honour but of function. Therefore a bishop should strive to serve rather than rule.
Then he ended with the words:
Attend to the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit appoints you as overseer of the Church of God in the name of the Son Jesus Christ whose role of teacher, priest and shepherd you undertake and In the name of the Holy Spirit who gives life to the Church of Christ and supports our weakness with His strength.
I remember feeling truly humbled and truly unworthy at that moment. However, at the same time, I did believe that the Lord was calling me and that he would be with me all the way. That is why I chose for my motto: “Fiat Mihi”. Those words were Mary’s response to the Angel Gabrielle: “Be it done unto me according to your word”. I was saying to the Lord: “Yes, if this is your wish … but I will be trusting and depending on you to the end”.
I can honestly say sixteen years later that I have trusted in the God who called me that day, I am still trusting in Him and He has never failed me. The times when I feel fearful or worried are the times when I begin to depend on my own strength and resources. I feel fearful and worried because I know how limited I am, how selfish and indeed how weak and sinful I can be. It is then that I must return to my motto “Fiat Mihi”.
The Second Vatican Council
As I look back I can truly say that I have very happy memories of my years as bishop. I was ordained priest in June 1962 just months before the Second Vatican Council opened in Rome. Therefore the teaching of the Council has been part of my priestly life from the very beginning. My years as a priest working every day in Sligo Social Services Centre with staff and our many hundreds of volunteers gave me a great insight into the gifts, talents, goodness and competence of lay people.
The documents of Vatican II proclaimed the importance for the Church that lay people - men and women, young and old should, because of their baptism, take their rightful role and responsibility in the life of the Church. I believe in my heart that the more lay people participate in the life and ministry of the Church, the more their lives will be enriched and the more energy and dynamism they will bring to the life of the Church generally.
Participation of Laity
From my first days as bishop, with the total support of priests and religious, we endeavoured in every way to prepare the lay people of the diocese for a more active role in the life of the Church. We knew that it would be difficult to change the “mind-set” of centuries. We brought lay people and priests from other dioceses to share their experiences especially of what was succeeding. We set up a group of priests, religious and lay people to establish an office for parish development and renewal and to appoint a full time lay person as its director. A competent married lay man was chosen to head up the venture. In time, the group of people evolved into the Elphin Pastoral Planning Group and to this day they plan, monitor and support our director of Parish Development and Renewal in promoting more active participation of the laity in the life of the church.
Results
It is very difficult to measure results but thank God we now have a Parish Pastoral Council composed of laity working in collaboration with their priests in almost every parish of the diocese. We also have a restructured Diocesan Pastoral Council representative of lay people, priests and religious. In my eyes, this is the most important Council in the diocese. Chaired, by a lay woman, it is the hub of diocesan pastoral listening, planning and activity.
As I look down at our Congregation every Sunday I imagine and dream of what could be achieved if each lay person present took their rightful active part in living and promoting the mission of the Church as a herald of good news for our challenging and changing times. I know people who are praying and back again at Mass because of something a friend said to them at work.
Impact of Economic and Social Change
I have seen huge change in the faith and prayer life of our people during periods of economic boom in our country: firstly in the 1960’s and 1970’s and then in the 1990’s. It was great to see full employment and much prosperity but very rapidly things material preoccupied the minds and hearts of people. God and the good news of the Gospel was often pushed from the centre to the sidelines of life.
Many invested all of their time, effort and energy in their jobs, houses, cars etc. and took their relationships for granted. Yet life itself teaches us that our real happiness and joy comes not from things like jobs, houses or cars, however important they are, but from our happy relationships with each other and with our God. Likewise our greatest suffering and pain comes not from the loss of a job, car or house but from broken and betrayed relationships. Relationships do not happen. Parents and children must make relationships happen. They must work hard to acquire the gifts - the building blocks of all relationships - of acceptance, trust, tolerance, patience, forgiveness and love.
Our heart goes out today to individuals and families who are suffering from unemployment and huge mortgages and we must do everything in our power to help. Maybe in those difficult times our people will rediscover the importance of having time for themselves and for their God once more.
The Challenge of the Young
It truly saddens me to hear that Catholic children are coming to school today who cannot make the sign of the cross or recite any simple prayer. Some children see the inside of the Church for the first time when they come for First Communion. It saddens me also that children do not have that Sunday morning experience of the faith community at Mass in the Church, of the chat with neighbours outside the Church and the only Irish breakfast of the week afterwards. The supermarket seems to have become the place of worship for many families on a Sunday. Again we must try in every way to reach out to those parents and encourage them to take an active part in the evangelization of their children.
From my studies in sociology as a young priest, I learned how Durkheim was one of the first social scientists to carry out a scientific survey. It was on suicide. He found that in times of rapid social change people are isolated from great sources of support e.g. the local community and the family. They are left without any norms or guidelines. They find themselves in a state of “Anomie” which means a normless vacuum. I think many of our young people are in this situation. From my experience as Bishop, I can truly say that the vast majority of young people today are remarkable. They are very honest and have a great concern for justice and for the poor and especially the poor of developing nations.
They have close friends who are important to them - but if friends fail and they may not have family, community or Church support - then they may find themselves in a dark place and often do not even have the support of faith.
Bridging the Gap
Since my teaching days, I miss very much contact with young people. Sadly our current culture with its ever growing generation gaps means that today young people are rarely present where adults are gathered. Sadly commercial interests have succeeded so well in isolating youth from adults so they can target their pockets. Each year our diocese brings between eighty and one hundred wonderful young people with us on our pilgrimage to Lourdes. I always look forward to the opportunity this gives me to sit down and chat over a cup of coffee with the young people present about their lives.
Young people tell me that there, in Lourdes, they see the Church community at its best with beautiful liturgies and caring for the sick and the suffering. They also experience a sense of belonging to their peers in Lourdes, to the adult leaders and indeed to the pilgrimage community. Most of them tell me they wish to return the following year.
Our diocese has built a state of the art youth club at the centre of Sligo City. We have also established a diocesan youth office at St Mary’s, Sligo, and appointed a diocesan youth director. The ongoing challenge is for each parish to find ways and means of involving their young people in the life of the parish community, perhaps as readers in the Church, as Eucharistic Ministers, as Faith Friends, raising money for the poor at home and in the Third World.
Most Enjoyable Experience as Bishop
People often ask me what work as a Bishop I find most enjoyable. I would have to say parish visitation. It is very tiring but most rewarding. Every three years, I try to visit each parish of the diocese.
It gives me a great opportunity to meet with the local priests on their own ground. Thank God to date I have always received a warm welcome. I am always amazed at the knowledge every priest has of his parish, the people and the life story of each person. We should really celebrate and thank God for our priests who continue to minister so joyfully despite what they are suffering in these difficult dark days.
I visit the primary schools before lunch. Today they are places of joy and not of fear as they were in our day. The buildings and facilities are state of the Art and the principal and teachers obviously love the children entrusted to their care. Joy literally radiates from the eyes of the children as you talk to them. It was great to read Sarah Carey in The Irish Times last year saying that our primary schools were the envy of countries in Europe.
After lunch, I bring the Eucharist to those who are sick and housebound. Those people are not thinking about profit or property or power. It is a joy to see how they welcome Jesus into their homes and into their hearts. Your faith is really refreshed and strengthened by the experience.
It is great also to see how many families care for their sick and their aged. Some have to make huge sacrifices to keep their aged parents at home. Then of course our parents made huge sacrifices for us when we were children. They would have died for us.
Reasons for Hope and Joy
Although I may be coming near the end of my time as bishop - the effort of renewal and ministry continues with new and exciting developments. Recently as a diocese we decided to restore the Permanent Diaconate and to introduce dedicated catechists in some of our parishes. I am grateful to God that at this time we have seven men in our diocese preparing for the permanent diaconate. It is astonishing that in such a secular society we still have people in the world of business and in the professions willing to offer themselves as candidates for the permanent diaconate. As you know once they are ordained, deacons, they will preach the Gospel and minister at Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals. This September our first full time catechist - a young married woman will begin work in two of the largest parishes in the diocese. Catechists will help all members of the Christian community discover the richness of their faith and help them to share it with others Please pray for them. I am certain that as deacons and Catechists they will enrich the ministry of the Church in our diocese and be a real bond between priests and lay people.
Reasons for Sadness
I hope, in the light of what I have said, that you get some small idea of what my life has been like as bishop! It has been hard work every day all the way but very gratifying work. With the support and guidance of priests, religious and lay people it is truly amazing what a diocese can achieve.
Throughout the sixteen years a dark heavy cloud of regret embarrassment and shame has engulfed the Catholic Church in Ireland. Nothing deliberately designed by individuals or a group of individuals could have caused such suffering to children and could have so undermined the trust of people in their Church as the scandals of child sexual abuse by priests and religious.
Our greatest anxiety and care has to be for the victims – the children who have suffered so much hurt and pain. As Church we must never cease to express our sincere regret, our apology, our shame and our horror at what has been done to children so loved by Jesus Christ. Indeed Jesus continues to suffer in the children abused. We must do everything possible as a Church through counselling and therapy to help the healing of victims and their return to health. In every parish of the country we are putting in place policies and procedures that will prevent children from ever again being abused by bishops, priests, religious or indeed any lay people who work as volunteers with the Church. And we must do everything in our power to help with the spiritual hurts and needs of victims wherever they seek such help.
The Church Continues
Anyone who knows anything about the history of the Catholic Church knows that through the centuries the Church has been failed by popes, bishops, priests and religious. Yes all of us fail the Church from time to time because we are sinners. However through the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus continues to live in the Church and, through the Church, He continues to preach and teach to heal and forgive in our day.
The Church will survive because Christ has promised to remain with us forever. The Church was here before we came along. It will be here long after we are gone. Every generation including our own is called through prayer and care of our neighbour to help people discover Jesus in their hearts and homes and in every person they meet every day.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
- Bishop Christopher Jones is Bishop of the Diocese of Elphin. Bishop Jones was ordained a priest on 21 June 1962 and ordained bishop on this day, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, 15 August 1994. Many bishops lead their dioceses on pilgrimage to Ireland's Marian Shrine during August.
- The Diocese of Elphin includes portions of counties Roscommon, Sligo, Westmeath and Galway. The Cathedral Church for the diocese is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Sligo. The diocese has a Catholic population of about 70,000, 38 parishes and 90 Catholic Churches. The Patrons of the Diocese of Elphin are St Asicus and Immaculate Conception.
- Today the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin or the taking up of Mary into heaven. The Church has celebrated this feast since about the tenth century. Pope Pius XII proclaimed as a solemn teaching in 1950 that "the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory."
Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678
15 August 2010 | Personal reflection of a diocesan bishop by Bishop Christy Jones on the occasion of the Elphin Diocesan Pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine of Knock
I have been invited to share with you some reflections on my life as a Bishop. Of the many rich experiences I could share with you, I have decided to speak about a few: the participation of lay-people in the life of the church; reaching out to our youth; the challenges of rapid social and economic changes and our response to scandals within the church.
I feel very fortunate that as the second youngest of a family of eleven I had, as a child, been formed in a home of love, faith and prayer. I am also always grateful for the quality of education I received in Summerhill College in Sligo. Later, I embarked on discerning God’s call to priesthood in St Patrick’s College Maynooth and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Elphin. Over the years, I worked in parishes, taught in my old alma mater - Summerhill College. I also helped found and manage Sligo Social Services for many years and was administrator of the Cathedral Parish in Sligo before being appointed Bishop in 1994.
On this very day, the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, sixteen years ago, I was ordained bishop. It was a day that in a very real sense was to change my life. During the ceremony, I remember the ordaining bishop addressing me as follows:
As a father and brother love all those whom God places in your care. Love the poor and infirm, the stranger and the homeless. The title of bishop is not one of honour but of function. Therefore a bishop should strive to serve rather than rule.
Then he ended with the words:
Attend to the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit appoints you as overseer of the Church of God in the name of the Son Jesus Christ whose role of teacher, priest and shepherd you undertake and In the name of the Holy Spirit who gives life to the Church of Christ and supports our weakness with His strength.
I remember feeling truly humbled and truly unworthy at that moment. However, at the same time, I did believe that the Lord was calling me and that he would be with me all the way. That is why I chose for my motto: “Fiat Mihi”. Those words were Mary’s response to the Angel Gabrielle: “Be it done unto me according to your word”. I was saying to the Lord: “Yes, if this is your wish … but I will be trusting and depending on you to the end”.
I can honestly say sixteen years later that I have trusted in the God who called me that day, I am still trusting in Him and He has never failed me. The times when I feel fearful or worried are the times when I begin to depend on my own strength and resources. I feel fearful and worried because I know how limited I am, how selfish and indeed how weak and sinful I can be. It is then that I must return to my motto “Fiat Mihi”.
The Second Vatican Council
As I look back I can truly say that I have very happy memories of my years as bishop. I was ordained priest in June 1962 just months before the Second Vatican Council opened in Rome. Therefore the teaching of the Council has been part of my priestly life from the very beginning. My years as a priest working every day in Sligo Social Services Centre with staff and our many hundreds of volunteers gave me a great insight into the gifts, talents, goodness and competence of lay people.
The documents of Vatican II proclaimed the importance for the Church that lay people - men and women, young and old should, because of their baptism, take their rightful role and responsibility in the life of the Church. I believe in my heart that the more lay people participate in the life and ministry of the Church, the more their lives will be enriched and the more energy and dynamism they will bring to the life of the Church generally.
Participation of Laity
From my first days as bishop, with the total support of priests and religious, we endeavoured in every way to prepare the lay people of the diocese for a more active role in the life of the Church. We knew that it would be difficult to change the “mind-set” of centuries. We brought lay people and priests from other dioceses to share their experiences especially of what was succeeding. We set up a group of priests, religious and lay people to establish an office for parish development and renewal and to appoint a full time lay person as its director. A competent married lay man was chosen to head up the venture. In time, the group of people evolved into the Elphin Pastoral Planning Group and to this day they plan, monitor and support our director of Parish Development and Renewal in promoting more active participation of the laity in the life of the church.
Results
It is very difficult to measure results but thank God we now have a Parish Pastoral Council composed of laity working in collaboration with their priests in almost every parish of the diocese. We also have a restructured Diocesan Pastoral Council representative of lay people, priests and religious. In my eyes, this is the most important Council in the diocese. Chaired, by a lay woman, it is the hub of diocesan pastoral listening, planning and activity.
As I look down at our Congregation every Sunday I imagine and dream of what could be achieved if each lay person present took their rightful active part in living and promoting the mission of the Church as a herald of good news for our challenging and changing times. I know people who are praying and back again at Mass because of something a friend said to them at work.
Impact of Economic and Social Change
I have seen huge change in the faith and prayer life of our people during periods of economic boom in our country: firstly in the 1960’s and 1970’s and then in the 1990’s. It was great to see full employment and much prosperity but very rapidly things material preoccupied the minds and hearts of people. God and the good news of the Gospel was often pushed from the centre to the sidelines of life.
Many invested all of their time, effort and energy in their jobs, houses, cars etc. and took their relationships for granted. Yet life itself teaches us that our real happiness and joy comes not from things like jobs, houses or cars, however important they are, but from our happy relationships with each other and with our God. Likewise our greatest suffering and pain comes not from the loss of a job, car or house but from broken and betrayed relationships. Relationships do not happen. Parents and children must make relationships happen. They must work hard to acquire the gifts - the building blocks of all relationships - of acceptance, trust, tolerance, patience, forgiveness and love.
Our heart goes out today to individuals and families who are suffering from unemployment and huge mortgages and we must do everything in our power to help. Maybe in those difficult times our people will rediscover the importance of having time for themselves and for their God once more.
The Challenge of the Young
It truly saddens me to hear that Catholic children are coming to school today who cannot make the sign of the cross or recite any simple prayer. Some children see the inside of the Church for the first time when they come for First Communion. It saddens me also that children do not have that Sunday morning experience of the faith community at Mass in the Church, of the chat with neighbours outside the Church and the only Irish breakfast of the week afterwards. The supermarket seems to have become the place of worship for many families on a Sunday. Again we must try in every way to reach out to those parents and encourage them to take an active part in the evangelization of their children.
From my studies in sociology as a young priest, I learned how Durkheim was one of the first social scientists to carry out a scientific survey. It was on suicide. He found that in times of rapid social change people are isolated from great sources of support e.g. the local community and the family. They are left without any norms or guidelines. They find themselves in a state of “Anomie” which means a normless vacuum. I think many of our young people are in this situation. From my experience as Bishop, I can truly say that the vast majority of young people today are remarkable. They are very honest and have a great concern for justice and for the poor and especially the poor of developing nations.
They have close friends who are important to them - but if friends fail and they may not have family, community or Church support - then they may find themselves in a dark place and often do not even have the support of faith.
Bridging the Gap
Since my teaching days, I miss very much contact with young people. Sadly our current culture with its ever growing generation gaps means that today young people are rarely present where adults are gathered. Sadly commercial interests have succeeded so well in isolating youth from adults so they can target their pockets. Each year our diocese brings between eighty and one hundred wonderful young people with us on our pilgrimage to Lourdes. I always look forward to the opportunity this gives me to sit down and chat over a cup of coffee with the young people present about their lives.
Young people tell me that there, in Lourdes, they see the Church community at its best with beautiful liturgies and caring for the sick and the suffering. They also experience a sense of belonging to their peers in Lourdes, to the adult leaders and indeed to the pilgrimage community. Most of them tell me they wish to return the following year.
Our diocese has built a state of the art youth club at the centre of Sligo City. We have also established a diocesan youth office at St Mary’s, Sligo, and appointed a diocesan youth director. The ongoing challenge is for each parish to find ways and means of involving their young people in the life of the parish community, perhaps as readers in the Church, as Eucharistic Ministers, as Faith Friends, raising money for the poor at home and in the Third World.
Most Enjoyable Experience as Bishop
People often ask me what work as a Bishop I find most enjoyable. I would have to say parish visitation. It is very tiring but most rewarding. Every three years, I try to visit each parish of the diocese.
It gives me a great opportunity to meet with the local priests on their own ground. Thank God to date I have always received a warm welcome. I am always amazed at the knowledge every priest has of his parish, the people and the life story of each person. We should really celebrate and thank God for our priests who continue to minister so joyfully despite what they are suffering in these difficult dark days.
I visit the primary schools before lunch. Today they are places of joy and not of fear as they were in our day. The buildings and facilities are state of the Art and the principal and teachers obviously love the children entrusted to their care. Joy literally radiates from the eyes of the children as you talk to them. It was great to read Sarah Carey in The Irish Times last year saying that our primary schools were the envy of countries in Europe.
After lunch, I bring the Eucharist to those who are sick and housebound. Those people are not thinking about profit or property or power. It is a joy to see how they welcome Jesus into their homes and into their hearts. Your faith is really refreshed and strengthened by the experience.
It is great also to see how many families care for their sick and their aged. Some have to make huge sacrifices to keep their aged parents at home. Then of course our parents made huge sacrifices for us when we were children. They would have died for us.
Reasons for Hope and Joy
Although I may be coming near the end of my time as bishop - the effort of renewal and ministry continues with new and exciting developments. Recently as a diocese we decided to restore the Permanent Diaconate and to introduce dedicated catechists in some of our parishes. I am grateful to God that at this time we have seven men in our diocese preparing for the permanent diaconate. It is astonishing that in such a secular society we still have people in the world of business and in the professions willing to offer themselves as candidates for the permanent diaconate. As you know once they are ordained, deacons, they will preach the Gospel and minister at Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals. This September our first full time catechist - a young married woman will begin work in two of the largest parishes in the diocese. Catechists will help all members of the Christian community discover the richness of their faith and help them to share it with others Please pray for them. I am certain that as deacons and Catechists they will enrich the ministry of the Church in our diocese and be a real bond between priests and lay people.
Reasons for Sadness
I hope, in the light of what I have said, that you get some small idea of what my life has been like as bishop! It has been hard work every day all the way but very gratifying work. With the support and guidance of priests, religious and lay people it is truly amazing what a diocese can achieve.
Throughout the sixteen years a dark heavy cloud of regret embarrassment and shame has engulfed the Catholic Church in Ireland. Nothing deliberately designed by individuals or a group of individuals could have caused such suffering to children and could have so undermined the trust of people in their Church as the scandals of child sexual abuse by priests and religious.
Our greatest anxiety and care has to be for the victims – the children who have suffered so much hurt and pain. As Church we must never cease to express our sincere regret, our apology, our shame and our horror at what has been done to children so loved by Jesus Christ. Indeed Jesus continues to suffer in the children abused. We must do everything possible as a Church through counselling and therapy to help the healing of victims and their return to health. In every parish of the country we are putting in place policies and procedures that will prevent children from ever again being abused by bishops, priests, religious or indeed any lay people who work as volunteers with the Church. And we must do everything in our power to help with the spiritual hurts and needs of victims wherever they seek such help.
The Church Continues
Anyone who knows anything about the history of the Catholic Church knows that through the centuries the Church has been failed by popes, bishops, priests and religious. Yes all of us fail the Church from time to time because we are sinners. However through the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus continues to live in the Church and, through the Church, He continues to preach and teach to heal and forgive in our day.
The Church will survive because Christ has promised to remain with us forever. The Church was here before we came along. It will be here long after we are gone. Every generation including our own is called through prayer and care of our neighbour to help people discover Jesus in their hearts and homes and in every person they meet every day.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
- Bishop Christopher Jones is Bishop of the Diocese of Elphin. Bishop Jones was ordained a priest on 21 June 1962 and ordained bishop on this day, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, 15 August 1994. Many bishops lead their dioceses on pilgrimage to Ireland's Marian Shrine during August.
- The Diocese of Elphin includes portions of counties Roscommon, Sligo, Westmeath and Galway. The Cathedral Church for the diocese is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Sligo. The diocese has a Catholic population of about 70,000, 38 parishes and 90 Catholic Churches. The Patrons of the Diocese of Elphin are St Asicus and Immaculate Conception.
- Today the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin or the taking up of Mary into heaven. The Church has celebrated this feast since about the tenth century. Pope Pius XII proclaimed as a solemn teaching in 1950 that "the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory."
Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678
15 August 2010 | Personal reflection of a diocesan bishop by Bishop Christy Jones on the occasion of the Elphin Diocesan Pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine of Knock
I have been invited to share with you some reflections on my life as a Bishop. Of the many rich experiences I could share with you, I have decided to speak about a few: the participation of lay-people in the life of the church; reaching out to our youth; the challenges of rapid social and economic changes and our response to scandals within the church.
I feel very fortunate that as the second youngest of a family of eleven I had, as a child, been formed in a home of love, faith and prayer. I am also always grateful for the quality of education I received in Summerhill College in Sligo. Later, I embarked on discerning God’s call to priesthood in St Patrick’s College Maynooth and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Elphin. Over the years, I worked in parishes, taught in my old alma mater - Summerhill College. I also helped found and manage Sligo Social Services for many years and was administrator of the Cathedral Parish in Sligo before being appointed Bishop in 1994.
On this very day, the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, sixteen years ago, I was ordained bishop. It was a day that in a very real sense was to change my life. During the ceremony, I remember the ordaining bishop addressing me as follows:
As a father and brother love all those whom God places in your care. Love the poor and infirm, the stranger and the homeless. The title of bishop is not one of honour but of function. Therefore a bishop should strive to serve rather than rule.
Then he ended with the words:
Attend to the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit appoints you as overseer of the Church of God in the name of the Son Jesus Christ whose role of teacher, priest and shepherd you undertake and In the name of the Holy Spirit who gives life to the Church of Christ and supports our weakness with His strength.
I remember feeling truly humbled and truly unworthy at that moment. However, at the same time, I did believe that the Lord was calling me and that he would be with me all the way. That is why I chose for my motto: “Fiat Mihi”. Those words were Mary’s response to the Angel Gabrielle: “Be it done unto me according to your word”. I was saying to the Lord: “Yes, if this is your wish … but I will be trusting and depending on you to the end”.
I can honestly say sixteen years later that I have trusted in the God who called me that day, I am still trusting in Him and He has never failed me. The times when I feel fearful or worried are the times when I begin to depend on my own strength and resources. I feel fearful and worried because I know how limited I am, how selfish and indeed how weak and sinful I can be. It is then that I must return to my motto “Fiat Mihi”.
The Second Vatican Council
As I look back I can truly say that I have very happy memories of my years as bishop. I was ordained priest in June 1962 just months before the Second Vatican Council opened in Rome. Therefore the teaching of the Council has been part of my priestly life from the very beginning. My years as a priest working every day in Sligo Social Services Centre with staff and our many hundreds of volunteers gave me a great insight into the gifts, talents, goodness and competence of lay people.
The documents of Vatican II proclaimed the importance for the Church that lay people - men and women, young and old should, because of their baptism, take their rightful role and responsibility in the life of the Church. I believe in my heart that the more lay people participate in the life and ministry of the Church, the more their lives will be enriched and the more energy and dynamism they will bring to the life of the Church generally.
Participation of Laity
From my first days as bishop, with the total support of priests and religious, we endeavoured in every way to prepare the lay people of the diocese for a more active role in the life of the Church. We knew that it would be difficult to change the “mind-set” of centuries. We brought lay people and priests from other dioceses to share their experiences especially of what was succeeding. We set up a group of priests, religious and lay people to establish an office for parish development and renewal and to appoint a full time lay person as its director. A competent married lay man was chosen to head up the venture. In time, the group of people evolved into the Elphin Pastoral Planning Group and to this day they plan, monitor and support our director of Parish Development and Renewal in promoting more active participation of the laity in the life of the church.
Results
It is very difficult to measure results but thank God we now have a Parish Pastoral Council composed of laity working in collaboration with their priests in almost every parish of the diocese. We also have a restructured Diocesan Pastoral Council representative of lay people, priests and religious. In my eyes, this is the most important Council in the diocese. Chaired, by a lay woman, it is the hub of diocesan pastoral listening, planning and activity.
As I look down at our Congregation every Sunday I imagine and dream of what could be achieved if each lay person present took their rightful active part in living and promoting the mission of the Church as a herald of good news for our challenging and changing times. I know people who are praying and back again at Mass because of something a friend said to them at work.
Impact of Economic and Social Change
I have seen huge change in the faith and prayer life of our people during periods of economic boom in our country: firstly in the 1960’s and 1970’s and then in the 1990’s. It was great to see full employment and much prosperity but very rapidly things material preoccupied the minds and hearts of people. God and the good news of the Gospel was often pushed from the centre to the sidelines of life.
Many invested all of their time, effort and energy in their jobs, houses, cars etc. and took their relationships for granted. Yet life itself teaches us that our real happiness and joy comes not from things like jobs, houses or cars, however important they are, but from our happy relationships with each other and with our God. Likewise our greatest suffering and pain comes not from the loss of a job, car or house but from broken and betrayed relationships. Relationships do not happen. Parents and children must make relationships happen. They must work hard to acquire the gifts - the building blocks of all relationships - of acceptance, trust, tolerance, patience, forgiveness and love.
Our heart goes out today to individuals and families who are suffering from unemployment and huge mortgages and we must do everything in our power to help. Maybe in those difficult times our people will rediscover the importance of having time for themselves and for their God once more.
The Challenge of the Young
It truly saddens me to hear that Catholic children are coming to school today who cannot make the sign of the cross or recite any simple prayer. Some children see the inside of the Church for the first time when they come for First Communion. It saddens me also that children do not have that Sunday morning experience of the faith community at Mass in the Church, of the chat with neighbours outside the Church and the only Irish breakfast of the week afterwards. The supermarket seems to have become the place of worship for many families on a Sunday. Again we must try in every way to reach out to those parents and encourage them to take an active part in the evangelization of their children.
From my studies in sociology as a young priest, I learned how Durkheim was one of the first social scientists to carry out a scientific survey. It was on suicide. He found that in times of rapid social change people are isolated from great sources of support e.g. the local community and the family. They are left without any norms or guidelines. They find themselves in a state of “Anomie” which means a normless vacuum. I think many of our young people are in this situation. From my experience as Bishop, I can truly say that the vast majority of young people today are remarkable. They are very honest and have a great concern for justice and for the poor and especially the poor of developing nations.
They have close friends who are important to them - but if friends fail and they may not have family, community or Church support - then they may find themselves in a dark place and often do not even have the support of faith.
Bridging the Gap
Since my teaching days, I miss very much contact with young people. Sadly our current culture with its ever growing generation gaps means that today young people are rarely present where adults are gathered. Sadly commercial interests have succeeded so well in isolating youth from adults so they can target their pockets. Each year our diocese brings between eighty and one hundred wonderful young people with us on our pilgrimage to Lourdes. I always look forward to the opportunity this gives me to sit down and chat over a cup of coffee with the young people present about their lives.
Young people tell me that there, in Lourdes, they see the Church community at its best with beautiful liturgies and caring for the sick and the suffering. They also experience a sense of belonging to their peers in Lourdes, to the adult leaders and indeed to the pilgrimage community. Most of them tell me they wish to return the following year.
Our diocese has built a state of the art youth club at the centre of Sligo City. We have also established a diocesan youth office at St Mary’s, Sligo, and appointed a diocesan youth director. The ongoing challenge is for each parish to find ways and means of involving their young people in the life of the parish community, perhaps as readers in the Church, as Eucharistic Ministers, as Faith Friends, raising money for the poor at home and in the Third World.
Most Enjoyable Experience as Bishop
People often ask me what work as a Bishop I find most enjoyable. I would have to say parish visitation. It is very tiring but most rewarding. Every three years, I try to visit each parish of the diocese.
It gives me a great opportunity to meet with the local priests on their own ground. Thank God to date I have always received a warm welcome. I am always amazed at the knowledge every priest has of his parish, the people and the life story of each person. We should really celebrate and thank God for our priests who continue to minister so joyfully despite what they are suffering in these difficult dark days.
I visit the primary schools before lunch. Today they are places of joy and not of fear as they were in our day. The buildings and facilities are state of the Art and the principal and teachers obviously love the children entrusted to their care. Joy literally radiates from the eyes of the children as you talk to them. It was great to read Sarah Carey in The Irish Times last year saying that our primary schools were the envy of countries in Europe.
After lunch, I bring the Eucharist to those who are sick and housebound. Those people are not thinking about profit or property or power. It is a joy to see how they welcome Jesus into their homes and into their hearts. Your faith is really refreshed and strengthened by the experience.
It is great also to see how many families care for their sick and their aged. Some have to make huge sacrifices to keep their aged parents at home. Then of course our parents made huge sacrifices for us when we were children. They would have died for us.
Reasons for Hope and Joy
Although I may be coming near the end of my time as bishop - the effort of renewal and ministry continues with new and exciting developments. Recently as a diocese we decided to restore the Permanent Diaconate and to introduce dedicated catechists in some of our parishes. I am grateful to God that at this time we have seven men in our diocese preparing for the permanent diaconate. It is astonishing that in such a secular society we still have people in the world of business and in the professions willing to offer themselves as candidates for the permanent diaconate. As you know once they are ordained, deacons, they will preach the Gospel and minister at Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals. This September our first full time catechist - a young married woman will begin work in two of the largest parishes in the diocese. Catechists will help all members of the Christian community discover the richness of their faith and help them to share it with others Please pray for them. I am certain that as deacons and Catechists they will enrich the ministry of the Church in our diocese and be a real bond between priests and lay people.
Reasons for Sadness
I hope, in the light of what I have said, that you get some small idea of what my life has been like as bishop! It has been hard work every day all the way but very gratifying work. With the support and guidance of priests, religious and lay people it is truly amazing what a diocese can achieve.
Throughout the sixteen years a dark heavy cloud of regret embarrassment and shame has engulfed the Catholic Church in Ireland. Nothing deliberately designed by individuals or a group of individuals could have caused such suffering to children and could have so undermined the trust of people in their Church as the scandals of child sexual abuse by priests and religious.
Our greatest anxiety and care has to be for the victims – the children who have suffered so much hurt and pain. As Church we must never cease to express our sincere regret, our apology, our shame and our horror at what has been done to children so loved by Jesus Christ. Indeed Jesus continues to suffer in the children abused. We must do everything possible as a Church through counselling and therapy to help the healing of victims and their return to health. In every parish of the country we are putting in place policies and procedures that will prevent children from ever again being abused by bishops, priests, religious or indeed any lay people who work as volunteers with the Church. And we must do everything in our power to help with the spiritual hurts and needs of victims wherever they seek such help.
The Church Continues
Anyone who knows anything about the history of the Catholic Church knows that through the centuries the Church has been failed by popes, bishops, priests and religious. Yes all of us fail the Church from time to time because we are sinners. However through the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus continues to live in the Church and, through the Church, He continues to preach and teach to heal and forgive in our day.
The Church will survive because Christ has promised to remain with us forever. The Church was here before we came along. It will be here long after we are gone. Every generation including our own is called through prayer and care of our neighbour to help people discover Jesus in their hearts and homes and in every person they meet every day.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
- Bishop Christopher Jones is Bishop of the Diocese of Elphin. Bishop Jones was ordained a priest on 21 June 1962 and ordained bishop on this day, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, 15 August 1994. Many bishops lead their dioceses on pilgrimage to Ireland's Marian Shrine during August.
- The Diocese of Elphin includes portions of counties Roscommon, Sligo, Westmeath and Galway. The Cathedral Church for the diocese is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Sligo. The diocese has a Catholic population of about 70,000, 38 parishes and 90 Catholic Churches. The Patrons of the Diocese of Elphin are St Asicus and Immaculate Conception.
- Today the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin or the taking up of Mary into heaven. The Church has celebrated this feast since about the tenth century. Pope Pius XII proclaimed as a solemn teaching in 1950 that "the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory."
Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678
15 August 2010 | Personal reflection of a diocesan bishop by Bishop Christy Jones on the occasion of the Elphin Diocesan Pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine of Knock
I have been invited to share with you some reflections on my life as a Bishop. Of the many rich experiences I could share with you, I have decided to speak about a few: the participation of lay-people in the life of the church; reaching out to our youth; the challenges of rapid social and economic changes and our response to scandals within the church.
I feel very fortunate that as the second youngest of a family of eleven I had, as a child, been formed in a home of love, faith and prayer. I am also always grateful for the quality of education I received in Summerhill College in Sligo. Later, I embarked on discerning God’s call to priesthood in St Patrick’s College Maynooth and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Elphin. Over the years, I worked in parishes, taught in my old alma mater - Summerhill College. I also helped found and manage Sligo Social Services for many years and was administrator of the Cathedral Parish in Sligo before being appointed Bishop in 1994.
On this very day, the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, sixteen years ago, I was ordained bishop. It was a day that in a very real sense was to change my life. During the ceremony, I remember the ordaining bishop addressing me as follows:
As a father and brother love all those whom God places in your care. Love the poor and infirm, the stranger and the homeless. The title of bishop is not one of honour but of function. Therefore a bishop should strive to serve rather than rule.
Then he ended with the words:
Attend to the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit appoints you as overseer of the Church of God in the name of the Son Jesus Christ whose role of teacher, priest and shepherd you undertake and In the name of the Holy Spirit who gives life to the Church of Christ and supports our weakness with His strength.
I remember feeling truly humbled and truly unworthy at that moment. However, at the same time, I did believe that the Lord was calling me and that he would be with me all the way. That is why I chose for my motto: “Fiat Mihi”. Those words were Mary’s response to the Angel Gabrielle: “Be it done unto me according to your word”. I was saying to the Lord: “Yes, if this is your wish … but I will be trusting and depending on you to the end”.
I can honestly say sixteen years later that I have trusted in the God who called me that day, I am still trusting in Him and He has never failed me. The times when I feel fearful or worried are the times when I begin to depend on my own strength and resources. I feel fearful and worried because I know how limited I am, how selfish and indeed how weak and sinful I can be. It is then that I must return to my motto “Fiat Mihi”.
The Second Vatican Council
As I look back I can truly say that I have very happy memories of my years as bishop. I was ordained priest in June 1962 just months before the Second Vatican Council opened in Rome. Therefore the teaching of the Council has been part of my priestly life from the very beginning. My years as a priest working every day in Sligo Social Services Centre with staff and our many hundreds of volunteers gave me a great insight into the gifts, talents, goodness and competence of lay people.
The documents of Vatican II proclaimed the importance for the Church that lay people - men and women, young and old should, because of their baptism, take their rightful role and responsibility in the life of the Church. I believe in my heart that the more lay people participate in the life and ministry of the Church, the more their lives will be enriched and the more energy and dynamism they will bring to the life of the Church generally.
Participation of Laity
From my first days as bishop, with the total support of priests and religious, we endeavoured in every way to prepare the lay people of the diocese for a more active role in the life of the Church. We knew that it would be difficult to change the “mind-set” of centuries. We brought lay people and priests from other dioceses to share their experiences especially of what was succeeding. We set up a group of priests, religious and lay people to establish an office for parish development and renewal and to appoint a full time lay person as its director. A competent married lay man was chosen to head up the venture. In time, the group of people evolved into the Elphin Pastoral Planning Group and to this day they plan, monitor and support our director of Parish Development and Renewal in promoting more active participation of the laity in the life of the church.
Results
It is very difficult to measure results but thank God we now have a Parish Pastoral Council composed of laity working in collaboration with their priests in almost every parish of the diocese. We also have a restructured Diocesan Pastoral Council representative of lay people, priests and religious. In my eyes, this is the most important Council in the diocese. Chaired, by a lay woman, it is the hub of diocesan pastoral listening, planning and activity.
As I look down at our Congregation every Sunday I imagine and dream of what could be achieved if each lay person present took their rightful active part in living and promoting the mission of the Church as a herald of good news for our challenging and changing times. I know people who are praying and back again at Mass because of something a friend said to them at work.
Impact of Economic and Social Change
I have seen huge change in the faith and prayer life of our people during periods of economic boom in our country: firstly in the 1960’s and 1970’s and then in the 1990’s. It was great to see full employment and much prosperity but very rapidly things material preoccupied the minds and hearts of people. God and the good news of the Gospel was often pushed from the centre to the sidelines of life.
Many invested all of their time, effort and energy in their jobs, houses, cars etc. and took their relationships for granted. Yet life itself teaches us that our real happiness and joy comes not from things like jobs, houses or cars, however important they are, but from our happy relationships with each other and with our God. Likewise our greatest suffering and pain comes not from the loss of a job, car or house but from broken and betrayed relationships. Relationships do not happen. Parents and children must make relationships happen. They must work hard to acquire the gifts - the building blocks of all relationships - of acceptance, trust, tolerance, patience, forgiveness and love.
Our heart goes out today to individuals and families who are suffering from unemployment and huge mortgages and we must do everything in our power to help. Maybe in those difficult times our people will rediscover the importance of having time for themselves and for their God once more.
The Challenge of the Young
It truly saddens me to hear that Catholic children are coming to school today who cannot make the sign of the cross or recite any simple prayer. Some children see the inside of the Church for the first time when they come for First Communion. It saddens me also that children do not have that Sunday morning experience of the faith community at Mass in the Church, of the chat with neighbours outside the Church and the only Irish breakfast of the week afterwards. The supermarket seems to have become the place of worship for many families on a Sunday. Again we must try in every way to reach out to those parents and encourage them to take an active part in the evangelization of their children.
From my studies in sociology as a young priest, I learned how Durkheim was one of the first social scientists to carry out a scientific survey. It was on suicide. He found that in times of rapid social change people are isolated from great sources of support e.g. the local community and the family. They are left without any norms or guidelines. They find themselves in a state of “Anomie” which means a normless vacuum. I think many of our young people are in this situation. From my experience as Bishop, I can truly say that the vast majority of young people today are remarkable. They are very honest and have a great concern for justice and for the poor and especially the poor of developing nations.
They have close friends who are important to them - but if friends fail and they may not have family, community or Church support - then they may find themselves in a dark place and often do not even have the support of faith.
Bridging the Gap
Since my teaching days, I miss very much contact with young people. Sadly our current culture with its ever growing generation gaps means that today young people are rarely present where adults are gathered. Sadly commercial interests have succeeded so well in isolating youth from adults so they can target their pockets. Each year our diocese brings between eighty and one hundred wonderful young people with us on our pilgrimage to Lourdes. I always look forward to the opportunity this gives me to sit down and chat over a cup of coffee with the young people present about their lives.
Young people tell me that there, in Lourdes, they see the Church community at its best with beautiful liturgies and caring for the sick and the suffering. They also experience a sense of belonging to their peers in Lourdes, to the adult leaders and indeed to the pilgrimage community. Most of them tell me they wish to return the following year.
Our diocese has built a state of the art youth club at the centre of Sligo City. We have also established a diocesan youth office at St Mary’s, Sligo, and appointed a diocesan youth director. The ongoing challenge is for each parish to find ways and means of involving their young people in the life of the parish community, perhaps as readers in the Church, as Eucharistic Ministers, as Faith Friends, raising money for the poor at home and in the Third World.
Most Enjoyable Experience as Bishop
People often ask me what work as a Bishop I find most enjoyable. I would have to say parish visitation. It is very tiring but most rewarding. Every three years, I try to visit each parish of the diocese.
It gives me a great opportunity to meet with the local priests on their own ground. Thank God to date I have always received a warm welcome. I am always amazed at the knowledge every priest has of his parish, the people and the life story of each person. We should really celebrate and thank God for our priests who continue to minister so joyfully despite what they are suffering in these difficult dark days.
I visit the primary schools before lunch. Today they are places of joy and not of fear as they were in our day. The buildings and facilities are state of the Art and the principal and teachers obviously love the children entrusted to their care. Joy literally radiates from the eyes of the children as you talk to them. It was great to read Sarah Carey in The Irish Times last year saying that our primary schools were the envy of countries in Europe.
After lunch, I bring the Eucharist to those who are sick and housebound. Those people are not thinking about profit or property or power. It is a joy to see how they welcome Jesus into their homes and into their hearts. Your faith is really refreshed and strengthened by the experience.
It is great also to see how many families care for their sick and their aged. Some have to make huge sacrifices to keep their aged parents at home. Then of course our parents made huge sacrifices for us when we were children. They would have died for us.
Reasons for Hope and Joy
Although I may be coming near the end of my time as bishop - the effort of renewal and ministry continues with new and exciting developments. Recently as a diocese we decided to restore the Permanent Diaconate and to introduce dedicated catechists in some of our parishes. I am grateful to God that at this time we have seven men in our diocese preparing for the permanent diaconate. It is astonishing that in such a secular society we still have people in the world of business and in the professions willing to offer themselves as candidates for the permanent diaconate. As you know once they are ordained, deacons, they will preach the Gospel and minister at Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals. This September our first full time catechist - a young married woman will begin work in two of the largest parishes in the diocese. Catechists will help all members of the Christian community discover the richness of their faith and help them to share it with others Please pray for them. I am certain that as deacons and Catechists they will enrich the ministry of the Church in our diocese and be a real bond between priests and lay people.
Reasons for Sadness
I hope, in the light of what I have said, that you get some small idea of what my life has been like as bishop! It has been hard work every day all the way but very gratifying work. With the support and guidance of priests, religious and lay people it is truly amazing what a diocese can achieve.
Throughout the sixteen years a dark heavy cloud of regret embarrassment and shame has engulfed the Catholic Church in Ireland. Nothing deliberately designed by individuals or a group of individuals could have caused such suffering to children and could have so undermined the trust of people in their Church as the scandals of child sexual abuse by priests and religious.
Our greatest anxiety and care has to be for the victims – the children who have suffered so much hurt and pain. As Church we must never cease to express our sincere regret, our apology, our shame and our horror at what has been done to children so loved by Jesus Christ. Indeed Jesus continues to suffer in the children abused. We must do everything possible as a Church through counselling and therapy to help the healing of victims and their return to health. In every parish of the country we are putting in place policies and procedures that will prevent children from ever again being abused by bishops, priests, religious or indeed any lay people who work as volunteers with the Church. And we must do everything in our power to help with the spiritual hurts and needs of victims wherever they seek such help.
The Church Continues
Anyone who knows anything about the history of the Catholic Church knows that through the centuries the Church has been failed by popes, bishops, priests and religious. Yes all of us fail the Church from time to time because we are sinners. However through the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus continues to live in the Church and, through the Church, He continues to preach and teach to heal and forgive in our day.
The Church will survive because Christ has promised to remain with us forever. The Church was here before we came along. It will be here long after we are gone. Every generation including our own is called through prayer and care of our neighbour to help people discover Jesus in their hearts and homes and in every person they meet every day.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
- Bishop Christopher Jones is Bishop of the Diocese of Elphin. Bishop Jones was ordained a priest on 21 June 1962 and ordained bishop on this day, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, 15 August 1994. Many bishops lead their dioceses on pilgrimage to Ireland's Marian Shrine during August.
- The Diocese of Elphin includes portions of counties Roscommon, Sligo, Westmeath and Galway. The Cathedral Church for the diocese is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Sligo. The diocese has a Catholic population of about 70,000, 38 parishes and 90 Catholic Churches. The Patrons of the Diocese of Elphin are St Asicus and Immaculate Conception.
- Today the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin or the taking up of Mary into heaven. The Church has celebrated this feast since about the tenth century. Pope Pius XII proclaimed as a solemn teaching in 1950 that "the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory."
Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678
15 August 2010 | Personal reflection of a diocesan bishop by Bishop Christy Jones on the occasion of the Elphin Diocesan Pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine of Knock
I have been invited to share with you some reflections on my life as a Bishop. Of the many rich experiences I could share with you, I have decided to speak about a few: the participation of lay-people in the life of the church; reaching out to our youth; the challenges of rapid social and economic changes and our response to scandals within the church.
I feel very fortunate that as the second youngest of a family of eleven I had, as a child, been formed in a home of love, faith and prayer. I am also always grateful for the quality of education I received in Summerhill College in Sligo. Later, I embarked on discerning God’s call to priesthood in St Patrick’s College Maynooth and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Elphin. Over the years, I worked in parishes, taught in my old alma mater - Summerhill College. I also helped found and manage Sligo Social Services for many years and was administrator of the Cathedral Parish in Sligo before being appointed Bishop in 1994.
On this very day, the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, sixteen years ago, I was ordained bishop. It was a day that in a very real sense was to change my life. During the ceremony, I remember the ordaining bishop addressing me as follows:
As a father and brother love all those whom God places in your care. Love the poor and infirm, the stranger and the homeless. The title of bishop is not one of honour but of function. Therefore a bishop should strive to serve rather than rule.
Then he ended with the words:
Attend to the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit appoints you as overseer of the Church of God in the name of the Son Jesus Christ whose role of teacher, priest and shepherd you undertake and In the name of the Holy Spirit who gives life to the Church of Christ and supports our weakness with His strength.
I remember feeling truly humbled and truly unworthy at that moment. However, at the same time, I did believe that the Lord was calling me and that he would be with me all the way. That is why I chose for my motto: “Fiat Mihi”. Those words were Mary’s response to the Angel Gabrielle: “Be it done unto me according to your word”. I was saying to the Lord: “Yes, if this is your wish … but I will be trusting and depending on you to the end”.
I can honestly say sixteen years later that I have trusted in the God who called me that day, I am still trusting in Him and He has never failed me. The times when I feel fearful or worried are the times when I begin to depend on my own strength and resources. I feel fearful and worried because I know how limited I am, how selfish and indeed how weak and sinful I can be. It is then that I must return to my motto “Fiat Mihi”.
The Second Vatican Council
As I look back I can truly say that I have very happy memories of my years as bishop. I was ordained priest in June 1962 just months before the Second Vatican Council opened in Rome. Therefore the teaching of the Council has been part of my priestly life from the very beginning. My years as a priest working every day in Sligo Social Services Centre with staff and our many hundreds of volunteers gave me a great insight into the gifts, talents, goodness and competence of lay people.
The documents of Vatican II proclaimed the importance for the Church that lay people - men and women, young and old should, because of their baptism, take their rightful role and responsibility in the life of the Church. I believe in my heart that the more lay people participate in the life and ministry of the Church, the more their lives will be enriched and the more energy and dynamism they will bring to the life of the Church generally.
Participation of Laity
From my first days as bishop, with the total support of priests and religious, we endeavoured in every way to prepare the lay people of the diocese for a more active role in the life of the Church. We knew that it would be difficult to change the “mind-set” of centuries. We brought lay people and priests from other dioceses to share their experiences especially of what was succeeding. We set up a group of priests, religious and lay people to establish an office for parish development and renewal and to appoint a full time lay person as its director. A competent married lay man was chosen to head up the venture. In time, the group of people evolved into the Elphin Pastoral Planning Group and to this day they plan, monitor and support our director of Parish Development and Renewal in promoting more active participation of the laity in the life of the church.
Results
It is very difficult to measure results but thank God we now have a Parish Pastoral Council composed of laity working in collaboration with their priests in almost every parish of the diocese. We also have a restructured Diocesan Pastoral Council representative of lay people, priests and religious. In my eyes, this is the most important Council in the diocese. Chaired, by a lay woman, it is the hub of diocesan pastoral listening, planning and activity.
As I look down at our Congregation every Sunday I imagine and dream of what could be achieved if each lay person present took their rightful active part in living and promoting the mission of the Church as a herald of good news for our challenging and changing times. I know people who are praying and back again at Mass because of something a friend said to them at work.
Impact of Economic and Social Change
I have seen huge change in the faith and prayer life of our people during periods of economic boom in our country: firstly in the 1960’s and 1970’s and then in the 1990’s. It was great to see full employment and much prosperity but very rapidly things material preoccupied the minds and hearts of people. God and the good news of the Gospel was often pushed from the centre to the sidelines of life.
Many invested all of their time, effort and energy in their jobs, houses, cars etc. and took their relationships for granted. Yet life itself teaches us that our real happiness and joy comes not from things like jobs, houses or cars, however important they are, but from our happy relationships with each other and with our God. Likewise our greatest suffering and pain comes not from the loss of a job, car or house but from broken and betrayed relationships. Relationships do not happen. Parents and children must make relationships happen. They must work hard to acquire the gifts - the building blocks of all relationships - of acceptance, trust, tolerance, patience, forgiveness and love.
Our heart goes out today to individuals and families who are suffering from unemployment and huge mortgages and we must do everything in our power to help. Maybe in those difficult times our people will rediscover the importance of having time for themselves and for their God once more.
The Challenge of the Young
It truly saddens me to hear that Catholic children are coming to school today who cannot make the sign of the cross or recite any simple prayer. Some children see the inside of the Church for the first time when they come for First Communion. It saddens me also that children do not have that Sunday morning experience of the faith community at Mass in the Church, of the chat with neighbours outside the Church and the only Irish breakfast of the week afterwards. The supermarket seems to have become the place of worship for many families on a Sunday. Again we must try in every way to reach out to those parents and encourage them to take an active part in the evangelization of their children.
From my studies in sociology as a young priest, I learned how Durkheim was one of the first social scientists to carry out a scientific survey. It was on suicide. He found that in times of rapid social change people are isolated from great sources of support e.g. the local community and the family. They are left without any norms or guidelines. They find themselves in a state of “Anomie” which means a normless vacuum. I think many of our young people are in this situation. From my experience as Bishop, I can truly say that the vast majority of young people today are remarkable. They are very honest and have a great concern for justice and for the poor and especially the poor of developing nations.
They have close friends who are important to them - but if friends fail and they may not have family, community or Church support - then they may find themselves in a dark place and often do not even have the support of faith.
Bridging the Gap
Since my teaching days, I miss very much contact with young people. Sadly our current culture with its ever growing generation gaps means that today young people are rarely present where adults are gathered. Sadly commercial interests have succeeded so well in isolating youth from adults so they can target their pockets. Each year our diocese brings between eighty and one hundred wonderful young people with us on our pilgrimage to Lourdes. I always look forward to the opportunity this gives me to sit down and chat over a cup of coffee with the young people present about their lives.
Young people tell me that there, in Lourdes, they see the Church community at its best with beautiful liturgies and caring for the sick and the suffering. They also experience a sense of belonging to their peers in Lourdes, to the adult leaders and indeed to the pilgrimage community. Most of them tell me they wish to return the following year.
Our diocese has built a state of the art youth club at the centre of Sligo City. We have also established a diocesan youth office at St Mary’s, Sligo, and appointed a diocesan youth director. The ongoing challenge is for each parish to find ways and means of involving their young people in the life of the parish community, perhaps as readers in the Church, as Eucharistic Ministers, as Faith Friends, raising money for the poor at home and in the Third World.
Most Enjoyable Experience as Bishop
People often ask me what work as a Bishop I find most enjoyable. I would have to say parish visitation. It is very tiring but most rewarding. Every three years, I try to visit each parish of the diocese.
It gives me a great opportunity to meet with the local priests on their own ground. Thank God to date I have always received a warm welcome. I am always amazed at the knowledge every priest has of his parish, the people and the life story of each person. We should really celebrate and thank God for our priests who continue to minister so joyfully despite what they are suffering in these difficult dark days.
I visit the primary schools before lunch. Today they are places of joy and not of fear as they were in our day. The buildings and facilities are state of the Art and the principal and teachers obviously love the children entrusted to their care. Joy literally radiates from the eyes of the children as you talk to them. It was great to read Sarah Carey in The Irish Times last year saying that our primary schools were the envy of countries in Europe.
After lunch, I bring the Eucharist to those who are sick and housebound. Those people are not thinking about profit or property or power. It is a joy to see how they welcome Jesus into their homes and into their hearts. Your faith is really refreshed and strengthened by the experience.
It is great also to see how many families care for their sick and their aged. Some have to make huge sacrifices to keep their aged parents at home. Then of course our parents made huge sacrifices for us when we were children. They would have died for us.
Reasons for Hope and Joy
Although I may be coming near the end of my time as bishop - the effort of renewal and ministry continues with new and exciting developments. Recently as a diocese we decided to restore the Permanent Diaconate and to introduce dedicated catechists in some of our parishes. I am grateful to God that at this time we have seven men in our diocese preparing for the permanent diaconate. It is astonishing that in such a secular society we still have people in the world of business and in the professions willing to offer themselves as candidates for the permanent diaconate. As you know once they are ordained, deacons, they will preach the Gospel and minister at Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals. This September our first full time catechist - a young married woman will begin work in two of the largest parishes in the diocese. Catechists will help all members of the Christian community discover the richness of their faith and help them to share it with others Please pray for them. I am certain that as deacons and Catechists they will enrich the ministry of the Church in our diocese and be a real bond between priests and lay people.
Reasons for Sadness
I hope, in the light of what I have said, that you get some small idea of what my life has been like as bishop! It has been hard work every day all the way but very gratifying work. With the support and guidance of priests, religious and lay people it is truly amazing what a diocese can achieve.
Throughout the sixteen years a dark heavy cloud of regret embarrassment and shame has engulfed the Catholic Church in Ireland. Nothing deliberately designed by individuals or a group of individuals could have caused such suffering to children and could have so undermined the trust of people in their Church as the scandals of child sexual abuse by priests and religious.
Our greatest anxiety and care has to be for the victims – the children who have suffered so much hurt and pain. As Church we must never cease to express our sincere regret, our apology, our shame and our horror at what has been done to children so loved by Jesus Christ. Indeed Jesus continues to suffer in the children abused. We must do everything possible as a Church through counselling and therapy to help the healing of victims and their return to health. In every parish of the country we are putting in place policies and procedures that will prevent children from ever again being abused by bishops, priests, religious or indeed any lay people who work as volunteers with the Church. And we must do everything in our power to help with the spiritual hurts and needs of victims wherever they seek such help.
The Church Continues
Anyone who knows anything about the history of the Catholic Church knows that through the centuries the Church has been failed by popes, bishops, priests and religious. Yes all of us fail the Church from time to time because we are sinners. However through the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus continues to live in the Church and, through the Church, He continues to preach and teach to heal and forgive in our day.
The Church will survive because Christ has promised to remain with us forever. The Church was here before we came along. It will be here long after we are gone. Every generation including our own is called through prayer and care of our neighbour to help people discover Jesus in their hearts and homes and in every person they meet every day.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
- Bishop Christopher Jones is Bishop of the Diocese of Elphin. Bishop Jones was ordained a priest on 21 June 1962 and ordained bishop on this day, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, 15 August 1994. Many bishops lead their dioceses on pilgrimage to Ireland's Marian Shrine during August.
- The Diocese of Elphin includes portions of counties Roscommon, Sligo, Westmeath and Galway. The Cathedral Church for the diocese is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Sligo. The diocese has a Catholic population of about 70,000, 38 parishes and 90 Catholic Churches. The Patrons of the Diocese of Elphin are St Asicus and Immaculate Conception.
- Today the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin or the taking up of Mary into heaven. The Church has celebrated this feast since about the tenth century. Pope Pius XII proclaimed as a solemn teaching in 1950 that "the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory."
Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678
15 August 2010 | Personal reflection of a diocesan bishop by Bishop Christy Jones on the occasion of the Elphin Diocesan Pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine of Knock
I have been invited to share with you some reflections on my life as a Bishop. Of the many rich experiences I could share with you, I have decided to speak about a few: the participation of lay-people in the life of the church; reaching out to our youth; the challenges of rapid social and economic changes and our response to scandals within the church.
I feel very fortunate that as the second youngest of a family of eleven I had, as a child, been formed in a home of love, faith and prayer. I am also always grateful for the quality of education I received in Summerhill College in Sligo. Later, I embarked on discerning God’s call to priesthood in St Patrick’s College Maynooth and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Elphin. Over the years, I worked in parishes, taught in my old alma mater - Summerhill College. I also helped found and manage Sligo Social Services for many years and was administrator of the Cathedral Parish in Sligo before being appointed Bishop in 1994.
On this very day, the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, sixteen years ago, I was ordained bishop. It was a day that in a very real sense was to change my life. During the ceremony, I remember the ordaining bishop addressing me as follows:
As a father and brother love all those whom God places in your care. Love the poor and infirm, the stranger and the homeless. The title of bishop is not one of honour but of function. Therefore a bishop should strive to serve rather than rule.
Then he ended with the words:
Attend to the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit appoints you as overseer of the Church of God in the name of the Son Jesus Christ whose role of teacher, priest and shepherd you undertake and In the name of the Holy Spirit who gives life to the Church of Christ and supports our weakness with His strength.
I remember feeling truly humbled and truly unworthy at that moment. However, at the same time, I did believe that the Lord was calling me and that he would be with me all the way. That is why I chose for my motto: “Fiat Mihi”. Those words were Mary’s response to the Angel Gabrielle: “Be it done unto me according to your word”. I was saying to the Lord: “Yes, if this is your wish … but I will be trusting and depending on you to the end”.
I can honestly say sixteen years later that I have trusted in the God who called me that day, I am still trusting in Him and He has never failed me. The times when I feel fearful or worried are the times when I begin to depend on my own strength and resources. I feel fearful and worried because I know how limited I am, how selfish and indeed how weak and sinful I can be. It is then that I must return to my motto “Fiat Mihi”.
The Second Vatican Council
As I look back I can truly say that I have very happy memories of my years as bishop. I was ordained priest in June 1962 just months before the Second Vatican Council opened in Rome. Therefore the teaching of the Council has been part of my priestly life from the very beginning. My years as a priest working every day in Sligo Social Services Centre with staff and our many hundreds of volunteers gave me a great insight into the gifts, talents, goodness and competence of lay people.
The documents of Vatican II proclaimed the importance for the Church that lay people - men and women, young and old should, because of their baptism, take their rightful role and responsibility in the life of the Church. I believe in my heart that the more lay people participate in the life and ministry of the Church, the more their lives will be enriched and the more energy and dynamism they will bring to the life of the Church generally.
Participation of Laity
From my first days as bishop, with the total support of priests and religious, we endeavoured in every way to prepare the lay people of the diocese for a more active role in the life of the Church. We knew that it would be difficult to change the “mind-set” of centuries. We brought lay people and priests from other dioceses to share their experiences especially of what was succeeding. We set up a group of priests, religious and lay people to establish an office for parish development and renewal and to appoint a full time lay person as its director. A competent married lay man was chosen to head up the venture. In time, the group of people evolved into the Elphin Pastoral Planning Group and to this day they plan, monitor and support our director of Parish Development and Renewal in promoting more active participation of the laity in the life of the church.
Results
It is very difficult to measure results but thank God we now have a Parish Pastoral Council composed of laity working in collaboration with their priests in almost every parish of the diocese. We also have a restructured Diocesan Pastoral Council representative of lay people, priests and religious. In my eyes, this is the most important Council in the diocese. Chaired, by a lay woman, it is the hub of diocesan pastoral listening, planning and activity.
As I look down at our Congregation every Sunday I imagine and dream of what could be achieved if each lay person present took their rightful active part in living and promoting the mission of the Church as a herald of good news for our challenging and changing times. I know people who are praying and back again at Mass because of something a friend said to them at work.
Impact of Economic and Social Change
I have seen huge change in the faith and prayer life of our people during periods of economic boom in our country: firstly in the 1960’s and 1970’s and then in the 1990’s. It was great to see full employment and much prosperity but very rapidly things material preoccupied the minds and hearts of people. God and the good news of the Gospel was often pushed from the centre to the sidelines of life.
Many invested all of their time, effort and energy in their jobs, houses, cars etc. and took their relationships for granted. Yet life itself teaches us that our real happiness and joy comes not from things like jobs, houses or cars, however important they are, but from our happy relationships with each other and with our God. Likewise our greatest suffering and pain comes not from the loss of a job, car or house but from broken and betrayed relationships. Relationships do not happen. Parents and children must make relationships happen. They must work hard to acquire the gifts - the building blocks of all relationships - of acceptance, trust, tolerance, patience, forgiveness and love.
Our heart goes out today to individuals and families who are suffering from unemployment and huge mortgages and we must do everything in our power to help. Maybe in those difficult times our people will rediscover the importance of having time for themselves and for their God once more.
The Challenge of the Young
It truly saddens me to hear that Catholic children are coming to school today who cannot make the sign of the cross or recite any simple prayer. Some children see the inside of the Church for the first time when they come for First Communion. It saddens me also that children do not have that Sunday morning experience of the faith community at Mass in the Church, of the chat with neighbours outside the Church and the only Irish breakfast of the week afterwards. The supermarket seems to have become the place of worship for many families on a Sunday. Again we must try in every way to reach out to those parents and encourage them to take an active part in the evangelization of their children.
From my studies in sociology as a young priest, I learned how Durkheim was one of the first social scientists to carry out a scientific survey. It was on suicide. He found that in times of rapid social change people are isolated from great sources of support e.g. the local community and the family. They are left without any norms or guidelines. They find themselves in a state of “Anomie” which means a normless vacuum. I think many of our young people are in this situation. From my experience as Bishop, I can truly say that the vast majority of young people today are remarkable. They are very honest and have a great concern for justice and for the poor and especially the poor of developing nations.
They have close friends who are important to them - but if friends fail and they may not have family, community or Church support - then they may find themselves in a dark place and often do not even have the support of faith.
Bridging the Gap
Since my teaching days, I miss very much contact with young people. Sadly our current culture with its ever growing generation gaps means that today young people are rarely present where adults are gathered. Sadly commercial interests have succeeded so well in isolating youth from adults so they can target their pockets. Each year our diocese brings between eighty and one hundred wonderful young people with us on our pilgrimage to Lourdes. I always look forward to the opportunity this gives me to sit down and chat over a cup of coffee with the young people present about their lives.
Young people tell me that there, in Lourdes, they see the Church community at its best with beautiful liturgies and caring for the sick and the suffering. They also experience a sense of belonging to their peers in Lourdes, to the adult leaders and indeed to the pilgrimage community. Most of them tell me they wish to return the following year.
Our diocese has built a state of the art youth club at the centre of Sligo City. We have also established a diocesan youth office at St Mary’s, Sligo, and appointed a diocesan youth director. The ongoing challenge is for each parish to find ways and means of involving their young people in the life of the parish community, perhaps as readers in the Church, as Eucharistic Ministers, as Faith Friends, raising money for the poor at home and in the Third World.
Most Enjoyable Experience as Bishop
People often ask me what work as a Bishop I find most enjoyable. I would have to say parish visitation. It is very tiring but most rewarding. Every three years, I try to visit each parish of the diocese.
It gives me a great opportunity to meet with the local priests on their own ground. Thank God to date I have always received a warm welcome. I am always amazed at the knowledge every priest has of his parish, the people and the life story of each person. We should really celebrate and thank God for our priests who continue to minister so joyfully despite what they are suffering in these difficult dark days.
I visit the primary schools before lunch. Today they are places of joy and not of fear as they were in our day. The buildings and facilities are state of the Art and the principal and teachers obviously love the children entrusted to their care. Joy literally radiates from the eyes of the children as you talk to them. It was great to read Sarah Carey in The Irish Times last year saying that our primary schools were the envy of countries in Europe.
After lunch, I bring the Eucharist to those who are sick and housebound. Those people are not thinking about profit or property or power. It is a joy to see how they welcome Jesus into their homes and into their hearts. Your faith is really refreshed and strengthened by the experience.
It is great also to see how many families care for their sick and their aged. Some have to make huge sacrifices to keep their aged parents at home. Then of course our parents made huge sacrifices for us when we were children. They would have died for us.
Reasons for Hope and Joy
Although I may be coming near the end of my time as bishop - the effort of renewal and ministry continues with new and exciting developments. Recently as a diocese we decided to restore the Permanent Diaconate and to introduce dedicated catechists in some of our parishes. I am grateful to God that at this time we have seven men in our diocese preparing for the permanent diaconate. It is astonishing that in such a secular society we still have people in the world of business and in the professions willing to offer themselves as candidates for the permanent diaconate. As you know once they are ordained, deacons, they will preach the Gospel and minister at Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals. This September our first full time catechist - a young married woman will begin work in two of the largest parishes in the diocese. Catechists will help all members of the Christian community discover the richness of their faith and help them to share it with others Please pray for them. I am certain that as deacons and Catechists they will enrich the ministry of the Church in our diocese and be a real bond between priests and lay people.
Reasons for Sadness
I hope, in the light of what I have said, that you get some small idea of what my life has been like as bishop! It has been hard work every day all the way but very gratifying work. With the support and guidance of priests, religious and lay people it is truly amazing what a diocese can achieve.
Throughout the sixteen years a dark heavy cloud of regret embarrassment and shame has engulfed the Catholic Church in Ireland. Nothing deliberately designed by individuals or a group of individuals could have caused such suffering to children and could have so undermined the trust of people in their Church as the scandals of child sexual abuse by priests and religious.
Our greatest anxiety and care has to be for the victims – the children who have suffered so much hurt and pain. As Church we must never cease to express our sincere regret, our apology, our shame and our horror at what has been done to children so loved by Jesus Christ. Indeed Jesus continues to suffer in the children abused. We must do everything possible as a Church through counselling and therapy to help the healing of victims and their return to health. In every parish of the country we are putting in place policies and procedures that will prevent children from ever again being abused by bishops, priests, religious or indeed any lay people who work as volunteers with the Church. And we must do everything in our power to help with the spiritual hurts and needs of victims wherever they seek such help.
The Church Continues
Anyone who knows anything about the history of the Catholic Church knows that through the centuries the Church has been failed by popes, bishops, priests and religious. Yes all of us fail the Church from time to time because we are sinners. However through the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus continues to live in the Church and, through the Church, He continues to preach and teach to heal and forgive in our day.
The Church will survive because Christ has promised to remain with us forever. The Church was here before we came along. It will be here long after we are gone. Every generation including our own is called through prayer and care of our neighbour to help people discover Jesus in their hearts and homes and in every person they meet every day.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
- Bishop Christopher Jones is Bishop of the Diocese of Elphin. Bishop Jones was ordained a priest on 21 June 1962 and ordained bishop on this day, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, 15 August 1994. Many bishops lead their dioceses on pilgrimage to Ireland's Marian Shrine during August.
- The Diocese of Elphin includes portions of counties Roscommon, Sligo, Westmeath and Galway. The Cathedral Church for the diocese is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Sligo. The diocese has a Catholic population of about 70,000, 38 parishes and 90 Catholic Churches. The Patrons of the Diocese of Elphin are St Asicus and Immaculate Conception.
- Today the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin or the taking up of Mary into heaven. The Church has celebrated this feast since about the tenth century. Pope Pius XII proclaimed as a solemn teaching in 1950 that "the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory."
Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678
15 August 2010 | Personal reflection of a diocesan bishop by Bishop Christy Jones on the occasion of the Elphin Diocesan Pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine of Knock
I have been invited to share with you some reflections on my life as a Bishop. Of the many rich experiences I could share with you, I have decided to speak about a few: the participation of lay-people in the life of the church; reaching out to our youth; the challenges of rapid social and economic changes and our response to scandals within the church.
I feel very fortunate that as the second youngest of a family of eleven I had, as a child, been formed in a home of love, faith and prayer. I am also always grateful for the quality of education I received in Summerhill College in Sligo. Later, I embarked on discerning God’s call to priesthood in St Patrick’s College Maynooth and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Elphin. Over the years, I worked in parishes, taught in my old alma mater - Summerhill College. I also helped found and manage Sligo Social Services for many years and was administrator of the Cathedral Parish in Sligo before being appointed Bishop in 1994.
On this very day, the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, sixteen years ago, I was ordained bishop. It was a day that in a very real sense was to change my life. During the ceremony, I remember the ordaining bishop addressing me as follows:
As a father and brother love all those whom God places in your care. Love the poor and infirm, the stranger and the homeless. The title of bishop is not one of honour but of function. Therefore a bishop should strive to serve rather than rule.
Then he ended with the words:
Attend to the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit appoints you as overseer of the Church of God in the name of the Son Jesus Christ whose role of teacher, priest and shepherd you undertake and In the name of the Holy Spirit who gives life to the Church of Christ and supports our weakness with His strength.
I remember feeling truly humbled and truly unworthy at that moment. However, at the same time, I did believe that the Lord was calling me and that he would be with me all the way. That is why I chose for my motto: “Fiat Mihi”. Those words were Mary’s response to the Angel Gabrielle: “Be it done unto me according to your word”. I was saying to the Lord: “Yes, if this is your wish … but I will be trusting and depending on you to the end”.
I can honestly say sixteen years later that I have trusted in the God who called me that day, I am still trusting in Him and He has never failed me. The times when I feel fearful or worried are the times when I begin to depend on my own strength and resources. I feel fearful and worried because I know how limited I am, how selfish and indeed how weak and sinful I can be. It is then that I must return to my motto “Fiat Mihi”.
The Second Vatican Council
As I look back I can truly say that I have very happy memories of my years as bishop. I was ordained priest in June 1962 just months before the Second Vatican Council opened in Rome. Therefore the teaching of the Council has been part of my priestly life from the very beginning. My years as a priest working every day in Sligo Social Services Centre with staff and our many hundreds of volunteers gave me a great insight into the gifts, talents, goodness and competence of lay people.
The documents of Vatican II proclaimed the importance for the Church that lay people - men and women, young and old should, because of their baptism, take their rightful role and responsibility in the life of the Church. I believe in my heart that the more lay people participate in the life and ministry of the Church, the more their lives will be enriched and the more energy and dynamism they will bring to the life of the Church generally.
Participation of Laity
From my first days as bishop, with the total support of priests and religious, we endeavoured in every way to prepare the lay people of the diocese for a more active role in the life of the Church. We knew that it would be difficult to change the “mind-set” of centuries. We brought lay people and priests from other dioceses to share their experiences especially of what was succeeding. We set up a group of priests, religious and lay people to establish an office for parish development and renewal and to appoint a full time lay person as its director. A competent married lay man was chosen to head up the venture. In time, the group of people evolved into the Elphin Pastoral Planning Group and to this day they plan, monitor and support our director of Parish Development and Renewal in promoting more active participation of the laity in the life of the church.
Results
It is very difficult to measure results but thank God we now have a Parish Pastoral Council composed of laity working in collaboration with their priests in almost every parish of the diocese. We also have a restructured Diocesan Pastoral Council representative of lay people, priests and religious. In my eyes, this is the most important Council in the diocese. Chaired, by a lay woman, it is the hub of diocesan pastoral listening, planning and activity.
As I look down at our Congregation every Sunday I imagine and dream of what could be achieved if each lay person present took their rightful active part in living and promoting the mission of the Church as a herald of good news for our challenging and changing times. I know people who are praying and back again at Mass because of something a friend said to them at work.
Impact of Economic and Social Change
I have seen huge change in the faith and prayer life of our people during periods of economic boom in our country: firstly in the 1960’s and 1970’s and then in the 1990’s. It was great to see full employment and much prosperity but very rapidly things material preoccupied the minds and hearts of people. God and the good news of the Gospel was often pushed from the centre to the sidelines of life.
Many invested all of their time, effort and energy in their jobs, houses, cars etc. and took their relationships for granted. Yet life itself teaches us that our real happiness and joy comes not from things like jobs, houses or cars, however important they are, but from our happy relationships with each other and with our God. Likewise our greatest suffering and pain comes not from the loss of a job, car or house but from broken and betrayed relationships. Relationships do not happen. Parents and children must make relationships happen. They must work hard to acquire the gifts - the building blocks of all relationships - of acceptance, trust, tolerance, patience, forgiveness and love.
Our heart goes out today to individuals and families who are suffering from unemployment and huge mortgages and we must do everything in our power to help. Maybe in those difficult times our people will rediscover the importance of having time for themselves and for their God once more.
The Challenge of the Young
It truly saddens me to hear that Catholic children are coming to school today who cannot make the sign of the cross or recite any simple prayer. Some children see the inside of the Church for the first time when they come for First Communion. It saddens me also that children do not have that Sunday morning experience of the faith community at Mass in the Church, of the chat with neighbours outside the Church and the only Irish breakfast of the week afterwards. The supermarket seems to have become the place of worship for many families on a Sunday. Again we must try in every way to reach out to those parents and encourage them to take an active part in the evangelization of their children.
From my studies in sociology as a young priest, I learned how Durkheim was one of the first social scientists to carry out a scientific survey. It was on suicide. He found that in times of rapid social change people are isolated from great sources of support e.g. the local community and the family. They are left without any norms or guidelines. They find themselves in a state of “Anomie” which means a normless vacuum. I think many of our young people are in this situation. From my experience as Bishop, I can truly say that the vast majority of young people today are remarkable. They are very honest and have a great concern for justice and for the poor and especially the poor of developing nations.
They have close friends who are important to them - but if friends fail and they may not have family, community or Church support - then they may find themselves in a dark place and often do not even have the support of faith.
Bridging the Gap
Since my teaching days, I miss very much contact with young people. Sadly our current culture with its ever growing generation gaps means that today young people are rarely present where adults are gathered. Sadly commercial interests have succeeded so well in isolating youth from adults so they can target their pockets. Each year our diocese brings between eighty and one hundred wonderful young people with us on our pilgrimage to Lourdes. I always look forward to the opportunity this gives me to sit down and chat over a cup of coffee with the young people present about their lives.
Young people tell me that there, in Lourdes, they see the Church community at its best with beautiful liturgies and caring for the sick and the suffering. They also experience a sense of belonging to their peers in Lourdes, to the adult leaders and indeed to the pilgrimage community. Most of them tell me they wish to return the following year.
Our diocese has built a state of the art youth club at the centre of Sligo City. We have also established a diocesan youth office at St Mary’s, Sligo, and appointed a diocesan youth director. The ongoing challenge is for each parish to find ways and means of involving their young people in the life of the parish community, perhaps as readers in the Church, as Eucharistic Ministers, as Faith Friends, raising money for the poor at home and in the Third World.
Most Enjoyable Experience as Bishop
People often ask me what work as a Bishop I find most enjoyable. I would have to say parish visitation. It is very tiring but most rewarding. Every three years, I try to visit each parish of the diocese.
It gives me a great opportunity to meet with the local priests on their own ground. Thank God to date I have always received a warm welcome. I am always amazed at the knowledge every priest has of his parish, the people and the life story of each person. We should really celebrate and thank God for our priests who continue to minister so joyfully despite what they are suffering in these difficult dark days.
I visit the primary schools before lunch. Today they are places of joy and not of fear as they were in our day. The buildings and facilities are state of the Art and the principal and teachers obviously love the children entrusted to their care. Joy literally radiates from the eyes of the children as you talk to them. It was great to read Sarah Carey in The Irish Times last year saying that our primary schools were the envy of countries in Europe.
After lunch, I bring the Eucharist to those who are sick and housebound. Those people are not thinking about profit or property or power. It is a joy to see how they welcome Jesus into their homes and into their hearts. Your faith is really refreshed and strengthened by the experience.
It is great also to see how many families care for their sick and their aged. Some have to make huge sacrifices to keep their aged parents at home. Then of course our parents made huge sacrifices for us when we were children. They would have died for us.
Reasons for Hope and Joy
Although I may be coming near the end of my time as bishop - the effort of renewal and ministry continues with new and exciting developments. Recently as a diocese we decided to restore the Permanent Diaconate and to introduce dedicated catechists in some of our parishes. I am grateful to God that at this time we have seven men in our diocese preparing for the permanent diaconate. It is astonishing that in such a secular society we still have people in the world of business and in the professions willing to offer themselves as candidates for the permanent diaconate. As you know once they are ordained, deacons, they will preach the Gospel and minister at Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals. This September our first full time catechist - a young married woman will begin work in two of the largest parishes in the diocese. Catechists will help all members of the Christian community discover the richness of their faith and help them to share it with others Please pray for them. I am certain that as deacons and Catechists they will enrich the ministry of the Church in our diocese and be a real bond between priests and lay people.
Reasons for Sadness
I hope, in the light of what I have said, that you get some small idea of what my life has been like as bishop! It has been hard work every day all the way but very gratifying work. With the support and guidance of priests, religious and lay people it is truly amazing what a diocese can achieve.
Throughout the sixteen years a dark heavy cloud of regret embarrassment and shame has engulfed the Catholic Church in Ireland. Nothing deliberately designed by individuals or a group of individuals could have caused such suffering to children and could have so undermined the trust of people in their Church as the scandals of child sexual abuse by priests and religious.
Our greatest anxiety and care has to be for the victims – the children who have suffered so much hurt and pain. As Church we must never cease to express our sincere regret, our apology, our shame and our horror at what has been done to children so loved by Jesus Christ. Indeed Jesus continues to suffer in the children abused. We must do everything possible as a Church through counselling and therapy to help the healing of victims and their return to health. In every parish of the country we are putting in place policies and procedures that will prevent children from ever again being abused by bishops, priests, religious or indeed any lay people who work as volunteers with the Church. And we must do everything in our power to help with the spiritual hurts and needs of victims wherever they seek such help.
The Church Continues
Anyone who knows anything about the history of the Catholic Church knows that through the centuries the Church has been failed by popes, bishops, priests and religious. Yes all of us fail the Church from time to time because we are sinners. However through the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus continues to live in the Church and, through the Church, He continues to preach and teach to heal and forgive in our day.
The Church will survive because Christ has promised to remain with us forever. The Church was here before we came along. It will be here long after we are gone. Every generation including our own is called through prayer and care of our neighbour to help people discover Jesus in their hearts and homes and in every person they meet every day.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
- Bishop Christopher Jones is Bishop of the Diocese of Elphin. Bishop Jones was ordained a priest on 21 June 1962 and ordained bishop on this day, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, 15 August 1994. Many bishops lead their dioceses on pilgrimage to Ireland's Marian Shrine during August.
- The Diocese of Elphin includes portions of counties Roscommon, Sligo, Westmeath and Galway. The Cathedral Church for the diocese is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Sligo. The diocese has a Catholic population of about 70,000, 38 parishes and 90 Catholic Churches. The Patrons of the Diocese of Elphin are St Asicus and Immaculate Conception.
- Today the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin or the taking up of Mary into heaven. The Church has celebrated this feast since about the tenth century. Pope Pius XII proclaimed as a solemn teaching in 1950 that "the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory."
Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678
15 August 2010 | Personal reflection of a diocesan bishop by Bishop Christy Jones on the occasion of the Elphin Diocesan Pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine of Knock
I have been invited to share with you some reflections on my life as a Bishop. Of the many rich experiences I could share with you, I have decided to speak about a few: the participation of lay-people in the life of the church; reaching out to our youth; the challenges of rapid social and economic changes and our response to scandals within the church.
I feel very fortunate that as the second youngest of a family of eleven I had, as a child, been formed in a home of love, faith and prayer. I am also always grateful for the quality of education I received in Summerhill College in Sligo. Later, I embarked on discerning God’s call to priesthood in St Patrick’s College Maynooth and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Elphin. Over the years, I worked in parishes, taught in my old alma mater - Summerhill College. I also helped found and manage Sligo Social Services for many years and was administrator of the Cathedral Parish in Sligo before being appointed Bishop in 1994.
On this very day, the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, sixteen years ago, I was ordained bishop. It was a day that in a very real sense was to change my life. During the ceremony, I remember the ordaining bishop addressing me as follows:
As a father and brother love all those whom God places in your care. Love the poor and infirm, the stranger and the homeless. The title of bishop is not one of honour but of function. Therefore a bishop should strive to serve rather than rule.
Then he ended with the words:
Attend to the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit appoints you as overseer of the Church of God in the name of the Son Jesus Christ whose role of teacher, priest and shepherd you undertake and In the name of the Holy Spirit who gives life to the Church of Christ and supports our weakness with His strength.
I remember feeling truly humbled and truly unworthy at that moment. However, at the same time, I did believe that the Lord was calling me and that he would be with me all the way. That is why I chose for my motto: “Fiat Mihi”. Those words were Mary’s response to the Angel Gabrielle: “Be it done unto me according to your word”. I was saying to the Lord: “Yes, if this is your wish … but I will be trusting and depending on you to the end”.
I can honestly say sixteen years later that I have trusted in the God who called me that day, I am still trusting in Him and He has never failed me. The times when I feel fearful or worried are the times when I begin to depend on my own strength and resources. I feel fearful and worried because I know how limited I am, how selfish and indeed how weak and sinful I can be. It is then that I must return to my motto “Fiat Mihi”.
The Second Vatican Council
As I look back I can truly say that I have very happy memories of my years as bishop. I was ordained priest in June 1962 just months before the Second Vatican Council opened in Rome. Therefore the teaching of the Council has been part of my priestly life from the very beginning. My years as a priest working every day in Sligo Social Services Centre with staff and our many hundreds of volunteers gave me a great insight into the gifts, talents, goodness and competence of lay people.
The documents of Vatican II proclaimed the importance for the Church that lay people - men and women, young and old should, because of their baptism, take their rightful role and responsibility in the life of the Church. I believe in my heart that the more lay people participate in the life and ministry of the Church, the more their lives will be enriched and the more energy and dynamism they will bring to the life of the Church generally.
Participation of Laity
From my first days as bishop, with the total support of priests and religious, we endeavoured in every way to prepare the lay people of the diocese for a more active role in the life of the Church. We knew that it would be difficult to change the “mind-set” of centuries. We brought lay people and priests from other dioceses to share their experiences especially of what was succeeding. We set up a group of priests, religious and lay people to establish an office for parish development and renewal and to appoint a full time lay person as its director. A competent married lay man was chosen to head up the venture. In time, the group of people evolved into the Elphin Pastoral Planning Group and to this day they plan, monitor and support our director of Parish Development and Renewal in promoting more active participation of the laity in the life of the church.
Results
It is very difficult to measure results but thank God we now have a Parish Pastoral Council composed of laity working in collaboration with their priests in almost every parish of the diocese. We also have a restructured Diocesan Pastoral Council representative of lay people, priests and religious. In my eyes, this is the most important Council in the diocese. Chaired, by a lay woman, it is the hub of diocesan pastoral listening, planning and activity.
As I look down at our Congregation every Sunday I imagine and dream of what could be achieved if each lay person present took their rightful active part in living and promoting the mission of the Church as a herald of good news for our challenging and changing times. I know people who are praying and back again at Mass because of something a friend said to them at work.
Impact of Economic and Social Change
I have seen huge change in the faith and prayer life of our people during periods of economic boom in our country: firstly in the 1960’s and 1970’s and then in the 1990’s. It was great to see full employment and much prosperity but very rapidly things material preoccupied the minds and hearts of people. God and the good news of the Gospel was often pushed from the centre to the sidelines of life.
Many invested all of their time, effort and energy in their jobs, houses, cars etc. and took their relationships for granted. Yet life itself teaches us that our real happiness and joy comes not from things like jobs, houses or cars, however important they are, but from our happy relationships with each other and with our God. Likewise our greatest suffering and pain comes not from the loss of a job, car or house but from broken and betrayed relationships. Relationships do not happen. Parents and children must make relationships happen. They must work hard to acquire the gifts - the building blocks of all relationships - of acceptance, trust, tolerance, patience, forgiveness and love.
Our heart goes out today to individuals and families who are suffering from unemployment and huge mortgages and we must do everything in our power to help. Maybe in those difficult times our people will rediscover the importance of having time for themselves and for their God once more.
The Challenge of the Young
It truly saddens me to hear that Catholic children are coming to school today who cannot make the sign of the cross or recite any simple prayer. Some children see the inside of the Church for the first time when they come for First Communion. It saddens me also that children do not have that Sunday morning experience of the faith community at Mass in the Church, of the chat with neighbours outside the Church and the only Irish breakfast of the week afterwards. The supermarket seems to have become the place of worship for many families on a Sunday. Again we must try in every way to reach out to those parents and encourage them to take an active part in the evangelization of their children.
From my studies in sociology as a young priest, I learned how Durkheim was one of the first social scientists to carry out a scientific survey. It was on suicide. He found that in times of rapid social change people are isolated from great sources of support e.g. the local community and the family. They are left without any norms or guidelines. They find themselves in a state of “Anomie” which means a normless vacuum. I think many of our young people are in this situation. From my experience as Bishop, I can truly say that the vast majority of young people today are remarkable. They are very honest and have a great concern for justice and for the poor and especially the poor of developing nations.
They have close friends who are important to them - but if friends fail and they may not have family, community or Church support - then they may find themselves in a dark place and often do not even have the support of faith.
Bridging the Gap
Since my teaching days, I miss very much contact with young people. Sadly our current culture with its ever growing generation gaps means that today young people are rarely present where adults are gathered. Sadly commercial interests have succeeded so well in isolating youth from adults so they can target their pockets. Each year our diocese brings between eighty and one hundred wonderful young people with us on our pilgrimage to Lourdes. I always look forward to the opportunity this gives me to sit down and chat over a cup of coffee with the young people present about their lives.
Young people tell me that there, in Lourdes, they see the Church community at its best with beautiful liturgies and caring for the sick and the suffering. They also experience a sense of belonging to their peers in Lourdes, to the adult leaders and indeed to the pilgrimage community. Most of them tell me they wish to return the following year.
Our diocese has built a state of the art youth club at the centre of Sligo City. We have also established a diocesan youth office at St Mary’s, Sligo, and appointed a diocesan youth director. The ongoing challenge is for each parish to find ways and means of involving their young people in the life of the parish community, perhaps as readers in the Church, as Eucharistic Ministers, as Faith Friends, raising money for the poor at home and in the Third World.
Most Enjoyable Experience as Bishop
People often ask me what work as a Bishop I find most enjoyable. I would have to say parish visitation. It is very tiring but most rewarding. Every three years, I try to visit each parish of the diocese.
It gives me a great opportunity to meet with the local priests on their own ground. Thank God to date I have always received a warm welcome. I am always amazed at the knowledge every priest has of his parish, the people and the life story of each person. We should really celebrate and thank God for our priests who continue to minister so joyfully despite what they are suffering in these difficult dark days.
I visit the primary schools before lunch. Today they are places of joy and not of fear as they were in our day. The buildings and facilities are state of the Art and the principal and teachers obviously love the children entrusted to their care. Joy literally radiates from the eyes of the children as you talk to them. It was great to read Sarah Carey in The Irish Times last year saying that our primary schools were the envy of countries in Europe.
After lunch, I bring the Eucharist to those who are sick and housebound. Those people are not thinking about profit or property or power. It is a joy to see how they welcome Jesus into their homes and into their hearts. Your faith is really refreshed and strengthened by the experience.
It is great also to see how many families care for their sick and their aged. Some have to make huge sacrifices to keep their aged parents at home. Then of course our parents made huge sacrifices for us when we were children. They would have died for us.
Reasons for Hope and Joy
Although I may be coming near the end of my time as bishop - the effort of renewal and ministry continues with new and exciting developments. Recently as a diocese we decided to restore the Permanent Diaconate and to introduce dedicated catechists in some of our parishes. I am grateful to God that at this time we have seven men in our diocese preparing for the permanent diaconate. It is astonishing that in such a secular society we still have people in the world of business and in the professions willing to offer themselves as candidates for the permanent diaconate. As you know once they are ordained, deacons, they will preach the Gospel and minister at Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals. This September our first full time catechist - a young married woman will begin work in two of the largest parishes in the diocese. Catechists will help all members of the Christian community discover the richness of their faith and help them to share it with others Please pray for them. I am certain that as deacons and Catechists they will enrich the ministry of the Church in our diocese and be a real bond between priests and lay people.
Reasons for Sadness
I hope, in the light of what I have said, that you get some small idea of what my life has been like as bishop! It has been hard work every day all the way but very gratifying work. With the support and guidance of priests, religious and lay people it is truly amazing what a diocese can achieve.
Throughout the sixteen years a dark heavy cloud of regret embarrassment and shame has engulfed the Catholic Church in Ireland. Nothing deliberately designed by individuals or a group of individuals could have caused such suffering to children and could have so undermined the trust of people in their Church as the scandals of child sexual abuse by priests and religious.
Our greatest anxiety and care has to be for the victims – the children who have suffered so much hurt and pain. As Church we must never cease to express our sincere regret, our apology, our shame and our horror at what has been done to children so loved by Jesus Christ. Indeed Jesus continues to suffer in the children abused. We must do everything possible as a Church through counselling and therapy to help the healing of victims and their return to health. In every parish of the country we are putting in place policies and procedures that will prevent children from ever again being abused by bishops, priests, religious or indeed any lay people who work as volunteers with the Church. And we must do everything in our power to help with the spiritual hurts and needs of victims wherever they seek such help.
The Church Continues
Anyone who knows anything about the history of the Catholic Church knows that through the centuries the Church has been failed by popes, bishops, priests and religious. Yes all of us fail the Church from time to time because we are sinners. However through the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus continues to live in the Church and, through the Church, He continues to preach and teach to heal and forgive in our day.
The Church will survive because Christ has promised to remain with us forever. The Church was here before we came along. It will be here long after we are gone. Every generation including our own is called through prayer and care of our neighbour to help people discover Jesus in their hearts and homes and in every person they meet every day.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
- Bishop Christopher Jones is Bishop of the Diocese of Elphin. Bishop Jones was ordained a priest on 21 June 1962 and ordained bishop on this day, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, 15 August 1994. Many bishops lead their dioceses on pilgrimage to Ireland's Marian Shrine during August.
- The Diocese of Elphin includes portions of counties Roscommon, Sligo, Westmeath and Galway. The Cathedral Church for the diocese is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Sligo. The diocese has a Catholic population of about 70,000, 38 parishes and 90 Catholic Churches. The Patrons of the Diocese of Elphin are St Asicus and Immaculate Conception.
- Today the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin or the taking up of Mary into heaven. The Church has celebrated this feast since about the tenth century. Pope Pius XII proclaimed as a solemn teaching in 1950 that "the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory."
Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678
15 August 2010 | Personal reflection of a diocesan bishop by Bishop Christy Jones on the occasion of the Elphin Diocesan Pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine of Knock
I have been invited to share with you some reflections on my life as a Bishop. Of the many rich experiences I could share with you, I have decided to speak about a few: the participation of lay-people in the life of the church; reaching out to our youth; the challenges of rapid social and economic changes and our response to scandals within the church.
I feel very fortunate that as the second youngest of a family of eleven I had, as a child, been formed in a home of love, faith and prayer. I am also always grateful for the quality of education I received in Summerhill College in Sligo. Later, I embarked on discerning God’s call to priesthood in St Patrick’s College Maynooth and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Elphin. Over the years, I worked in parishes, taught in my old alma mater - Summerhill College. I also helped found and manage Sligo Social Services for many years and was administrator of the Cathedral Parish in Sligo before being appointed Bishop in 1994.
On this very day, the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, sixteen years ago, I was ordained bishop. It was a day that in a very real sense was to change my life. During the ceremony, I remember the ordaining bishop addressing me as follows:
As a father and brother love all those whom God places in your care. Love the poor and infirm, the stranger and the homeless. The title of bishop is not one of honour but of function. Therefore a bishop should strive to serve rather than rule.
Then he ended with the words:
Attend to the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit appoints you as overseer of the Church of God in the name of the Son Jesus Christ whose role of teacher, priest and shepherd you undertake and In the name of the Holy Spirit who gives life to the Church of Christ and supports our weakness with His strength.
I remember feeling truly humbled and truly unworthy at that moment. However, at the same time, I did believe that the Lord was calling me and that he would be with me all the way. That is why I chose for my motto: “Fiat Mihi”. Those words were Mary’s response to the Angel Gabrielle: “Be it done unto me according to your word”. I was saying to the Lord: “Yes, if this is your wish … but I will be trusting and depending on you to the end”.
I can honestly say sixteen years later that I have trusted in the God who called me that day, I am still trusting in Him and He has never failed me. The times when I feel fearful or worried are the times when I begin to depend on my own strength and resources. I feel fearful and worried because I know how limited I am, how selfish and indeed how weak and sinful I can be. It is then that I must return to my motto “Fiat Mihi”.
The Second Vatican Council
As I look back I can truly say that I have very happy memories of my years as bishop. I was ordained priest in June 1962 just months before the Second Vatican Council opened in Rome. Therefore the teaching of the Council has been part of my priestly life from the very beginning. My years as a priest working every day in Sligo Social Services Centre with staff and our many hundreds of volunteers gave me a great insight into the gifts, talents, goodness and competence of lay people.
The documents of Vatican II proclaimed the importance for the Church that lay people - men and women, young and old should, because of their baptism, take their rightful role and responsibility in the life of the Church. I believe in my heart that the more lay people participate in the life and ministry of the Church, the more their lives will be enriched and the more energy and dynamism they will bring to the life of the Church generally.
Participation of Laity
From my first days as bishop, with the total support of priests and religious, we endeavoured in every way to prepare the lay people of the diocese for a more active role in the life of the Church. We knew that it would be difficult to change the “mind-set” of centuries. We brought lay people and priests from other dioceses to share their experiences especially of what was succeeding. We set up a group of priests, religious and lay people to establish an office for parish development and renewal and to appoint a full time lay person as its director. A competent married lay man was chosen to head up the venture. In time, the group of people evolved into the Elphin Pastoral Planning Group and to this day they plan, monitor and support our director of Parish Development and Renewal in promoting more active participation of the laity in the life of the church.
Results
It is very difficult to measure results but thank God we now have a Parish Pastoral Council composed of laity working in collaboration with their priests in almost every parish of the diocese. We also have a restructured Diocesan Pastoral Council representative of lay people, priests and religious. In my eyes, this is the most important Council in the diocese. Chaired, by a lay woman, it is the hub of diocesan pastoral listening, planning and activity.
As I look down at our Congregation every Sunday I imagine and dream of what could be achieved if each lay person present took their rightful active part in living and promoting the mission of the Church as a herald of good news for our challenging and changing times. I know people who are praying and back again at Mass because of something a friend said to them at work.
Impact of Economic and Social Change
I have seen huge change in the faith and prayer life of our people during periods of economic boom in our country: firstly in the 1960’s and 1970’s and then in the 1990’s. It was great to see full employment and much prosperity but very rapidly things material preoccupied the minds and hearts of people. God and the good news of the Gospel was often pushed from the centre to the sidelines of life.
Many invested all of their time, effort and energy in their jobs, houses, cars etc. and took their relationships for granted. Yet life itself teaches us that our real happiness and joy comes not from things like jobs, houses or cars, however important they are, but from our happy relationships with each other and with our God. Likewise our greatest suffering and pain comes not from the loss of a job, car or house but from broken and betrayed relationships. Relationships do not happen. Parents and children must make relationships happen. They must work hard to acquire the gifts - the building blocks of all relationships - of acceptance, trust, tolerance, patience, forgiveness and love.
Our heart goes out today to individuals and families who are suffering from unemployment and huge mortgages and we must do everything in our power to help. Maybe in those difficult times our people will rediscover the importance of having time for themselves and for their God once more.
The Challenge of the Young
It truly saddens me to hear that Catholic children are coming to school today who cannot make the sign of the cross or recite any simple prayer. Some children see the inside of the Church for the first time when they come for First Communion. It saddens me also that children do not have that Sunday morning experience of the faith community at Mass in the Church, of the chat with neighbours outside the Church and the only Irish breakfast of the week afterwards. The supermarket seems to have become the place of worship for many families on a Sunday. Again we must try in every way to reach out to those parents and encourage them to take an active part in the evangelization of their children.
From my studies in sociology as a young priest, I learned how Durkheim was one of the first social scientists to carry out a scientific survey. It was on suicide. He found that in times of rapid social change people are isolated from great sources of support e.g. the local community and the family. They are left without any norms or guidelines. They find themselves in a state of “Anomie” which means a normless vacuum. I think many of our young people are in this situation. From my experience as Bishop, I can truly say that the vast majority of young people today are remarkable. They are very honest and have a great concern for justice and for the poor and especially the poor of developing nations.
They have close friends who are important to them - but if friends fail and they may not have family, community or Church support - then they may find themselves in a dark place and often do not even have the support of faith.
Bridging the Gap
Since my teaching days, I miss very much contact with young people. Sadly our current culture with its ever growing generation gaps means that today young people are rarely present where adults are gathered. Sadly commercial interests have succeeded so well in isolating youth from adults so they can target their pockets. Each year our diocese brings between eighty and one hundred wonderful young people with us on our pilgrimage to Lourdes. I always look forward to the opportunity this gives me to sit down and chat over a cup of coffee with the young people present about their lives.
Young people tell me that there, in Lourdes, they see the Church community at its best with beautiful liturgies and caring for the sick and the suffering. They also experience a sense of belonging to their peers in Lourdes, to the adult leaders and indeed to the pilgrimage community. Most of them tell me they wish to return the following year.
Our diocese has built a state of the art youth club at the centre of Sligo City. We have also established a diocesan youth office at St Mary’s, Sligo, and appointed a diocesan youth director. The ongoing challenge is for each parish to find ways and means of involving their young people in the life of the parish community, perhaps as readers in the Church, as Eucharistic Ministers, as Faith Friends, raising money for the poor at home and in the Third World.
Most Enjoyable Experience as Bishop
People often ask me what work as a Bishop I find most enjoyable. I would have to say parish visitation. It is very tiring but most rewarding. Every three years, I try to visit each parish of the diocese.
It gives me a great opportunity to meet with the local priests on their own ground. Thank God to date I have always received a warm welcome. I am always amazed at the knowledge every priest has of his parish, the people and the life story of each person. We should really celebrate and thank God for our priests who continue to minister so joyfully despite what they are suffering in these difficult dark days.
I visit the primary schools before lunch. Today they are places of joy and not of fear as they were in our day. The buildings and facilities are state of the Art and the principal and teachers obviously love the children entrusted to their care. Joy literally radiates from the eyes of the children as you talk to them. It was great to read Sarah Carey in The Irish Times last year saying that our primary schools were the envy of countries in Europe.
After lunch, I bring the Eucharist to those who are sick and housebound. Those people are not thinking about profit or property or power. It is a joy to see how they welcome Jesus into their homes and into their hearts. Your faith is really refreshed and strengthened by the experience.
It is great also to see how many families care for their sick and their aged. Some have to make huge sacrifices to keep their aged parents at home. Then of course our parents made huge sacrifices for us when we were children. They would have died for us.
Reasons for Hope and Joy
Although I may be coming near the end of my time as bishop - the effort of renewal and ministry continues with new and exciting developments. Recently as a diocese we decided to restore the Permanent Diaconate and to introduce dedicated catechists in some of our parishes. I am grateful to God that at this time we have seven men in our diocese preparing for the permanent diaconate. It is astonishing that in such a secular society we still have people in the world of business and in the professions willing to offer themselves as candidates for the permanent diaconate. As you know once they are ordained, deacons, they will preach the Gospel and minister at Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals. This September our first full time catechist - a young married woman will begin work in two of the largest parishes in the diocese. Catechists will help all members of the Christian community discover the richness of their faith and help them to share it with others Please pray for them. I am certain that as deacons and Catechists they will enrich the ministry of the Church in our diocese and be a real bond between priests and lay people.
Reasons for Sadness
I hope, in the light of what I have said, that you get some small idea of what my life has been like as bishop! It has been hard work every day all the way but very gratifying work. With the support and guidance of priests, religious and lay people it is truly amazing what a diocese can achieve.
Throughout the sixteen years a dark heavy cloud of regret embarrassment and shame has engulfed the Catholic Church in Ireland. Nothing deliberately designed by individuals or a group of individuals could have caused such suffering to children and could have so undermined the trust of people in their Church as the scandals of child sexual abuse by priests and religious.
Our greatest anxiety and care has to be for the victims – the children who have suffered so much hurt and pain. As Church we must never cease to express our sincere regret, our apology, our shame and our horror at what has been done to children so loved by Jesus Christ. Indeed Jesus continues to suffer in the children abused. We must do everything possible as a Church through counselling and therapy to help the healing of victims and their return to health. In every parish of the country we are putting in place policies and procedures that will prevent children from ever again being abused by bishops, priests, religious or indeed any lay people who work as volunteers with the Church. And we must do everything in our power to help with the spiritual hurts and needs of victims wherever they seek such help.
The Church Continues
Anyone who knows anything about the history of the Catholic Church knows that through the centuries the Church has been failed by popes, bishops, priests and religious. Yes all of us fail the Church from time to time because we are sinners. However through the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus continues to live in the Church and, through the Church, He continues to preach and teach to heal and forgive in our day.
The Church will survive because Christ has promised to remain with us forever. The Church was here before we came along. It will be here long after we are gone. Every generation including our own is called through prayer and care of our neighbour to help people discover Jesus in their hearts and homes and in every person they meet every day.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
- Bishop Christopher Jones is Bishop of the Diocese of Elphin. Bishop Jones was ordained a priest on 21 June 1962 and ordained bishop on this day, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, 15 August 1994. Many bishops lead their dioceses on pilgrimage to Ireland's Marian Shrine during August.
- The Diocese of Elphin includes portions of counties Roscommon, Sligo, Westmeath and Galway. The Cathedral Church for the diocese is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Sligo. The diocese has a Catholic population of about 70,000, 38 parishes and 90 Catholic Churches. The Patrons of the Diocese of Elphin are St Asicus and Immaculate Conception.
- Today the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin or the taking up of Mary into heaven. The Church has celebrated this feast since about the tenth century. Pope Pius XII proclaimed as a solemn teaching in 1950 that "the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory."
Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678
15 August 2010 | Personal reflection of a diocesan bishop by Bishop Christy Jones on the occasion of the Elphin Diocesan Pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine of Knock
I have been invited to share with you some reflections on my life as a Bishop. Of the many rich experiences I could share with you, I have decided to speak about a few: the participation of lay-people in the life of the church; reaching out to our youth; the challenges of rapid social and economic changes and our response to scandals within the church.
I feel very fortunate that as the second youngest of a family of eleven I had, as a child, been formed in a home of love, faith and prayer. I am also always grateful for the quality of education I received in Summerhill College in Sligo. Later, I embarked on discerning God’s call to priesthood in St Patrick’s College Maynooth and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Elphin. Over the years, I worked in parishes, taught in my old alma mater - Summerhill College. I also helped found and manage Sligo Social Services for many years and was administrator of the Cathedral Parish in Sligo before being appointed Bishop in 1994.
On this very day, the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, sixteen years ago, I was ordained bishop. It was a day that in a very real sense was to change my life. During the ceremony, I remember the ordaining bishop addressing me as follows:
As a father and brother love all those whom God places in your care. Love the poor and infirm, the stranger and the homeless. The title of bishop is not one of honour but of function. Therefore a bishop should strive to serve rather than rule.
Then he ended with the words:
Attend to the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit appoints you as overseer of the Church of God in the name of the Son Jesus Christ whose role of teacher, priest and shepherd you undertake and In the name of the Holy Spirit who gives life to the Church of Christ and supports our weakness with His strength.
I remember feeling truly humbled and truly unworthy at that moment. However, at the same time, I did believe that the Lord was calling me and that he would be with me all the way. That is why I chose for my motto: “Fiat Mihi”. Those words were Mary’s response to the Angel Gabrielle: “Be it done unto me according to your word”. I was saying to the Lord: “Yes, if this is your wish … but I will be trusting and depending on you to the end”.
I can honestly say sixteen years later that I have trusted in the God who called me that day, I am still trusting in Him and He has never failed me. The times when I feel fearful or worried are the times when I begin to depend on my own strength and resources. I feel fearful and worried because I know how limited I am, how selfish and indeed how weak and sinful I can be. It is then that I must return to my motto “Fiat Mihi”.
The Second Vatican Council
As I look back I can truly say that I have very happy memories of my years as bishop. I was ordained priest in June 1962 just months before the Second Vatican Council opened in Rome. Therefore the teaching of the Council has been part of my priestly life from the very beginning. My years as a priest working every day in Sligo Social Services Centre with staff and our many hundreds of volunteers gave me a great insight into the gifts, talents, goodness and competence of lay people.
The documents of Vatican II proclaimed the importance for the Church that lay people - men and women, young and old should, because of their baptism, take their rightful role and responsibility in the life of the Church. I believe in my heart that the more lay people participate in the life and ministry of the Church, the more their lives will be enriched and the more energy and dynamism they will bring to the life of the Church generally.
Participation of Laity
From my first days as bishop, with the total support of priests and religious, we endeavoured in every way to prepare the lay people of the diocese for a more active role in the life of the Church. We knew that it would be difficult to change the “mind-set” of centuries. We brought lay people and priests from other dioceses to share their experiences especially of what was succeeding. We set up a group of priests, religious and lay people to establish an office for parish development and renewal and to appoint a full time lay person as its director. A competent married lay man was chosen to head up the venture. In time, the group of people evolved into the Elphin Pastoral Planning Group and to this day they plan, monitor and support our director of Parish Development and Renewal in promoting more active participation of the laity in the life of the church.
Results
It is very difficult to measure results but thank God we now have a Parish Pastoral Council composed of laity working in collaboration with their priests in almost every parish of the diocese. We also have a restructured Diocesan Pastoral Council representative of lay people, priests and religious. In my eyes, this is the most important Council in the diocese. Chaired, by a lay woman, it is the hub of diocesan pastoral listening, planning and activity.
As I look down at our Congregation every Sunday I imagine and dream of what could be achieved if each lay person present took their rightful active part in living and promoting the mission of the Church as a herald of good news for our challenging and changing times. I know people who are praying and back again at Mass because of something a friend said to them at work.
Impact of Economic and Social Change
I have seen huge change in the faith and prayer life of our people during periods of economic boom in our country: firstly in the 1960’s and 1970’s and then in the 1990’s. It was great to see full employment and much prosperity but very rapidly things material preoccupied the minds and hearts of people. God and the good news of the Gospel was often pushed from the centre to the sidelines of life.
Many invested all of their time, effort and energy in their jobs, houses, cars etc. and took their relationships for granted. Yet life itself teaches us that our real happiness and joy comes not from things like jobs, houses or cars, however important they are, but from our happy relationships with each other and with our God. Likewise our greatest suffering and pain comes not from the loss of a job, car or house but from broken and betrayed relationships. Relationships do not happen. Parents and children must make relationships happen. They must work hard to acquire the gifts - the building blocks of all relationships - of acceptance, trust, tolerance, patience, forgiveness and love.
Our heart goes out today to individuals and families who are suffering from unemployment and huge mortgages and we must do everything in our power to help. Maybe in those difficult times our people will rediscover the importance of having time for themselves and for their God once more.
The Challenge of the Young
It truly saddens me to hear that Catholic children are coming to school today who cannot make the sign of the cross or recite any simple prayer. Some children see the inside of the Church for the first time when they come for First Communion. It saddens me also that children do not have that Sunday morning experience of the faith community at Mass in the Church, of the chat with neighbours outside the Church and the only Irish breakfast of the week afterwards. The supermarket seems to have become the place of worship for many families on a Sunday. Again we must try in every way to reach out to those parents and encourage them to take an active part in the evangelization of their children.
From my studies in sociology as a young priest, I learned how Durkheim was one of the first social scientists to carry out a scientific survey. It was on suicide. He found that in times of rapid social change people are isolated from great sources of support e.g. the local community and the family. They are left without any norms or guidelines. They find themselves in a state of “Anomie” which means a normless vacuum. I think many of our young people are in this situation. From my experience as Bishop, I can truly say that the vast majority of young people today are remarkable. They are very honest and have a great concern for justice and for the poor and especially the poor of developing nations.
They have close friends who are important to them - but if friends fail and they may not have family, community or Church support - then they may find themselves in a dark place and often do not even have the support of faith.
Bridging the Gap
Since my teaching days, I miss very much contact with young people. Sadly our current culture with its ever growing generation gaps means that today young people are rarely present where adults are gathered. Sadly commercial interests have succeeded so well in isolating youth from adults so they can target their pockets. Each year our diocese brings between eighty and one hundred wonderful young people with us on our pilgrimage to Lourdes. I always look forward to the opportunity this gives me to sit down and chat over a cup of coffee with the young people present about their lives.
Young people tell me that there, in Lourdes, they see the Church community at its best with beautiful liturgies and caring for the sick and the suffering. They also experience a sense of belonging to their peers in Lourdes, to the adult leaders and indeed to the pilgrimage community. Most of them tell me they wish to return the following year.
Our diocese has built a state of the art youth club at the centre of Sligo City. We have also established a diocesan youth office at St Mary’s, Sligo, and appointed a diocesan youth director. The ongoing challenge is for each parish to find ways and means of involving their young people in the life of the parish community, perhaps as readers in the Church, as Eucharistic Ministers, as Faith Friends, raising money for the poor at home and in the Third World.
Most Enjoyable Experience as Bishop
People often ask me what work as a Bishop I find most enjoyable. I would have to say parish visitation. It is very tiring but most rewarding. Every three years, I try to visit each parish of the diocese.
It gives me a great opportunity to meet with the local priests on their own ground. Thank God to date I have always received a warm welcome. I am always amazed at the knowledge every priest has of his parish, the people and the life story of each person. We should really celebrate and thank God for our priests who continue to minister so joyfully despite what they are suffering in these difficult dark days.
I visit the primary schools before lunch. Today they are places of joy and not of fear as they were in our day. The buildings and facilities are state of the Art and the principal and teachers obviously love the children entrusted to their care. Joy literally radiates from the eyes of the children as you talk to them. It was great to read Sarah Carey in The Irish Times last year saying that our primary schools were the envy of countries in Europe.
After lunch, I bring the Eucharist to those who are sick and housebound. Those people are not thinking about profit or property or power. It is a joy to see how they welcome Jesus into their homes and into their hearts. Your faith is really refreshed and strengthened by the experience.
It is great also to see how many families care for their sick and their aged. Some have to make huge sacrifices to keep their aged parents at home. Then of course our parents made huge sacrifices for us when we were children. They would have died for us.
Reasons for Hope and Joy
Although I may be coming near the end of my time as bishop - the effort of renewal and ministry continues with new and exciting developments. Recently as a diocese we decided to restore the Permanent Diaconate and to introduce dedicated catechists in some of our parishes. I am grateful to God that at this time we have seven men in our diocese preparing for the permanent diaconate. It is astonishing that in such a secular society we still have people in the world of business and in the professions willing to offer themselves as candidates for the permanent diaconate. As you know once they are ordained, deacons, they will preach the Gospel and minister at Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals. This September our first full time catechist - a young married woman will begin work in two of the largest parishes in the diocese. Catechists will help all members of the Christian community discover the richness of their faith and help them to share it with others Please pray for them. I am certain that as deacons and Catechists they will enrich the ministry of the Church in our diocese and be a real bond between priests and lay people.
Reasons for Sadness
I hope, in the light of what I have said, that you get some small idea of what my life has been like as bishop! It has been hard work every day all the way but very gratifying work. With the support and guidance of priests, religious and lay people it is truly amazing what a diocese can achieve.
Throughout the sixteen years a dark heavy cloud of regret embarrassment and shame has engulfed the Catholic Church in Ireland. Nothing deliberately designed by individuals or a group of individuals could have caused such suffering to children and could have so undermined the trust of people in their Church as the scandals of child sexual abuse by priests and religious.
Our greatest anxiety and care has to be for the victims – the children who have suffered so much hurt and pain. As Church we must never cease to express our sincere regret, our apology, our shame and our horror at what has been done to children so loved by Jesus Christ. Indeed Jesus continues to suffer in the children abused. We must do everything possible as a Church through counselling and therapy to help the healing of victims and their return to health. In every parish of the country we are putting in place policies and procedures that will prevent children from ever again being abused by bishops, priests, religious or indeed any lay people who work as volunteers with the Church. And we must do everything in our power to help with the spiritual hurts and needs of victims wherever they seek such help.
The Church Continues
Anyone who knows anything about the history of the Catholic Church knows that through the centuries the Church has been failed by popes, bishops, priests and religious. Yes all of us fail the Church from time to time because we are sinners. However through the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus continues to live in the Church and, through the Church, He continues to preach and teach to heal and forgive in our day.
The Church will survive because Christ has promised to remain with us forever. The Church was here before we came along. It will be here long after we are gone. Every generation including our own is called through prayer and care of our neighbour to help people discover Jesus in their hearts and homes and in every person they meet every day.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
- Bishop Christopher Jones is Bishop of the Diocese of Elphin. Bishop Jones was ordained a priest on 21 June 1962 and ordained bishop on this day, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, 15 August 1994. Many bishops lead their dioceses on pilgrimage to Ireland's Marian Shrine during August.
- The Diocese of Elphin includes portions of counties Roscommon, Sligo, Westmeath and Galway. The Cathedral Church for the diocese is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Sligo. The diocese has a Catholic population of about 70,000, 38 parishes and 90 Catholic Churches. The Patrons of the Diocese of Elphin are St Asicus and Immaculate Conception.
- Today the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin or the taking up of Mary into heaven. The Church has celebrated this feast since about the tenth century. Pope Pius XII proclaimed as a solemn teaching in 1950 that "the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory."
Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678