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Diocesan Assembly - Reflection by Bishop Francis Duffy
24/Nov/2019
The
following is the address given by Bishop Francis Duffy at our second
preparatory session for the upcoming Diocesan Assembly in May 2020
Good
morning everyone. Our process of listening and discerning is a very exciting
one for our local Church, in this diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois.
In
2010 Pope Benedict XVI wrote "What the Church proclaims to the world is
the Word of Hope; in order to be able to live fully each moment, men and women
need 'the great hope' which is "the God who possesses a human face and who
has loved us to the end". Pope Benedict XVI always has very rich images of
God, "the God who possesses a human face and who has loved us to the
end". Beautiful. He went on to say "This is why the Church is
missionary by her very nature. We cannot keep to ourselves the words of eternal
life given to us in our encounter with Jesus Christ: they are meant for
everyone, for every man and woman". (Verbum Domini 91). The Synod on the
Word of God (2010), about which Pope
Benedict
is writing, made the point "the mission of proclaiming the word of God is
the task of all of the disciples of Jesus Christ based on their Baptism".
(Verbum Domini 94).
What
you have been doing over the past few weeks is putting your role as Baptised
people into practice in a particular way, reflecting on life and on faith now,
as they are, and also looking to the future. In his homily at the Mass opening
the synod on the Amazon last month (October 2019), Pope Francis said that our
gift of faith, this burning love for God and for our brothers and sisters, has
to be constantly rekindled. He said, "Jesus did not come to bring a gentle
evening breeze, but to light a fire on the earth". At this time of change
for our Church, it is tempting to stand still and stand firm and to do nothing
else. For the Church in Ireland these are times of rapid change. We look
inwards, an exciting but also a difficult thing to do, not least because it
could preoccupy us, but we do so in order to look outwards again with a
refreshed vision of faith. Pope Francis said in that same homily of last month
"For the Church is always on the move, always going out and never
withdrawn into itself'.
Our
beautiful Assembly Prayer captures many of the sentiments expressed in the
submissions: courage, joy and hope, fears, hurt and pain, tears and anger,
safety, freedom and feeling at home; it is a prayer from the heart and for the
heart, very much in tune with reality.
This
diocese is a local church where the Good News was announced for countless
generations' right back to the 5th century. We may well be the first generation
of believers in this ancient heartland that has carried out such an extensive
listening to the realities of experience, the context in which faith is lived,
and then look to how we can stoke that fire of faith in our hearts and in our
families and in the parishes of our diocese.
The
Church has had significant failures and dark periods throughout history. In our
own time those failures have been profound, acute and criminal. The Church also
has had periods of immense care for people and rich, deep transmitting of the
good news throughout history. In our own time these good works include
compassionate and life changing acts of mercy that rekindle hope, and help
people move again from darkness to light, and from fear to hope in the Risen
Christ.
The
experience so far has shown that people are truly engaged and very concerned
for the future of the Catholic Church, the community of believers. Reflecting on
this has led me to ask questions about one key aspect, what is the purpose of
having an organisation called the Catholic Church? What is at the centre of the
Church, at the very core of all we do in this ancient institution, at the
centre of what we do as a diocese, at the centre of what we do as a parish
community? What is at the heart of being a Catholic? The answer is Jesus;
Jesus, Son of God, he has to be at the core. After all, it was Jesus who gave
this structure to his apostles to spread the news of his message from God. It
was to this new community that he promised the Holy Spirit to help, guide and
inspire them. The Church is the Body of Christ and the People of God and we are
its members.
Jesus
is at the very heart of this worldwide community of believers, with its
multiple cultures, and languages. The significant things we do as Catholics
focus on Jesus and draw us towards him. The Holy Mass is about making time to
worship Jesus Christ, our Saviour, asking his forgiveness, thanking him and praying
to him, receiving his living Word in scripture, receiving his real body and
blood in Eucharist, bringing peace and hope. Our private and public prayer is
to Jesus. Our other sacraments are recognising his presence with us at key
moments, the joy of new life, at times of forgiveness, embarking into young
adulthood, marriage, sickness and death. Jesus is at the centre, the source of
hope, the source of joy and of meaning, the source of challenge and
inspiration. It is a two way loving journey, our path to God and God's path to
us.
Our
mission as baptised people is to proclaim the gospel, the Good News, of Jesus
Christ. The 'Good News' of Jesus Christ is mysterious and yet attractive,
challenging and consoling. We do so in the way we live with others, within our
environment and in our worshipping communities.
God
continually invites us to get to know him; many here have expressed a desire to
get to know more about him, in prayer, in knowledge of his life and of his
living word as found in scripture and in the very rich teachings of the
Catholic Church. Knowing more about God is part of the sense of mission that is
identified from the listening process and it is also part of building capacity
for that mission. May the Holy Spirit continue to guide us on our journey of
discernment and planning.
Francis
Duffy
Bishop
of Ardagh and Clonmacnois 23' November 2019