THE COMING years will be crucial for the Catholic Church in Dublin, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has said.
In
a homily at the Chrism Mass in Dublin’s Pro Cathedral Thursday, the
archbishop warned against clericalism, which can “deviate” priests from
their true ministry, and he apologised for his own “inadequacies as a
pastoral leader”.
Dr Martin said: “It is not a platitude to say
that the coming years will be among the most crucial years in recent
history regarding the life of the church in Dublin and regarding
transmission of the faith to future generations.
“We live in what,
I believe, will be probably the most challenging years that the church
will have encountered for many generations. The future will bring new
difficulties. But these are exciting years. The Lord has called all of
us here today to live our Christian life and to build up the church of
Christ at this moment and not in imaginary better days.”
At a Mass
traditionally attended by most priests in the archdiocese, he said:
“Priestly ministry is not a call to prestige or privilege . . . When we
affirm the theological distinction between ministerial priesthood and
the common priesthood of Gods holy people, we are not affirming a
position of social status or difference. That would be clericalism.”
He
added: “We know just how such clericalism can deviate us from our true
ministry. And clericalism has many forms. Clericalism is not about
clerical dress or what we might call traditionalism. We can be clerical
in the wrong sense whatever way we dress, in whatever role or rank or
responsibility we are called to.”
The primate was also “acutely
aware of my own lacks and inadequacies. I apologise to anyone whom I may
have offended personally in this year and to those who have expected
more from me. I know, however, that my inadequacies as a pastoral leader
are made up for a hundredfold by the goodness and love of the community
of faith which I am called to lead.”
He said he was aware that “the
challenges that we as Catholic Christians face are the same challenges
that other Christian communities face also. All Christians must learn to
work together.”
He issued a “word of welcome” to the new Church
of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Michael Jackson.
“His predecessor,
Archbishop John Neill, showed himself to be a real Christian support to
me personally and I look forward to working with and learning from
Archbishop Jackson.”
Archbishop Jackson had accepted his
invitation to lead a Liturgy of the Word during the
Eucharistic Congress
in Dublin next year, he said.
The congress could “become a moment of
real renewal in the life of the church in Dublin and a true celebration
of what the church authentically is and should be.”
The theme of
the Eucharistic Congress would stress “the unity between our communion
with Christ and our communion with each other. There is no way we can
separate one from the other. Holy Communion is never just something for
ourselves. In the Eucharist we ‘become one body and one spirit in
Christ’,” he said.
In a homily at the Chrism Mass in St Peter’s in
Rome yesterday, Pope Benedict asked if Christians had become “a people
of unbelief and distance from God”.
“Is it perhaps the case that
the West, the heartlands of Christianity, are tired of their faith,
bored by their history and culture, and no longer wish to know faith in
Jesus Christ?” the pontiff asked.