This coming weekend hundreds of delegates will arrive in Armagh for our Diocesan Congress on the theme of Youth, Family and Faith.
Over the past five years we’ve been preparing for the Congress by praying and reflecting together about how the best ways to support parishes and families in living and sharing the faith, especially with our young people.
Before long, Patrick had the courage to share with others how much his faith in God meant to him. After six years in slavery, God helped him escape home to his family who wanted him never to leave them again. But after one night in a dream he heard the ‘voice of the Irish’ calling him: ‘Come back, holy youth, and walk among us once more.’
Patrick did return to Ireland, years later, as a missionary bishop. He concentrated his efforts on baptising and confirming thousands of people for Christ, and ordaining and consecrating others to help him spread the Good News.
Right above me, high up in the chancel arch of the Cathedral here in Armagh, you can see a mosaic of Saint Patrick baptising King Aongus of Cashel, and here in the south transept, and down in the baptistery, stained glass windows and mosaics show Saint Patrick baptising two young Celtic princesses, Ethna the fair and Fedelm the Red.
For Patrick, baptism was not just a once-off event; it was the gateway to a personal journey of faith and friendship with God. That’s the message we are bringing this weekend to our Congress on Youth, Family and Faith. I am praying that Saint Patrick will guide and bless our Congress. Sixty per cent of the participants will be under the age of thirty-five, and I believe Saint Patrick understands their struggles and questions.
New research tells us that young adults in Ireland are becoming more curious and searching for faith. Many young people are struggling to find hope nowadays. They seek nourishment for their interior lives, their well-being and mental health. I met young people recently who spoke of the emptiness they are feeling in this fragile and troubled world, which on the one hand celebrates advances in technology and artificial intelligence, while at the same time it seems to be tearing itself apart through war and aggression and the killing and displacement of innocent civilians and families.
Our families and young people have to navigate a complex world where good and evil – like the wheat and the darnel of today’s Gospel story – exist and grow alongside one another. We cannot insulate ourselves from the world in some kind of ‘cocoon’ of faith. In the second reading, Saint Paul tells his young friend Timothy, to “be careful” because people, “seem avid for the latest novelty and collect themselves a whole series of teachers according to their own tastes”, rather than listening to the truth. He advises Timothy to “refute falsehood” to “be brave under trials”; to “choose the right course” and make the preaching of the Good News your life’s work”.
Such “sound teaching” is more important today, than ever. Our country and our troubled world need us to be like Saint Patrick, strong witnesses of Peace, Faith, Hope and Love.
I am delighted that Pope Leo XIV has sent us a special message for our Diocesan Congress. He encourages our young people to “discover Jesus as a true friend”, and “to open their hearts to the real and lasting love of God, upon which they can build their lives without fear of failure or disappointment”.
Pope Leo also trusts our Congress will, “seek concrete ways to strengthen the ties between parish and family life”, so that we can build each other up, and truly contribute “to a stable and life-giving culture.”
In this way, Pope Leo says our Congress can help “rekindle the flame of faith once ignited by Saint Patrick so many centuries ago.”
Let’s pray for that!