Category: Fr Rory Writes

“Unless a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies it remains a single grain”. But when the most special grain of all fell  upon the ground, so this Sunday with all our hopes coming alive again we join once more with the crowd, when on that most special of occasions of all when Jesus entered into Jerusalem triumphant, but humble riding on a donkey. The plot was set for the most important occasion of all. It commences the process that will end with his crucifixion and death, giving rise to an early awareness beginning to grow among his closest disciples that this was far from the end of the story.

As we take part this week in these sacred events, it is with a great desire to do our best, but above all that we too will become parts of the fruit that will last, and that we will bring life to our Parish and all our communities.

“Holy Week is on our doorsteps”

Please God, we are now ready and looking forward to celebrating this most important event.  Salvation that has come from on High.  The Son of man, Jesus; who is also God’s only Son; intervened in our lives for the sake of our salvation.  The cost was high, revealed to us by the way to calvary.  The station of the cross helps us to give our careful attention to Jesus, so that we can with the help of the Holy Spirit transform our lives.

For me the pandemic; now this dreadful war among wars reveals an unavoidable fact … the realms of evil.  Unfortunately much of my faith is a response to this hard fact.   We begin each year, highlighted by lighting the first advent candle, the candle of “hope”.  This has opened my eyes greatly to the value of “the celebration” of mass.  During this last couple of years I have found it remarkably helpful. 

We had the severest lockdown and on occasions celebrating mass on my own.  The immense peace when celebrating the sign of peace.  We are very blessed by our two churches because they present a remarkable sense of peace.  We must do our best, our very best that our churches will continue to remain open, and blessed with loving communities of faith.  I am fearful that not all our churches in the diocese will survive.  Bishop Richard brought this to our attention at the very beginning of his ministry, when he introduced an immense consultation “with the focus on our diocese and our churches; what life in the church will be in 2030”.  This was because of the age profile of the clergy, and the first focus was how the ministry of our priesthood would be like in 2024.  Now the implications at this present time are sobering, especially if we place the emphasis upon the number of priests; and what they can do.

What we can do – Our response to the Synod maybe very helpful in this. 

What we must do, helped through the Liturgy to well celebrate the events of our faith.  Let us begin with “Palm Sunday” truly embracing that moment when Jesus entered Jerusalem, triumphant and riding on a donkey.  In our seminary a very inspiring priest who highlighted this event from scripture “if our hearts are that hard and we do not respond, then the rocks and the trees will cry out with gratitude”.  The procession should have great importance.

At Easter we celebrate the waters of baptism, in which we are washed and made clean.   Sacramentals in the life of the church bring to our attention the grace of the sacraments that we receive and re-establish the greatness of God’s grace.  The custom of having Holy Water in the house and in cars, a sign of the importance of God’s grace in all our lives and activities.  It highlighted also the need for God’s protection.

In preparation for Christmas and Easter the priests spent hours in the confessional.  The sacrament is true and can be very fruitful.  Through the ministry of the church God grants to you pardon and peace.  Now that we have ministers of the Eucharist at Holy Communion, I will be available for the Sacrament of Reconciliation at this time.  Please make your best preparation and come to celebrate this sacrament.  This valuable ministry gives us the opportunity to celebrate the great sacrament of peace and then to receive our Divine Lord in Holy Communion.

Our journey through Lent is speeding by.  The changing hour of the clock is a clear sign that it is nearly over.  It is a very special time of grace if we are faithful to our Lenten journey.  The way of the cross, the stations of the cross have a most important role to play.  Each year, one of my very strongest memories is my dad making the stations of the cross after mass during Lent, because he had much suffering in his life.  It is a very fitting memory when aligned with the hope “after this our exile will be a welcome to our true home in heaven”.  We now have the stations of the resurrection at St Wilfrid’s, once when I was doing the rounds of the stations they merged for me at the 13th station “Jesus is taken down from the cross”.  This became a real sign of hope when my eyes turned to the station of the resurrection “Mary and the Apostles pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit”.  The disciples set about preparing for Pentecost “little did they know then what was in store for them”.  The Holy Spirit came upon them “in tongues of fire”.

At the same time it revealed a thought, maybe an attitude on my part “the day of Pentecost never came”.  When I was first ordained the Pentecostal movement, with marriage encounter Taizé and its prayer seemed to be flourishing with a promise of great things to come.  So after my first parish I had a minor sabbatical, a great window of experience….  most of it spent in America, where there was a lot of good experiences in the life of the church.  Now, in the light of our present experience, I feel the institutional church did not embrace the “Spirit of the times”.  After the 2nd Vatican Council with the closing of so many seminaries, and a closing of hearts to so many, promising sighs of spring.  Now I look forward to new life, the Synod opens the way if it is allowed to bring new life, a new Spring.  Remember seeds take time and the right environment to prosper and grow.  Please God, this will happen for us this Spring.

The second failure is actually two fold.  We have received “Missio” The Red Boxes, which over the years has played a good part in our “giving” and supporting new life in the church.  The material stimulate new hope “build a vibrant catholic church for the future”.  Also, the material used by St George’s church for confirmation preparation “The Alpha” youth discussion guide.  Hearing words of Deacon John’s excellent way of the cross, with the richness of the story, the script, the seeds are there.  It calls for the response.  So members in attendance were very disappointing.  Sincerely this time last week I had intended to attend, but a circumstance from the pandemic turned up and took priority.  It was something important ….  So prayers for guidance and who can give the best guidance “only the Holy Spirit”.  Let us this year prepare for Pentecost.

Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee,

blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb

Jesus

As we walk through this valley of darkness, at this time it is very hard to see light at the end of the tunnel.  Having read; and I will read again and again “THE SUGGESTION PUT FORWARD FOR THE DEVELPMENT OF THE PARISH” as an outcome to the synodal process.  It brings me back to the very beginning of this year when we lit the first Advent Candle “the candle of hope”.  I remember then the value of that candle, “hope is the one thing we can always cling on to”.

Right now as times are so grim, it is something good to have to hold on to.  I have to come to terms with a deep sense of hopelessness, because of the number of times I have failed to improve.  Re-reading the suggestions brings hope.  One of the important suggestions is core groups and the sense of working together and empowering ministries.  So let us continue to try again.  The Queen’s Jubilee and the Centenary of the church are promising events.

Light at the end of the tunnel always helps us with hope.  So again, (with the help of God) two things: 1) Easter and 2) The very promising words from the early development of the church “The day of Pentecost came”.  Yes, more than anything else “when the day of Pentecost came”, my great hope is that this year we will have a real experience of Pentecost. 

So far our masses, our prayers and all our efforts are flowing in the right direction. Let us look forward to Easter.

The Great Season of Lent

Hopefully we have got off to a good start to our Lenten Season this year.  One event in particular, which happened at St George’s Church on Sunday afternoon, was the opening meeting of our young persons preparation for their confirmation, this was very good “tus maith leath na hoibre” a good start is half the work.  It was a very good opportunity to share some food, to share their faith, to experience our faith, and to have it strengthened, nourished and nurtured.  There was a very good presentation upon the life of faith and in keeping with the Synod.  Jesus was not a religious figure like a Priest, a Pharisee, or a Sadducees.  He was a human person, but also the Son of God, and as such he had great power and authority.  People were drawn to him, particularly for forgiveness and healing. The phrase “He worked many miracles”.  We in our time want to get to know more about Him who loves us.

The tragedy that is Ukraine, and sadly one that is not going to disappear,  really calls for oceans of prayer, because it is indeed Putin’s war.  So it is also tragedy for the Russian people.  Pope Francis clearly called for fasting and prayer.  As Alan Jozwik expressed it in the announcement last Sunday “well we just eat less food”.  If we can establish and clarify that intent and purpose it will be a real help to achieve fasting.  In the age that we live in, food is so readily available; so different from the time when I was growing up when an ice cream was more of a yearly event than a weekly one, but then I lived out in the country.

There are many requests to ask what are we doing in response to the events in the Ukraine.  There are many engaged in responding to this and I believe there is a lorry going from Eastbourne, but because of the situation it is very difficult to get materials to the right place, and so I believe to collect money for the cause would be most helpful.  Anyone wishing to help to co-ordinate donations please get in touch.

“For the Love of God”

For the love of God.  These five words provide a great focus for this moment.  At this time the word “dreadful” so often fits the scene; people battling with bad health, loss of loved ones, the constant crisis that has been the coronavirus, and now the crisis in the Ukraine.

Last week’s focus was on six words.  Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  The life of God in heaven and the light of God’s family life on earth, the family home in Nazareth.  It is only light that can dispel darkness, and because there is no magic in God, one of the most frequent signs that I turn to is the crucifixion ……. and to be honest, still remains for me a great mystery… hope remains in the words “no cross, no crown”.

Rightly there is a great outpouring of sympathy for the victims with a constant cry for help for the people from Ukraine.  Pope Francis leads the appeal from our church with requests for novenas, fasting and prayer.  Please God, we will make a good response.

Following up on last weeks expression “Lent means Spring”, at the core of our parish there is a great need for our response for Spring.  As the contingences that were put in place for the pandemic are being lifted, a return to life is now very possible ….. but it is a very different situation.  Age has certainly taken its toll, so unless we have a new generation, there is no magic, we will be at a great loss.  I return to something important that I will continue to say.  The only thing that we can rely upon for the future from the fruits of the harvest, is the seeds that we sow.  A great thanks to those who are sowing new seeds.  I am truly grateful, particularly those at work with our children’s liturgy. 

Also a great significance is the work that is being done for the Synod, and the hope that new core groups will begin to take shape.  To develop and grow must become a real desire.  The great emphasis on convenience and being able to go to mass has had its day.  The realization that all the seminaries were closing , the amount of Catholic teachers that are available from our Catholic schools are very few, with the amount of children making First Holy Communion, but it is also their last time.  We have a great ray of sunshine from St George’s church with a very good programme of preparation for confirmation getting underway, a ray of hope, with the return of our communities to our Sunday Mass.

First and foremost, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

I am profoundly grateful to our parish team for leading our response to Pope Francis request for a Synod.  In life there are occasional moments of great grace.  For me, number one was Pope John 23rd and his call for the Second Vatican Council, and now Pope Francis with his call for a Synod.

As the team presents us with the response from our parish, we are presented with two most important opportunities.  Lent; this special season which always brings back to my thoughts one of my first parish priests, Mgr Tim Rice, with his statement “Lent means Spring”, and because he was a great enthusiast for the 2nd Vatican Council, he always used it as a focus for a particular theme from this Vatican Council with the awareness that Spring is a time of new life “lambs in the field” and growth.

Because Lent has sprung upon us, and the implications of where we are in response to the virus, we have no great plan in place.   The other side is “it is a window of opportunity” and because our team has offered to spring into this window, I am confident that this is what is best for us.  I will also consult with Deacon John on how to make the best use of this great season.

I am very pleased with St George’s Church and St Wilfrid’s with the care and attention that has been given to this most important event “Synod 23”.  While I was away I was very grateful to know that such important work was being done in our parish.  When I returned I found a letter waiting from one of the most inspiring persons that  I have met in my life, and the challenge that it brings.  His name is Deacon Dominic Dring, His brother is our Dean and Parish Priest of Our Lady of Ransom in Eastbourne.  So I am bringing it to our attention alongside other important needs, building core groups, preparing to progress again; leaven groups, and also ecumenical dialogue, through building up our liturgies; our mass on Sundays.

‘Going Home’

I am expecting to go home next week and I am looking forward to it.   Like everything during this coronavirus pandemic, apprehensive about it.  From our days in the seminary, a very helpful idea that has stayed with me.   These things are a) life is a journey; b) telling our story on this journey.  As in any journey life has its beginning and an ending.  A very important emphasis in the seminary was preparation for the end of that journey.  I know there is very much more to life than can be captured by these two images, as highlighted by the virus for the last two years, with life really stalled.

At St George’s church on Tuesday we had a very memorable Requiem Mass for Edna Andrews RIP.  She was 98 years old, so close to her 100th birthday.  It would have been lovely to celebrate this, but it would be second to the celebration of her Requiem Mass.  The celebration of this mass brings home to us profoundly “Our true home is in heaven and that is where we are going”.  Thanks be to God.  Growing up in Ireland, this felt very real to us, and with the wake house made a huge contribution to a life of faith. 

Please God, faith will continue to contribute greatly to our lives in the future.

‘God Knows’

That we are a work in progress; but to make that progress we rely upon His help.  The coronavirus is a constant reminder that there is a Kingdom of darkness.  It is constantly (indeed relentlessly) at work.  Seeking to destroy, particularly families and family life.  I recently heard from a priest, who was called to help one such family and it really is scary.  Even much more scary than the virus which is bad enough.  I have often heard of ‘the dark web’ but it was the first time I really realised how dangerous it is.

So returning to that constant need for prayer.  When I was young I heard it said “it is the mass that matters”.  Our celebration of this in our lives, deserves to be a high priority.  As part of this it is very important that we do our very best to progress ‘for a Synodal Church’, communion, participation and mission, Participants’ Guide.

We made an excellent start when a ‘core group’ met in the presbytery on Tuesday evening.  This important work calls for our best efforts and prayer.  Again two thing; where to begin? And how to do this.   After that we continue to develop our response as the seasons and years go on.  We have got off to a good start by giving the input this week your best attention, and also to bring it to the attention of anyone you know who would like to respond.