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Diocesan Offices
St Eugene’s Cathedral
Francis Street, Derry
BT48 9AP
Tel: 028 7126 2302
Holy Thursday, 28 March 2024
St Eugene's Cathedral, Derry
This Chrism Mass presents us every year with the start of Jesus' ministry. He returns from his temptations and says in Nazara that he has been anointed with the Holy Spirit to bring good news to the poor. In the temptations, the devil had urged him to take easy ways forward that would not cost him too much. But he is clear – he has come to take the road less travelled and bring healing and hope to those most in need of care and belonging, whatever the cost.
As we gather in our diocesan family, what do these readings tell us about who we are as church and how we need to be renewed?
Firstly, Jesus comes only to be and to bring Good News, especially to those who feel most bruised, unlovable and condemned by others. He has a passion for that call. And his passion is the price he pays for being true to that call. The first principle of our identity as the diocese of Derry is the mission of evangelisation as the driving force of the Church. We have no other purpose.
Synodality is not about changing church teaching or making us more palatable to modern tastes. It is not merely prioritising the question as to how we will supply masses with fewer ordained clergy. It is a matter of letting the light of the Holy Spirit shine on how we are parishes and seeing clearly what we need to change in order to better proclaim mercy, live mercifully and bring good news to the poor. Our parishes and diocese have to be structured and to prioritise their resources so as to serve the mission. There is a huge need in our society for hope and outreach. There is no grace in retreating to look after ourselves or trying to bolt a little bit of mission onto a structure whose priority has been reduced to maintenance. Maintenance is centred mostly on those who are there and allows us to lament those who are absent. Mission is directed to those who are not there and to lament our absence at their side. That is much more difficult territory – but it is where Jesus wants us to go.
Synodally driven renewal is not about getting parishioners to help the clergy with some of their work, but about helping the laity to take on their roles
by Bishop McKeown
Thirdly, even on the day that he spoke in Nazara, Jesus upset his listeners. We all like to think that we are smart enough to be in control of what is happening. The world is coming down with courses on managing change. The ongoing temptation for the church down through the centuries is to think that we manage the church and that it is our job to take decisions. But the Holy Spirit wants to liberate us from the illusion of self-sufficiency. We see that temptation in the shallow theology of those who say, "let's change this or that, let's modernise and all will be well. "Following Jesus always invite us out into the desert or via the hill of Calvary. Discipleship means leaving behind our agendas and being open to being led by the Holy Spirit. Unless the Lord builds the house, in vain do the builders labour. (Ps 127)
Thus, the most radical and demanding lesson of renewal is the spiritual character of the synodal process. It is easy to descend into a battle over ideas or between opposing factions. But the Acts of the Apostles shows the early church being relentlessly driven from where it felt comfortable into a space where it knew it was not in charge. The church in Antioch was praying when the Holy Spirit told them to set Barnabas and Paul aside for a mission to modern Turkey (Acts 13:2). At the Council of Jerusalem, the members talked and prayed – and wrote a letter that "it has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by us" (Acts 15:28). Renewal comes from listening together to discern the voice of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit in prayerful hearts. Those who reduce church to a parliament for the strong will find it easy to hear loud voices – but it will be deaf to the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit and to the voice of the poor who cry from the margins.
Today we begin the three solemn days of the Easter triduum. It leaves me with these two challenges from Jesus.
If we labour under the illusion that we know better, in the future we will certainly have fewer clergy, but they will be more than sufficient for the small numbers of active parish members! Are we prepared to walk on the rough surface of the road less travelled?
+ Donal
[1] A Ivereigh. First Belong to God, Dublin, 2024, Mesenger Publications, pxviii
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Diocesan Offices
St Eugene’s Cathedral
Francis Street, Derry
BT48 9AP
Tel: 028 7126 2302