The most popular saints names continue to be Patrick for boys and Mary for girls. Many other names feature but not to the extent of these more traditional names. The influence of grandparents cannot be under estimated. That is why the celebration in July every year of the World Day of the Elderly & Grandparents is so important and must be celebrated.

The theme offered this year was “Loved, Necessary, Chosen”  taken from a homily delivered by Pope Benedict XVI that “each of us is the result of a thought of God: each of us is willed, loved and necessary”. I am always impressed how the candidates engaged with the theme, taking on projects such as creating a “Wellness Jar” in Doonane, composing a song in Newbridge, fundraising for Africa in Askea, for the HOPE foundation in Caragh, creating a photographic collage in Rath and Emo, fundraising for St. Clare’s Hospitality in Ballyadams and in Leighlin, supporting homeless dogs in Myshall, producing artwork in Rathvilly and in the Cathedral and finally visiting local nursing homes in Baltinglass and Rathangan to mention but a few. 

The taking of the pledge is making a welcome return into the ceremonies of Confirmation with around a fifth of our liturgies including it this year. The Covid pandemic changed how we celebrate Confirmation resulting in simpler but perhaps more meaningful ceremonies. 65% of the ceremonies were this year within the celebration of Mass, which is a huge increase since Covid days. I welcome either ceremony, within Eucharist or outside it, but I would be concerned that some ceremonies are returning to a time when everyone being confirmed must have a role in the ceremony. The ones that flow easiest are where parish readers lead us in proclaiming God’s Word and parents read the Prayers of Intercession. It allows the young person to focus on the essentials of Confirmation and not on having to read a reading or lead a prayer.

I love their letters and read every one. When they are done by the candidate themselves operating out of a few guidelines, they offer a fresh perspective on the sacrament for every ceremony. I thank our priests, teachers, catechists, musicians, sacristans parents but most of all the candidates themselves for the joy they bring into all our lives on the day they are fully confirmed.  

+Denis Nulty

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There is an image that captures beautifully today’s feast, the Ascension, it can be found in the College Chapel of St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth where Fr. Joe and Fr. Matt were ordained from, seventy years ago. The late Martin Drennan speaks of the striking feature of this Ascension image is how Our Lady is not looking towards her Son, as we might expect, but instead looking out towards us: “Jesus is ascending. Mary is telling us that from now on the place to look for him is in the hearts of his people”^[1]. Ascension always seems to have us looking up, Our Lady suggests we look out.

Luke in our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles reminds us: “they were still staring into the sky when suddenly two men in white were standing near them and they said ‘Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking into the sky?’”[2] The Ascension of Christ is about Him coming closer to us, not about Him taking leave of us. We are not to stand there gazing or gawking, as so many Ascension images might suggest, but to grasp that God is unimaginably closer to us than ever before. Our preface puts it beautifully: “he ascended, not to distance himself from our lowly state but that we, his members, might be confident of following, where he, our Head and Founder, has gone before”^[3].

The Ascension brings to an end an extraordinary forty-day honeymoon, a period of special intimacy, where the Risen One, showed himself repeatedly to the disciples. We sometimes forget that the disciples had returned to doing what they knew best, fishing, until Jesus appears to them by the Sea of Tiberias[4]. More were downbeat on a road signposted Emmaus[5], they journey along aimlessly and then this ‘stranger’ walks by their side. Others who saw the Risen One a week earlier[6] are joined by a doubter called Thomas, who refused to believe until that evening when he could put his fingers in the holes the nails made and his hand into his side[7]. He didn’t need to, the encounter with the Risen One was enough to convince him.

Fr. Joe & Fr. Matt celebrated their 95^th birthday on March 21^st last. Their ordination dates differ by a month, Joe was ordained on May 17^th and Matt on June 17^th. When the Dean of Maynooth suggested that Matt write to Bishop Tom Keogh looking for permission for the twins to be ordained together, Matt’s letter seeking that request was returned to him, with a message written in the margin “No permission given – T.K.”! And so it made eminent sense today, to celebrate both Platinum Jubilees, not separate, but together. In their 70 years of priesthood Fr. Joe and Fr. Matt have seen eight Popes, six Archbishops of Dublin and five Bishops of Kildare & Leighlin!

They were born in Coolcarrigan, Timahoe, County Kildare, in the then parish of Clane, attended primary school where their mother was Principal. Their secondary school days saw them in Knockbeg where they feature in the May 1949 of ‘Cnocbeag Anois’ in a verse called ‘The Lost Legion’: “K is for Kellys – the twins up from Clane, Matt’s slow to argue – Joe can’t refrain”. The same edition carried the report of the Football Final that Knockbeg had played in O’Connor Park, Tullamore on March 16th, 1949. It records a goal scored by a certain Matt Kelly for Knockbeg to lead St. Finian’s 1-8 to 1-4 at half-time, sadly the wind was against the Barrow men in the second half, and Archbishop Dermot’s alma mater won the final in the end. 

Twins always interest me. At Confirmation recently I confirmed three sets of twins in the one ceremony. I’m always intrigued to enquire who is the elder twin. Even that question is a matter of debate for Fr. Joe and Fr. Matt. Joe was born a few minutes earlier than Matt, although a Professor at Maynooth disputed if the second born is not the oldest!

The Feast of the Ascension also marks World Day of Social Communications. Pope Leo XIV offers a message on this the 60^th iteration of the day focusing clearly on the AI era we are living in and how we must preserve human voices and faces. He reminds us “our faces and voices are unique, distinctive features of every person … each of us possesses an irreplaceable and inimitable vocation, that originates from our own lived experience and becomes manifest through interaction with others”[8].  The risks around AI are huge and concerning, and yet still there is much to learn as how properly controlled and used, such technology may be of use to society. Archbishop Eamon Martin welcoming the message says: “Every human being has a face and a voice. Before a person is a profile, a statistic, a screen-name, a consumer, a complainant, or a ‘case’ they are someone created in the image and likeness of God”[9]. Faces and voices matter and this is even more so with twins.

St. Paul prays that “the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed, to bring you to the full knowledge of him”[10]. Fr. Joe and Fr. Matt in their very fulfilled and faith-filled priestly lives have indeed lived these words fully. For us it remains our challenge this Ascension Day. Paul in writing to the Ephesians didn’t pray that the first Christians be strong, perfect, astute and recruitment savvy; he prayed that they would come to know God, be touched by his presence and offer that to others.

Matthew’s gospel concludes with the invitation “to make disciples of all nations”[11]. We are a missionary church; let’s not be content with being a disciple, we must make disciples. During Matt’s time on the staff of Carlow College, as Professor of Philosophy we think of the seminarians he helped to form to ‘go teach all nations’[12] and so many went out to places like Phoenix, Biloxi, Atlanta, Miami and of course to many dioceses in Ireland, particularly Kildare & Leighlin. Here in Bayside where Joe more recently retired from, we think of the countless number of parishioners whose lives were inspired by his presence. Together they have given 140 years of faithful ministry. This is what we are celebrating this Ascension Day, remember Our Lady is looking out at us all in that painting of the Ascension in the College Chapel, Maynooth. A clarion call to find the ascended Christ in ourselves and in one another. May the Lord bless both Fr. Joe and Fr. Matt.

[1] Drennan, Martin: ‘Turning Wounds into Wisdom’, Dominican Publications, 2019, pg. 126.

[2] Ac.1:10-11

[3] Preface 1 of the Ascension of the Lord, The Roman Missal, 2010

[4] Jn.21:1-14

[5] Lk.24:13-35

[6] Jn.20:19-23

[7] Jn.20:24-29

[8] Pope Leo XIV, ‘Message for 60^th World Day of Social Communications’, issued 24 January 2026, Memorial of St. Francis de Sales

[9] Martin, Archbishop Eamon, ‘In the AI era, Pope Leo asks us to preserve human voices and faces’, CCO, 15 May 2026

[10] Ep.1:17

[11] Mt.28:19

[12] ‘Euntes docete omnes Gentes’

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3.00pm – Clongowes Wood College

‘Blessed John Sullivan Mass of Thanksgiving’

Introduction:

We gather once again in huge numbers to honour the birth of Blessed John Sullivan SJ and to give thanks for his life. I thank those of you who travelled a journey and as always acknowledge the work of Cáit Cullen, who has become ‘the promoter extraordinaire’ of the cause of Blessed John. I thank Fr. Michael and the Jesuit community for their welcome always here and for once again hosting this important moment in the unfolding story of Blessed John Sullivan. As always I welcome the concelebrating priests, conveying the apologies of the Jesuit Provincial, Fr. Shane Daly SJ and the Parish Priest of Clane, Fr. Paul O’Boyle. I welcome Canon Paul Arbuthnot, prepresenting Archbishop Michael Jackson.

Our Easter Season moves into a higher gear this evening! There is a finality to the words of Jesus; it seems as if a conversation is ending. And yet we all know it’s the kind of conversation that never ends. He remains with us, so often He is the One carrying us. He carried Blessed John as he tended to the destitute and sick around Kildare. In fact He carried Blessed John from the moment he was conceived in his Cork mother’s womb, to his birth in 41 Eccles Street, to his days in Portora College, through the tragic loss of his brother in 1877 and the sudden death of his dad in 1885, through his legal studies, his decision to become a Catholic in 1896 and to join the Jesuits in 1900. There was not a moment of Blessed John’s life that God was not carrying him, and He continues to carry us who pray through Blessed John Sullivan’s intercession …

• Is tusa Tobar na Trócaire – You are the wellspring of mercy: A Thiarna, déan trócaire. 

• Is tusa Slí na Fírinne – You are the way of Truth:  A Chríost, déan trócaire. 

• Bí linn i gconaí, ós ár gcomhair amach – Be with us always, showing us the way. A Thiarna, déan trócaire. 

Homily:

The Acts of the Apostles sees a return visit to a Samaritan town. The Samaritans hold a special place in God’s Word. It was at the well at Sychar where Jesus would encounter the Samaritan woman. While many passed on the other side as the traveller was left for dead on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, the only one who took notice and cared was a Samaritan. Philip is welcomed into the Samaritan town; that welcome shouldn’t surprise us, it alters the perspective of the other disciples towards the people of Samaria.

Saint Peter in our second reading asks what is the reason for the hope that you all have?[1] It’s a very good question! Perhaps our responsorial psalm gives the reason for that hope and joy: “cry out with joy to God all the earth”[2].

Our gospel introduces a sensitive theme – orphans; “I shall not leave you orphans”[3] Jesus tells his disciples and all of us. The biblical understanding very much associates orphans as someone who is looked down on, or marginalised. There are few enough biblical references to orphans[4]. The death of both parents leaves us orphans. The story of orphanages often casts a dark shadow on our past in this country, the care was not what might have been expected and sometimes was nothing but cruel and callous. Jesus promises He will not leave us orphans. And He never has. He is always with us.

There was much interest in the recent publication online by the National Archives of the 1926 Census, the first one of the Irish Free State. That 1926 Census was the first at which particulars of orphanhood conditions were collected. Children under 15 years of age were required to be described in schedules according to the following classifications i) both parents alive; ii) having father alive, mother dead; iii) having mother alive, father dead; and iv) having both parents dead. The number of children under 15 who fell into that fourth category then, of having both parents dead was 6,642, slightly more boys than girls.

John Sullivan was one of a family of five, three brothers and an only sister. Fergal McGrath SJ reminds us John was the youngest of the five[5]. All the brothers attended Portora Royal School in Enniskillen. Last August, I had the opportunity to visit the former Portora, today it is Enniskillen Royal Grammar School.

As I entered the school foyer, a glass display cabinet proudly acknowledged its famous past pupil. Inside the cabinet was a copy of the Beatification booklet, a medal, a newspaper article and John Looby’s book ‘A Man sent by God’. The display noted the twinning of Clongowes and Portora in 1981 and a prize awarded to John in his student days in 1875, which is on permanent loan to Portora from Clongowes.

Blessed John Sullivan SJ isn’t the only famous alumni of Portora, outdoor plaques recognised people like the the composer of the hymn ‘Abide with Me’ Henry Francis Lyte, a student there from 1803-1809, the writer Oscar Wilde who attended Portora from 1864-1871 and the Nobel Laureate Samuel Beckett who was there from 1920-1923.  

Returning to the orphan image referred to earlier. John Sullivan at the end of 1896 made the momentous decision to become a Catholic. He was 35 years of age. He was received into the Catholic Church in the Jesuit Church, Farm Street, London. His Catholic mother, Bessie was overjoyed at his conversion. She would die two years later in 1898, two years before he entered the Jesuits, his father having died much earlier in 1885. So it would have been 1898 when Blessed John was orphaned, both parents deceased.

Returning to the 1926 Census. There are many returns from Clongowes, all completed by the then Rector Fr. John Joy. The college had 337 students and each one had to be listed. Blessed John is listed last on the first page of the Census return, simply saying: ‘John Sullivan, age 64, Male, Marital Status: Single, Occupation: Teacher’, and curiously when it comes to Religion, it records ‘N/A’, the short for ‘Not Applicable’! When you dig out the original return you see the indication ‘do’, the abbreviation for ‘ditto’, often used in lists to avoid repetition. On the first line, Fr. John Joy lists himself as ‘Catholic’; he was certainly not the only Catholic on the Clongowes staff then! John was 30 years a convert by the time of the 1926 census return.

The life of Blessed John Sullivan sets an example to all who seek to know God. Blessed John is known for his stooped, shuffling figure who rode a battered bicycle tending to the lost, the sick and the orphaned in these parts and further afield. And today we are not orphaned, because his intercession continues to heal the sick, to comfort the afflicted and to walk with those struggling to understand the hand of God in their lives.    

I include the story of Sean from Cork, a dad of five, married to Ruth. Sean has been in a coma since February. We pray that his families devotion to Blessed John will aid his recovery. I include the many intentions of those waiting for their own little miracles, too many to mention. Sometimes the one miracle we need most is to forgive ourselves or others, I always like Blessed John’s words on mercy from a meditation he gave on the Prodigal Son “God always leaves the door unlatched”[6]. It’s a miracle that might never help John Sullivan’s cause on the road to sainthood, but it might help our own!

[1] 1Pt. 3:15

[2] Ps. 65:1

[3] Jn.14:18

[4] Jn. 14:18; Ex. 22:22; Ps. 82:3; Is.1:15; Hos. 14:3; Ps.68:5; Jas.1:27; Sir. 4:10

[5] McGrath, Fergal SJ, ‘Fr. John Sullivan SJ’, Longmans Green & Co., 1941, pg.17

[6] ibid, pg. 219

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St. Conleth’s Church, Newbridge @ 7.30pm

Feast of St. Conleth

Introduction:

It’s great to join you as you continue your Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Newbridge Parish has a long and distinguished Novena tradition. The image we venerate this night, is very familiar to us. It’s in many of our parents’ homes, if not in our own. Perhaps we have seen the stunning icon in the Church of Saint Alphonsus Liguori on a walk to the Basilica of St. Mary Majors where Pope Francis’ body rests.

Legend has it that it was Saint Lazarus, a ninth-century Byzantine saint, who painted that original icon on wood in an Eastern Orthodox monastery in Crete, before a Franciscan brought it to Rome in 1415, ending up in the Church of St. Alphonsus Liguori in April 1866, 160 years ago. And ever since it has captured a place in our hearts, sometimes we called it Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, and other times Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the same image, the same devotion, the same Our Lady.

St. Conleth would not have been aware of such devotion, it came well after his time, but he would approve of it, conscious of our need for help beyond our own capacity, ability or strength. As we gather, we do so on the Feast of St. Conleth, this Bank Holiday evening, and begin by praying for forgiveness before celebrating these sacred mysteries …

• Is tusa Tobar na Trócaire – You are the wellspring of mercy: A Thiarna, déan trócaire. 

• Is tusa Slí na Fírinne – You are the way of Truth:  A Chríost, déan trócaire. 

• Bí linn i gconaí, ós ár gcomhair amach – Be with us always, showing us the way. A Thiarna, déan trócaire. 

Homily:

I remember well the afternoon I drove to Dublin, to Kildare Street, not to visit Dáil Éireann, but to the National Museum. It was the last Sunday of the exhibition ‘Words on the Wave: Ireland and St. Gallen in Early Medieval Europe’. At that exhibition of more than 100 remarkable objects linking St. Gallen with the great Irish monastic tradition, one relic label immediately drew me in; its origins was in the Abbey of Saint-Maurice d’Agaune and it was dated around 700AD. It simply named three Irish saints, but let’s listen to who those saints were.

The label was a fragment of vellum, probably originally from a reliquary box, listing the names of the three saints in Latin: St. Bridget, founder of Kildare; St. Dar Lugdach, abbess of Kildare and St. Conleth, bishop of Kildare. What a discovery on a Sunday afternoon. And what an exhibition. I hope some of you got to visit it during its six month visit to Dublin.

It is fair to say even here in Newbridge, the place of Conleth, we are not as au fait with Conleth as we are with Brigid. How wonderful to see his name alongside Brigid’s on that piece of vellum written two hundred years after his death. A tangible link to a saint, who is patron of this parish and whose feast-day we celebrate this day.

Where do we learn about Conleth, what are our sources? We learn of him from Cogitosus’s Life of Brigid (c.650AD), where he is variously referred to as Conleth, Conlaeth and Conlaid. He became a hermit in a cell out the road at Old Connell. A skilled metalsmith who worked with both gold and silver. Brigid asked him to make sacred vessels for her convent in Kildare. He was one of three chief artisans of Ireland, the head of the Kildare school of metal-work. It is believed he fashioned the fine crozier of Saint Finbarr of Termonbarry housed in the Royal Irish Academy.  He was renowned for his penmanship, an accomplished illuminator of manuscripts.

Cogitosus tells us that Conleth and Brigid developed a warm relationship, respecting one another’s gifts. Perhaps the commissioning of those sacred vessels was the precursor to the friendship that followed? Conleth was invited by Brigid to be part of her community in Kildare and so he departed from Old Connell. As he settled into Kildare a group of monks grew up around him, excelling in the making of chalices and in the writing of manuscripts. It was the beginning of a double monastery, unique then and now. The historian Fr. John O’Hanlon’s ‘Lives of the Irish Saints’ reminds us “this holy virgin selected St. Conlaeth to be the first bishop over her newly established city of Kildare”[1]. That was around 490AD, centuries before the amalgamation of the diocese of Kildare with the diocese of Leighlin in 1678.

It’s in Conleth’s shoes I walk as bishop. Newbridge, the place of Conleth is indeed sacred ground. The hermitage out at Old Connell. The air we breathe the fields we walk, the environment that surrounds us, embraced Conleth over 1500 years back. We find these days challenging, we come to the Novena with many more petitions than thanksgivings. In a world so deeply in need of hope, healing and peace, we gather each evening under the protection of Our Lady. She has our back, as she had Conleth’s. If we didn’t have crises we wouldn’t be alive. We can be sure Conleth faced his own all those years back.

Conleth had an ability to think outside the box, to do things differently, to be bold and creative. What gave him his strength was his rootedness in Christ. He kept God’s word. It was this that sustained him. We tend to be creatures of habit and bishops are no different, doing things the way they were always done.

John’s gospel invites us to keep God’s word “whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him”[2]. We hear mention of a Judas in the gospel, not to be mixed up with the Iscariot. Yet even the Iscariot, whose character always fascinates me, how someone who walked with Jesus could see himself betraying Him, he too heard God’s word, but sadly didn’t keep it. Loving God is in the keeping of His word. And whatever more we need to live a life of faith and deal with the crises that confront us, the Holy Spirit will fill in the rest.    

While Conleth met his end in his native Wicklow in 519AD, on pilgrimage to Rome, it is often said St. Brigid was against his going. I have read since, this may simply be because he was by then an old man. And so we have his name Conleth – “coin” meaning the plural “dogs” and “leath” meaning “half”, in other words savaged in half by wild dogs. Not the ending anyone would desire.

Conleth was rooted here in Newbridge as well as in God’s Word. As Pope Francis reminded us “roots are not anchors chaining to past times and preventing us from facing the present and creating something new. Instead they are a fixed point from which we can grow and meet new challenges”[3]. Newbridge, the place of Conleth, is that fixed point from which a reflection might begin of how we could become a different Church that remains faithful to God’s Word, but is fully alive to all that is happening.

How did that relic of Conleth wrapped in vellum ever reach the Abbey of Saint-Maurice d’Agaune in Swiss canton of Valis around 700AD? A more important question for us this Novena evening is how can we fully live the message of Conleth? How can we fully own the Saint that once was a simple hermit out at Old Connell? By Loving God. By keeping His Word. 

[1] O’Hanlon, John: ‘Lives of the Irish Saints’, Vol. 5, pg. 74

[2] Jn.14:23

[3] Pope Francis, ‘Christus Vivit’, 2019, ¶200

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A Pilgrimage from the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, led by Bishop Denis Nulty, will travel to Lodi in Italy this July to participate in the 27th International Columban Meeting, continuing County Carlow’s central role in celebrating the life and legacy of St Columbanus.

Taking place from Friday July 3^rd to Monday July 6^th 2026, the international gathering forms part of a long-standing annual European tradition honouring Columbanus, the 6th century Irish missionary monk born in the shadow of Mount Leinster near Myshall, County Carlow, whose influence extended across Ireland and mainland Europe. Following the successful hosting of the Columbanus Weekend in Carlow in July 2025, which welcomed visitors from across France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland, this year’s event represents an important opportunity to strengthen those international connections and reaffirm Carlow’s place at the heart of the Columbanus story.

A rich and engaging programme has been developed for the visit, combining pilgrimage, cultural exchange and spiritual reflection. Highlights of the three-day programme include a visit to the historic town of Bobbio, where Columbanus founded his final monastery and where he is buried, as well as evening concerts, cultural gatherings and shared meals with international participants.

A 13km walk along the Columban Way in Italy, tracing the footsteps of the saint through Sant’Angelo Lodigiano to San Colombano al Lambro, a solemn celebration of the Eucharist, a pilgrims dinner in the courtyard of the Bishop’s Palace and a visit to Milan forms also form part of the programme.

Speaking ahead of the event Bishop Denis Nulty said:
“We all remember with great fondness the celebrations in Carlow last July honouring St. Columbanus. This pilgrimage offers a unique opportunity to deepen our understanding of St Columbanus and to strengthen the bonds that exist between communities across Europe. As the birthplace of Columbanus, Carlow has a special responsibility to keep his legacy alive. This gathering in Lodi is not only a celebration of faith, but also of shared heritage, friendship and cultural exchange.”

The pilgrimage is open to those wishing to take part in what promises to be a memorable experience of shared cultural learning and spiritual development. Travel arrangements, including flights, accommodation and a full programme of events, are being coordinated by Tully’s Travel, Carlow, who are acting as official booking agents for the group.

The Columban Way, which stretches over 5,000km across Europe, including a 571km route in Ireland from Myshall to Bangor, continues to grow as a significant cultural and pilgrimage route, linking Carlow with key Columbanus sites across the continent.

For further information or to book, contact Tully’s Travel, Carlow at 059-9136100 or visit www.kandle.ie or www.carlowtourism.com/thecolumbanway

Photos from the launch of the Pilgrimage, 22nd April 2026 in Myshall.

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All times correct at time of publishing, please check locally in case of changes.

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Cathedral of the Assumption, Carlow

Mass @ 7.30pm

Introduction:

The Chrism Mass is our evening of the Oils – the blessing of Oil of Catechumen, the blessing of the Oil of the Sick, and the consecration of the Oil of Chrism. It is the evening when Priestly Promises are renewed and priests, collaborating with their lay brothers and sisters, are encouraged, supported, and affirmed in their ministry.

From wherever you have travelled from this night to our Cathedral, know that you are very welcome. As the front cover of your booklet reads: ‘Fifty-Six Parishes, Three Deaneries and Eleven Pastoral Areas: Gathered as One Family in Faith’ …

… and so, as that family of faith in this Holy of Weeks, on this sacred night let us acknowledge our sins, and so, prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries …

Homily:

There is a familiarity around Luke’s gospel text for this Mass of Chrism. We have heard it before. This is not our first Chrism Mass. And yet every time we hear the text from St. Luke there is freshness and an urgency that is a stimulus to action: “the spirt of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight …”[1]. All of us here this Chrism night have been anointed, we are called in our many different callings to live out that anointing.  

The oils that are blessed and consecrated this night are the oils poured on us at baptism. Baptism is the most important sacrament, everything else – the openness to mercy and healing in Reconciliation, the commitment to be nourished at His table in Eucharist, the promise to live out our the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit at Confirmation, the commitment to another person in Sacramental Marriage, the promise to be an alter Christus at Ordination and the soothing balm of Anointing at times of Sickness – all are inextricably linked to baptism.

Baptism is the most important sacrament of Christian leadership. Preparation for baptism is very necessary; we should never rush it. I encourage the many baptism preparation teams at work in several parishes. It is great to know that there are adults being welcomed fully into our Church later in the week at Easter Vigils.

We have entered an exciting time in our diocese with the formal training of twenty-five candidates who will work as lay pastoral workers. I welcome many of them who are in our congregation this night. Indeed, the offertory gifts will be presented by some of those very candidates in a short while. Lay Pastoral Ministry formation is the fruit of decades of effort on the part of many to promote and encourage the full and active participation of the laity in the mission of the Church.  We have been blessed in Kildare & Leighlin with a number of full-time lay people whose work and example in our diocese continues to be a valuable resource and blessing for us.

I am reminded of the comment that a Church of only ordained members would be a peculiar place indeed. But it is also true that a Church without the ordained would be a much-impoverished witness to the values of the Gospel.

As we continue the vital work of encouraging the active participation of the laity in the mission of the Church I would ask this Chrism Night that we give equal emphasis and ardour to encouraging vocations to the priesthood so that the Good News of Christ will be preached to the new generations of Kildare & Leighlin folk.

I am very conscious this night, of priests who are unwell or facing a challenging diagnosis, you are in all our prayers. As always, I congratulate those celebrating significant jubilees of ordination this year: Matt Kelly (70 years); Jim O’Connell (60 years); Tom Little & John McEvoy (50 years); Ger Ahern, Ger Breen & Andy Leahy (40 years); Willie Byrne, Liam Morgan & John Heinhold (30 years) and Paddy Byrne (25 years). Mick Noonan, our eldest priest will be 72 years ordained this June. I thank the nineteen priests from overseas who work among us; their contribution is appreciated. I thank our Permanent Deacons and welcome all of them here, especially the most recently ordained: Jody Callan, John Delaney, Sebastian Kopijka, Michal Mizgala and Declan Prendergast. I thank all my brother priests and deacons for their great ministry and all of you who collaborate with them.

The Mass of Chrism reminds us of our calling, a calling that is rooted in our baptism. All of us are, as this year’s Confirmation theme runs, ‘Loved, Chosen, Necessary’. Baptism allows us all to belong, and the synod Synthesis reminds us ‘belonging’ is critical to our faith journey. Every one of you in the Cathedral this night is needed in our Church. Lay Pastoral Ministers do not replace the clergy. Lay Pastoral Ministers do not replace the lay faithful already immersed in the life of their parish. The clergy do not replace the call of every baptised person. The Church of Kildare & Leighlin needs everyone.

Each of us has a role in fostering and encouraging all vocations. On this Chrism night let us be especially mindful of our priests who are needed to ensure that we continue as eucharistic communities, as they preach the word of God and celebrate the Mass, giving us the nourishment of Christ whose name we all bear through our baptism.

As we gather in such numbers, I am very conscious of the small Christian communities in the Holy Land, who are unable to celebrate Chrism and the other ceremonies of Holy Week because of the ongoing conflict. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa asks his people and all of us to pray the rosary for peace. I suggest we also light our Taybeh Peace oil lamp, the Diocesan Reach Out gift back in 2008; let us light it in all our churches during the ceremonies this Holy Week. Taybeh is the last fully Christian town on the West Bank currently under renewed Israeli settler incursions. In a small way, we will be walking with those unable to mark these hugely significant moments in our Christian calendar. I now light the Cathedral Taybeh lamp.

[1] Lk.4:18

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Cill Mhuire Church, Newbridge

Mass @ 10.30am

Homily:

More than at any other time of the year, Palm Sunday opens up for us an experience that will last a week, an experience of liturgy as sacred theatre, liturgy as drama. There will be moments in the week that disturb, that upset, that leave us cold. In this week of theatre we are invited not just to be spectators, but to become active participants.

Today congregations across the world in their own way, will reenact Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. But Christians in Jerusalem will be unable to participate in such a celebration on the Mount of Olives. The situation is not new, the local community has been unable to follow the usual Lenten journey celebrations because of the conflict that has beset their region. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa encourages us to pray the rosary for peace. I suggest we also light our candle for peace in all our parishes as our own Holy Week sacred theatre unfolds.

The joy of Palm Sunday passes too quickly. The ‘short gospel’[1] as it’s known from Matthew, ends too quickly. The joy seems very surface and momentary. Sometimes I questioned about the inclusion of the much longer Passion Narrative just proclaimed. We will hear a version of it again, later on Good Friday, so I wondered then, why the repetition? It’s there to allow us to anticipate, like in all drama’s ’to whet our appetite’. When we go to a play we know how it will end, but it doesn’t stop us going; we allow the plot lines, the actors, the stage settings to invite us into all the other aspects of the production.

Palm Sunday opens up for us all Holy Week, the drama of Jesus’ living and dying for us. We participated moments ago too willingly in the crowd scenes shouting to release Barabbas[2] and to crucify Jesus[3]. Let’s go deeper. Allow ourselves to become Simon of Cyrene, of whom Matthew barely mentions[4]. Wherever there is pain or poverty or loneliness, Jesus waits for our helping hand. As we reach out to help, it’s the hand of Jesus this week we hold.

[1] Mt.21:1-11

[2] Mt.27:21

[3] Mt.27:22; Mt.27:23

[4] Mt.27:32

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