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Dublin’s new Catholic Archbishop Dermot Farrell has said the future of the Catholic Church must be different. “If I may turn LP Hartley’s famous phrase on its head: ‘the future is a different country, we must do things differently there!’.”
This was “not to forget the past, and especially not the painful past where so many were hurt because our hurch lost its hunger for the Kingdom and its justice.We must never again put what we consider the needs of the church before the needs of the little ones ,” he said.
Archbishop Farrell was speaking at a Mass live-streamed from the Pro Cathedral on Tuesday morning to formally mark his installation as Archbishop of Dublin. Attendance was limited due to pandemic restrictions but included his predecessor Archbishop Diarmuid Martin and papal nuncio Archbishop Jude Okolo.
In the future to which he had referred, Archbishop Farrell said “the active participation of the laity becomes essential. They constitute the vast majority of the people of God. Indeed, as St John Henry Newman, remarked perceptively, ‘The church would seem foolish without them’.”
In that light “leadership in the church is not about telling people what to do; rather it is about promoting co-responsibility and overcoming the mindset which runs the risk of relegating the baptised to a subordinate role, effectively keeping them on the edges of Church life.
“That is what we mean by a synodal church – a church on the way with each other. The very first place synodality is expressed is at parish level. If it doesn’t happen in the parish, it will not happen at all,”he said.
Warmly welcomed
“I come to Dublin knowing very few of you,” he said, and that “there is no pre-packaged plan to address the reality in which we find ourselves. There is a direction, there are way markers,” he said, “they call us to build, or to re-build parishes marked by welcome, openness, forgiveness, resilience, and courage”
He thanked papal nuncio Archbishop Okolo for “his kindness, his humanity, and his infectious spirit of joy” and Archbishiop Martin who, he said, “provided forceful and unambiguous leadership, especially in the safeguarding of children where you took courageous positions. The Church and wider society owe you a profound debt of gratitude. We must do everything ‘never to slip back’.”
Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Michael Jackson has warmly welcomed Archbishop Farrell.
They had already corresponded, he said, and that the new Archbishop “takes up office in circumstances that challenge the pastoral heart of every Christian. For almost a year now, we have been working hard to stay together by staying apart,” he said.
“I personally look forward to the revival of the Good Friday Walk of Witness in a shared way and on the streets of Dublin. This walk bears visible witness to the faith in Jesus Christ that the Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic traditions share,” he said.
He assured Archbishop Farrell “of a heartfelt welcome on my own part and on the part of the clergy and people of Dublin and Glendalough. I wish him everything that is best in an arduous task for which I have every confidence that God will give him the strength and the compassion.”