A Catholic summit on peace and reconciliation in the Middle East will be staged next week in Jerusalem. The meeting - co-ordinated by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales and hosted by the Latin Patriarch - brings together six Bishops' Conferences and two European Bishops' groupings. Delegates are to meet the Palestinian Authority's President Yasser Arafat and Israel's President Moshe Katsav.

Father Frank Turner, Assistant General Secretary (International Affairs) of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, said: ‘These are grim and painful times for the entire population of the Holy Land, and the Christian community there needs the solidarity, the prayers and the practical support of the Church worldwide. This meeting is a focal point of this solidarity, in which representatives of several bishops' conferences can share in the local Church's mission to work for reconciliation and a just peace.’

The two-day event is hosted by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Michel Sabbah, and attended by delegates from the Catholic Bishops' Conferences in England and Wales, the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy and Spain, the Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE), and the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community (COMECE)

Archbishop Patrick Kelly, of Liverpool, Fr. Frank Turner and Dr David Ryall, of the International Affairs Department, will represent the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.

The meeting will focus on the situation and needs of the Christian communities of the Holy Land, and on the Church's mission of peace and reconciliation, in the context of recent humanitarian, political, economic and military developments in the region. Delegates are to discuss the need for international advocacy on Bethlehem, the boundary wall, the relationship between the policy of closures, curfew, settlement expansion and the prospects for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, and the relationship between the situation in the Holy Land and the possible war against Iraq.

A Holy Land meeting previously took place in January last year (2002) when the Bishops released a ‘Message to the Christians of the Holy Land’ which stated, ‘it is profoundly wrong to keep a people under occupations; it is abhorrent to hold millions of men, women and children confined in one enormous jail; it is likewise reprehensible to take vengeance or undertake resistance with random attacks on innocent people’.

Others aspects of the initiative included the fostering of support from Episcopal conferences, encouragement of pilgrimages to the Holy Land and parochial and diocesan twinning and supporting Palestinian communities outside the Holy Land and groups working with the Christian community of the Holy Land.

A Mass is to be held at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King Liverpool, on Sunday, 23rd February 2003 at 3pm, to celebrate one hundred years of the work of the Brothers of Charity on Merseyside.

The Brothers of Charity opened St Edward's Orphanage at Thingwall Hall in 1903, they also provided secondary schooling for a large number of boys who lived in the surrounding parishes. In 1958 they started caring for people with learning disabilities, and were at the forefront of the development, which enabled many people to live in the community. A warm welcome is extended to former residents or pupils, employees and anyone formerly associated with the work of The Brothers of Charity at Thingwall Hall to attend the Mass of Celebration.

Further information can be obtained by contacting Angela Batey tel: 0151 228 4439.

Additional Information

Having purchased Thingwall Hall in February 1903, The Brothers of Charity opened the doors of St Edward's Orphanage to the first resident, on 18th June, 1903 and until 1956 continued to provide accommodation for boys. Not all the boys where orphans, in fact it is quite heart rending to read some of the entries in the register, family circumstances, extreme poverty, illness of the mother, etc. made it impossible for some boys to live with their families and so they too would be given a place at the Orphanage. St Edward's Orphanage is often confused with St Edward's College, located in Sandfield Park West Derby, under the auspices of the Christian Brothers.

When a secondary school was needed within the district around the Thingwall Hall area, this task soon fell to the Brothers of Charity as they where already providing schooling for their own boys, they then took into their school the ‘senior boys’ living within some of the surrounding parishes including St Margaret Marys, St Dominics and St Columba’s. St Edwards were renowned for their ability on the football field and for their musical talents, the band being asked to play for all the garden parties and summer fayres that took place far and wide. The latter part of the 1950’s saw the decline in the need of 'orphanage accommodation', parishes had began to build their own Secondary Modern Schools and so an era of care and education ended at Thingwall Hall.

Being a caring congregation and in line with the vision and values of their Founder, Canon Joseph Peter Trieste, the Brothers looked at other sections of society that they could help and in 1958 they commenced a new era of caring for people with learning disabilities. With the development of supported living in the community, the Brothers were at the fore front of acquiring houses and enabling many people, both men and women, who had lived most of their lives in large institutions to make the transition to live in the community, they now support people in over 50 houses across Merseyside, as well as those living in the bungalows at Thingwall Hall.

Since the departure of Brother Gregory Boyle, to Sri Lanka in the mid 90’s, there are no longer any Brothers actively involved in the present day services in Liverpool, this is due mainly to the decline in the number of men coming forward to join the congregation. We are however still under the aegis of the Brothers of Charity and still uphold the vision and values of their founder in the caring for others.

A Catholic summit in Jerusalem ended on Thursday 16 January with a message of support for the Christians of the Holy Land and a set of proposals.

The meeting - which included meetings with President Katsav of Israel and President Arafat of the Palestinian Authority - examined in some depth the situation in the Holy Land.

The event was hosted by His Beatitude Michel Sabbah, the Latin Patriarch, and attended by delegates from the Catholic Bishops' Conferences in England and Wales, the U.S., Germany, Canada, Spain and Italy as well as the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) and the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE).

The co-ordination led by Archbishop Patrick Kelly, vice-president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, Bishop William Skylstad, of the U.S., Bishop Jacques Berthelet, of Canada, Bishop Joan Enric Vives, of Spain, Bishop Reinhard Marx, of Germany, and Monsignor Piergiuseppe Vachelli of Italy issued a call for renewed international advocacy for peace in the Holy Land.

In a message to the Christians of the Holy Land, the visiting bishops of Europe and North America said: ‘It is clear that fear and mistrust grip many more besides you, our Christian sisters and brothers. Yet at the same time, we have been assured of widespread longing for justice and peace, and have experienced the lively hope that must, it seems, inspire the continued courage and dedication of so many people, not least your own commitment to reconciliation.’

It added: ‘Until God grants the peace for which we all long, we promise to work without ceasing to help sustain you, our brothers and sisters in faith in Jerusalem, Palestine, Israel and Jordan.

‘To you who first witnessed the risen Christ and seek a rightful share in the peace which can be found only in him, we pledge our love and solidarity.’

The new proposals agreed by the peace summit were:

1. Increased contact between our conferences and the Church in the Holy Land (the Assembly, the Latin Patriarch, the Nuncio, the Heads of Churches and other relevant Church bodies) is necessary.

2. The steering capacity of the facilitating bishop's conference ought to be strengthened. To this end, the Coordination facilitator will be responsible (a) for proposing issues for common advocacy (e.g., matters of humanitarian access), and (b) for identifying 'best practices' (e.g., child sponsorship and partnership programs).

3. Regular and crisis communication among our conferences, on Holy Land issues, ought to be expanded.

4. Information and proposals for action ought to be extended to a wider circle of conferences and Catholic organisations. Where feasible, additional conferences ought to be invited to participate in our meetings.

The meeting also agreed that:

- while resuming pilgrimages of the faithful on a large-scale may not be possible under present circumstances, every effort should be made to encourage pilgrimages by leadership groups in the Church,

- the material needs of the Holy Land's Christians are urgent,

- sharing information on how donations are used will encourage further generosity,

- we value the increased collaboration on the part of local and international Catholic agencies in the Holy Land and will continue to work with such agencies, particularly with Caritas Internationalis,

- we encourage placing the Holy Land on the agendas of the annual continental and inter-continental Bishops’ meetings and should be prepared to provide information for preparation of these meetings,

- we support ecumenical collaboration in efforts to express solidarity with the Christians of the Holy Land and take particular note of relevance of 'accompaniment programs' like that sponsored by the World Council of Churches and endorsed by the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, and

- interfaith dialogue with Jews and Muslims should be enhanced and it is hoped the fruit of these dialogues will include reconciliation and a shared pursuit of peace.

The full messages and proposals and a history of the coordination are below.

A MESSAGE TO THE CHRISTIANS OF THE HOLY LAND FROM THE VISITING BISHOPS OF EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA

January 16, 2003 - Jerusalem

To our Christian brothers and sisters of the Holy Land;

To His Beatitude, the Latin Patriarch, the president, and their Excellencies, the members of the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land;

To their Beatitudes, the Greek and Armenian Patriarchs of Jerusalem, and their Excellencies, the bishops and heads of Churches in Jerusalem and the Holy Land;

A year ago, you shared with us your sufferings and spoke of your yearnings for justice and peace. To our great sorrow, as we return a year later, we have heard not of greater peace and hope, but only of even more violence and deeper despair.

Security measures have become more oppressive; unemployment has increased; poverty of body, mind and even spirit is ever greater. We have also witnessed people’s dread and dismay at the threat of war in Iraq.

It is clear that fear and mistrust grip many more besides you, our Christian sisters and brothers. Yet at the same time, we have been assured of a widespread longing for justice and peace, and have experienced the lively hope that must, it seems, inspire the continued courage and dedication of so many people, not least your own commitment to reconciliation.

Last year we said, ‘The present cycle of violence is a tragedy for everyone. It is profoundly wrong to keep a people under occupation; it is abhorrent to hold millions of men, women and children confined in one enormous jail. It is likewise morally reprehensible to take vengeance or undertake resistance with random attacks on innocent people.’ The continuing violence, in so many different forms, indicates to us: something is profoundly wrong.

Pope John Paul's words a year ago are confirmed by the sad story of the last twelve months:

No one can remain indifferent to the injustice of which the Palestinian people have been victims for more than fifty years. No one can contest the right of the Israeli people to live in security. However, neither can anyone forget the innocent victims, on both sides, who fall day after day under the blows of violence. Weapons and bloody attacks will never be the right means for making political statements to the other side. Nor is the logic of the law of retaliation capable any longer of leading to the paths of justice.

On our return home, we requested our national Bishops' conferences, regional groupings of conferences, and Catholic justice and peace commissions to make advocacy on behalf of peace in the Holy Land a priority matter. This they have done, although this year we have become increasingly aware of the need for these groups to continue their efforts and to co-ordinate their work more effectively. We have continually tried to improve public awareness of the facts, and understanding of the issues underlying the facts. As we promised, we ourselves have returned. Regrettably, our attempts to bring large numbers of pilgrims have so far met only with limited success, though pilgrimages have continued and have been a source of mutual encouragement.

We renew the promise we made a year ago. Until God grants the peace for which we all long, we promise to work without ceasing to help sustain you, our brothers and sisters in faith in Jerusalem, Palestine, Israel and Jordan. To you who first witnessed the risen Christ and seek a rightful share in the peace which can be found only in him, we pledge our love and solidarity.

It is because Jesus of Nazareth is risen and his tomb is empty that, especially in the darkest days of your sufferings, we rejoice with you in this sure confidence: ‘Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.’ (Romans 5:5)

With our constant prayers, we are

Devotedly yours in Christ,

Bishop Jacques Berthelet C.S.V.
President, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

Monsignor Piergiuseppe Vachelli
Sub-Secretary, Italian Bishops' Conference

16 January2003

A Proposal to Member Bishop Conferences For Strengthening Coordination in Support of the Church In the Holy Land

A Working Paper--Strengthening the Coordination

The continuing violence in the Holy Land and particularly the occupation and siege of the Church of the Nativity in April and May 2002, reveal the need to strengthen the workings of the Coordination. The primary need is for transnational coordination in the areas of advocacy and information sharing.

Improved coordination will enable our conferences to communicate more effectively with our particular churches as well as with our governments, political leaders and the public. Our advocacy may be improved by taking the following steps.

1. Increased contact between our conferences and the Church in the Holy Land (the Assembly, the Latin Patriarch, the Nuncio, the Heads of Churches and other relevant church bodies) is necessary.

2. The steering capacity of the facilitating bishop's conference ought to be strengthened. To this end, the Coordination facilitator will be responsible (a) for proposing issues for common advocacy (e.g., matters of humanitarian access), and (b) for identifying 'best practices' (e.g., child sponsorship and partnership programs).

3. Regular and crisis communication among our conferences, on Holy Land issues, ought to be expanded.

4. Information and proposals for action ought to be extended to a wider circle of conferences and Catholic organizations. Where feasible, additional conferences ought to be invited to participate in our meetings.

Amplification of Last Year's Proposals

Last year's proposals remain valid. On the basis of what we have learned this last year, we make the following additional recommendations:

1. In addition to conversion and other spiritual benefits, pilgrimages may be a sign of solidarity with the Christians of the Holy Land and a major source of their material support. While resuming pilgrimages of the faithful on a large-scale may not be possible under present circumstances, every effort should be made to encourage pilgrimages by leadership groups in the Church.

2. The material needs of the Holy Land's Christians are urgent. We recognise the generosity of several conferences even as we understand our respective conferences are differently poised to offer material help.

3. We believe that sharing information on how donations are used will encourage further generosity.

4. We value the increased collaboration on the part of local and international Catholic agencies in the Holy Land. We shall endeavour to collaborate with such agencies, particularly with Caritas Internationalis.

5. We would encourage placing the Holy Land on the agendas of the annual continental and inter-continental bishops' meetings. The Coordination should be prepared to provide information for preparation of these meetings.

Ecumenical and Interfaith Activity

1. We support ecumenical collaboration in efforts to express solidarity with the Christians of the Holy Land. We take particular note of relevance of 'accompaniment programmes' like that sponsored by the World Council of Churches and endorsed by the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem.

2. Interfaith dialogue with Jews and Muslims should be enhanced. We hope the fruit of these dialogues will include reconciliation and a shared pursuit of peace.

The Episcopal Conference Coordination in Support of the Church in the Holy Land.

A Word of Explanation

During the 1990s, the United States Catholic Conference had worked closely with the Holy See and the Church in the Holy Land on issues related to the Holy Land, particularly on the future of Jerusalem. In 1997, the Secretariat of State asked the USCC to coordinate its policies and activities related to the Holy Land with European conferences. In October 1998, during a meeting of bishops' conferences on Jerusalem, the presidents of American and European conferences agreed to join in an informal coordination.

The Coordination's founding members consisted of the conferences of Canada, England and Wales, France, Germany, the United States of America, and the Council of Episcopal Conferences of Latin America and the Council of Episcopal Conferences of Europe. From the beginning, it was hoped that Italy and Spain would also join the group. Italy, along with the Bishops' Commission for the European Union (COMECE) joined at the time of the 2002 meeting in Jerusalem, and Spain at the 2003 meeting.

From 1998 until 2003, the United States Catholic Conference served as facilitator of the Coordination. In mid-2002, the Conference of England and Wales took over primary responsibility for facilitation.

The Coordination is an informal working group. Authority over policy related to the Holy Land lies with individual conferences and councils/commissions of conferences. The original mandate was a broad one including coordination of finances. At the founding meeting in 1998, the bishop presidents narrowed the mandate to exclude finances, with a focus primarily on advocacy, communication and education. Because of the urgency of the material needs, however, there has been increased coordination of contributions at the local level under the leadership of the Apostolic Nuncio which includes some agencies connected to national conferences. Other areas of consultation have included pilgrimages and Episcopal conference visits.

From 1998 through 2001, the Coordination operated primarily at the staff level with staff reporting to their respective conferences. The crisis provoked by the al Aqsa Intifada made it desirable for bishop presidents and the representatives to meet once again both to express solidarity with the Christians of the Holy Land and to formalise the ties between the conferences at the level of Episcopal leadership. In 2002, the participants agreed to meet every year as long as the crisis continued. In 2003, expecting a continuation of the crisis, they agreed to meet again in January 2004 in a meeting that would allow them to spend additional time with the faithful of the Holy Land.

As part of its work to promote cross participation between parish centres, the Archdiocesan Clubs department is launching this year an over 30’s seniors 5-a-side football league to be played at the Powerleague Soccer Centre in Everton.

Ricky Davies from Club Management Services describes the initiative:

‘We are looking for around 12 teams to be split into 2 leagues of 6. The teams will battle for promotion and relegation and we envisage many prizes and spin offs.’

The Archdiocese already runs open age 5-a-side competitions the latest winners, St William of York, Crosby (picture below).

Ricky Davies added: ‘we have now staged two competitions and St William’s ‘A’ team have won them both - despite very good competition. Their ‘B’ team even managed to come runners up in the Christmas competition.

‘The prizes provided by Carling, Carlsberg and Castelmaine XXXX have accumulated over £700 worth of free bar drinks to the winning team.

We have fabulous prizes - but they all seem to be going in the same direction - St William’s. The challenge is out to other teams to take their crown away’.

Anyone interested in putting a team into the competitions listed above should contact any local parish centre manager for an entry form. Enquiries from existing seniors/open age teams are also welcome.

For further information contact Ricky Davies Tel: 0151 522 1033

The Liverpool Archdiocesan Council for Evangelisation meeting on Saturday 1 February 2003 at the Liverpool Archdiocesan Centre for Evangelisation and the Deans of the Archdiocese of Liverpool, meeting on Tuesday 4 February 2003 at St Oswald and St Edmund Arrowsmith Parish, Ashton-in-Makerfield, felt bound, at this critical moment, to make their own the November 2002 Statement of the Bishops of England and Wales about Iraq and the insistence of Pope John Paul that war is not the way to solve differences between nations.

Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales: Military Action against Iraq

1. War is a route from which there is no return. The need to avoid war is a cornerstone of Christian teaching. The UK and the USA are currently preparing to send their armed forces into war. If there is war, as well as military casualties on both sides thousands of Iraqi civilians will die. It is our moral responsibility to avoid this war unless, in the face of a grave and imminent threat, there is no other possible means to achieve the just end of disarming Iraq.

2. Military action can only be a last resort. We recognise United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 as the legitimate expression of the international community's collective determination to disarm Iraq. At the same time we strongly urge the international community to pursue alternatives to war before it is too late.

3. Sanctions have not worked. They have imposed a decade of misery on ordinary people whilst allowing an exploitative regime to sustain itself in power. It is time to find a policy that offers Iraq a positive incentive to comply with the demands of the Security Council. In return for genuine disarmament, monitored and verified by the United Nations, the lifting of comprehensive sanctions, and the reintegration of Iraq into the international community, is the route which must now be explored.

4. Grief for those killed and wounded in war will be the more agonising if their loss results from an armed conflict that could have been avoided without compromise to the common good. We pray that both sides step back from the brink of war. Along with our fellow bishops in other countries we ask our Catholic community and all people of faith to join us in this prayer.

Introduction to Mass and Homily preached by the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool, at the Mass of Ordination of Rev Philip Gregory Saturday 8 February 2003. 2.00 pm at Holy Family RC Church, Boothstown.

Introduction to Mass:

Today two gifts come to completion: but that completion means something new begins. The first gift that is completed is this: for four weeks, day-by-day, we have received at Mass the letter to the Hebrews. That letter spells out: what is authentic prayer? What is praise; worship in spirit and in truth? What is priesthood, vestment, ritual, hymns all about. The scene is therefore complete to ordain Philip Gregory. And the second gift now completed is his surrender to the Holy Spirit, forming him, through so many people, in so many ways, that today’s step is, well, almost ordinary, no fuss; just right, natural, good, and meant for now. So the word of God today shall form, inspire the prayer with which we will be one with Philip as the Holy Spirit turns him into whatever is acceptable to him. But we too need to turn, to be converted: we ask to be forgiven.

Homily:

Philip, for the first time at an ordination, I begin, not sharing, breaking open the word, this day’s deed with everyone around you. Today’s word of God must begin with you. For you have, at one with our Lord, seen the large crowds, you have taken pity on them because they are like sheep without a shepherd. You have seen eyes that have no joy, you have heard aimless chatter with no depth, just frittering away wasted hours; you have seen the furrowed brow, the distracted look that says: what is the point? Why bother? Harassed and dejected.

And so your are willing to see in all that a call from the same Lord who called Samuel: you are willing to teach them to form them in word and sacrament; the Lord set himself to teach them at some length. Philip that length shall be for your whole life’s length. And it shall not be lots of words, but rich, nourishing words; not lengthy, tedious, drawn out self-indulgent celebrations, but each one just its own right length: the appropriate music; the necessary hymn, the essential silence, to break open this word, to enter into this sacrifice of praise at this moment. It would be wonderful to say with Gandalf: a wizard is never late: he arrives always at the right moment. So shall be your words.

But now, I must ensure that all of us here appreciate what today means for us. We sing: we see vestments; we are in a beautiful place. But the completed letter to the Hebrews has opened our hearts and eyes to this: on the first Good Friday the temple in Jerusalem was magnificent; glorious vessels; gorgeous vestments; splendid rituals. But the letter has taught us: the deepest praise was on Calvary; the most beautiful sound was the weeping of the women; the most glorious vessel was the rock of Golgotha that I pondered last month, that received the blood of the Lord. And so we endorse Philip’s decision today by realising: ‘Keep doing good works and sharing your resources: these are sacrifices that please God.’ And as he, with me and all your priests, know we must one day give an account of the way we look after your souls, make this a joy for us, not a grief, or you yourselves would be the losers.

But, that shall not be: Philip, we stand beside you today above all convinced of this:

‘The God of peace, of completion, of wholeness, of health of body, mind, spirit, who brought Our Lord Jesus back even from the dead, to become the great Shepherd of the sheep, will make us ready to do his will in any kind of good action. So shall our worship today be gathered into an unending sacrifice of praise, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.’

The annual Civic Mass will be celebrated by the Archbishop of Liverpool, the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, this Sunday, 9 February 2003. The Mass will begin at 11.00 am in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool. The Archbishop will preach the sermon.

The Service will be attended by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Councillor Jack Spriggs, who will read the first lesson from the Book of Job (58:1-4, 6-7).

His Honour Judge John Morgan, representing the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool, will read the second lesson from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians (9:16-19,22-23).

The Gospel reading will be taken from St Mark (1:29-39)

Other Civic Leaders present will include:

Members of Parliament:

Circuit Judges:

District Judges:

Retired Judges:

Council Officers:

Members of the Consular Corps:

In addition there will be representatives from local Catholic High schools and seventy-six representatives from local Catholic Societies working in the Archdiocese of Liverpool.

The Choir and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Cathedral will be taking part in the music of the Mass under the Director of Music Mr Mervyn Cousins. The music will include the Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei from the Mass in G by Schubert; Handel’s motet ‘Their sound is gone out’ and Sonata in D and the hymns ‘Thou whose almighty word’ words by Marriott, music by Giardini; ‘God is Love’words by Rees, music by Rowlands and ‘Now thank we all our God’ words by Rinkart, music by Cruger.

Introduction to Mass and Homily preached by the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool, at the annual Civic Mass in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool: Sunday 9 February 2003 at 11.00 am.

Introduction to Mass:

For three reasons I must be grateful to the Lord Mayor and all of you who choose to accept the invitation to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King for his year's Civic Mass. We see in this your recognition of the contribution made by the faith communities to the well-being of so many women, men and children. Then we accept the request you are making to us to pray for all you do out of concern for others. Last, but by no means least, it is so good to say ‘thank you’ for your willingness to undertake the often searching demands of public service.

The word of God read across the Roman Catholic Churches of the world today will invite us to open our minds and hearts to grief, to those sick in body, mind, spirit. That we may accept that judging, healing, renewing word, we ask forgiveness for all hardness of heart.

Homily:

The compassion of Jesus for the sick, those deeply troubled in heart and mind. I rejoice that it is a similar compassion, a sensitivity to grief that inspires and sustains so much public service. And the deeper the compassion, the more aware the sensitivity to the grief and its causes, the more likely it will flow into political action, to campaign, protest, refusal to be silent. It would be no surprise that a willingness to be as compassionate as was Jesus of Nazareth, will flow into politics, to civic action and service.

But the gift we all receive on this particular Sunday is quite specific: it may question some feelings in our hearts, but I am sure it will in the end prove liberating and set us free from what can be stifling ambition. The gift is in this. The healings of Jesus brought him success; the whole town crowding round the door. He had a captive audience. But then he does not do what people like me are tempted not to do: enjoy the fame; seize the moment of power; make the most of the limelight. It is clear he felt that desire, was sorely tempted. But: ‘In the morning, long before dawn, he got up and left the house, and went off to a lonely place and prayed there’. And so when Simon and his companions, heady with success said: ‘Everyone is looking for you,’ his response is deliberate, strong, extraordinary: ‘Let's go elsewhere’.

I think of the line in T.S.Eliot's mighty play ‘Murder in the Cathedral’. Thomas of Canterbury describes this as the greatest temptation and treason: to do the right action for the wrong reason.

The liberating gift of the Lord Jesus to us all today is liberation from that ambition that can come between us and commitment only to the common good. Each one of us here has been stirred by compassion and enabled to heal injustice, to bring light where minds are darkened by ignorance or prejudice, to raise up where insecurity, poverty, sickness of body or spirit becomes a fearful burden. But we also dare to accept this fact about ourselves: we are enabled, in Saint Paul's words today to: ‘make ourselves the slave of everyone...weak with the weak...all things to all in order to heal, make whole, save some at any cost.’

And it seems to me, anyone seriously, consistently, selflessly engaged in public service, even though they may not know it, still less claim it, can look forward with St Paul to share in the Gospel's blessing; and that blessing is joy, peace, life that nothing can destroy.

John James White was born on 24 February 1936 in Bootle, the son of Gerald and Kathleen White. He was born into a seafaring family as his father served in the Merchant Navy with distinction during the Second World War; John was later to proudly display his father’s medals in his presbytery, and continued the family tradition by working for much of his priestly life in the pastoral care of seafarers and their families. John’s early education was at St Peter and St Paul School and at St Francis de Sales School in Liverpool. He studied for the priesthood at St Joseph’s College, Upholland, and at the English College, Rome, and was ordained to the priesthood in Rome on 29 October 1961.

Following ordination his first appointment was as assistant Priest at St Oswald and St Edmund, Ashton in Makerfield; moving to St Bede, Widnes in 1965. His appointment as Port Chaplain to Atlantic House, Liverpool in 1968 saw the beginning of a long association with the Apostleship of the Sea and in 1973 he was appointed Resident Chaplain at Stella Maris, Bootle. It was during this time that he visited ships in the Port of Liverpool to celebrate Mass each Sunday, often in Italian or Spanish as the needs of the seafarers required. He also served in the Royal Navy Reserve and during the Falklands conflict in 1982 he spent some time in Portsmouth caring for the families of those serving in the South Atlantic.

In 1985 he was appointed Parish Priest of Sacred Heart, Liverpool and in 1990 took up active service with the Royal Navy, serving as Chaplain in both Plymouth and Rosyth, Scotland. He returned to the Archdiocese in 1992 to take up what was to be his final appointment as Parish Priest of St Thomas of Canterbury, Waterloo. As with many who serve at sea he will be remembered for a wealth of stories and anecdotes of seafaring life. He will be especially remembered for the care he gave not only to those at sea but also to those left behind at home.

He died peacefully at home with his family in Bootle in the early hours of Saturday 15 February 2003 following a long illness. May he rest in peace.

His body will be received into St Thomas of Canterbury church, Waterloo, for Mass at 7.30pm on Monday 24 February. His Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11.00am on Tuesday 25 February at St Thomas of Canterbury, prior to interment at Ford Cemetery.

Introduction to Mass and Homily preached by the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool, at Mass to celebrate the centenary of the work of the Brothers of Charity on Merseyside. Sunday 23 February 2003 at 3.00 pm in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool

Introduction to Mass:

‘Give me joy; give me peace; give me love; give me oil.’ This afternoon we are giving thanks for gifts of the Holy Spirit: joy in praising God, not ourselves; peace in resting, not resisting the purposes of God; love, not in dominating; oil, the anointing not of the world's controlling power, or the world's superficial beauty, but the anointing seen in Jesus crucified: strength by forgiving: beauty of selflessness. Not least with Brother Rene Stocknan, the worldwide leader of the Congregation of the Brothers of Charity, we give thanks for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit through the Brothers of Charity for one hundred years on Merseyside.

Homily:

‘God's love had been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.’ That explains what we are doing today. When Saint Paul wrote those words he meant: the love with which God loves each one of us is now at work in us: in us God loves: we are so wonderfully the friends of Jesus that now Jesus is serving others through us. We can now love one another exactly as Jesus loves us.

And it is that love, that Charity, which has been seen among us for one hundred years here on Merseyside through the Brothers of Charity. But because that love, that Charity, is God's own loving, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we do not stop our thanks today with the Brothers and those countless women and men who have been caught up in their story: no: because such love, such Charity is a gift, a wonder of the Holy Spirit, we gladly accepted the words proclaimed from the book of Ecclesiasticus by Mr Nigel Deane: ‘Bless the God of all things, the doer of great deeds everywhere.’

And because this love is not our own proud do-gooding, because this Charity is not an attempt to make ourselves feel good, it goes hand in hand with the words proclaimed by Brother John O'Shea: ‘be clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and patience: forgive each other.’

Indeed we have seen our Lord's words fulfilled among us: ‘You did not choose me, no I chose you and I commissioned you go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last.’

Therefore, with peaceful, joyful, wondering hearts in this Mass, we give thanks to God the Father, through his Son our Lord, inspired by the Holy Spirit from whose gift alone comes love, Charity worthy of the name.

Introduction to Mass and Homily preached by the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool, at the Funeral Mass of Rev John James White. 11.00 am on Tuesday 25 February 2003 in the Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, Waterloo.

Introduction to Mass:

Assured by the kind, never cynical smile, set free by his light-hearted but whole hearted living of his dying, inspired by the selfless, gracious, generous hospitality of his sisters and brother for him, for me and all who visited him, I dare to say: I am invited by the Lord to inspire fitting remembering, grateful, confident prayer for, well, is it Sean, Chuck, or is it John? Sean to his family; Chuck to us who were his fellow students in Rome; John, well, to most others. We will find the word of God proclaimed this day across the whole Catholic world will enable us to pray God speed for Sean, Chuck, John on his best of all voyages.

Homily:

Sean: inspired by his family to walk this way of life, set out by the word of God today: ‘Be sincere of heart, be steadfast…Cling to him and do not leave him…Trust him and he will uphold you, follow a straight path and hope in him.’ A straight path: not least fidelity to the salt in his veins and his service to seafarers and those dear to them. The presence of those of you who represent the Royal Navy among us today means so much, not least to Sean’s family.

But above all, it seems to me, his sisters and brother who enabled him to accept this word too from the Lord: ‘Be sincere of heart, be steadfast, and do not be alarmed when disaster comes; whatever happens to you, accept it, and in the uncertainties of your humble state, be patient, fine gold is tested in the fire, and chosen men in the furnace of humiliation.’

To the girls, as Sean called you, to Tony, in the name of us all, many, many heartfelt, admiring thanks. You will for a time, precisely because you held him at the very centre of your life, miss him severely. We will not forget you.

And what about John White? One day Jesus had to ask the Twelve: ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’ They said nothing because they had been arguing which of them was the greatest. No need for John to be silent about what mattered most to him on his road. His focus, not least among you the people of the parish of the martyr Saint Thomas of Canterbury, was not himself. It was only: the Son of Man, delivered into the hands of men, put to death…and three days later risen again. One ambition he did not see fulfilled was his longing to keep with you the Christmas Feast; the birth as a child of him who said, taking a little child, and putting his arms around him, ‘Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me.’

Finally, what does God’s word say to us who lived with Chuck during formation for ordination? The goal of those days in Rome was this: to make us like the Lord. ‘For the Lord is compassionate, and merciful, he forgives sin and saves in days of distress.’ We were being formed to have such a heart that there could be entrusted to us and then hold day by day the cup of the Lord’s Supper. On our ordination day that cup was handed on to us with this commission: ‘Agnoscite quod agitis; imitamini quod tractatis.’ ‘Be fully aware of what you are doing; imitate what you handle.’ What we do is: ‘Do this in memory of me.’ What we handle is: my body given for you; the cup of my blood poured out for you and for all.

Chuck, thank you for showing us how: ‘If anyone want to be first, he must make himself, last of all and servant of all.’ As the Lord promised in his word today: ‘You will not be balked of your reword. You who feared the Lord, your hope for good things, will not be disappointed, but everlasting happiness and mercy shall be yours.’

To be read at all Masses in all Churches and Chapels of the Archdiocese on the Eighth Sunday of the Year 2 March 2003

I am preparing this message on Friday 7 February. Tomorrow the United Nations Inspectors return to Iraq. Three days ago, the Secretary of State of the United States of America, Colin Powell, presented to the United Nations, a case against Saddam Hussein. Yesterday the Defence Secretary of this country, Geoff Hoon, informed parliament about the deployment of the RAF in the Gulf. Two days ago, at primary schools in Lydiate, I asked how many children in classes of about 30, had close relatives in the Armed Services; at least seven hands went up in each class.

What the situation will be by the time you receive this, I simply do not know.

But whatever the situation is, I have no doubt what I must commend to you today. It is going to sound all wrong, but I ask you to bear with me. I ask you as never before to accept the gift of Lent and seize hold of every opportunity to make the weeks of Lent very, very different. Despite the present crisis, or better, because of it, I do not ask you to campaign, start discussion groups, raise money. I ask you: see Lent as leading to one person, one time and one place. It is to lead to Jesus, to his final days, to his last supper in an upper room on a Thursday evening, to his death on a hill called Calvary on a Friday, to his burial in a garden nearby in the heart of Jerusalem. The challenge of Lent is this: not to come to the Easter Vigil with our hands full of our good deeds, not even with money raised for those in greatest need. Lent is to bring us fasting, empty handed, thirsting for new life, new birth of water and the Holy Spirit; for things we cannot achieve for and by ourselves.

Lent is about fulfilling the promise we receive today through the prophet Hosea: ‘You will come to know the Lord.’

Above all, in words we will receive when we go out of our way to begin Lent by going to Mass on Wednesday, Ash Wednesday: we need to know again this fact: ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.’ Reconciliation, peace, justice are first and foremost deeds of God in his Son our Lord, Jesus Christ and in him crucified.

Above all we must approach the challenges of injustice, war, terrorism, greed, as those who know their own need of God. It is perhaps the most staggering example of our arrogance that we can look round us and not be gentle and lowly heart, faced by so much folly and brash confidence, so much failure hand with hand with noisy pride and self-assurance.

So: welcome Lent. Welcome the patterns of prayer various groups are providing for us to use across the diocese for each week. And these gifts they are preparing, will carry us on through the whole of Eastertide. It is in the seven weeks of Easter, that, renewed at the Easter vigil as those born again of water and the Holy Spirit, we shall see good deeds worthy of God’s children. We shall see flourish from deep, wonderful resources, justice, peace, selflessness, nothing less than love divine. I mean that love which flowed from the pierced heart of the only Son of God, on a Friday, on Calvary, at three o’clock one spring afternoon, in Jerusalem.

Yours devotedly in Christ,

Patrick Kelly

Archbishop of Liverpool

Introduction to Mass and Homily preached by the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool, at Ash Wednesday Mass. 12.10 pm on 5 March 2003 at the Blessed Sacrament Shrine, Liverpool.

Introduction to Mass:

Ash Wednesday: The Lord will call out to us: he will give us a stirring challenge through the prophet Joel. Ash Wednesday. St Paul will set us out on the road and this road only: to come to a Friday afternoon at three o’clock and see the sinless one made into sin: to move onwards to Easter Night and at the great vigil and find ourselves born again: become the goodness of God. Ash Wednesday: the Lord himself will set out in what spirit we will give to those in need, pray more often, and fast.

But now let us pray in quiet need of forgiveness, healing, renewal, in a word of a Redeemer.

Homily:

Today all of us must defend ourselves for disobeying our Lord. And then I must defend myself for personally disobeying him.

First all of us: he said: wash your faces when you fast: we will leave this Mass with black ash on our foreheads for all to see.

Jesus said: pray secretly. But yet again we cause chaos outside the shrine and everyone knows on bus, in taxi or near the wine-lodge: it’s them Catholics: they’re at their prayers again.

How dare we disobey? Because we know the great dangers for our days: the danger is not that people will fast to show off: the danger is they will not fast: but live that easy, noisy, fearful way: eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. For love of them all, out of compassion, today we publicly wear the cross of ash.

The danger in our day is not proud, conceited, displayed prayer. The danger is prayer-less lives Mass-less lives: lives: no flesh and blood of Jesus lives. Today and all Lent out of love for all, we will be seen, noticed going to Mass more often. My late father, when he discovered our neighbours were Catholic who didn’t go to Mass told us to slam the doors as we set off for early Mass.

Then the defence I must make for disobeying Jesus. This Lent I am trying to say: in Lent don’t focus on giving alms: don’t see Lent as a time for us to raise money for those in need. It sounds like disobeying him. My reason: Lent is not first about us and any good we do. It is to bring us to give Holy Week and Holy Saturday night to our Lord and him alone. Lent will deepen our longing to come together on Maundy Thursday night, hungry, thirsting for him: to Good Friday, held in silence by his love; the Easter Vigil ready for renewed life of water and the Holy Spirit.

We will receive the ashes: his gift: our public ‘yes’ to him as we leave Mass. But now once more his last supper, his death, his risen life are among us as we obey his word of love: Do this in memory of me.

Homily preached by the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool, at Ash Wednesday Evening Prayer with Priests. 3.00 pm on 5 March 2003 in the Crypt of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool.

Keep on working: let me put with this word under which we as priests begin Lent this year, the words: do everything without complaining, that is working through the narrows, the heaviness: the necessities.

Now and again the word work in the New Testament has the feel of heavy labour: laborious. It has that feel in the wonderful dialogues at the well in Samaria entrusted to us in the fourth Chapter of Saint John’s gospel. The Lord sends his disciples to a harvest others have laboured to accomplish: above all his labour on the cross. For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, hauling it round, heaving it back, struggling, striving to halt and turn round headlong, corrupt feelings and desires. It is the labour of his descent into hell, our hell of din, strident emotions, our hell of distracted aimlessness: the hell of my name is Legion: no focus: no one kindly light, but the light as of blinding flashing strobes, disco-style.

And labour comes at the end of the longest chapter in St. Paul’s first Letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 15) the fruit of so discerning the death of the Lord, is to know him bodily risen: and all heavy, sustained, laborious labour, is not in vain in Jesus risen, whole in body, mind, emotions, feelings. Serene: harmony, shalom.

Words like discipline belong in Lent: working at our salvation. The discipline of such a pattern of sleep that we work at prayer. I have yet to be convinced that Michael Ivens, SJ, was stating an oddity when he said: I have only met three people of serious prayer who didn’t pray before breakfast.

But we work with fear and trembling. Not the fear of anxiety or the trembling fearing critical assessment. But fear and trembling because we are labouring on holy ground, to accomplish wonderful things, ‘for God is always at work in us to make us willing and able to obey his own purpose’. The first gift is to discern what God is at work to accomplish in us this Lent. It can be good to use the next days in this way: ponder the renewal of priestly promises we will make at the Mass of Chrism: ponder the promises of those renewed on Easter Night to be ‘innocent and pure as God’s perfect children’. Discern what is the Lenten journey that will enable me to work with God’s work, labour with God’s labouring, struggle within his Son’s reconciling, hauling round, dragging upwards, so that those two acts of promises will flow from heart, mind, emotions, feelings, desires renewed. So shall we under God’s word and in the light of the Spirit set out our Lenten self-denial, prayer, generosity to others.

In a word, we shall surrender again to the Lenten – Paschal, Pentecostal prayer that sustains our ordained life: Innova in viserbus erum Spiritum Sanctatis: Renew within them the Spirit of Holiness.

Introduction to Mass and Homily preached by the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool, at Mass for the Novena of Grace. Ash Wednesday, 5 March 2003, at 7.30 pm in St Mary’s Church, Lowe House, St Helens.

Introduction to Mass:

Ash Wednesday Novena of Grace. I think of all of us seeking to deepen this year’s Novena of Grace here at Lowe House, I have the easiest task. Novena of Grace: nine days to ponder: God loves, heals, renews us beyond all deserving: we are free to expect wonderful blessings of new life, stronger service, deeper peace, more abundant than all we can even imagine. And Ash Wednesday is just that: first of all: through the prophet Joel God takes the initiative to give us the repentance, the joyful penitential way of Lent. St Paul, as we will see more fully later, proclaims the amazing deed of God. And the Lord himself sets us free from all judgment except of someone called Father. But now let us pray in quiet, yes, confident need of redemption, forgiveness, healing, of a Redeemer, a Saviour, a Jesus.

Homily:

Here, at Lowe House, during the Novena of grace, I have no choice about what I must invite you to ponder, to appreciate, to be the guiding purpose of this Lent. I may, indeed must, as regards more generous giving, deeper prayer, heartfelt and unspectacular fasting, leave you with the words of the Lord Jesus: all is focussed on his Father and ours. I must return to St Paul’s words: For our sake God made the sinless one into sin so that in him we might become the holiness of God.

Perhaps, perhaps mercy, forgiveness need not have caused surprise. But we are not told about some vague cloud of mercy, a mist of forgiveness, an atmosphere of benevolence. We are here because we accept much, much more. We do not only know, love, serve a God who spoke a word of forgiveness over us. We know and love and follow a God who asked his Son to take on himself our sin. Jesus came closer to us in our sin than we are to ourselves: he feels our temptation: he understands our hard heart: our bitter spirit: our sick desires: our shameful feelings: not from a safe distance but as if they were his very own. He feels as if it were his own our distance from God. Because he is utterly unselfish without sin, he alone can forget himself and not impose his feelings on us: he enters in silent, listening, attentive, still. God made the sinless one into sin.

Lent is to bring us to him: better to enable us to forget our goodness or sin, and just let Jesus in. He will cry our cry: eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani: My God, My God, why have you forsaken me. He will descend into our hell, into any hell we have inflicted on others, sit there, listen there, feel there: take our hand there and raise us up. So shall we become nothing less than the goodness of God.

Novena of Grace: nine days to ponder: God does wonderful, undeserved things. Nine days of foster in us this longing: to keep Holy Week with the Lord: to come together for the night of his last supper: to be around the cross at three o’clock on Good Friday. Above all, to keep watch at the Easter Vigil of Easter Night: unexpected gentle light: wonderful new, renewed life as children of God: peace the world cannot give: joy, nothing can destroy.

Statement issued by the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool, on the commencement of armed conflict in Iraq.

However strange it may seem I feel the focus of our hearts and minds must not now be war and peace but life and death. I am grateful for the way in which Pope John Paul has taught us not to think and speak about the whole human race but to recognise, to respect and to love every man, woman and child in their wonderful uniqueness. Now is the time to hold in prayer every single person and all those dear to them affected by what is happening in the Middle East.

Mass to be celebrated

Archbishop Kelly will celebrate Mass in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool, at 7.30 pm to give an opportunity for prayer. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Introduction to Mass and Homily preached by the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly at Mass following the commencement of armed conflict in Iraq. Thursday 20 March 2003 at 7.30 pm in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool.

Readings at Mass for Thursday of the Second Week of Lent: Jeremiah 17:5-10; Psalm 1; Luke 16:19-31.

Introduction to Mass:

That we may pray in this time of fear, doubt, ignorance, death and suffering, we ask to be reconciled with the Lord Creator, Redeemer, Saviour of all.

Homily:

The prophet Jeremiah proclaimed: ‘A curse on the man who puts his trust in man, who relies on things of the flesh, whose heart turns from the Lord.’ How has the human family come to this moment in history? What has happened to all our skill, our cleverness, our power? War, the moment when any person is deliberately killed, when anyone deliberately kills another, is terrible. Each one of us is made in the image and likeness of God. The deliberate killing of any one of us challenges us to ask: where do I put my trust? Can our wisdom, our powers, our resources of hand, heart, mind, accomplish justice and peace? We need what we now do: celebrate the Mass and surrender all we have and are to be caught up into the prayer, the sacrifice, the pleading of Jesus, the Son of God, whose death on the cross is the great deed of reconciliation and peace.

And the uncertainty of this day, the unexpected nature of how action began, may stir strange feelings in our heart. Did anything in us want a spectacular beginning? It is good that the word of God has space for the complexity of our heart today: ‘The heart is more devious than any other thing, perverse too; who can pierce its secrets?’ We pray, inspired by the psalms: ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way of everlasting life.’

In this Cathedral, we are always reminded, by that banner, of Pentecost Sunday 1982. Here, that day, Pope John Paul called us to forgiveness, reconciliation. One sign of that was his walk along Hope Street to our sister Cathedral. Bishop James has asked to be one with us this evening, with these words sent from the United States:

‘I am particularly conscious while I am in America at this moment of the tension throughout the world. Together with all Christian leaders I urge that people of faith should pray earnestly for the leaders of the world, especially for George Bush, Tony Blair and Saddam Hussein. Pray earnestly that God would lead them swiftly into the paths of peace. Just as Jesus wept outside the City of Jerusalem saying: “If only they knew the things that made for peace” so I believe that God sheds tears for the world longing that we may know true shalom.’

That morning of Pentecost 1982 the Pope during Mass conferred confirmation of twelve young people. The altar was surmounted by three spires reflecting the three spires left standing when Coventry's Cathedral was bombed in the Second World War; bombing which so terribly afflicted our city of Liverpool, especially around the docks. At Coventry the Pope challenged the young people to be built up into a Cathedral of peace. He said: ‘Like a cathedral, peace has to be constructed, patiently and with unshakeable faith. Wherever the strong exploit the weak, wherever the rich take advantage of the poor; wherever great powers seek to dominate...there the making of peace is undone; there the cathedral of peace is again destroyed.’

In God's wisdom and love, on this Lenten day we receive from our Lord a story absolutely unique in all the challenging, disturbing, vivid stories he told. Today's story of the rich man and poor man begging at his gate is the only one where the whole point of the story is: this evil must be removed from the face of the earth. The gap between rich and poor. Is that the word above all others we must receive this day? The alternative is stark; that gap will destroy peace; and those who do not accept that demand have not a heart ready to receive the truth: the Lord is risen from the dead; that is: their heart is incapable of the Christian faith.

Lenten Address: ‘On the Edge...’ given by the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool. Liverpool Parish Church: Tuesday 25 March 2003 at 1.05 pm.

On the Edge: that is the atmosphere chosen for our Lenten journey here at the Parish Church this year. On the Edge: Nazareth was on the edge: they used to say: ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth’. John 1:46. But ‘when the time had fully come’ Galatians 4:4, ‘In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth’. Luke 1:2 6.

On the edge: Mary was on the edge: her self-portrait revealed ‘low estate’…’low degree’…’hungry’. But Gabriel greeted her: ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!’ Luke 1:28.

On the edge: there is no rush to open mind, heart, body, to a closeness of God never before imagined. But such is the spirit the Lord God is seeking: ‘Thus says the Lord: Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me and what is my resting place?…But this is the one to whom I will look, to the humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at my word’. Isaiah 66:1-2.

‘And Mary said: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord: let it be done to me according to your word”’. Luke 1:38.

And so in the hill country, in a city of Judah, ‘when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leapt in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb”’. Luke 1:41-42.

On the edge as the fullness of time began: captured in this poem of George Every:

It began on the edge: it only became action, word, deed for all to see in the same way.

On the edge: a marriage feast was on the edge: ‘On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the Mother of Jesus was there.’ John 2:1. The wine failed: joy, gladness, hope failed not just in Cana but for our whole human family. Mary saw, as her son so often saw, a ‘multitude of invalids’ John 5:3, ‘When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd’. Matthew 9:26.

Mary sees as us on the edge and looks to her Son: ‘They have no wine’. John 2:3. But he points to what the consequence of healing, saving, renewing, gladdening action by him will be. It will be that hour of glory called Golgotha: Calvary. As it was in Nazareth. So it is at Cana: on the edge. But Mary says: ‘Do whatever he tells you.”’ John 2:5.

On the edge: so it will be when that hour comes: Jesus ‘knelt down and prayed, “Father if you are willing remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done”. . . and being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down upon the ground’. Luke 22:41-44.

On the edge: ‘At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice: “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthami”’. Mark.15:34.

On the edge: but finally he prayed: ‘Father. Into your hands I commit my spirit’. Luke 24:46: ‘It is accomplished’. John. 19:30.

For as she prayed at Nazareth, as she prayed at Cana, ‘standing by the cross of Jesus was his Mother’ John 19:25, praying for him at the hour of his death.

On the edge: Iraq: the Holy Land . . . We shall turn to her Son and say: they have no wine. This other poem of George Every called, ‘The Shroud’, shows where it means we shall go:

Silver, Ruby, Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilees in 2003

On Monday 24 March 95 year old Monsignor Denis McDonnell led thirty-one priests from the Archdiocese of Liverpool in celebrating the jubilee of their ordination and giving thanks for a total of 1,335 years of service. There are seven priests celebrating their silver jubilee (25 years); thirteen celebrating their ruby jubilee (40 years); three celebrating their golden jubilee (50 years); seven celebrating their diamond jubilee (60 years); and. Monsignor McDonnell celebrating his platinum jubilee having given seventy years of service. A full list is attached.

They joined with Archbishop Patrick Kelly and Auxiliary Bishop Vincent Malone for a celebration of Evening Prayer at 6.00 pm at the Archdiocesan Centre for Evangelisation on Croxteth Drive, Sefton Park. The Bishop Emeritus of Middlesbrough and former Auxiliary Bishop of Liverpool, Bishop Augustine Harris preached at the service and members of the Choir of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool provided the music. Prayers were also said for all involved in the conflict in Iraq.

Nine of the Jubilarians are now retired including the longest serving, Monsignor McDonnell, who now lives at Nazareth House, Crosby. Seventeen of them work as parish priests in the Archdiocese of Liverpool and another is in parish ministry. Monsignor Peter Cookson, the Dean of the Metropolitan Cathedral celebrates his Ruby Jubilee and the list also includes a lecturer from Ushaw College, Durham, where Monsignor Cookson was at one time President. An Army and Hospital Chaplain are marking their Silver Jubilees.

Friends and family will joined many of them for the service on Monday evening and individual celebrations will be held throughout the rest of the year.

Priests of the Archdiocese of Liverpool celebrating their anniversaries in 2003 are:

Deanery Celebration for Prescot, Whiston and Knowsley Village

The four Roman Catholic Churches in the Prescot Deanery together with the Anglican Parish Church of St Mary, Prescot, are to hold a Celebration of Faith beginning next Sunday, 30 March, and running through the week until Sunday 6 April. The overall theme of the week is ‘The Time is Now: Time for Reflection; Time for Renewal and Time for Change’. Themes chosen to reflect the history of the watch-making area. The churches taking part are: Our Lady and St Joseph, Prescot; the Parish Church of St Mary, Prescot; St Luke, Whiston; St Leo, Whiston and St John Fisher, Knowsley Village; each church will host at least one celebration during the week.

The Celebration opens with Mass for the anointing of the sick at 3.00 pm on Sunday 30 March in Our Lady and St Joseph’s, Prescot. Through the week some churches will be having early morning Mass and there are to be special celebrations each evening at 7.30 pm as follows:

METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL OF CHRIST THE KING, LIVERPOOL HOLY WEEK AND EASTER 2003

Homily preached by the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool, at the Funeral Mass of Rev Charles Hollywood. Saint Patrick’s, Livesey Street, Manchester on Thursday 10 April 2003.

Readings at Mass from the Lectionary for Deaf People: Fifth Sunday in Lent Year A.

Why are we here? Because the Holy Spirit has blest all of us through Charles Hollywood. The Holy Spirit has gathered us here. We will remember the gifts God our Father has given us through Charles Hollywood.

First, look at the Lectern: It is broad. Here two people can stand together because: God comes close to us in reading words: God also comes close to us in giving signs.

Next: we look again at signs we have received today. We see two sisters: Martha and Mary: Two sisters, but very different. Martha: busy; hasty; rushing; quick signs. Mary: quiet; still: slow signs. Different: but sisters: one family.

Charles Hollywood taught us: the Holy Spirit brings us together into one family: One fellowship. Eye-people : hearing people; signing people: speaking people. The Holy Spirit, through Charles Hollywood has brought us together from all over the world as friends and helped us to grow together in love. We are a sign of peace for the world.

Now we watch again: Jesus weeps: We see his tears. Today Jesus watches us: Jesus sees our tears: and Jesus rejoices: because tears are love. Today our love is coloured purple: but the water of our tears will be changed into red wine and the wine will be changed into the red blood of Jesus: perfect love: perfect peace: perfect joy.

Charles Hollywood was chosen by God to give the eye-people a signed prayer. Charles wanted all eye-people to come to the table, here Jesus feeds us with his word, his sign and his best sign and best word: ‘This is my body’…’This is the cup of my blood.’

And now: look at the candle: the candle proclaims: Jesus is risen from the dead. But look: it is a small light; not a dazzling light. It is a gentle light; not a powerful light. Because Jesus is: merciful, Jesus is humble, Jesus is love. And Charles Hollywood was merciful, he was humble, he was love. He leaves us, but he goes to Jesus. They meet as friends. They will sit together in the evening and enjoy a little drink: the most perfect whisky.

Because you gave us Charles Hollywood: Father we praise you for ever with Jesus, your Son, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Father, we praise you, we thank you, we adore you, for ever and ever. Amen.

Name of new Auxiliary Bishop announced

Pope John Paul II has appointed Canon Thomas Williams to be an Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Liverpool and Titular Bishop of Mageo (Mayo). The announcement was made at 11.00 am this morning, 15 April, simultaneously in Rome and Liverpool. Bishop-designate Williams was born in Liverpool and at present serves as Parish Priest of St Anthony’s Church, Scotland Road, and Our Lady Immaculate Church, St Domingo Road, Liverpool.

An Assistant or Auxiliary Bishop supports and helps the Archbishop in the running of the Archdiocese. He is given by Rome the title of a diocese that formerly existed in fact but which now exists in name only. At present the Archdiocese of Liverpool has one Auxiliary Bishop, Vincent Malone. Bishop-designate Williams will work alongside Archbishop Patrick Kelly and Bishop Malone.

Archbishop Patrick Kelly welcomed the appointment saying:

‘I have already written to the Holy Father to thank him for appointing Tom Williams to be assistant Bishop in our Archdiocese. I know I at least speak for Bishop Malone as well as myself saying: I am delighted; I am no less certain that once this becomes public today that joy will be widely shared. It is good indeed that we will be blest by someone who brings a great knowledge and appreciation of the history of the Archdiocese, but also long service, not least to the sick and frail. It is very right that a parish priest of Saint Anthony's and Our Lady Immaculate should be ordained Bishop. Tom's life as a priest, unlike my own and that of most Bishops, has just been, and that is a totally inadequate description, in a parish or hospital setting. It is in that spirit that we will rejoice to celebrate his ordination as a Bishop on the Feast of Saint Augustine of Canterbury which will be the 31st anniversary of his ordination as a priest. Tom, thank you for being willing to be ordained for service as a Bishop; our joyful prayers are with you.’

Bishop-designate Williams spoke of his appointment:

‘I am completely and totally over-awed at the news. I have never hoped nor aspired to be a Bishop. I have always and ever only wanted to be a good priest. All I can say about the future is that it will be a great honour and privilege to be part of Archbishop Patrick’s team, with Bishop Vincent, and a great learning experience.

‘I have served in the centre of Liverpool for the past thirty years, and Liverpool, particularly the North End has always been where my home and my heart is. I hope that I will still live in the City Centre, preferably at St Anthony’s. I will have to get to know the rest of the Archdiocese, because, at the moment, my knowledge is only cursory, but I promise to do my best.

‘I enjoy being busy, and to my fellow priests and people of the Archdiocese, all I can say is that I will give my heart and soul to support you and be with you, and I pray that you will remember me in your prayers, I’ll certainly need them.’

Bishop Vincent Malone said:

‘I am delighted at the prospect of having a new colleague in the role of co-worker with Archbishop Kelly in episcopal ministry, and doubly delighted that it should be Canon Tom Williams. Tom has won the respect of the clergy of the Archdiocese in more than thirty years of priestly ministry, in parishes, in hospital ministry and in service to his fellow priests. His new, wider responsibilities will endear him to parishioners throughout the Archdiocese who, with the clergy and religious will, I am sure, support him with their prayers.’

Canon Thomas Williams will be ordained Bishop by Archbishop Patrick Kelly in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool on Tuesday 27 May 2003 at 12.00 Noon. Further details of the Mass will be released at a later date.

Thomas Williams was born on Shrove Tuesday, 10 February 1948 at 2A Ashfield Gardens (first landing, second house), Silvester Street, off Scotland Road, Liverpool. His father, Richard, who died in December 1982, was a bargee based in Stanley Dock, and the locks in Lightbody Street, who later advanced to become a Checker in Box 6, based in Gladstone and West Lancashire Docks between 1963 and 1975. His mother, Margaret, who is now 81 years old and living with Tom’s younger sister Marie, was a school cleaner for Ashfield Street Primary and Archbishop Whiteside Schools. The Bishop-designate is the eldest of four children: his sister Margaret teaches at a Primary School in Essex; Marie is a Nurse at Fazakerley Orthopaedic Clinic and his brother Richard is Caretaker at Margaret Beavan School.

Bishop-designate Williams was an altar server at St Sylvester’s and entered Junior Seminary, to train for the priesthood, at Christleton Hall, Chester, when he was 13 years old in 1961. At the time Archbishop Heenan informed him that he was ‘a bit old!’. After five years of study there under the Headship of Fr Tom Hennessy of the Salvatorian Fathers he went to the English College in Lisbon, Portugal, in September 1966 where he studied Philosophy and Theology until the closure of the College in 1971. He completed his studies at St Joseph’s College, Upholland, the then major Seminary for the Archdiocese of Liverpool.

Thomas Williams was ordained Deacon on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 8 December 1971, by Bishop Joseph Gray, then Auxiliary Bishop of Liverpool. As Deacon he served for six months in the St Matthew’s area of Skelmersdale before he was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop George Andrew Beck on 27 May 1972 in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool.

His first appointment was to St Francis of Assisi, Garston in September 1972. Bishop-designate Williams remembers his work there well and says: ‘I will always look back on that parish as my first home as a priest, and my first love’. A year later he took on the added responsibility of being Chaplain to Bellerive Grammar School, a post which he held for seven ‘happy’ years.

In January 1975 he was appointed to Sacred Heart Parish, Hall Lane, Liverpool where he served with Fr Bernard Dickinson and Fr Bernard Jackson. The two assistant priests served as Chaplains to the Primary Schools and the Royal Liverpool Hospital or ‘Old Royal’. Father Tom says: ‘This was the beginning of nine years as Hospital Chaplain, at the Old Royal for four years and the New Royal for five, and the home of many fond and treasured memories’.

In 1983 Bishop-designate Williams served at Our Lady of Walsingham parish in Netherton and undertook supply work at St Jude’s, Wigan and Holy Spirit, Netherton. In 1984 he was asked by Bishop Kevin O’Connor to take responsibility for Our Lady Immaculate Parish in St Domingo Road. The ancient Chapel (designed by Pugin and the Lady Altar of the original Liverpool Catholic Cathedral planned in the nineteenth century) was condemned as unusable and Father Tom oversaw the conversion of the Parish Centre into a church which was opened by Archbishop Derek Worlock in 1986. In 1989 he was appointed Parish Priest of St Anthony’s in Scotland Road, Liverpool and assumed additional responsibility for Our Lady Immaculate Parish in 1999.

During his ministry Bishop-designate Williams has also been a member of the Archdiocesan Finance Advisory Committee since 1977; Secretary and Treasurer of the Fund for retired and sick clergy since 1993; a member of the Liverpool City Centre Ecumenical Team since 1996 and a member of the Archdiocesan Building Projects Committee since 1986. He serves as Chair of Governors of Our Lady Immaculate Primary School where he has been a Governor since 1984; Chair of Governors of Mother Teresa Primary School where he has been a Governor since 1989 and was a Governor of Campion High School from 1986 to 1999 being their Chair from 1989 to 1999. He has been a member of FLAME for twenty-seven years travelling to Lourdes with children and young people with disabilities and has also worked with the St Anthony’s Lourdes Trust finding funding to train local teenagers to work with young people with disabilities in Lourdes. He has also been Chair of Project Jennifer looking at the re-development of the Scotland Road and Great Homer Street district, since it began in 2002.

His hobbies include a weekly game of golf and he is a member of the Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club. He enjoys horse racing and is a fanatic Evertonian and until the onset of regular Sunday and mid-week fixtures was a season ticket holder for many years. He also says he ‘must’ have one week’s skiing per year!

Introduction to Mass and Homily preached by the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool, at 12.10 pm Mass at the Blessed Sacrament Shrine, Liverpool. Tuesday in Holy Week: 15 April 2003.

Introduction to Mass:

‘The days of his life-giving death and glorious resurrection are approaching.’ Today we watch in minute detail the downfall of Judas and the warning of the denial of Peter. But both stories only to lead us in the end to our Lord himself and his Thursday, his Friday, his Saturday night. We look to him, formed in the womb of Mary, to God the Father’s servant for the light, the salvation we need.

Homily:

That was so detailed: who was sitting where; pieces of bread, and dipped in the dish; chatting about the poor; and ‘Night had fallen’. And the detail goes on: embarrassing conversation between our Lord and Simon Peter and the detail: cockcrow. But although they are involved, I mean, Judas, Simon Peter, the rest, Jesus makes it clear: It is all about this: ‘Now has the Son of Man been glorified, and in him God had been glorified.’

In the end it is all about this: not Judas’ betrayal, or Peter’s denial. It is all abut our eyes being opened to see what we must ever more mean by the glory of God. It will not mean power, might, magnificence, domination, control, and beauty as the world may see it. It will mean what we see on Thursday evening: a Lord who washes our feet: on Good Friday, patience, lowliness, selflessness, a crown, but of thorns: a pierced side, a heart broken by loving. And on Holy Saturday night, darkness taken away, not banks of disco lights, but a candle’s gentle ray. Praise to the holiest in the height, and in the depth be praise, in all his words most wonderful most sure in all his ways.

Introduction to Mass and Homily preached by the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool, at 12.10 pm Mass at the Blessed Sacrament Shrine, Liverpool. Wednesday in Holy Week: 16 April 2003.

Introduction to Mass: ‘The days of his life-giving death and glorious resurrection are approaching.’ Today the final creating of space for the Thursday, the Friday, the Saturday Night, that we give to the Lord. We look to him, the perfect disciple, utterly attentive to the will of his Father, to hear our prayer.

Homily: That is very messy: all bits and pieces: Judas and the chief priests; brief instructions about preparing for the Passover; and Judas once more. And then all of this is put aside. Because from now on the focus moves to depths we must ponder from a fearing, attentive, adoring, wondering distance.

Tomorrow night the spirit of the supper is not what Judas does, or Simon Peter says, but it is this: Jesus, knowing that he came from the Father and was returning to the Father, rose to wash his disciples’ feet. What he does tomorrow night, the washing, the gift of his own self, is all because of his communion with the father; he accomplishes not the will of Judas, or Peter, but of the Father.

On Good Friday afternoon, we will be very attentive and again, as it were from a distance we will watch: it is not so much Judas who hands him over; he steps forward himself as the Father invited him to do. It isn’t Pilate that in the end condemns him: Pilate is told the only power over him he has is from above; that is from the Father. It is not the envy of Judas, the cowardice of Pilate, the barbarity of the soldiers that is accomplished: he says: ‘it is accomplished’ meaning the will of his Father.

And on Holy Saturday Night, the wonder we contemplate is none of our doing: the raising from the dead is the pure, creative, unexpected, undeserved, and undreamt of deed of the Father. That is why that is our night of greatest thanks and praise; it is not about our works and deeds. It is about: ‘This day was made by the Lord, we will rejoice and be glad’.

And if you would be led even further into these coming days think about coming to the cathedral tonight at 7.30 for the Mass of Chrism. This night we focus all our concern for the sick, or searching for light and truth, our hope of renewal in the Lord and the Lord alone and it will lead us resolutely to set our face towards Jerusalem and the things that happened there in these days.

Introduction to Mass and Homily preached by the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool, at the Mass of Chrism. Wednesday 16 April 2003 at 7.30 pm in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool.

Introduction to Mass:

In our troubled world the Lord God has called us to be one with his Son, to share the Spirit which rested on him: to be anointed as he was to bring gladness, liberty, comfort, praise. Because the Lord loves us, we are a kingdom of justice, love, peace: priests to his God and Father.

Homily:

Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. They used to say: ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ But on Friday we will go to Golgotha at three o’clock and adore: ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews’.

Nazareth: lowliness not power: mercy, not domination. So we your priests called out of love for Jesus of Nazareth to bring his peace and love to our brothers and sisters accept this Spirit to form, guide, control us:

‘We are careful not to give offence to anybody, lest we should bring discredit on our ministry; as God’s ministers, we must do everything to make ourselves acceptable. We have to show great patience, in time of affliction, of need, of difficulty; when we are tired out, sleepless, and fasting. We have to be pure-minded, enlightened, forgiving and gracious to others. We have to rely on the Holy Spirit, on unaffected love, on the truth of our message, on the power of God. To right and to left we must be armed with innocence; now honoured, now slighted; now traduced, now flattered. They call us deceivers, and we tell the truth; unknown, and we are fully acknowledged; dying men, and see, we live; punished, yes, but not doomed to die; sad men, that rejoice continually; beggars, that bring riches to many; disinherited, and the world is ours.’ (2 Corinthians 6:3-10. Knox version)

At the Blessing of the Oil of the Sick:

Once the sign was a helpless child in the poverty of a manger: Jesus a Nazarene: Jesus who ‘offered up prayer and supplications, with loud cries and tears’. (Hebrews 5:7) We anoint the frail, the troubled, the fearful because they enrich us and teach us this: ‘Consider your call; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many powerful, not many were of noble birth; but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong’. (1 Corinthians 1:26f).

At the Blessing of the Oil of Catechumens:

We need anointing, strengthening, comforting, reassuring on our road into the heart of Jesus of Nazareth because ‘the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God . . .Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews, and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called…Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

At the Blessing of the Oil of Chrism:

Our Lenten journey, out of love for our troubled world, has led us to one person, to one place, to one time: to Jesus of Nazareth, to Jerusalem, to the days of the Passover feast. We have come to know: all life, all holiness comes through his death and resurrection. Our deepest need is to be Christian that is to be his alone: consecrated with the oil of his Spirit, to become one body, one spirit in him. So this is the longing, a longing learnt from Saint Paul for all whom the oil will anoint.

‘I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit . . . and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through the faith; that you being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.’ (Ephesians 3:14-21).

Introduction to Mass and Homily preached by the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool, at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. Maundy Thursday 17 April 2003 at 7.30 pm in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool.

Introduction to Mass:

‘The world’s salvation is in the eucharist’. In the end justice, peace, the well being of every child, depends on the Mass. But this healing, renewing, liberating action for the world, takes us to a night, in Spring: to an upper room in Jerusalem; to bread, wine, a lamb, whose real name is Jesus. Because the Holy Spirit has kept 2000 years faithful to ‘the day before he suffered, to save us all, that is today’ in our name the choir sings our thanks and praise to the God of peace.

Homily:

The Lord God will set his enslaved, burdened, weary people free: but it will all come down to: on the tenth day of their first month of the year: to a fragile lamb: bread: bitter herbs: an evening meal.

And a command, an order, an action seen across every nation, echoed in every language, done in every situation begun ‘on the night he was betrayed’: it shall require only bread and a cup of wine. And the word is spoken and has ever since, everywhere been done: ‘Do this is remembrance of me’.

And in the course of supper, in the city of Jerusalem, before the feast of the Passover, we must look, watch, see, how the Lord will save, heal, renew the world. And watching exactly what he did we shall learn what resources are needed if the world is to find salvation, healing justice, secure peace.

‘I have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you’.

Watch now: ponder what is done: remember the night of bread, wine, the Lamb of God: and save the world.

Message from the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool, for the Daily Post, Good Friday 18 April 2003.

This could be the most demanding Good Friday that Christians have faced for many years. This is nothing to do with many other things that have become tangled up with this time of the year, chocolate eggs, rabbits, bonnets. It is something much more challenging. We find ourselves, who name this Friday Good, seeking in different ways to be faithful to the event that alone made it Good. The challenge, faced by those who are convinced of this, comes from the background this particular year: the aftermath of conflict in the Gulf; terrible tensions in the Holy Land itself; nearer to home, the laborious journey associated with the Good Friday agreement, seeking to edge forward to secure justice and peace in these islands. From this there flows a curious challenge. In the end to be Christian is not primarily about the honesty, correctness, improvement in our own way of life. It is about accepting or rejecting a staggering claim: in a city called Jerusalem, on a hill called Golgotha, at three o’clock in the afternoon one Friday in Spring the Son of God died; and he died in such a way that he reconciles us with God his Father and with one another. Against the background of the enormous display of political, economic, military power witnessed in recent weeks, dare we, do we still claim: the work of reconciling, the work of justice, the work of peace is the deed accomplished on Good Friday. There can be difficulties in accepting a merciful, a just, a benevolent God. What is much more demanding is to say: one Friday in the year is named Good, because on that day in the Middle East, all that mercy, justice and goodness was embodied in a death on Calvary and only be taking to heart that deed shall we be made whole in body, mind, spirit and the world come to justice and peace.

Homily preached by the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool, at the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion. Good Friday 18 April 2003 at 3.00 pm in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool.

Homily:

It is Good Friday: it is three o’clock, the ninth hour. No other time: no other day will do. Because we do not only know that God is merciful: we are not only convinced that a cloud of loving surrounds us. We know this; we are convinced of this because of what God did on a Friday, in Jerusalem, on a spring afternoon, now nearly 2000 years ago.

We watched what happened in a garden across the Kedron valley.

We see events in the house of someone called Caiaphas.

We go to a Praetorium. And as long as the world’s story lasts, the declaration of God’s wonderful deeds will be inseparable from a weak, vacillating governor called Pontius Pilate.

We see the one who will judge the living and the dead, brought out to a place called Gabbatha: and rejected as useless to be a credible king.

We must walk the way of the cross, as ‘carrying his own cross he went out of the city to the place of the skull, or, as it was called in Hebrew, Golgotha’.

Nailing: squabbles about the title ‘Jesus, the Nazarene, King of the Jews’. The throwing of dice: a Mother standing by his cross. Sponge: vinegar: hyssop. And it, that is the purpose of the loving wisdom, wisest love, generous love, is accomplished.

A piercing: blood and water: a garden: a new tomb: where we must choose in silent waiting to stay.

Introduction and Homily preached by the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool, at the Easter Vigil and First Mass of Easter. Saturday 19 April 2003 at 9.00 pm in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool.

Introduction:

Because of what was taking place in the Gulf, the lands of the Bible, our Lenten journey of forty days was precise, narrow, if you like. We so lived Lent that sincerely we came to an upper room, bread, wine, the Lamb of God, in Jerusalem on Thursday. On Friday we stood on Golgotha and watched as his side was pierced and blood and water poured out. Because we made that journey to him and him alone now our concern can range far and wide: twice tonight our focus will be small, precise, detailed. But tonight is light, life, peace, for the world.

Homily after Gospel

So now once more we must return to what seems small, detailed, intensely personal. But from there and there alone we may securely, confidently, boldly, range far and wide.

We go with Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, and Salome: these three: no one else. We see what they are carrying: spices, and they had bought them, they had not had them ready in advance: they could, because the Sabbath rest was over. It was the first day of the week: very early: but the sun had risen. They look: they see: the stone rolled back: it was very large. They see a young man: I wonder, I wonder, was this the young man who on Thursday night in Gethsemane wearing nothing but a linen cloth when those who arrested Jesus seized him, left the linen cloth and ran off naked. I wonder if his name was Mark. And his word is the whole of the Gospel we call the Gospel according to Mark: ‘Do not be amazed: he is risen: go tell Peter’.

Detail: precise: but now it all bursts wide open: ‘They fled from the tomb’: trembling and astonishment overcomes them: and they say nothing because they are afraid: the fear of wonder: because nothing, no one can ever be the same again. Betrayal, cowardice, injustice, cruelty, scourging, crown of thorns, crucifixion, burial, death shall never be the same again. Through the world far and wide let there be light.

Thomas Gerard McKenna was born in Liverpool on 24 August 1915, the son of Thomas and Winifred McKenna. His early education was at St Clare's Mixed School in Liverpool before studies for the priesthood at St Joseph’s College, Upholland, and at the Venerable English College and Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood in St Peter's, Stonyhurst, near Blackburn on 7 June 1941.

Following ordination his first appointment was as assistant Priest at St Paul’s Parish, West Derby, Liverpool where he stayed for just six months before being appointed as Privy Chamberlain to Pope Pius XII and Secretary to Archbishop Richard Downey living at Archbishop’s House where he was also to serve Archbishop William Godfrey and Archbishop John Carmel Heenan. In 1958 he was appointed as Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Liverpool and in October of the following year as Administrator of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool. He remained at Mount Pleasant throughout the construction of the new Cathedral and for a further eight years as the first Administrator of the new building. Following the consecration of the Cathedral in May 1967 he was appointed as a Domestic Prelate and to the Metropolitan Cathedral Chapter of Canons, becoming Canon Penitentiary in 1973. He was also made Dean of the area. Whilst at the Cathedral he was able to combine two of his greatest interests: liturgy and classical music.

In the summer of 1975 he took a three-month sabbatical break returning to the Archdiocese to become Parish Priest of Corpus Christi, Rainford, where his first task was to oversee the building of a new church. He is remembered there as a well-liked, conscientious and prayerful parish priest always having the interests and well being of his parishioners at heart. He remained in Rainford until his retirement in 1998 when he went to live in Southport, enjoying his time there in the company of other retired priests at St Marie’s House.

He died peacefully while on holiday in the Lake District on Monday 12 May 2003. May he rest in peace.

His body will be received into Corpus Christi church, Rainford, at 7.30pm on Monday 19 May 2003. His Funeral Mass will be celebrated there at 12.00 Noon on Tuesday 20 May 2003 followed by interment at St Mary’s, Birchley.

Opening Address of the fifth consultation of the European Bishops’ Conferences on our responsibility for creation: formation for responsibility towards creation and sustainable development.

Address given by the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool and Vice President of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, in Wroclaw, Poland. Friday 15 May 2003

‘I believe in God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth’
Biblical foundation for formation on the environment.

1. Biblical Foundations.

My first concern is that we must not expect too much from the Bible. We must recognise the questions asked and answered in the word of God; we must not presume that questions which are new and occur in our time will find their answer in the Bible. At first this might suggest that we will feel insecure in trying to speak as those who know Our Lord Jesus Christ about the environment, if there are not precise foundations for what we say in the word of God. But I am convinced that if we begin humbly we will recognise the challenge we face and the courage with which we may respond.

To give an example of only asking the right questions. In 1957 I attended the defence of a doctoral theses at the Gregorian University in Rome. The subject of the theses was: Sacramental Theology in the writing of Peter Paludanus, Peter of the Marsh. At one terrible moment one of the professors asked: ‘But did Peter of the Marsh have a sacramental Theology?’ to which the poor priest presenting the theses could only reply: ‘Well, after all my study I now know that he did not.’ I just wonder if with a name Peter of the Marsh he might have had an environmental theology.

But to give an example that has arisen in England only at the end of April. Research claims to have shown that fish suffer pain. This has raised the issue: besides campaigns to stop hunting wild animals with dogs, should fishing be banned? And what would that say about him who said: ‘Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.’ (Luke 5:4.) Risen from the dead he said: ‘Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ (John 21:6.) And on that occasion when they came ashore ‘they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish lying on it.’ (John 21:9.) Had they been caught by the risen Lord with a hook? What would our biblical foundation be for a debate, a very angry debate I am sure, about the morality of fishing? Does the fact that Jesus risen fished rule out any question for us? We will be wise to be humble, not arrogant, cautious, not hasty, as we seek biblical foundations.

2. The Old Testament.

My suggestion is that we remember this: although on Easter Night we read the first chapter of Genesis first and the fourteenth Chapter of Exodus later, the key rests with the Exodus story. From the fact that the Lord came close and in space and time worked wonderful things for an enslaved people, they began to understand all time and all space. The Exodus story, including the strange events associated with a frail, powerless lamb, (Exodus 12:1-8,11,14) declares that forces that enslave, burdens that crush, fear and tyranny shall not have the last word. We then understand that the revelation of God we receive in the first chapters of the book of Genesis do not describe a golden era of long ago. They speak to people terrified by: ‘signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world.’ (Luke 21:25.) The poet of God reveals the poetic, artistic, creative God, who is here and now, amidst a world that so often seems hostile, with forces that manipulate, determine our days, that malignly or at best arbitrarily touch our life – amidst all of this God is speaking for there to be light, order, beauty, goodness. I think it is wise when we receive the word of God in Genesis and all passages related to those chapters, never to lose sight of the Exodus story: the God who is even now working his purpose out. We do not receive an abstract account, as it were a philosophical account of our place in creation.

3. When we come to ponder the story of our Lord, as we seek to find authentic biblical foundations for our concerns in these days, I suggest that first of all we notice this. ‘Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man.’ (Luke 2:52.) And he grew in wisdom among other ways, by learning from others. The most wonderful example of this must be his meeting with the woman of Syrophoenicia. He was like us in all things but sin. He grew up with, in the strict sense of the word, the prejudices of his own people, including the conviction that the ways of God had been uniquely made known to them. He was prejudiced in favour of the presumption that Jews would be more attuned to the ways of God than any other people. From a Syrophenician woman he learnt that his Father was working where most people did not expect to find God. (Mark 8:24-30. cf Matthew 8:5-13.)

One essential biblical foundation: we proclaim that in Jesus ‘are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’ (Colossians 2:3) but not because he never learnt, but because he was always willing to learn. And the Spirit of truth ‘will guide you into all truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak.’ (John 16:13.) The Spirit makes us not those who know everything, who possess with us the truth; the Spirit guides us to be disciples, to listen and to learn; and sometimes that will be from a woman of Syrophoenicia. At least in England it is salutary to recall, it was William Wilberforce, not a Catholic who woke us all up to the horror of slavery. The biblical foundation says: you may have to learn about the environment from some unexpected voices.

4. But there are other foundations we receive from the life, the words, the attitudes of the Lord. We are wise to notice: he was intensely aware of the world around him, and he was aware of the world as created. To begin with the awareness. This awareness reminds me of what I now have learnt to recognise as an essential foundation in the wonderful writings of Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare: it was not their ability to write; it was their determination to observe, to notice, to see. I am reminded of the first precept recommended for any deep conversion of heart and mind set out by the theologian, Bernard Lonergan: be attentive. Our Lord was attentive. This is seen first of all in the parables. Sower, seed, rocks, birds, good soil, mustard seed, sparrows, workers, yeast, sheep, goats, lilies, foxes, wolves, coins, easy yokes, splinters, beams, green wood, dried wood. But, especially on our day, we must notice: he did not see a world where all was comfortable, obviously in harmony, raising no questions. Every parable has a dark side: there are weeds as well as wheat, wolves as well as sheep, red sunrises as well as red sunsets; sparrows that fall; towers that fall down in earthquakes. He did not look around on an obviously comfortable world and say: God must be Father, Abba. The source of that conviction was not ‘I say to myself what a beautiful world.’ I am always concerned when children are presented a world of chickens, baby rabbits and butterflies and then led on to call God Father. It is like forgetting the dark, death-approaching world, pain and poverty from which arose up that song of pure, defiant faith, the Canticle of the sun of saint Francis. And I was once told the story of the birds was that he said one day: ‘I might as well talk to the birds as talk to this congregation.’ So that is what he did. And this too might be part of a biblical foundation in so far as sustainable development is our concern. Just once, the point of his story was that the shadow, the dark side in this story must be removed. It is the story of the gap between rich and poor: the rich man and Lazarus. Indeed the removal of that evil is linked with readiness to accept the resurrection. (Luke 16: 19-31.)

But this awareness was also an awareness of creation as such: that he was surrounded by what was gift, not a right. I offer three examples: the first: ‘Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.’ (Matthew 5:34.) It hurt him when anyone spoke lightly about heaven or earth or a city. They were caught up into the purposes of his Father; they could not be treated without respect.

My second example: the story of the transfiguration: (Mark 9:2-8.) I am sure the mountain was Hermon. I am sure part of the event is that as he went ever higher he was literally more and more exhilarated by what he saw. Sea, river, plains, valleys; and the history of his people from Nebo, to Carmel, to the hills around Jerusalem. And of the Lord God who fashioned all this, and guided that history, I am Son and heir, beloved, but also caught up in the story of the sacrifice of Abraham on Moriah, the death of Moses on Nebo, and the persecution of Elijah of Carmel. The conversation can only be about a beloved son who will suffer to set people free. But all of this finds its foundation in awareness of creation, precisely as creation but also of a God found in the joy and sorrows of a people.

My final example: the Eucharist: no one ever forgot how he gave thanks and praise for bread and wine and fish. You and I never create such an impression.

It seems to me, it is precisely in this closeness to the earth, but as created, closer than any of us who are creatures, that we see a revelation that he truly is the only, beloved Son of God.

5. From the struggles of Saint Paul to think through the implications of that meeting on the road to Damascus, (Acts 9:1-31), it is wise to notice this. Saint Paul was convinced: everything, every one must now be understood, judged, loved, treated, respected in the light of Christ the Lord. ‘Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one from whom Christ died.’ (Romans 14:15.) ‘For the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.’ (2 Corinthians 5:14.) ‘From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human p