Limerick Diocesan Centre, St. Munchins, Corbally, Limerick Tel: (061) 350000. Email: bishop@limerickdiocese.org www.limerickdiocese.org cl “Freely you have received; freely give” (Mt 10:8). 25 January 2021 Dear Father, We are now well into 2021 with lockdown, staycation and restrictions still very much part of the Covid-19 language we are learning. I think we all thought we’d be in a very different place by now… I want first to say “thanks” again to all of you who were particularly busy in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Working out, and working through, arrangements brought its demands and anxiety. Admittedly, it also helped renew a sense of meaning and purpose in many parishes. So, thank you. We can be grateful all went so well and I believe there was a recognition on the part of many that the local parishes did their best to meet needs in very complex circumstances. The current situation is grave. The rampant spread of the virus will take some time and much caution to regain control. Our return to on-line liturgy has been necessary while being deeply disappointing. Level 5 restrictions are certainly making our service to parishioners quite difficult but not impossible. Again, thanks for your availability in various ways to people. It is important that we also take care of ourselves. I think it’s inevitable we’re going to have very mixed emotions and a number of “down” days in this period. I imagine most people are going through that. In the past weeks and months our routines have been turned upside down so much, our range of contacts so shredded and our actual living space so reduced. So I’d like to mention a few points that are obvious but bear repeating to ourselves. Structuring our Day. The phenomenon of the lockdown has exposed how much “doing” normally comprises much of our time. So much of our lives are normally determined by external demand. Depending on the parish this can vary greatly, but the point is that when the external demand has shifted so greatly in “lockdown” we can have large unassigned chunks of time that we need to approach pro?actively. This time can easily fritter away unless we structure it with dedicated time for prayer, spiritual reading, some exercise and work. Seeing our ministry with new eyes. While priests have managed to maintain a certain outreach to the sick and to schools, to families and to the bereaved, not least by using technology available to them, nevertheless we know that our ministry has been limited. It is at this point we need to recall something we believe by faith but perhaps often forget: priesthood is more than what we ‘do’ for people. Who we are, how we nurture our union with God, how we intercede for others, how we read situations and talk about them, are all expressions of a life that belongs to Christ at the service of humankind. The radius of our relationship with Christ reaches well beyond the confines of our particular ministry. In our communities, whether it’s explicitly acknowledged or not, priests are bearers and signs of a sincere and authentic concern for people at this time of uncertainty. In rooting ourselves in Christ “and him crucified” as St. Paul says, we let Christ work in and through us. I would recommend you read again Pope Francis’ extraordinary Urbi et Orbi message as he stood alone in St. Peter’s Square in Rome on 28th March 2020. I sent the text out last year. It is worth meditating on as a model for our priesthood’s relevance in these turbulent times. Limerick Diocesan Centre, St. Munchins, Corbally, Limerick Tel: (061) 350000. Email: bishop@limerickdiocese.org www.limerickdiocese.org “Freely you have received; freely give” (Mt 10:8). Adjusting our mind-set. It’s almost a year now since we departed a somewhat safe and secure past to set sail towards another shore which even the best experts cannot really determine. The journey is certainly taking longer than anyone anticipated. At this point it is important for us to reframe our mind-set, readjust the sextant, as it were, for that longer journey we are on. It calls for the mind-set of the long distant athlete rather than that of the sprinter. In this re-adjustment, our faith and trust in the Lord who called us and continues to call us, is the source of our hope. It has been said that we need “creative hope”. This is something deeper than a naïve optimism. It is rather wisely discerning under the guidance of the Holy Spirit the directions in which we believe the Risen Lord is leading us, believing in the promises of the Gospel. This is the well from which our ministry draws the life-giving water for which so many thirst. Hearing those who are crying. Some of the lay faithful in parishes are frightened by what they see happening around. Many bishops and priests have been accused of cowardice in the face of compliance with Government Heath Guidelines. Morally, no one in leadership in Church or State can in conscience seek anything less than the protection of the vulnerable. The litmus test is our care for the weak. The deferral of our public celebration of Mass is felt deeply by many. Some fear that people will not return to Mass after the “lockdown”. We need to be careful lest that such thoughts risk becoming a self?fulfilling prophecy. We remember Our Lord’s words: “Fear not I have overcome the world”, “Courage it is I”, “You of little faith”! Yes, much of our public prayer has been deferred, but there is a rich ongoing personal faith being lived in the interior life of so many people. We ought not underestimate its depth or vibrancy. Listening to Covid as teacher. Covid has taught and is teaching humanity a great deal – about fragility, mortality and interconnectedness in life and in death. It has shaken us out of our complacency. It has shown up dramatic inequalities in our world. We live in a new era. Pope Francis has a phrase that he repeats a lot in recent times when referring to the crisis that has hit the world: you never come out of a crisis the same, you emerge either better or worse. I propose that in our reflections and conversations together, let’s also talk about how it is we want personally but also as a diocese, as a presbyterate, as a parish, to emerge better from this crisis. I was struck the other day by the expression “Cathedral thinking”. The point is that in the Medieval ages when they built the great Cathedrals, it took a long time. Each generation gave its contribution. They knew they mightn’t see the final result, but that didn’t matter, they did their part. We too need “Cathedral thinking”. We now are doing our part as the new parish/diocesan arrangements, the new configuration and the new shape of community comes to life. I wish you well. Keep safe! Each of us is a treasure to be protected! Remember if anyone is feeling anyway unwell he should not delay in ringing their doctor and let the doctor advise on what to do, or whether there’s a need for a Covid test. It seems now that the virus can manifest itself in many different ways and may not necessarily present with a cough or a fever. We can be slow sometimes to look for help but, in the present circumstances, that is not a wise approach. Above all, let’s pray for one another, especially the more vulnerable, physically or otherwise, among us at this time. ? Brendan Leahy Bishop of Limerick Limerick Diocesan Centre, St. Munchins, Corbally, Limerick Tel: (061) 350000. Email: bishop@limerickdiocese.org www.limerickdiocese.org “Freely you have received; freely give” (Mt 10:8).