Letter to be read out at Masses at the weekend of September 18^th/19^th.

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I’m sure we are all glad to be moving forward into some kind of normality again. I am conscious, of course, that we’ll need time to reset the compass after this past year and a half of turbulence. But today, I want to let you know about a few developments that I believe are encouraging and help us look forward. In telling you these things, I hope we’ll see that, while we may have been in lockdown, God has not gone into isolation. He has continued to be present to us in thousands of small and large ways over this period.

First, I want to let you know that three women and two young men from the Diocese of Limerick have joined religious orders in the past two or three years. Currently, we have one seminarian preparing to be ordained a priest of our Diocese, Tim Collins, from Croagh parish. He is in St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Let us remember all of these young men and women in our prayers.

Second, a particularly exciting piece of news is that 23 lay women and men across the Diocese have been taking part in a programme of Lay Pastoral Ministry and Leadership even throughout Covid. They are finding it very rewarding and fulfilling. When they conclude their programme, they will be available to work in ministry and leadership in their own local parishes and pastoral units as well as assisting with the provision of pastoral opportunities at Diocesan level.

We are now looking for new candidates and will host information evenings throughout the Diocese later in the Autumn. If you feel called to be involved in this exciting and important initiative keep an eye out for the dates of these evenings or send me a letter or contact Rose O’Connor at the Diocesan Centre.

Third. I want to speak to you about what is called the permanent deaconate. In the early Church the deacons had a ministry that focused on service, both within the church community helping in the administration of the Diocese and in reaching out to the marginalised in society. Gradually, they also helped out in some liturgical functions like performing baptisms, or presiding at weddings and preaching. For a long time, this ministry practically died out. The Second Vatican Council, however, proposed the ministry should be re-vamped.

Several Dioceses now have deacons with about 100 overall in Ireland. At our Limerick Diocesan Synod in 2016, it was agreed we might explore developing the ministry of deacons in our Diocese. So at this point I would ask for expressions of interest from men over 35 years of age, married or single. Indeed, one of the interesting features of this ministry is that most deacons are married with families so their experience can bring a particular help to families. If interested, please write to me at the Diocesan Office.

So, as you can see, God is still active. God is still calling. Apart from any specific ministry we might have in the Church, we know that God calls each one of us, first and foremost, to be apostles of his Gospel in our immediate family, neighbourhood and workplace.

Let’s continue to pray for one another,

Brendan Leahy,

Bishop of Limerick