A leading member of the Irish hierarchy has called on parish pastoral councils to put care for the poor, lonely and outcasts on their agenda. In his homily at Knock Shrine on Sunday for the national novena, Bishop Christopher Jones of Elphin praised the work of the Society of St Vincent de Paul, which, he said, is doing, “heroic work for the poor, the homeless and rejected.”
However, he suggested that there is a danger that the work done by organisations such as the St Vincent de Paul could be used by the rest of us to let ourselves off the hook in our duty of care for the outcasts.
“The rest of us stand back and leave the total responsibility,” to others such as organisations like the St Vincent de Paul, the Bishop commented.
Bishop Jones reminded parishes, that as communities of care, they have, “a huge responsibility to care for each other and especially for the poor.”
Therefore, he said, care of the poor, the lonely, the homeless and the outcasts should be on the agenda for every meeting of every parish pastoral council.
“We live in a world that desperately needs the powerful witness and experience of community,” he told a packed basilica in Knock.
Commenting on the wider social context, the Bishop of Elphin said many people today are alienated from both the Church and the state.
“We live in a very divided world because of language, race, ethnicity, gender, religion, politics, ideologies, personal history, and temperament. And of course we live in a world of liberals and conservatives, Protestants and Catholics, Jews and Arabs, Muslims and Buddhists, pro-life and pro-choice, feminists and traditionalists,” he said.
“We find it difficult at times to realise in our hearts that God loves all people as He loves us and we are sometimes tempted to distrust and demonise those who are different,” he warned.
The Bishop, who is one of a number of high profile speakers to give addresses to this year’s novena, underlined that happiness in this life and eternity will come, not from what we have, “not from things material but from our relationship with God and with each other”, he said.
The Eucharist, he said, calls parishes to, “build communities where everyone from the unborn to the oldest person, from the weakest to the strongest, from the poorest to the richest, experiences a sense of belonging, of being wanted, of being accepted and of being loved; where the dignity of every single person is respected and revered; communities from which no one is excluded.”
Addressing criticisms levelled against the Church over its hierarchical structures, Bishop Jones reminded the faithful that structures are needed but they should not be seen as the Church.
“The Church needs parish councils, diocesan councils, conferences of bishops and congregations in Rome, to take responsibility for all the major interests of the Church like education, liturgy, sacraments and priesthood, but those structures are not the Church; they exist to facilitate the growth of the Church as a community of faith, a community of prayer and a community of care,” he said.
In his homily, in which one of his core themes was parish as a community of care, Bishop Jones, examined how the celebration of the Eucharist forms the faithful and strengthens them as a community of faith and prayer.
He also discussed how the faithful are called by God to live through the week as a community of care.
“Our greatest challenge as a community of care is how we reach out to those who are poor or lonely or rejected or homeless. These are the people with whom Jesus loved to share food and friendship. He wanted to heal their wounded hearts and help them rediscover a sense of their own dignity and self-esteem,” he said.
He added, “God is calling us individually but especially as communities to care for each other and especially for the poor, the lonely and rejected.”