Archbishop William Nolan's Homily on the Occasion of his Installation

a number of years ago the parish i was in had a parish mission and the priest a redemptious priest who came to preach the mission he got into the pulpit and he said have you heard the news and of course everyone sat up all ears have you heard the news he said the good news of jesus christ and they all stopped back into their chairs again the point was made somewhere rather we have lost the enthusiasm for those first followers that jesus has about his good news and they proclaimed that good news throughout the world but somehow we've lost that enthusiasm for it and yet as a whole purpose of the church's existence the church exists for one purpose only to preach the good news of jesus christ and so build up the kingdom of god and indeed in the gospel if you remember in the gospel when the angels appear to the shepherds of bethlehem they say we bring you news of great joy this news is joyful news for everyone to hear and yet somehow we seem to have lost that joy in our own hearts and of course in the world of which we live so many people don't see religion or christianity or indeed the catholic church as a source of joy but rather something that's going to weigh them down and pose burdens upon them and yet jesus in the gospel tells us he has come so we may have life and have it to the full so the good news we proclaim is the way that leads to the fullness of life and of course we don't have that joy in our heart we're not going to communicate that joy when we preach the word of god to others now we do live in difficult times and there are many other voices that people hear and of course the church has only itself to blame for the scandals which have racked the church in recent years in particular the child abuse scandal i was here a few years ago in this cathedral when archbishop built italian my predecessor apologized to all the victims of child abuse in the catholic church they'd like to repeat that apology today i'd also like to see how much i admire those victims those survivors who have come forward and told their story they have taken what was happened in the dark and brought it to light and therefore challenged us to face up to the reality of what was happening theologians i've always told us that the church is a church of sinners it's only in recent years that we realized how sinful people in the church can be and of course that's affected everyone not just of course the the victims in fact everyone in the church and everyone associated with the church can only hold our head in shame at what has happened but that's not enough we have to reach out to the victims and survivors and try to help them and we have to change our ways to ensure that what happened in the past does not happen again i'd like to say a few words if i may to the clergy who are here today you've been affected by these scandals of the past you've been affected also by the recent pandemic it's not been easy to be a priest today and yet you've persevered and i commend you for that for your perseverance as well as the scandals of abuse which of course have hindered your ministry and affected your morale the pandemic of the past two years meant that churches were closed you were seeing mass and empty church seeing massa virtual congregation and you were cut off from your people whereas so much of your ministry is just being with your people being with people in the events of their life and you are cut off from that so i commend you for your perseverance but perseverance is not enough sometimes i look at the clergy i remember how i used to feel years ago when i was a a priest in baylesson and in a whole walking group they were walking in the hills and then at the end you were coming back they were just head down just one foot the front they are persevering to get to the end no we have to raise our heads up and be kindle within ourselves not just the joy of the gospel but the joy of spreading that gospel to others we've got to rekindle the enthusiasm of when we are first ordained and we have to rekindle hope hope that comes not from ourselves or from others but hope that only comes from god in our first reading we heard how jeremiah was appointed as a prophet and he feels that he's not up to the task because he's well aware of his feelings and his imperfections and of course we're very well aware of our own feelings and perfections in fact might be even better aware of the imperfections of others round about us than we are of our own but jeremiah is still appointed by god as a prophet because god works through him despite his weaknesses and his failings and god works through all of us despite our weaknesses and our feelings our hope is not in ourselves or in others our hope is solely in god and in the power of god's spirit which is working in each one of us so despite our imperfections god's work is done and if i can say a few words to the religious and the laity here today of the archdiocese your faith too has been affected by all that's happened in the recent past by those scandals by the pandemic and of course also by the fact that you look around you and you see churches being closed parishes emerging you see a more elderly population dwindling population going to church and maybe some of you remember not that long ago just a few decades back and it was all different and the church was expanding and going out into the peripheries into all the new housing schemes however you wish that you lived still in those days but we don't live in the past god asks us to live in the present in the present where this troubles and it's difficult it's here we live out our faith and some of you also are worried because your own children or your grandchildren no longer practice the faith as you do well listen to the gospel the sword going out to sow the seed of faith you sow that seed of faith that seed of faith goes deep into our hearts and it goes deep into the hearts also those who no longer practice is still there have faith in god's holy spirit to nurture that seed so they will grow and flourish and if i can say a word of welcome to the representatives from other churches and christian denominations that are here today it's good that you're here particularly in this city of glasgow and this west of scotland which is very much synonymous in the past for sectarianism and it's sad maybe this in fact has been a scandal the fact that while professing to believe in the one god and savior jesus christ we've been divided among ourselves and for centuries have been hostile to each other but they've been bigotry and discrimination thankfully your presence here indicates that times have changed and particularly among the church leaders there's great friendship but friendship is not enough we have to be united together in proclaiming the good news of jesus christ because our division weakens that message that we preach it will be united in faith hope and in love and only if we work together proclaiming that good news will glasgow flourish through the preaching of the word and the praising of god's name and if i can say i want to the civic representatives are here also today i admire you for your commitment to public life and public service you've taken on your offices in order to serve the people because you care about the good of the people and for the common good and the catholic church also cares about the good of the people we recognize the great dignity of every single human being a dignity that in our eyes is enhanced by the fact that jesus tells us how we treat others is how we treat him now of course we may differ in our understanding of what is good for each p each individual person are good for society but i hope that you never question each other's motivations or sincerity the great scottish reformation figure of john knox at one stage john knox was exiled from scotland and had to live in england then he was exiled from england and he had to go to geneva and there to the church of john calvin and when john knox got to geneva he thought he was in heaven now john knox's idea of having my idea of having a lot the same but what what impressed john knox in geneva was in the church of calvin and the civil authorities working together hand in hand and i hope that we'll be able to do here in glasgow also there are many matters nowadays where differences and differences go deep and i hope that we'll be able to work together even when we disagree and it will always respect each other in our first reading as i mentioned we hear the call of jeremiah who's well aware of his feelings and his inadequacies but god works through him and god works through each of us through all of us believer and non-believer alike is the holy spirit of god working in our hearts that stirs up the goodness in our hearts into good actions for others and that's what gives us hope hope in god's spirit working through each of us and in the gospel we hear of the sower going out to sow and of course we know that some of that seed is scattered it goes on to the hard ground onto the path and if you concentrate all the time on your ministry and your work about the things that seem ineffective and going nowhere you just get depressed the sore continues to sow because it's only if you keep sowing that you'll reach a harvest and be a rich harvest so we have to persevere we persevere and we persevere with hope building our faith and our trust not in ourselves but in god and if we do that then glasgow will indeed flourish through the preaching of the lord and the praising of god's name

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Length: 13min 26sec (806 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 28 2022