Family will be at heart of Irish evangelisation drive

THE IRISH Church will embark on a renewed mission to the family over the next five years, the Primate of All Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin, announced at the National Eucharistic Congress in Knock last weekend (pictured).

In his talk, Archbishop Martin said this new mission would implement the recommendations of the forthcoming Synod in Rome, while reaching out pastorally to those who may feel estranged from the Church because of their particular family situation.

Admitting he was always taken by the Youth 2000 motto “youth leading youth to the heart of the Church”, he asked: “What if we had more ‘families leading families to the heart of the Church’?”

Archbishop Martin said he was encouraging a family ministry in every parish along the lines of a post-baptismal “neo-catechumenate” with “families in mission” helping other families to meet, minister to each other and support each other in the faith development of parents, young children, teenagers and adults.

n The Bishop of Limerick, Brendan Leahy, has spoken out in favour of priestly celibacy but said it should not be regarded merely as part of a package deal in priesthood, writes Susan Gately.

“It isn’t as if someone wants to become a priest and therefore has to put up with celibacy. It should be the other way around – you want to follow Jesus and you see the gift of celibacy is a way of living being offered to you by God for you to live as a priest,” he said.

Bishop Leahy said that it is not specifically necessary for the vocation to priesthood and celibacy to be conjoined but that in the Latin Rite (most of the Roman Catholic Church), this has been the case for a very long time and for good reason.