HOMILY GIVEN BY

BISHOP SEAMUS HEGARTY

ON THE OCCASION

OF

THE CANONICAL RECOGNITION

OF

THE COLUMBA COMMUNITY

AT

ST. EUGENE’S CATHEDRAL

ON

31 ST. AUGUST 1995

This evening we celebrate a votive Mass of the Holy Spirit. In this Eucharistic celebration - since Eucharist means giving thanks - we give thanks to God for His many gifts and graces to us. We thank Him with special fervour this evening for the ministry and the witness which Fr. Neal Carlin and his brothers and sisters in Christ in the Columba Community have given in this diocese of Derry and beyond it both individually and collectively up to the present time. We thank God for who they are and for what they do. Secondly we invoke the guidance, the courage and the strength of the Holy Spirit on their ongoing ministry and witness in the future.

GRATITUDE

Bishops must exercise discernment in deciding which movement or initiative or apostolate they can endorse and approve. For many years I have been aware of the work of the Columba Community. Since coming here as Bishop of Derry I made it my business to inquire and research further the scope, nature and quality of the Community’s work. At the end of all of that and with the willing and enthusiastic assent of my advisors, I now immediately avail of this opportunity to thank Fr. Neal Carlin and all the members of the Columba Community for their work, their ministry and their personal witness. In formally expressing my thanks, which I do in the name of the Diocese of Derry, I am simply articulating a gratitude which has been tacitly but sincerely felt for many years.

APPROVAL

In expressing my gratitude I wish also to give more tangible expression to that gratitude by stating that from now onwards I approve of the ministry of healing, of reconciliation and of prayer of the Columba Community. I commend it to the people for their participation in it and I commend it to God in the sure and certain hope that all who “till and plant and water . . .“ under the guidance of the Holy Spirit as the Columba Community does, will reap a bountiful harvest which is in the gift of the Lord and Master of the vineyard alone to give.

ROLE OF THE BISHOP

The Columba Community will continue to exercise its apostolate in Columba House in Queen Street, Derry and in St. Anthony’s Retreat Centre, Dundrean, Co. Donegal. Canonically, it is a private association of the faithful with its own constitution, which has been accepted and approved by me. The Community has developed its own ethos and enjoys its own autonomy, both of these elements will be respected. The canonical recognition which I am now according the Columba Community very clearly and explicitly entails that for the future the Local Ordinary not only may but must exercise a supervisory role. This will result in a constructive and in an active relationship between the diocese and the Community which, I have every confidence, will be mutually advantageous. The more precise and formal details of this relationship, which are governed by Canon Law, have been duly agreed, noted and recorded elsewhere.

ECUMENICAL DIMENSION

I have been aware of the ecumenical awareness of the Columba Community and of its work in promoting Christian Unity. I note that this awareness is given practical and welcome expression tonight by the presence among us of the Rev. Cecil Kerr with whom Fr. Neal has worked so closely. I welcome you to the Cathedral this evening and I thank you for coming. I commend the pursuit of Christian Unity to the prayers and activities of the Columba Community. In doing so, I remind the Community that the unity for which Jesus prayed will only be achieved by prayer and by living out faithfully, in honesty and in truth one’s own inherited faith tradition and faith expression. The closer we come to Christ the closer we come to one another. Cosmetic compromises misrepresent authentic ecumenism and make the ideal for which Jesus prayed more difficult to achieve.

MINISTRY OF HEALING AND RECONCILIATION

Of all the activities in which the Columba ‘Community is engaged, prayer has the first place and appropriately so. The centrality of the Eucharist is very much the “source and summit” of the spirituality of the Community. From prayer and the Eucharist the Community is led and inspired to express the faith which is in them in a practical outreach of an apostolic and a Christian kind, to their brothers and sisters in the wider community. Perhaps the work for which the Community is best known and respected is their ministry of healing and reconciliation. This has been a valued, an important and a much availed of service over many years when many people then as now stood in need of healing and of being reconciled with others and with God. I thank God for gifting Fr. Carlin with a special charism in this regard. May that gift grow further, flourish and yield an abundant harvest,

The ministry of healing and reconciliation must be a priority for all of us at this time. Today there is more rather than less need for the ministry of healing and reconciliation among so many of God’s people who stand in need of healing of all kinds and who need to be reconciled with one another and with God. Bringing people to that awareness, calling them, and facilitating them to be healed and reconciled as individuals, as groups, as communities put those who are active in this very sensitive and specialised area of pastoral work in the front line of peace-makers and peace- builders. True peace will only be achieved when social, personal, psychological, moral scars are healed and when reconciliation replaces suspicion with trust, acrimony with respect, ignorance with understanding, hatred with love. This is just a part of the challenge which faces all of us at this time. This healing and reconciliation process must not be seen as the preserve or the responsibility of the few - it must be shared by all - but it is reassuring to know that there is a resource available to us which has a tried, tested and proven record in this regard. We can all make the prayer of St. Francis our own at this time “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. . .“. For that Lord we pray especially today the first anniversary of the Republican ceasefire.

THE FUTURE FACED WITH HOPE

It remains to be seen how, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Columba Community will evolve and develop in the future. Provided they keep the focus and the emphases which they have now on prayer, on reading and meditating on God’s word, on discerning in the Spirit, on invoking the patronage and protection of Mary, and most importantly as long as they remain so strongly Eucharistic I am confident that the Lord, at the appropriate time, will indicate the way in which the Community should go. It is interesting to note the growing interest among people of all ages who feel called to live their faith and give witness in a particularly compelling way by living in community, by a life of intense prayer and aposolic commitment by the taking of simple/solemn vows. This, as you know, has been a feature of the monastic tradition in the Church for many centuries and it appears to be emerging with renewed vigour in more recent times. That is not the direction in which the Columba Community is now going and it may not be the way it will decide to go in the future. I hope that the Community will be open and receptive to assist and facilitate those men and women in the future who might feel called to live their Baptismal commitment in this specialised way and who may be seeking a facility such as the Columba Community offers to test what they perceive to be their special vocation. In this way and in so many others I look forward to the Columba Community being at the service of the local church. Precisely, in this context, I note the interest of the Columba Community in Celtic spirituality and in Celtic monasticism. It might be helpful, it certainly would be interesting, to explore this aspect further by researching the principles of Celtic spirituality and to assess their relevance and their application in our own day.

TRAVELLING TOGETHER ON THE JOURNEY

This is a very happy occasion. In one sense the Columba Community has arrived. In another much more accurate sense, I would suggest, it is just beginning its journey, or rather another stage in the journey which began some years ago. Our prayers and good wishes are with Fr. Neal and with all within the Community and outside of it who journey with them. In Peru a word very dear to the Peruvians is “accompanar” to accompany, to be fellow travellers with, to support, to show interest, to care. Let us all “accompanar” the Columba Community on their journey. I know that they will welcome our companionship and honour our trust. May the Lord who has begun this good work in you bring it to a fruitful conclusion for his own greater honour and glory. Peace be with you.

Most Rev. Séamus Hegarty

Bishop of Derry