Cardinal calls on Irish to rediscover their faith on St. Patrick's Day
<http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=15390>http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=15390
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St. Patrick / Cardinal Sean Brady
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Armagh, Ireland, Mar 17, 2009 / 12:07 am
(<http://www.catholicnewsagency.com>CNA).- The
Archbishop of Armagh Cardinal Sean Brady has
issued a St. Patrick’s Day message wishing a
“happy and faith-filled” St. Patrick’s Day to
celebrants. Noting the importance of the saint’s
Christian faith, he expressed hopes that Irish
people will rediscover the “joy and love” of faith.
Cardinal Brady also lamented the return of violence to Northern Ireland.
“It is my very great pleasure on this our
National Feastday to wish Irish people everywhere
a very happy and faith-filled St. Patrick’s Day,”
he wrote on Tuesday. “All over the world today,
Irish men and women, and those who claim Irish
descent, will gather to celebrate their identity and their heritage.”
Saying the feast unites Irish people all over the
world, he commented that Patrick has become a
symbol both of Irish history and of Irish heritage.
“But simply to reduce Patrick to a symbol of that
kind, worthy as it may be, without any reference
to his own Christian faith distorts the truth and
in no way does justice to the real stature of the
man,” Cardinal Brady said, warning celebrants not
to lose the “real focus” amid the “music, parades and merriment.”
“We join together today not just to celebrate
Irish culture and identity, but also to remember
the man who described himself as an ambassador
for God and who prayed that it might never happen
that he, Patrick, should lose the people which
God had won for himself at the end of the earth.
Today we honor a man who nurtured and spread
Christianity throughout our native land – setting
down a strong foundation by building on the solid rock of steadfast faith.”
“My hope, on this St. Patrick’s Day, is that more
and more Irish people, who have lost their
connection with faith, will rediscover it and
rediscover what St. Patrick called ‘the joy and love of faith’.”
St. Patrick founded the Archdiocese of Armagh around 445 A.D.
Cardinal Brady, his successor, also commented on
the recent killings of two British soldiers and a
policeman in Northern Ireland.
Saying he is “very much aware” that violence has
returned to Northern Ireland, Cardinal Brady said
the “awful and tragic events” of last week could
show the need to work “unceasingly” for peace in Ireland.
“I would urge all citizens to redouble efforts to
build a peaceful society. Violence is not the
answer. The perpetrators of violence are seeking
to destroy the peace we are building,” he
continued, calling for support for peacemaking politicians.
The cardinal then adopted as his own the prayer from St. Patrick’s Breastplate:
“Christ be in all hearts thinking about me
“Christ be on all tongues telling of me
“Christ be the vision in eyes that see me
“In ears that hear me
“Christ ever be.”
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