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Homilies - Bishop Brendan Leahy

St Munchin's Church Centenary

St Munchin’s Church Centenary

On this wonderful day, as we celebrate the centenary of the opening of this church, I would like to invite you to light, with me, three candles to mark the occasion.

The first candle marks the past. St. Paul, in the Second Reading today, looks back and he can say: “I have fought the good fight; I have run the race”. On a day like today, it is good for us first to look back.

This was the first church building to open in Ireland after Independence, and it is building linked to centuries of history that preceded it. Just outside the church, we have the Treaty Stone, Thomand Bridge and beyond the beautiful river Shannon King John’s Castle, St. Mary’s Cathedral, the former Church of Ireland St. Munchin’s church, reminding us of the huge historical significance of this place. Yes, the church is located at a point where many key moments of Limerick’s history were lived, witnessed and recounted.

We know there was a medieval church dedicated to St. Munchin. The chapel immediately preceding this building was erected in 1799 in place of another chapel that had itself replaced an old Mass house that preceded that one.

When this church, whose architect was Joseph O’ Malley and builders were J. Kenny and sons, was blessed 100 years ago, Ireland was going through a very turbulent time. There are reminders of that time in the building. A World War had just concluded (the baptistery was donated by Sir Vincent and Lady Nash in memory of their eldest son James, aged only 20, a Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion of the Irish Guards who was killed during that War in France). The War of Independence here in Ireland had raged with both Mayors Clancy and O’Callaghan killed in that strife (there are plaques marking each of them). It was not an easy time, a time of sorrows in terms of divisions, poverty and disease. The Statues of Our Lad of Sorrows and the great Crucifixion scene outside this church remind us of times of sorrow in people’s lives.

And yet, the people of that time wanted this church building and contributed generously to its build. So as we look back we think of them and all the generations before and after of young and old, who fought the good fight and kept running the race of faith, handing it on from each generation to the next. This church has been a wonderful venue for them to celebrate baptisms, First Communions and Confirmations, Marriages and Funerals, along with so many other church moments of prayer, the rosary, choir singing and concerts. Looking back, we also recall the generosity expressed in so many gifts and bequests people made: among others, the statues of Our Lady, the large crucifixion scene just mentioned, the Stations of the Cross, the high Altar, the plaques, the candlesticks, the Stations of the Cross, the church organ, the stained glass windows. Apart from these, there were many acts of generosity on the part of people, day to day.

We also recognise that in the past hundred years, this parish became a mother parish to the parish of Our Lady of the Rosary, Christ the King parish, Caherdavin, and the parish of Corpus Christi parish, Moyross. So, yes, as we light this first candle, let’s say a big “thanks” for the generations that have gone before us. And, here, of course, I want to recall in particular the priests who have served here faithfully and generously. We think of Canon O’Driscoll parish priest when this church was built and Bishop Hallinan then Bishop.

The second candle that we light marks the achievements of today. St. Paul says: “I have kept the faith”. Paul isn’t only about looking back to the past. The Faith is still alive in him. There’s no point in just being nostalgic. The church if it still is a church should never be a museum. It is a place of meeting Christ today in the sacraments, in his Word, in the community. We thank God for the praying community here today. So many come here not least for funerals. How many of us have passed by this church on busy days with the hearse outside as the mourners emerge from the church having prayed for their loved ones here, having heard caring words of the priest and experienced the consolation of the liturgy.

This church building speaks of faith. Statues, pictures, stained glass windows lift up our soul and invite us to remember we are people who journey together to God with so many to help us – and so, as we go around this church, we meet images of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, the Child of Prague, the little child Jesus in the arms of Our Lady. We also see images of Our Lady of Fatima, St. Joseph, St. Brigid, St. Munchin, St. Peter, St. Anne, St. Bernard, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Michael, St. Bernadette of Lourdes and then too a picture reminding of family Rosary.

Yes, we remember the words of Pope Benedict that Pope Francis also quotes: “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea (or, we could add, simply entering a church building made of bricks and mortar), but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” Yes, that’s what deep down we are celebrating today, a hundred years of people encountering Jesus, going to God with others, and still doing so today. We are linked to the Communion of saints in heaven and the communion of believers here on earth.

While admiring the many beautiful features of this church building we are called to be ourselves the building stones of the Church as the Body of Christ wherever we go – at home, in the workplace, in the city.

And today, in lighting this second candle, I am also thinking of those engaged in helping out in the upkeep of this parish church in so many ways – sacristans, cleaners, those who serve on committees and ministers as readers or ministers of the Eucharist, those who sing, those who count money, those who administer, those who welcome, those who arrange flowers, those who work on the pastoral and finance councils. Yes, a big thank you to each of them. And here too I acknowledge the great work going into trying to see how best to renovate and repair the church that needs considerable structural work.

The third candle marks the future. St. Paul says: “all there is to come now is the crown of righteousness reserved for me”. Paul had spent his life for the Gospel but as he reaches the end of his life, he knows what matters most is to hand over his life to what God is preparing for him. Paul is looking forward to what God will do in his life. The philosopher Kierkegaard, says we understood life looking backwards but we have to live it looking forward.

On this Mission Sunday, a very appropriate day for this celebration, we can ask: what is God preparing for St. Munchin’s? As regards the building, we don’t know. As I said earlier, we know that there was another chapel before this Church building. There’s a photo in the sacristy of two of them side by side. That older chapel is now gone. Perhaps in a hundred years this church building too will pass. We don’t know. But the Gospel today offers us the right attitude to take. We are not in charge. God is. We certainly have to do our part to make sure the Church as a community goes forward into the next generations. We remember that of the two men in today’s Gospel, it wasn’t the one who was proud of all he had achieved that gets praised by Jesus, but rather the one who says: “be merciful to me a sinner”. The first man is closed in his achievements and not open to God’s way. The second man recognises God is in charge, entrusts himself to God’s mercy and is open to whatever the future will bring.

On this hundredth anniversary, we thank God for the past, for the present, but we want now to live life looking forward trusting in God’s providence. Above all, as Pope Francis reminds us, what matters today is to begin processes that help faith. Looking back, we can think of processes of the past. Now let’s be open to whatever processes will be initiated here yet in the future for the sake of the mission of the Gospel. Yes, looking backwards, we understand a lot, but we are called live life looking forward. Amen.