Archbishop Eamon Martin became Archbishop of Armagh and Ireland's primate following Pope Francis's acceptance of the resignation of Cardinal Sean Brady, who had turned 75.

According to The Tablet, during an address at St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh on September 8, Archbishop Martin pledged to be a "servant leader" and cautioned against expectations of top-down leadership.

He called on the laity to take ownership of their vocation and mission to hand on the faith.

Outlining his vision for the future of the Church, the archbishop said it would not be about "building up some big edifice or some triumphalist Church or trying to make sure that it dominates politics and the state".

Archbishop Martin, 52, said he wanted "a Church that is humble . . . a Church on our knees, hopefully in prayer, recognising the terrible things that have happened in the past and the need to ask God's mercy and to ask forgiveness of people".

But he warned that he is only one person and cannot work miracles for the Church in Ireland.

He said the Irish Church found itself in a new context and must find ways of bringing the Gospel to the people.

Ireland was now a country of different Christian traditions and faiths, and quite a number of people who do not identify themselves with any faith, he said.

Even though people are living in a very fast world with many commitments, he believed "people still need God in their lives and they need their Church".

"There is still a lot of hope in people that they would like a renewal of their Church".

Referring to his episcopal motto, "Sing a New Song to the Lord", he indicated that the renewal he had in mind would not be revolutionary.

"I am not actually talking about writing new words but maybe a new way of singing the song of God in people's lives," he said, adding that he was inspired by Pope Francis's ideas about "pastoral ministry in a missionary key".

The archbishop said his priorities would be "to get to know my people and to facilitate a movement that will allow people to be confident in their faith without being polemical and condemnatory".

Sources

• The Tablet
• Belfast Telegraph
• Image: Scottish Catholic Observer

In less than a year, Pope Francis has transformed the dominant discourse around Catholicism from scandal and despair to joy and the evangelical demands in light of poverty and economic exclusion.

"Each individual Christian and every community," he wrote in Evangelii Gaudium last week, "is called to be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor, and for enabling them to be fully a part of society."

This is a powerful and radical understanding of where the church is called to be in light of the Gospel of Christ and the joy of the Holy Spirit.

As if this was not enough of a contrast to the rampant consumerism of the pre-Christmas shopping season, we hear rumours this week that the pope may be going out to Rome at night to do acts of charity—unbelievable.

This week, as the Council of Cardinals begins its second meeting in Rome they will begin to examine each Vatican office—hopefully with an eye to how to make them more "mission-oriented."

In lead up to this meeting, I had the chance to work with an international group of Catholic intellectuals and social activists to formulate concrete proposals for curial reform. The full proposal, which was shared with several "super cardinals" as a White Paper of ICMICA-Pax Romana and an opinion article in the Catholic Information Service for Africa focuses on three areas. Continue reading.

Kevin Glauber Ahern, PhD is an assistant professor of religious studies at Manhattan College. He served as the President of the International Movement of Catholic Students (IMCS-Pax Romana) and is Vice-President of the ICMICA-Pax Romana.

The White Paper's Executive Summary can be found here.

Source: DailyTheology

Image: Franco Origlia/Getty Images

"There will never be a Pius XIII": to understand the meaning of Jean Guitton's phrase, the radical "renewal" triggered in the Church by the Second Vatican Council needs to be taken further as the book "Il segreto dei papi" ("The Popes' secret") by Bernard Lecomte, currently editor in chief of Figaro magazine and former world affairs editor for La Croix (San Paolo publishers, 250 pages, Euro 16).

A moving episode inspires the birth of the meeting. On 23 September 1962 John XXIII was reaching the end of his spiritual retreat in the oratory of Torre San Giovanni (Southern Italy) two steps away from the apostolic palace, when his doctor asked to see him. During those final days, the elderly Pope underwent some tests with utmost confidentiality. The test results showed there was no hope and confirmed his suspicions about his health. He was a goner. It was certain he would not see it through to the end of the Council. He had nothing to lose. Pope John XXIII sat at his desk on the third floor of the Apostolic Palace and started to write the speech he was going to give on 11 October, the day of the inauguration of the Second Vatican Council, in St. Peter's Basilica. He just reeled it off, without any notes. And without any assistance, except from an abbot who took care of the text's translation into Latin.

The work John XXIII did to explain that the Council must allow the Church to "dedicate itself resolutely and fearlessly to the task which our times require", was all his own, the writer says. Roncalli severely criticises "the prophets of misfortune" that surround him and affirms that the Church "prefers to use the medicine of charity instead of taking up the weapons of severity." Roncalli wrote without fear. The "good Pope" intentionally and confidently presented a vision of the Catholics of the future. Read more

Sources

• Vatican Insider
• Image: salt + light blog

"Renewal begins not in vilifying others, but in examining ourselves honestly, repenting of our sins and changing ourselves. This applies to every baptized person, from the Pope to the average man or woman earning a wage. We are all sinners. We are all in need of repentance and God's mercy. When we really understand that, we can speak to each other with both honesty and love, and restoring the mission of the Church can begin."

The preacher was Archbishop Charles Chaput speaking on the feast day of St Peter Julian Eymard.

The Archbishop also spoke about the fact that the French sculptor, Auguste Rodin, once entered Eymard's congregation as a lay brother, having given up art after the death of his sister. Eymand served as Rodin's spiritual spiritual counsellor, and eventually sent him back to his work in the world as a sculptor, because he believed that Rodin glorified God more truly through the beauty of his art.

Read the homily

Archbishop Chaput has led the Archdiocese of Denver since 1997, and has recently been appointed Archbishop-elect of Philadelphia.

Image: WTOP