HOMILY PREACHED BY CARDINAL KEITH PATRICK O’BRIEN

Following on our listening to the Word of God from sacred scripture on this
the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Our Blessed Lady and aware of what
is soon to happen in the Episcopal Ordination of Father Joe as the next
Bishop of Argyll and the Isles the principal consecrator is ask to briefly
address priests, people and the Bishop Elect on the duties of a bishop.


Any bishop is hesitant on doing this – aware of his own human frailty and of
the ways in which he himself has failed to live up to the high standards of
Jesus Christ and of his Church.


However like so many of you gathered here this evening in your magnificent
Cathedral I have known Father Joe of old. I was his Rector when he was a
member of staff at Blairs College in Aberdeen; I was Apostolic Administrator
of this wonderful Diocese for some three years; and in a special way I got
to know Joe’s deceased father and his wonderful mother still living with us,
his brothers and sisters and that parish which nurtured him over the years
in Roy Bridge, along with Spean Bridge and Invergarry under the fatherly
love of the present parish priest Monsignor Tom Wynne.


Consequently I speak to the Bishop Elect as a brother priest, and as a
priest soon to be a brother bishop by singling out what I see from my
experience as a bishop and from the experience of others to be vitally
important in our life.


LIFE OF PRAYER:


In the questions to be asked of the bishop Elect one which always strikes me
is that with regard to prayer in the life of a bishop. The man to be
ordained is asked quite simply by the principal consecrator: “Are you
resolved to pray for the people of God without ceasing”.


This is indeed a tall order: “To pray without ceasing”. But in questioning
Father Joe on this I am simply asking him to realise the necessity of prayer
in the life of a bishop, that constant prayer required of us by Jesus Christ
himself.


The readings of today’s Mass do indeed remind us of the importance of prayer
in the life of Our Blessed Lady. Surely it was because of her prayer without
ceasing, her placing herself in the presence of Almighty God, that she
received the strength she needed to follow God’s will.




FAITH OF THE CHURCH:


The second thing I would say to Father Joe is that based on his life of
prayer he himself should strengthen his own faith.


Born and brought up within this Diocese and having just returned from his
preordination retreat on the Island of Iona I am sure that the new Bishop
does indeed realise the value of his time of prayer – not only for his own
growth in his knowledge and love of the Lord but so that he may achieve an
ever stronger faith in these days when our faith is so often attacked.


It was on that Island of Iona that St Columba received the strength for his
mission; it was on that same Island that he grew in his life of prayer and
developed his own faith in the living God. Another of the questions soon to
be put to Father Joe asks him quite simply: “Are you resolved to be faithful
and constant in proclaiming the Gospel of Christ?” That faith was handed on
to Joe by his loving parents within his family circle, nurtured in the
community of faith in which he lived and in this Diocese by the peoples of a
strong and vibrant faith. It is that same faith which, I am sure, will
sustain the new Bishop in his ministry among you all.


Those facts from our liturgy should indeed strengthen us all at this time
when we pray: “This is our faith; this is the faith of the Church; we are
proud to profess it in Christ Jesus Our Lord!”


SPREAD THE FAITH:


I have mentioned the gift of the faith. But with you this evening I want to
stress that the gift of the faith is not quite simply something to be
treasured for oneself in ones own life. There is that Gospel call to “spread
the faith”. And in being called to spread the faith the new Bishop is called
upon to spread that faith in love.


I quote words from the formal address given in our liturgy to the new
Bishop:

“Love the priests and deacons who share with you the ministry of Christ.
Love the poor and infirm, strangers and the homeless. Encourage the faithful
to work with you in your apostolic tasks; listen willingly to what they have
to say. Never relax your concern for those who do not yet belong to the one
fold of Christ; they too are commended to you in the Lord”.


In listening to those words we could well be listening to that heartfelt
plea from the “Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World” of
the Second Vatican Council where it is stated:

“The joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the people of our time,
especially of those who are poor or afflicted in anyway, are the joy and
hope, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well”.


And in reminding ourselves of those words perhaps we should listen again to
those words of the late Pope John Paul II spoken some 26 years ago in
Scotland:



“We find it harder to follow Christ today than appears to have been the case
before. Witnessing to him in modern life means a daily contest. As
believers, we are constantly exposed to pressures by modern society which
would compel us to conform to the standards of this secular age, substitute
new priorities, restrict our aspirations at risk of compromising our
Christian conscience”.


Priests formed in the image of Jesus Christ, and people aware of the
strength of their faith and of the challenges of witnessing to Christ at
this present time must work together under the direction of Bishop Joe –
together continuing to be servants such as have never served before but also
evangelisers with the strength of the faith of those first apostles.



CONCLUSION:


Consequently Bishop Elect Joe I finish my own words to you with those words
from the instruction given by the Church:


“Attend to the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit appoints you an overseer
of the Church of God, in the name of the Father whose image you personify in
the Church; and in the name of his Son Jesus Christ whose role of teacher,
priest and shepherd you undertake; and in the name of the Holy Spirit who
gives life to the Church of Christ and supports our weakness with his
strength”.

Bishop Joseph Toal, Oban Cathedral 2008.

The New Bishop of Argyll and the Isles takes his Seat in St Columba's Cathedral Oban.

One for the Family album,Bishop Joseph with his mother Mary,his brothers and sisters their husbands and wifes,his neices and nephews,aunts and uncles,family and friends after his Episcopal Ordination.

First Photo of the Hierarchy of Scotland with newly Ordained Bishop Joseph Toal. St Columba's Cathedral House Oban 8th December 2008.

All photographs by and Copyright of Paul Mc Sherry.

Photographs available to purchase from paul.mcsherry@ntlworld.com

07770 393960.