Scottish Catholic Observer

Bishop Brendan Leahy spent two days in the country, addressing priests on the changing world at an event in Coatbridge on November 4, and giving two talks at the second annual New Movements Conference in St Mirin’s Cathedral Hall, Paisley, on November 5.

The Paisley event brought together the various new movements—lay-driven groups—of the Church including the Community of the Risen Christ, Focolare, Catholic Charismatic Renewal, New Dawn Scotland and the Catholic Worker.

Bishop Leahy of Limerick Diocese is a member of the Pontifical Theology Academy and was a member of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. He gave two talks to the new movements conference, the first on the ideal of the family and the second addressing challenges facing the family today.

Speaking to the SCO, Bishop Leahy said the new movements ‘wake people up to their Baptismal calling,’ and can play a vital role in helping families. “Sometimes we don’t appreciate that the New Movements are Church,” he said. “We think they are an optional extra but they are actually a strong event from the Holy Spirit that help a lot of people, and their effect goes way beyond their numbers.”

“Today we’ve got to keep the dream of the family life alive,” the Bishop said. “If you can’t dream, you can’t love. The family is something wonderful, it is something we should honour and have a high ideal about, but at the same time we should recognise, as Pope Francis said, that there is no such thing as the perfect family.

“Every family is a journey. There is fragility, there are broken families and as a Church we need, under Pope Francis’ encouragement, to be there helping families, encouraging them and journeying with them.”

The Bishop stressed the importance in being creative in supporting families—in older couples giving advice and support to newlyweds, of parishes providing practical support. Priests and the Church, he said, need to be ‘creative in always welcoming families to Church on a Sunday morning.’ And he emphasised the importance of seeing the Holy Spirit work in non-traditional families.

“From our point of view as priests we have to try to see the positives even in situations we might not see as ideal or are pastorally difficult,” he said.

“Really what Pope Francis is asking us to do is see that, even in those situations, we have to try to see that the Holy Spirit is working.

“You have to see that people are trying to live values. So in situations were people are co-habiting or whatever, they may still be living values of fidelity or patience with each other and we have to see that those are values that come from the Holy Spirit.”

The 2018 World Meetings of Families will take place in Dublin, a choice, Bishop Leahy said, that was made by Pope Francis personally, and as close as Scotland is to Ireland, he hopes the country will join his own in examining the family over the next two years.

“We feel very honoured that the Pope has chosen Dublin as the venue and we hope he will come. The Pope hasn’t visited many countries in Europe; maybe he wants to say something about the family to us here. We’d certainly hope there would be loads of people coming from Scotland.”

Also speaking on the day were four married couples, giving testimony on how the movements they belonged to give them ‘renewed faith and prayer,’ and helped them deal with the difficulties of family life.

A number of attendees at the conference remarked on the happy family atmosphere, describing the ‘joy and relief’ they felt in realising that they were ‘not alone’ in trying to bring up their family in the faith. Others said that they felt a ‘tremendous hope’ and the ‘presence of the Holy Spirit.’

The day ended with Mass in St Mirin’s Cathedral, with Bishop John Keenan as the main celebrant, where he looked forward to joining again with Bishop Leahy and the New Movements for the 2018 World Meeting of Families in Dublin.

Visit the SCO website for more on the New Movements Conference

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—This story ran in full in the November 11 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.