23.02.2015
Archbishops of Dublin Join Jesuits in Remembering Venerable Fr John Sullivan SJ
Archbishop Michael Jackson and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin attended a special Mass of thanksgiving with members of the Jesuit community on Saturday February 21 to celebrate Pope Francis’s elevation of Dublin–born Fr John Sullivan (1861–1933) as a Venerable of the church, which is two steps below sainthood.
The Mass took place in St Francis Xavier Church on Gardiner Street, Dublin, brought together members of the Irish Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland. Fr John Sullivan (1861–1933) was baptised into the Church of Ireland at in St Georges’ Church in Dublin. The son of a Lord Chancellor of Ireland, his father was Protestant and his mother was Catholic. Archbishop Jackson’s presence at Saturday’s Mass recalled Fr Sullivan’s earlier life within the Anglican Christian community in Ireland.
Referring to ecumenical nature of the congregation which also included some of Fr Sullivan’s relatives who had travelled from England, Archbishop Martin said it was a reminder that “holiness knows no denominational boundaries”.
In his Homily he added: “Indeed in our ecumenical reflection and activity we pay too little attention to the fact that Saints can be a bridge between what is deepest and common in all our traditions.” He stated that ecumenism was not the possession of theologians or activists.
“There is an important ecumenical transformation which comes through personal encounters with authentic Christians of other traditions. There is an important ecumenical transformation which comes through entering into the prayer traditions and the piety of other traditions. John Sullivan’s faith was the product of two traditions and always remained so and was enriched by that fact,” he said.
During the service, Archbishop Jackson said it was a joy for him to reflect as an Anglican on the person and holiness of John Sullivan SJ.
“His lifetime was evenly and equally divided – but not separated – between the Anglican and the Roman Catholic traditions; equally divided – but again not separated – between being lay and being ordained. His invitation to all of us gathered here today and to all who will know more of this wonderful man over the following year is to divide equally and not to separate the people and the things which matter most to us; and to do this within a living ecumenism in a modern world which needs the witness of saints on earth and saints on heaven,” he stated.
Archbishop Martin’s Homily notes can be read by clicking here.
Photo caption: Archbishop Michael Jackson and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin at the Mass in Gardiner Street on Saturday (Photo courtesy of John McElroy).