19.04.2019
“We Walk Not Only in Faith but in Grief” – Archbishops of Dublin Lead Good Friday Walk of Witness
The Church of Ireland and Catholic Archbishops of Dublin led the annual Good Friday Walk of Witness through the city streets this evening (April 19). Carrying the Taizé Cross, Archbishop Michael Jackson and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin walked from Christ Church Cathedral to St Mary’s Pro–Cathedral in the company of about 200 people.
Speaking in Christ Church Cathedral at the short prayer service which marks the beginning of the walk, Archbishop Jackson said that following the untimely and callous death of Lyra McKee in Derry last night, participants walked this year in faith but also in grief, not only in hope but in peace.
He said: “The tragedy that befell Lyra McKee as a person through her untimely and callous death and the tragedy that befell the city of Derry as a community last night are what we carry in our hearts as together we set out on this Good Friday Walk of Witness from Christ Church Cathedral to St Mary’s Pro–Cathedral. We have done this together for a number of years and it is part of our community of life. This year, the neighbouring and the solidarity and the conversation are all the more important. I want you to continue this witness and this belonging one to another far beyond this evening. We walk not only in faith, but in grief. We walk not only in hope, but in peace.
“As people gathered from across the city of Dublin, the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the Archdiocese of Dublin – together with individuals who gather in their own right and in their own name – we remember Lyra McKee, her partner, all members of their families and her colleagues. We remember also all the people of Derry.
“Good Friday draws us into a spiritual belonging where the empty space can be the open space; where the end can be a new beginning. We live today and tomorrow in the vacuum where God gives voice to hope in suffering and in silence, in betrayal and in violence. Countless people worldwide live in this vacuum every day of their lives. I encourage you to walk and talk with those around you when we leave this cathedral church and as we make our pilgrimage together to another cathedral church. I encourage you to be neighbour to your neighbour and to lift up the hope of justice and of peace.”
Sending the congregation out on the walk from Christ Church, Archbishop Martin added that each year on the Walk of Witness participants united as a community bearing witness to our common faith on the city streets. Events in Northern Ireland last night made the words that bring the short service to a close – “Let us proceed in peace” – even more significant, he said.
Throughout the day communities across the dioceses drew together in faith for Good Friday.
In Arklow this morning the four main churches in the town gathered together to witness around the cross for Good Friday. In a moving symbol of unity, four pieces of the cross were carried from the four churches, St Saviour’s, the Church of Sts Mary and Peter, Arklow Presbyterian Church and Arklow Methodist Church. They met on the bridge over the Avoca River where the cross was assembled before a short service around the cross at the riverside. The cross was made by members of Arklow Men’s Shed.
This afternoon over 100 people took part in the first Marino Camino in the north of Dublin city to mark Good Friday. The Camino visited five churches in the area including the Church of St John the Baptist, Drumcondra, where they were welcomed by the Revd Garth Bunting. The 5k Walk was led by Marino parishioner Dr Cora O’Farrell who came up with the idea.
