Press Releases
CHURCH CELEBRATES 70 YEARS OF THE MINISTRY OF HEALING
Extracts from the Address of
the Most Reverend Dr Robin Eames,
Archbishop of Armagh,
in Belfast Cathedral
on
Sunday, 3 March 2002.
| ‘There is no greater need in our society today than the need to be healed in mind and body. The vast progress in medical science has moved in conjunction with the recognition that healing of heart and mind holds the key to real health. The wholeness of life demands as much attention is paid to healing of the human spirit as to the physical needs of people. The Church was slow to recognize that God’s call to heal encompassed a new awareness of this wholeness. But today we accept that there is no greater call to the Christian Church than to be a healing agency to the individual as well as to society. This is the call of Christ. There cannot be a greater call than to proclaim healing through the love of Christ, to reach out to the bewildered and lost, the sick in heart, to those desperately searching for spiritual peace and to those who have lost hope in life. Today we see abundant evidence of the need for such healing. Forgiveness and reconciliation, a new attitude to physical well-being but above all else the touch-stone of Christ to people in need is the real core of the Church’s Ministry of Healing. ‘This is a specialized ministry – but it is also an integral part of pastoral ministry which no clergy or committed lay person can ignore. ‘This society cries out for healing. The divisions, which drive wedges between people made in the image of God because of their outlook or identity, have caused such deep wounds. Forgiveness is an often misunderstood word. We can seek forgiveness from each other. But we cannot enforce reconciliation. True forgiveness and true reconciliation are the gift of God. Forgiveness is the key to personal and community healing. That is a message the Church is called upon to proclaim time and again in Ireland today.’ |
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