I wish to express my shock and dismay at the tragic events unfolding in Ukraine.\u00a0\u00a0 Significant diplomatic efforts have come to brutal, cynical, and a very violent invasion of Ukraine in recent days. My heart is with the people whose lives and land are being torn apart.\u00a0 The images on our screens during the week bring home once again the horror and injustice of war, and evoke compassion and solidarity with the people of Ukraine, as well as with the many Ukrainians who have made Ireland their home.<\/p>\n
What can we do in the face of such unwarranted, dehumanizing, and immoral aggression?\u00a0 First, this aggression and violence cannot be accepted: there must be an outright and radical rejection of such a way of being present and asserting oneself in the world.\u00a0 As we know from our own history on this island, the way of peace has to be one of dialogue, dignity, and respect.\u00a0 Nothing else stands the test of time; nothing else endures (see 1Cor 13:7).<\/p>\n
Second: we need to take seriously that this conflict is not just a terrible war in a country far away, but concerns us in many ways, by (1) changing the way we perceive and relate with other countries in Europe, by (2) limiting the possibilities of trade and commerce, and\u2014most importantly\u2014(3) by recognizing all affected by this war as our sisters and brothers.\u00a0\u00a0 Our Saviour calls us to be like our Father in heaven\u2014to be compassionate as our Heavenly Father is compassionate. This surely is the hour of compassion.<\/p>\n
Third: by following our Lord on the road of peace and true freedom, by rejecting any response forced upon us by aggression: \u201ctreat others as you would like them to treat you\u201d (Luke 6:31) is still the way to life\u2014not just for followers of Jesus, but for all people.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The rule of law and the need a for a stable international system must command the support of all right-thinking people.\u00a0\u00a0 Change and transformation \u201ccannot happen by breeding discontent \u2026 or coercing people into a new way of life.\u201d (Eric Hoffer).\u00a0\u00a0 They are the gift of those who know how to kindle and fan generous hope that is founded on making a reality the\u00a0sharing\u00a0<\/em>of our common home.<\/p>\n It is in this spirit and in communion\u00a0with Pope Francis I invite everyone \u201cto make, Ash Wednesday, a Day of Fasting for Peace. I encourage believers in a special way to dedicate themselves intensely to prayer and fasting on that day.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n +Dermot Farrell<\/p>\n Archbishop of Dublin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I wish to express my shock and dismay at the tragic events unfolding in Ukraine.\u00a0\u00a0 Significant diplomatic efforts have come to brutal, cynical, and a very violent invasion of Ukraine in recent days. My heart is with the people whose lives and land are being torn apart.\u00a0 The images on our screens during the week<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7384,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-notices"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7392,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7391\/revisions\/7392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}