Presentations of Certificates
Youth Ministry Leadership and Teen Hope
St Mary’s Cathedral, Dublin
Sunday, June 21, 2026
Homily of Bishop Donal Roche
Those of you who are fans of the World Cup may remember a very famous incident that took place 40 years ago tomorrow. Yes, it was on June 22, 1986, that the famous ‘hand of God’ incident happened when the great Diego Maradona got away with a blatant handball to score for Argentina and knock England out of the competition.
There was no VAR in those days, and the referee missed it, but even Maradona himself admitted afterwards that the goal came from ‘the head of Maradona and the hand of God’. It was one of the most famous goals in history, and I missed it. I missed it because that was the very same day that I was ordained a priest. I missed the goal but at least I have something in common with Diego Maradona: we were both ‘touched by the hand of God’ on the same day.
There were 17 of us ordained for the diocese that year, and we met last week to celebrate our 40th anniversary. We celebrated Mass and had a meal together and went for a stroll down memory lane, reminiscing on the ups and downs of our years on the road. We all agreed that we had no regrets but wondered how we would have coped if we had known what lay ahead.
Looking back on the journey we made, we were all struck by how much both the world and the Church have changed over those 40 years. But while the world has moved on into the world of technology and Artificial Intelligence, and while the Church has been reduced and diminished in many ways through the scandal of abuse and the growth in secularism, human nature has not changed.
We all have a need to feel that our lives matter and can make a difference; that ultimately, life has a goal and a direction. And despite all the ways that your world differs from the one in which I grew up, everybody has similar longings in the heart to find love, meaning and fulfilment.
For me and my classmates, becoming a priest was a very obvious way to find meaning in life. By committing ourselves to the call of Jesus to ‘Follow me’, we would play our part in the Gospel call to be ‘salt of the earth and light of the world’.
For people who are lucky enough to hear the invitation of Jesus in the Gospel to follow him, we find in him – in the person of Jesus himself – our fulfilment and our goal, the answers to the deep questions of our hearts. For many, Jesus is no more than a character from history, a holy man, a prophet who has left us wise teachings. But for those who truly discover him, he is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Looking back on my own journey of discernment before committing to following a vocation to priesthood, I remember two things in particular. I was struck by a great sense of gratitude for what I had: the stability of a good family and the foundation of a strong faith. It was a faith I would question as a teenager but grew to maturity in time. And it grew largely because I discovered Christ in the Gospels. His Word came to life for me and became my inspiration.
The other big influence was my awareness of the suffering around me, both at a worldwide level – wars, famines and disasters – as well as the suffering of the people closer to home, the sick, the poor and those struggling with loss and grief. Becoming a priest was, for me, a small way to respond to the needs I saw for hope and meaning by sharing the message of the Gospel.
Those needs are still there today. There are many people who find life empty of meaning. There is an upsurge in anxiety – people turning to alcohol or drugs to numb the pain of living, people drifting along with no goal or purpose other than to get through the day. I strongly believe that the Gospel has the answers that people are looking for but often don’t find. It is a treasure to be shared that can provide a sense of direction to those who are lost. Sadly, many people miss the treasure because they never get to hear it.
One of the things that gives me greatest joy and encouragement in ministry today is the fact that the Gospel message is still being heard by young people. It is still getting through and touching hearts and minds. It is a call that is often harder to hear in our modern world of technology and social media, a world where there are endless ways of distracting ourselves from the big important questions that lie in the human heart. But thankfully, there are growing numbers of young people who are looking for something deeper and have heard the invitation of Jesus to follow him.
Today, at this Mass, we are celebrating the achievements of a large number of young people from across the diocese who have heard the call of Christ and have come closer to him through prayer and study and are ready to make a commitment to sharing their faith with other young people. At the end of Mass today we will have a presentation of certificates for those who took part in the recent Youth Ministry Leadership and Teen Hope courses run by the Office of Mission & Ministry of the Archdiocese.
Arising from the invitation of the late Pope Francis to young people to come close to Christ, many young people have taken part in weekly or monthly sessions in various locations around the diocese over the course of the last year, deepening their understanding of the message of Christ and his Gospel and learning more about the community that is the Church.
Pope Francis began his message in his Exhortation Christus Vivit by saying: “Christ is alive! He is our hope, and in a wonderful way he brings youth to our world, and everything he touches becomes young, new, full of life. The very first words, then, that I would like to say to every young Christian are these: Christ is alive and he wants you to be alive!”
Pope Francis talked of all the ways that God spoke to young people throughout the scriptures and right down to the present day. I particularly liked what he said about the recently canonised St Carlo Acutis because it is so relevant to our time. Allow me to quote a few lines of it:
The digital world can expose you to the risk of self-absorption, isolation and empty pleasure. But don’t forget that there are young people even there who show creativity and even genius. That was the case with the young Carlo Acutis. Carlo was well aware that the whole apparatus of communications, advertising and social networking can be used to lull us, to make us addicted to consumerism and buying the latest thing on the market, obsessed with our free time, caught up in negativity. Yet he knew how to use the new technology to transmit the Gospel, to communicate values and beauty.
Carlo didn’t fall into the trap. He saw that many young people, wanting to be different, really end up being like everyone else, running after whatever the powerful set before them with the mechanisms of consumerism and distraction. In this way they do not bring forth the gifts the Lord has given them; they do not offer the world those unique personal talents that God has given to each of them. As a result, Carlo said, “everyone is born as an original, but many people end up dying as photocopies”. Don’t let that happen to you! (Pope Francis, Christus Vivit, 104-106)
As well as studying that document of Pope Francis, those who took part in the Youth Ministry and Teen Hope programmes covered such topics as Youth Culture Today; Spiritual Direction; Exploring the Bible; Praying with Young People; as well exploring and discovering different types of prayer like Adoration, Lectio Divina and Christian Meditation.
They showed great commitment in attending the sessions and supporting each other. And in doing so, they were answering the call of the Lord, as my classmates and I did over 40 years ago, to be messengers of the Gospel to the people of your time. For us, it was the priesthood, but there are many ways of following the Lord and putting his teaching into practice.
On behalf of the diocese, I thank you for the commitment you have made to living your faith and remind you of the words of Jesus in the Gospel today as he sent his disciples out to the world. He did not tell them it would be easy, but he promised he would be with them. As it was for me and my classmates, so for you, the road ahead is unknown, with all sorts of difficulties and challenges to be faced. The message may not always be received; there may be hostility and rejection. But He promises to be with us: “If anyone declares himself for me in the presence of men, I will declare myself for him in the presence of my Father in heaven.”
All he asks is that we trust him. And his constant refrain, his constant word of encouragement, was ‘Do not be afraid’. And that is still his message for you as he sends you out to do his work and witness to him in the world today.
Photos by John McElroy
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