“I have asked the task force to reach out to all Catholics and people of goodwill so that together we can share thoughts, experiences, and the fruits of prayer for the pastoral future of the Church in Dublin.”
The 66-year-old archbishop emphasized at his installation Mass on Feb. 2 that all Catholics were responsible for the success of the Church’s mission in Dublin archdiocese.
“It is an illusion to envisage a plan of evangelization which is carried out only by clergy while the rest of the faithful are merely onlookers,” he said at the Mass at St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, before a strictly limited congregation due to the pandemic.
The former bishop of Ossory in eastern Ireland was named archbishop of Dublin by Pope Francis on Dec. 29, 2020, succeeding Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, who had led the archdiocese since 2004.
In his video message, Farrell said: “When Pope Francis asked me to become the archbishop of Dublin, my heart was filled with hope, not a naive hope that everything will be better tomorrow, but a hope born of a conviction that transcends these difficult days through which we are living, and a hope that transcends the limits our own capabilities.”
“God has a plan for the future of the Archdiocese of Dublin and together as brothers and sisters in Christ, we are called to pray that He will show it to us.”