Church leaders offer messages of peace ahead of Easter

Easter is the principal festival of the Christian Church which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his crucifixion.

During Holy Week, the Church celebrates the mysteries of salvation accomplished by Christ in the last days of his life on earth, beginning with his entrance into Jerusalem.

The Lenten season lasts until Holy Thursday. The Easter Triduum begins with the evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday.

Christians make up the majority in Ireland and Catholicism is the largest denomination.

Census 2022 found that more than 3.5 million people living in the Irish State reported that their religion was Roman Catholic, accounting for 69% of the population.

Despite the dwindling numbers attending masses and church services, Christmas and Easter are times in the Christian calender that attendances usually increase.

Therefore, Church leaders including Pope Francis use these moments to issue key messages for the year ahead.

The Christian leaders in Ireland who have published their Easter messages this year have mainly focused on the need for peace.

“There is no better time for people of all faith traditions to unite in a great cry for peace, justice, and dignity for all”

In a joint message, Church of Ireland Archbishop John McDowell and Catholic Archbishop Eamon Martin highlighted the significance of the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

They said that in a broken society the Good Friday Agreement had “held out” the challenging “message” of reconciliation.

However, they said this would only be put into effect if people commit to the “ministry” of reconciliation.

They said: “Rather than simply re-emphasising the message of reconciliation, we prefer – in all humility and admitting our own failings – to call Christians, and all people of goodwill, to the ministry of reconciliation.

“Reconciliation is not merely an optional extra to the work of peacemaking; it is an imperative – an essential duty and service,” they added.

Separately, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin, marked the start of Holy Week stating that unity was required in calls for peace.

Archbishop Martin noted that Muslims were continuing their holy month of Ramadan and Jews were preparing for the celebration of Passover.

“There is no better time for people of all faith traditions to unite in a great cry for peace, justice, and dignity for all,” he said.

In his Easter message the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Reverend Dr Michael Jackson, said recognition was part and parcel of resurrection and this was good for people to learn at Easter 2024.

He said: “The world to which we waken up on Easter Morning is spattered with the blood of warfare and the detritus of community. It is also spattered with the incapacity of states and religions to make peace, to keep peace and to give peace.

“The human irrelevance of people to one another right across the inhabited world asks of us, who are Christians today, carrying the responsibility for Godly peace. What does it mean for us to say: I have seen the Lord?”, he added.

The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Reverend Dr Sam Mawhinney, used the ITV drama, ‘Mr Bates vs the Post Office’ as a hook for his Easter message.

He pointed out how the principal theme of injustice resonated deeply with many who watched it, and that it was a reminder of the despair people feel over difficulties and injustices faced in life.

“As the world becomes darker, I am increasingly confident of the confidence that we can have in Jesus, and I want to draw you to another story that is incredible, unbelievable even, but is our only hope and confidence,” he said.

Revd Dr Mawhinney added: “A light in the darkness, forgiveness from guilt, hope in despair and life in death. It is of course the drama of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

He said the “drama of the cross and resurrection are historically accurate and attested to, and the facts and their implications for us today are indeed, a real hope, an Easter hope, that we can have complete and total confidence in.”

The Head of the Methodist Church in Ireland, Reverend David Turtle, pointed to Holy Thursday when Christians remember Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane before is his crucifixion.

“We all have Gethsemane moments. The crises of life we face in our personal Gethsemanes are often things which challenge our trust in God,” he said.

He added: “Jesus’ active surrender in prayer reveals that encounters with fear and struggle can be transformed to lead us to rest assuredly in the God who can bring life from death.”