BISHOP of Limerick Brendan Leahy has welcomed the “new beginning” of the appointment of His Grace Archbishop Eamon Martin as new Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.
Bishop Leahy also wished Archbishop Martin’s predecessor Cardinal Seán Brady well in his retirement and said that the changing of the guard heralds the dawn of a new era for the Catholic Church in Ireland.
He said: “As he becomes Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, I wish Archbishop Eamon Martin the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Today marks a new beginning for him, for his diocese and for the Church in Ireland.
“May it be a time for us all in our collective journey as Church to enter a new place of healing and reconciliation, prophecy and missionary ardour. Archbishop Martin will need all our support and he can be assured of prayers throughout the Diocese of Limerick.
“I want to also take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Cardinal Brady for his personal kindness to me, his example of prayerful discipleship and zeal for ecumenism. I first met the Cardinal when he was the vice-rector at the Irish College in Rome. A man of prayer, he was always most kind and caring.
“For the past 15 years, as a member of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting of which Cardinal Brady was co-chair, I admired his commitment to ecumenism in Ireland and, specifically, to peace in the North. I am grateful to the Cardinal for his visits to the Diocese of Limerick, not least for my episcopal ordination in April 2013. I wish Cardinal Brady every blessing in retirement.”
