Fr Barrie O'Toole C.Ss.R - Golden Jubilee
Saturday the 9th January 2016 marked the Golden Jubilee of Ordination to the Priesthood of Fr. Barrie O'Toole.
Fr. Andrew Burns C.Ss.R gave the following Homily
Barrie’s Golden Jubilee - 9 January 2016
On October 16th, last year, Fr Tim and I celebrated the Golden Jubilee of our First Profession of Vows as Redemptorists. We had completed our novitiate and we moved on to our house of studies at Hawkstone, where we met with such worthies as Jimmy Smale in his third year, Tony Hunt in his fourth year, Brian Russell in his fifth year and Barrie O’Toole and Jan Milcz in their sixth and final year and the memories of Tony Johnson and Jim Casey were already legendary.
Less than three months after our arrival, Barrie was ordained a priest alongside three others in a year when there were to be ten ordinations. To us as first year students, it was a great encouragement to see our elders and betters as they began their priestly ministry while still students themselves. We still had five or six years to go before our turn would come. But while it seemed an eternity stretching out ahead of us, we could see signs of hope.
And here we are today, fifty years later, all legends in our own time, all Redemptorists, but all with a very different experience of Redemptorist life and ministry, not only here in Britain, but all over the world. None of us could possibly have imagined fifty years ago that life in the Church and in the world would be as we experience it today. From a time when there were fifty Redemptorist Students to today when there are four, counting two novices and a postulant. From a time when the church was full of young families, to today when the average Catholics in this country must be in their seventies, with dwindling congregations and aging clergy.
We might be tempted to look at it and say, What has gone wrong? We might start blaming the Second Vatican Council or the Social Revolution which has transformed society over these fifty years. Or we might rather look at the progress that has been made and marvel at how the Church has changed in order to respond to the needs as they arise. Fifty years ago, we were all pretty confident about the Church and its place in the world. We knew the answers, or thought we did, to every question under heaven. Today we are less sure. We have been humbled by our many failures, by the exposure of our weaknesses. But still we believe, and we are encouraged by the enduring fidelity of people like Barrie, who today celebrates fifty years of priestly ministry.
Our God is faithful. We have just celebrated Christmas and our reflection on the mystery of the Incarnation reminds us that Jesus was born into a messy world, to heal it, not through power and wealth and efficient organisations, but through love and compassion, forgiveness and reconciliation. Every year, we come back to the beginning. We start again to remember that on our own, we human beings continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. We never learn from history. We never listen fully to the message of God’s love and salvation. It doesn’t matter who we are, we need to be reminded that God is always faithful. The continuing cycle of the liturgical year helps us to understand that no matter how many times we stray off course, no matter what wrong choices we make, God’s never failing offer of life and love is open to us. Jesus is that word. He is that sign. He is that promise. It is through him and with him and in him that we find the only way to God our Father. St Paul asks how this Good News is to be heard. It has to be preached. It needs a preacher. A preacher needs to be sent. And thanks to be God, throughout the history of the Church, this is what has happened, and this is what we are celebrating today. For fifty years the saving message of God’s mercy and love has been lived and preached by Barrie, and so today we thank God for him, for his perseverance, for his fidelity. And, we pray, long may it continue.
