The annual Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) pilgrimage took place in Knock last weekend. Aid to the Church in Need is an international pontifical charity that devotes itself to helping persecuted Christians all over the world. It also draws attention to what it sometimes calls the ‘polite persecution’ of Christians in the West, that is, how they are often denigrated, sneered at, caricatured, and excluded from areas public life.
The homily at the event was delivered by Fr Tim Bartlett, Ecclesiastical Assistant to ACN Ireland and Parish Priest of St Mary’s Parish, Belfast and it deserves a very wide audience. It was a fantastic analysis not only of the hard, sometimes violent persecution of Christians that take place overseas, but even more so of the ‘polite persecution’ (he did not use those actual words), that takes place here in Ireland.
He reminded listeners of Pope Leo’s words at his very first Mass as Pope after his election when he said: “Even today, there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent… These are contexts where it is not easy to preach the Gospel and bear witness to its truth, where believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated or pitied”.
Fr Bartlett said ACN would soon be publishing its biennial report on the persecution of Christians around the world. Previous reports, he commented, have shown that one in seven Christians suffer from varying degrees of persecution.
Then he turned his attention to Ireland: “Perhaps, more importantly for those of us who seek to exercise our right to religious freedom here in Ireland, various reports confirm again the existence of anti-Christian, including specifically anti-Catholic cultural bias, a kind of ‘keep your head down’ atmosphere in countries which openly pride themselves on being free, diverse and tolerant democracies. This is experienced as things ranging from religious stereotyping and exclusion, including in public funding policies and the approach to religion of state funded media.”
A recent Amarach poll, commissioned by The Iona Institute, showed that a quarter of Irish people would be happy if the Catholic Church vanished from Irish society completely. If that is not anti-Catholicism, then what is?
Referring to the upcoming presidential election, he invited the congregation “to watch carefully how state funded media, institutions meant to represent all of the people, deal with the issue of religious freedom and the growing number of people of faith who feel they are being told, however softly, though increasingly aggressively, to keep their heads down. Or, are being burdened with religious stereotypes and historical caricatures that are long out of date and, at times imbalanced and unjust.”
We see that Maria Steen, a former board member of The Iona Institute, wants to run for the presidency. To what extent will she be told that her open Catholic faith in itself makes her unfit to be president?
Fr Bartlett continued: “I encourage every person of faith to encourage our state media, and candidates for the next President of Ireland, to actively highlight the issue of religious freedom, respect and tolerance in our society, and to give a voice, not least to those increasing number of young people of faith in our country who tell me, and others, that they feel excluded, marginalised, unwelcome, cancelled or misunderstood, simply because their faith is important to them.”
He said it is “simply a lazy lie to present ‘secularity’ as the only viable, or even as some kind of neutral basis for a flourishing, free and happy society.”
He said that a “lack of religious literacy, and a growing, sometimes subconscious bias against religious faith in political leadership, culture and structures is making many modern, free societies like Ireland, increasingly unfit to harness the positive social capital that religious groups have to offer, or to respond intelligently, constructively and positively to those many threats to social cohesion that are beginning to emerge, not least a culture of anxiety, unease, aggression and violence.”
Fr Bartlett asked: “Where is the evidence that our so-called ‘secular societies’ are actually working in terms of human flourishing, community cohesion and happiness? As Pope Leo went on to say in that first Mass as Pope: ‘A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society.’”
An upcoming Iona Institute conference aimed at young people will be asking the very pertinent question: ‘Does Gen Z have a future without religion?’ The question is increasingly relevant because it is increasingly obvious that a decline in religious practice leads to a decline in marriage and a decline in birth rates, as well as a loss of meaning, with very societal, and sometimes personal, consequences.
Fr Bartlett’s homily is well worth reading in full and is published below.
ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE OF
AID TO THE CHURCH IN NEED IRELAND
TO KNOCK SHRINE, CO. MAYO, IRELAND
Saturday August 30, 2025
HOMILY FOR MASS BY
Fr Timothy Bartlett
Ecclesiastical Assistant to ACN Ireland
And Parish Priest of St Mary’s Parish, Belfast.
Dear fellow pilgrims, dear supporters and benefactors of Aid to the Church in Need, Ireland.
In our Gospel today, the evangelist John draws our gaze firmly to the foot of the cross. While the other evangelists speak of the women and crowds standing at a distance, John alone tells us that the mother of Jesus and the beloved disciple, possibly John himself, are standing ‘near’ to the cross. It is as if he wants us to feel the intimacy and the tenderness of the moving declaration that will follow: ‘Woman, this is your son! And then to the disciple, ‘This is your mother!’.
To our modern ears, it seems strange, almost cold that Jesus would address his own mother with the phrase ‘Woman’. But scholars tell us John is inviting us here to recall the other time Jesus addresses his mother as ‘Woman’. This was at the Wedding Feast in Cana. When his mother asked Jesus to help the embarrassed hosts, Jesus replied then, almost coldly: ‘Woman, my HOUR has not yet come!’ (Jn 2:4). Interestingly, John calls this miracle of the water turned into wine at Cana, the ‘FIRST of the SIGNS that was given by Jesus’.
You see, for the evangelist John, the theme of ‘signs’, and the theme of ‘the hour’ are intimately linked! The hour is that time when the fulness of the Father’s love for you, for me, and for the whole of humanity will finally be revealed! It is the hour of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. And the ultimate ‘sign’ of this love, is the sign of the Cross, the place where love finally breaks through violence, deceit, political and religious power plays and even death itself, to offer us all, together, a new possibility. What is that new possibility? John gives us a clue in chapter 12, verse 32 of his Gospel.
Here, having just told us that, ‘the hour has now come for the Son of Man to be glorified’, Jesus quickly goes on to add: ‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself’!
So, for John, the cross is the place where the Church is born. It is the place where the deepest possible communion between you and me, as the followers of Jesus, is created. And as with Luke’s description of Pentecost in Acts, in that birthing, in that bringing forth of a community of selfless love for one another, a love that offers humanity a way out of self-destructive isolationism, dominance and pride, Mary, our mother, our always gentle and tender mother, is there. She is there, as she was when the first ‘sign’ was given! A sign which recalled the gift of the Wedding Feast, the Eucharistic banquet by which we are bound together in the most intimate and holy communion possible.
St Paul describes this unbreakable communion between each of us and the love of Jesus, revealed by the cross, in profound and moving terms in our second reading. ‘With God on our side,’ he says, ‘who can be against us… Nothing therefore can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, threatened or even attacked’!
As the Ecclesiastical Assistant for ACN Ireland, I couldn’t help thinking this would make a perfect Mission Statement for our Pontifical Charity. It is a reminder that the followers of Jesus will always be called to witness to selfless love, to work for peace with enduring hope in the midst of a very imperfect, at times even a very hostile world. As Pope Leo said to the Cardinals, at his very first Mass as Pope after his election: ‘Even today, there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent… These are contexts where it is not easy to preach the Gospel and bear witness to its truth, where believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated or pitied’.
Pope Leo’s words are certainly confirmed by a growing body of research. One of the most important responsibilities of Aid to the Church in Need on behalf of the Holy Father, is to present a biennial report on religious freedom in the world. We expect the most recent report to be published shortly. But one thing is certain, like other research, such as the recently published Open Doors World Watch List, it will confirm that increasing numbers of Christians around the world face high to extreme levels of persecution around the world. According to their report, roughly 1 in 7 believers globally.
Perhaps, more importantly for those of us who seek to exercise our right to religious freedom here in Ireland, various reports confirm again the existence of anti-Christian, including specifically anti-Catholic cultural bias, a kind of ‘keep your head down’ atmosphere in countries which openly pride themselves on being free, diverse and tolerant democracies. This is experienced as things ranging from religious stereotyping and exclusion, including in public funding policies and the approach to religion of state funded media.
Here, in our own country, we will soon have an important public debate in the run up to the election of our next President. Sadly, though I am told I am an Irish citizen, and even though I have deeply treasured that identity since I was a child, even in the face of violent opposition, I am not entitled to vote in that election. But I will still watch the debate and follow the positions of the various candidates with great interest! In particular, I will watch, and I invite you to watch carefully how state funded media, institutions meant to represent all of the people, deal with the issue of religious freedom and the growing number of people of faith who feel they are being told, however softly, though increasingly aggressively, to keep their heads down. Or, are being burdened with religious stereotypes and historical caricatures that are long out of date and, at times imbalanced and unjust. I encourage every person of faith to encourage our state media, and candidates for the next President of Ireland, to actively highlight the issue of religious freedom, respect and tolerance in our society, and to give a voice, not least to those increasing number of young people of faith in our country who tell me, and others, that they feel excluded, marginalised, unwelcome, cancelled or misunderstood, simply because their faith is important to them.
It is simply a lazy lie to present ‘secularity’ as the only viable, or even as some kind of neutral basis for a flourishing, free and happy society. Contemporary societies are much more complex and multi-dimensional than this. And the lack of religious literacy, and a growing, sometimes subconscious bias against religious faith in political leadership, culture and structures is making many modern, free societies like Ireland, increasingly unfit to harness the positive social capital that religious groups have to offer, or to respond intelligently, constructively and positively to those many threats to social cohesion that are beginning to emerge, not least a culture of anxiety, unease, aggression and violence.
Where is the evidence that our so-called ‘secular societies’ are actually working in terms of human flourishing, community cohesion and happiness? As Pope Leo went on to say in that first Mass as Pope: ‘A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society.’
It is for this reason that those of us who know the love of Jesus in our hearts, a love revealed in its full glory on the cross, cannot, like Mary and the young disciple John, be afraid to stand close to that cross. It is why it is fundamental to the mission of every Christian, and of Aid to the Church in Need, to bring the hope of love, practical, spiritual, human and divine love to those places where love still yearns to break free, to conquer war, famine and most acutely of all, human emptiness and despair.
This is why I am so proud of all of you, the people in Ireland who support the work of Aid to the Church in Need in bringing the hope of Christian love to over 140 countries around the world. I thank you for the almsgiving, the Mass offerings, the prayers and the acts of practical solidarity which bring hope and strength to so many priests, religious and lay faithful around the world in places where they experience sometimes daily persecution, even unto death. I take this opportunity to thank you and to appeal for your ongoing contributions and support.
As we gather here in the Basilica, for our first of what we hope will become our annual ACN Pilgrimage to Knock, it is hard not to be moved by the providence and the message of the magnificent mosaic behind our altar. Depicting the silent apparition that brought such comfort and hope at a time of immense challenge for people of faith in Ireland, in brings together the themes of today’s reading so perfectly. Mary, Joseph, John the Evangelist, standing in silent reverence before the Lamb of Sacrifice, the eucharistic heartbeat of God’s hope in our world, through the once for all sacrifice of his Son on the cross.
As we continue on our journey through this Jubilee Year of hope, may our hearts be raised, and our spirits lifted, as we recall the words of the prophet Isaiah in our First Reading: ‘so shall my Word be… it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose’. For John, that Word is Jesus, the Word made flesh and living among us. And our sustaining hope is that his mission of love among us will be accomplished. And even though, as St. Paul puts it, we may have to tolerate being ‘threatened or even attacked… massacred daily, and reckoned as sheep for the slaughter’, still we know that, ‘not any power, or height or depth, not any created thing can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.’
ENDS.
