Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale210

defenceless children. Such an acknowledgement, accompanied by sincere sor-

row for the damage caused to these victims and their families, must lead to a

concerted effort to ensure the protection of children from similar crimes in

the future.

As you take up the challenges of this hour, I ask you to remember "the

rock from which you were hewn".1 Reflect upon the generous, often heroic,

contributions made by past generations of Irish men and women to the

Church and to humanity as a whole, and let this provide the impetus for

honest self-examination and a committed programme of ecclesial and indivi-

dual renewal. It is my prayer that, assisted by the intercession of her many

saints and purified through penance, the Church in Ireland will overcome the

present crisis and become once more a convincing witness to the truth and

the goodness of Almighty God, made manifest in his Son Jesus Christ.

3. Historically, the Catholics of Ireland have proved an enormous force

for good at home and abroad. Celtic monks like Saint Columbanus spread the

Gospel in Western Europe and laid the foundations of medieval monastic

culture. The ideals of holiness, charity and transcendent wisdom born of the

Christian faith found expression in the building of churches and monasteries

and the establishment of schools, libraries and hospitals, all of which helped

to consolidate the spiritual identity of Europe. Those Irish missionaries drew

their strength and inspiration from the firm faith, strong leadership and

upright morals of the Church in their native land.

From the sixteenth century on, Catholics in Ireland endured a long period

of persecution, during which they struggled to keep the flame of faith alive in

dangerous and difficult circumstances. Saint Oliver Plunkett, the martyred

Archbishop of Armagh, is the most famous example of a host of courageous

sons and daughters of Ireland who were willing to lay down their lives out of

fidelity to the Gospel. After Catholic Emancipation, the Church was free to

grow once more. Families and countless individuals who had preserved the

faith in times of trial became the catalyst for the great resurgence of Irish

Catholicism in the nineteenth century. The Church provided education, espe-

cially for the poor, and this was to make a major contribution to Irish

society. Among the fruits of the new Catholic schools was a rise in vocations:

generations of missionary priests, sisters and brothers left their homeland to

serve in every continent, especially in the English-speaking world. They were

1 Is 51:1.