Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan has urged Catholics to embrace Advent as a time of “patient, theological hope”, rejecting the “negativity and doom” often spoken about the future of vocations in Ireland.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Bishop Cullinan reflected on Pope Leo XIV’s address in Lebanon this week, delivered amid severe regional instability, and said the Pope’s tone of courage and encouragement should inspire Irish Catholics facing their own challenges.
“In a country experiencing such difficulty, he spoke with so much hope and so much faith,” he said. “We are in the Year of Hope, and I personally have gained so much from delving into what hope really is. It’s not optimism or feeling good. It is a theological virtue.”
Responding to frequent claims that priesthood in Ireland is “doomed”, Bishop Cullinan was unequivocal: “I do not subscribe to that view. We are people of hope because we are people of faith in Jesus Christ.”
As Advent begins, he said the season invites Catholics to “wait in hopeful expectation for the Saviour” rather than rush prematurely into Christmas.
“We’re not very good at waiting,” he noted. “But Advent teaches us to hold the sacred time, to grow in patience and trust in God’s timing. Things are not falling apart. God is always in charge.”
