Bishop Niall Coll delivers Easter message of hope

A need for hope was the central theme of the Easter Homily delivered by Donegal-born Bishop Niall Coll.

Bishop Coll, a native of St Johnston, is the Bishop of Ossory and gave the homily at the Easter Vigil Mass at the Cathedral of St Mary in Kilkenny.

Hope, he said, was needed across war-torn corners of the world, but also in an Ireland blighted by a housing crisis and a myriad of issues in a 'culture saturated by materialism and individualism'.

“At Easter time, with spring well underway, many of us find new energy and hope as the days lengthen and new life emerges,” Bishop Coll told his congregation in a service that was shown live on RTÉ.

“We know well our need for hope in a world so disfigured by hatred and war, be it in the Holy Land, Ukraine, South Sudan, Yemen and so many other theatres of conflict that are rarely or every mentioned by the Western media.

“Here at home, we know the need for hope too in the face of a culture saturated by materialism and individualism, undermining bonds that sustain us, especially the family, giving rise to growing levels of stress, unhappiness and threats to mental health, especially among the young.

“And this is exacerbated by, among other things, both our painful housing crisis and the impact of global warming.”
Ordained as the 96^th Bishop of Ossory in January 2023, Bishop Coll served as the Parish Priest in Townawilly before that.

The well-travelled prelate taught at St Eunan’s College in Letterkenny, St Patrick’s Carlow College and in Pobalscoil na Rosann during his time as a curate in Dungloe.

He has also worked in Rome and Belfast, most recently as a professor of religious studies and religious education at St Mary’s University before being appointed as the parish priest of Drumholm.

Pointing to the deep message of the Easter time for Christians and drawing on the words of the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, who he mentioned turned the term Easter into a verb, Bishop Coll said the faith of people was rarely more valuable.

He said: “It reminds us that the present of this world, its goods and pleasures, are in themselves insufficient.

“Easter speaks eternally of hope and new beginnings in our very selves, our country, our Church, our world. It calls us to a hope and a confidence that is stronger than any limitation or burden under which we may labour.