Mass to give thanks for the Mission of Hope House, Foxford, on the occasion of the Centenary 1925-2025

Today is all about “good news”. This is a sacred place in many ways. It is sacred because of the lives of so many people who have lived and worked here; each one of them created in the image of God. We celebrate a centenary, 100 years of service and of struggle .

The “Good News” that we celebrate goes back much further than 100 years. It is the truth that was preached by Isaiah and all of the prophets. God is faithful; he never takes back his love. He never gives up on us, even when we give up on ourselves. His faithfulness is the source of our hope.

The “Good news” is not just words on a page, or a story hand down from generation to generation. The good news is a person; Jesus Christ, who died and is risen. He is the visible sign that God has not forgotten us.

Hope House is the legacy of two religious Congregations:

• Sisters of Charity
• Sisters of Mercy

The Sisters came with their “beautiful feet” bearing the Good News of God’s love which they themselves had experienced in the person of Jesus.

It is He who inspired the Sisters of Charity when they first came here. Their motto, as some of you will know, is “Caritas Christi Urget Nos”; the love of Christ urges us on”. It was that same love of Christ that inspired Sr. Dolores and Sr Attracta to come here more than a quarter of a century ago, to establish Hope House as a sanctuary of healing and recovery for people living with addiction.

Each one of us, and all of us together as a community are persons uniquely formed of body and spirit. We cannot be divided up into the practical part and the spiritual part. Jesus didn’t try to do that, and neither did the sisters.

When the Sisters of Charity came here first, led by Mother Morrogh Bernard, Ireland was still in the grip of civil war. (Bishop Morrisroe, who laid the foundation stone, shared the risks of all who tried to navigate those difficult times). The West, with all its natural beauty, was impoverished and had little enough to offer in terms of economic security. The vision of the sisters was one of prayer and care. It was not just about providing work so that people could eat. It was about making this community viable for young and old alike. Authentic rural development has a positive impact on the whole person.  The effects of who the Sisters were and what they did continues to be seen all around us today.

The vision of the Sisters is no less relevant today, and I think it could have something to say to people aspiring to political leadership, whether at national or local level. Many of our communities in the West continue to be reduced to the fringe of viability. While banks and Garda stations and many long-established businesses disappear from our towns and villages, the cities and especially the whole East coast creaks under the strain of overdevelopment.

In a very different way, Hope House reaches out to people living with addiction just as Jesus offered healing to those who came to him (or were brought to him). The words of the Psalm, which often pass us by at Mass, are worth listening to. From what people have told me over the years “the snare of the fowler” and the “terror of the night” are good images to capture the struggle of addiction. How many people have come in through these gates over the years, feeling that they have let themselves down and that they have let others down and that there is nothing about them that could be loved or healed. So many have returned to their families, their work and their parishes, renewed with hope, because of the challenging but authentic love they have found here.

The story of Hope House should serve as a reminder to us all that, in every town and village; in every family and in every workplace, there are endless possibilities for healing and growth, if only we can live in the spirit of the beatitudes, which call us to build the kingdom of God if we single-mindedly hunger and thirst for what is right and when we reach out to one another in gentleness and mercy.

We give thanks to God today, for the witness of faith, hope and love, which has inspired the sisters and all who have worked with them down through the years.

Bishop Kevin Doran

20th September 2025, Hope House, Foxford