At an ecumenical conference in Rome on the Papacy some years ago, representatives 
of the Christian Churches spoke of how they saw the ministry of Pope John Paul II. 
A Methodist participant said that he saw the Pope as ‘a wandering preacher’. This 
simple description sums up for me much of the ministry of Pope John Paul II: he 
was a tireless preacher of the Gospel both in Rome and around the world. He spoke 
of the things of God, of God’s mercy and love; he called peoples to reconciliation; 
he spoke of the futility of violence and the horror of war; he called for respect 
for life at every moment; he recalled the dignity of the Christian vocations of 
religious life and the priesthood, as well as the sanctity of marriage and family 
life. He also preached the Gospel ‘in season and out of season’ by word, by symbolic 
gesture and by example.

One of the things that struck me often was how he was able to use the Scriptures 
and how he was able to bring God’s Word alive in the ways that he applied it to 
the circumstances of our time. Most recently, in the letter announcing the Year 
of the Eucharist (October 04-October 05), he took the story of the disciples on 
the road to Emmaus who, when they finally recognised the Risen Lord ‘in the 
breaking of bread’ said to him, ‘Stay with us, Lord, for it is towards evening 
and the day is now far spent’ (Lk. 24:29); then he went on to use these words 
as the text for his reflection on the Eucharist.

The most striking example of this, for me, was the opening words of the letter 
that he wrote ‘at the start of the new millennium’. At a time when the Church 
in Ireland and elsewhere was battered by scandal and many felt weary and defeated, 
he recalled the words of Jesus when the disciples returned from a night’s fishing 
having caught nothing, ‘Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch’ 
(Lk. 5:4).  ‘These words’, he said, ‘ring out for us today, and they invite us 
to remember the past with gratitude, to live the present with enthusiasm and to 
look forward to the future with confidence: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday 
and today and forever’ (Heb. 13:8).  This letter was a clarion call to the Church, 
especially in its call to dioceses around the world to undertake the work of 
pastoral planning for the future.  For Pope John Paul II the task of the Church 
to preach the Gospel in this millennium was urgent and alive. The best response 
of the Church to his life, and to his death, will be to face the pastoral challenges 
he put before us. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dhílis.

+ John McAreavey
Bishop of Dromore
3rd April 2005