Bishop Jim Curry at Golden Jubilee Mass for Fr John Deehan

l-r: Fr Allan Alvarado Gill, Fr John Deehan and Bishop Jim Curry

Homily on the Feast of St Benedict, 11th July 2025 at Our Lady Help of Christians, Kentish Town, for the Golden Jubilee of priestly ordination of Fr John Deehan.

Readings : Proverbs 2:1-9 Matthew 19:27-29

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, dear friends. Tonight, we gather to celebrate a remarkable milestone in the life of our dear friend and brother, Father John Deehan, ordained on the 12 July 1975, in St Thomas' Church Fulham by Bishop Victor Guazzelli.

This evening this Church of Our Lady, Help of Christians, Kentish Town, is filled with friends, parishioners and fellow clergy from: St Edmund Ware, Downing College Cambridge, The English College Rome, Allen Hall, Kensington, East Acton, Teddington and Kentish Town. Fr John it struck me recently that you are part of a unique group of men who studied at St Edmunds College Ware, the Venerable English College Rome and lectured at Allen Hall, Chelsea.

For 50 years John has faithfully served the Lord, giving his life to the service of the Word of God.

This jubilee is not simply a celebration of time. In truth we affirm a life given in love and service, a testament to faith and a commitment to spreading the Gospel of Jesus of Nazareth; a first century marginal Palestinian Jew, as the distinguished scripture scholar John P Meier described him, who we acknowledge as the Christ. True God and true man.

Today of course we celebrate your Golden Jubilee Mass on the feast of St Benedict. As anyone familiar with the Benedictine tradition, (as you are from your school days at Ealing Abbey School), will understand, a monk is called to be a priest within the monastery as a service for and to the community.

The monk's first concern, and ours too, is to perfect his or her Christian vocation as a baptised person.

The Prologue of the rule of St Benedict quoting Proverbs (4:20), reminds us to "Listen carefully, my child, to your master's precepts, and incline the ear of your heart."

The profound wisdom offered to us in the Liturgy of the Word in our Mass this evening is also found in the Book of Proverbs, (2:1-9) and is a heartfelt plea from a father to his child, urging us to embrace wisdom and understanding as a most precious treasure. A treasure that needs to be diligently sought. It requires an active disposition, making our ears attentive, and inclining our hearts.

The monk's fulfilment, and that of every disciple of Christ and seeker after wisdom, is to be found in the Christian life. Rooted as it is in the life death and resurrection of Christ.

John, you've always striven to put the Christian vocation of baptism at the heart of all you do.

The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council remind us that the Church regards the Sacred Scriptures, together with Sacred Tradition, as the supreme rule of faith. The Word of God gives meaning to all of the Church's activities and is the criterion for all of her actions.

The Scriptures are open to everyone. St Jerome tells us are that the scriptures are "shallow enough for a babe to come and drink without fear of drowning and deep enough for a theologian to swim in without ever touching the bottom."

The Word of God is central to our faith. It is universally acknowledged that one of the immediate and lasting fruits of the Second Vatican Council is the rediscovery of the place of Sacred Scripture in the life of the Church and every Christian spirituality.

The Lectionary, with its rhythm of reading of scripture is a tangible sign of that. And to think that this 'new' Lectionary was published just a year before you John, were ordained a priest.

John, you have given of your intellect and pastoral skills to the study, teaching and communication of the Word of God. Central to your vocation has been the enabling, empowering and opening up of the rightful role of lay people in the life of the Church. And keeping us focused on the mission of the proclamation of the Kingdom.

There are so many here tonight who owe their love, understanding and nourishment by scripture to your love of the Word of God.

Whether we be parishioners where you have served, catechists, lay pastoral workers, women and men religious, students, lay and clerical in Allen Hall Seminary, and the Study Centre, as was, or in summer schools or working alongside diocesan agencies, you helped to open up the riches of Sacred Scripture. Which includes piloting me through the choppy waters of Greek and Hebrew.

I think also of your accompaniment of the brethren on the Via Francigena, your work with the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre , Friends of the Holy Land, your advocacy for the suffering Christians in the Holy Land and the Palestinian people, alongside your insights into the Jewish biblical roots of our faith.

'What does it mean to be a priest? The priest needs to have the character of Jesus the Good Shepherd, because Jesus clarifies the task and the kind of person He calls to the priesthood.

What does the good shepherd - a real shepherd, not a metaphorical shepherd like Jesus - offer his sheep? Survival, nourishment and welfare, things that sheep are unable to find from their own resources.

Survival, nourishment, welfare - This is the language of the secular world. Jesus has his own language: 'eternal life'… a hundredfold ( Matt 19:27-29) which is not something for the future, it has already begun for us now.

What does it mean to receive a "hundredfold" here on Earth? St Ambrose of Milan explains that, the Lord, promised a reward. It is not necessarily a material hundredfold but a spiritual abundance that far surpasses what is given up.

St Pope John Paul II, addressing the Pontifical Swiss Guard, applied this promise to them, noting that they too "have left father and mother, brothers and sisters, lands and homes for the sake of a spiritual and religious value" in service to the Successor of Peter.

This illustrates that the "hundredfold" promise is not limited to those in consecrated life or a priest, but extends to anyone who makes a significant sacrifice for Christ's name and the Gospel.

Dear friends in Christ, like the sheep who don't know the route from desert to grasslands, Jesus offers us the way to life in its fullest sense as opposed to just existing from day to day with no sense of purpose and no hope.

The priest is called to offer his people eternal life under the guidance of Jesus the Good Shepherd.

In other words, he will be the kind of person who knows that without giving his time in prayer, as Jesus himself did, and listening carefully to the word of God in the Scripture and the tradition of the Church, he will not be able to guide the metaphorical sheep put in his charge.

John, in a homily for Good Shepherd Sunday this year you asked: 'What might be some indications of character you might look for that could indicate the possibility of a vocation to the priesthood?

Is this someone for whom truth is important? Someone who, when he says yes means it, who when he makes a commitment sticks to it? Is he a genuine kind of person?

Is this someone with a genuine commitment to justice, not just someone who is a passionate supporter of causes, but someone who treats people well, is considerate and ready to listen to people who disagree with him. Is he a person of empathy?

This could even be someone who at the moment does not feel very committed to the Church, but is there something in his heart that the Grace of God can work with and send him on a different path?

Is he someone for whom money, power and fame are not everything. Is he basically other-centred, not self-centred?

Is he someone who knows his own limits, who is patient with himself as he tries to improve, and is patient with others too.

A Prayer penned and prayed by Fr Karl Rahner SJ and familiar to you puts it in words to treasure:

The priest is not an angel sent from heaven,

He is a man chosen from among men,

A member of the Church, a Christian.

Remaining man and Christian, he begins to speak to you the Word of God.

The word is not his own.

No, he comes to you because God has told him to proclaim God's Word.

Perhaps he has not entirely understood it himself.

Perhaps he adulterates it.

But he believes, and despite his fear he knows he must communicate God's Word to you.

Jesus assures us that no sacrifice made for His name's sake goes unrewarded. While the ultimate reward is eternal life, there is also a profound spiritual recompense in this life - a joy, a peace, a sense of belonging and a purpose that the world cannot give.

This "hundredfold" is the abundant life that Christ promises to those who truly follow Him.

John, thank you for opening the Scriptures for us, for the offering of your intellectual endeavour, the fruits of your study and your pastoral care.

Thank you for your yes to God. May your reward be a hundredfold. Now and in eternity.

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