The Catholic community’s charitable and cultural contribution to Wales was celebrated in the Senedd Cymru on 28 January at an event organised by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales in partnership with the Catholic Education Service, and hosted by Darren Millar, Conservative MS for Clwyd West and Leader of the Opposition.
More than 100 people attended the event, including the Most Rev Mark O’Toole, Archbishop of Cardiff-Menevia, who addressed the event in Welsh and English.
Archbishop O’Toole celebrated the “deep sense of community” and “long tradition of solidarity” which he has encountered in Wales, and expressed his thanks especially to “to those who serve our communities with quiet fidelity, through education, health and social care, charitable service, and civic engagement.”
The full speech can be found below.
28 January 2026
Aelodau Nodedig y Senedd, gwesteion anrhydeddus, ffrindiau,
Mae’n llawenydd mawr bod gyda chi heno yn y Senedd, yng nghanol bywyd cyhoeddus Cymru. Diolch i chi gyd am fod yma. Mae’n dda bod aelodau o bob cwr o’r gymuned Gatholig wedi ymgynnull yma gyda ffrindiau o fywyd crefyddol, dinesig a gwleidyddol. Diolch i chi am yr hyn a wnewch yn bersonol dros bobl Cymru.
It is a great joy to be here this evening. I offer these words alongside my brother bishop, Bishp Peter Brignall, and it is good that people from the Diocese of Wrexham are here alongside Catholics from Cardiff-Menevia. It takes a place like this to bring even Catholics together from across Wales! We give thanks to God for this Senedd, this Parliament, which makes the coming together of different peoples possible.
We are deeply grateful to Darren Millar MS for his kind support in hosting this event, and to his team for their generous assistance throughout. I would also like to warmly thank the Senedd events team for their hard work and professionalism in helping us bring this gathering together.
Our purpose this evening is simple: to celebrate the contribution of the Catholic community in Wales, and to say thank you.
Thank you to those who serve our communities with quiet fidelity, through education, health and social care, charitable service, and civic engagement. Thank you for keeping before us all the reality of a God who loves us, forgives us and wants what is best for us and for all his children.
As you know, the Catholic Church has a long-standing presence in Welsh life, with deep roots in both rural and urban communities. From Holyhead to Monmouth, from Wrexham to Swansea, our parishes, schools and outreach programmes are woven into the fabric of daily life. The love of God finds its expression in the practical love of neighbour. At the same time, our lives seek to point to the truth that every human being is made in the image of likeness of God and has innate human dignity from conception to natural death. This contribution is not limited to Sunday worship. It is lived out in food banks, in family and parish centres, in classrooms and chaplaincies, in care homes and visits to the sick and vulnerable, and in service to those without a home.
Thankfully, much of this loving service is carried out alongside fellow Christians and members of other faith communities, in partnership with a wide range of charities, and with dedicated public servants, some of whom are here this evening. We do not see ourselves as separate from society, but as part of it: seeking always to uphold the dignity of the human person, to promote the common good, and to work together for a society and a world that is more just, more compassionate, more humane, and more peaceful.
One of the great strengths I have witnessed since coming to Wales is its deep sense of community. Whether in valleys or villages, coastal towns or city neighbourhoods, there is a long tradition here of solidarity — of looking out for one another, especially the under-dog. This is a sign of the belonging which all human beings hunger for, and the Catholic community is keen to play its part, to contribute to this longed-for desire for unity.
As we look ahead to the year to come, and the democratic choices that lie before us, I want to offer the assurance of my prayers, and those of the Catholic community, for all of you who carry the weight of public responsibility. It is no small thing to serve the public. It is not easy, especially in a time of challenge, of change, even of “rupture”, as Mark Carney, the Canadian Prime Minister described our world at the Global Economic Forum in Davos last week.
Yet I remain hopeful, because I believe in the innate goodness and capacity of people, when they work together in good faith, to build something better. I believe that the moral foundations of our society are strengthened when public service is grounded in truth, integrity, and a genuine commitment to serve the other and the common good.
So, let us continue to work together for a Wales in which each person is valued, where every community is supported, and where those on the margins are not forgotten.
Diolch eto am fod yma heno. Gadewch inni barhau i weithio gyda’n gilydd er lles pawb yng Nghymru.
Thank you all, once again, for being here today.
May God bless you and those you serve.
+Mark O’Toole
Archbishop of Cardiff-Menevia
