WATCH: 'Heroes of Hope' Limerick Suicide Watch are a shining light - Bishop Brendan Leahy

I couldn’t help but feel a sense of privilege as I watched the troops step out to do their duty under a starry Saturday night recently in Limerick.

It’s the first story that we are telling in our ‘Heroes of Hope’ video series to mark Pope Francis’ ‘Jubilee Year of Hope’ – a jubilee that we’re even more compelled to celebrate with Pope Francis’ passing.

And as the team of 12 volunteers pulled out from the Tait Centre for their ‘night watch’, it felt like I was watching a peacekeeping force, launching out on mission.

A group of great defenders, heading for their remarkable frontline.

It’s Limerick Suicide Watch (LSW) and they go on a frontline that matters most, where lives are saved.

READ MORE: 'I know Limerick': Pope Francis lived in the city while learning English

Their defence is against a darkness that people feel overwhelmed by. Their armoury is their kindness and warmth as they shine a piercing light through that darkness.

We’ll be telling five ‘Heroes of Hope’ stories from our diocese over the coming months as part of our Jubilee Year of Hope programme. And it feels like we’re turning a perfect first plage with Limerick Suicide Watch.

If Pope Francis’ intention with this jubilee theme was to instil in us a sense that we should never lose but hang onto hope, it felt almost prophetic to be amongst these inspirational LSW heroes given the world we find ourselves in in today.

We seem to have stumbled from one crisis to another this decade. Wars, famines, poverty, economic turmoil dominate the news daily around the world and we know of our own many issues to do with homelessness, migrants, healthcare and more here in Ireland. At times it can seem like there’s a darkness lurking around us.

Without denying the dark clouds, Pope Francis had asked us to look again, to find signs and symbols of hope.

LSW are exactly that. A light breaking through, reflecting Pope Francis ‘hope’ for this Jubilee Year.

I count myself lucky to have been among the LSW team as they gather in the Tait Centre late on the Saturday to get ready for the long night ahead patrolling the Shannon.

You can’t help but be struck by their professionalism and pride, and to witness their selfless sense of care, giving up, as they do, at least three nights each month for this noble cause.

READ MORE: 'A true pastor': Limerick bishop leads tributes to much-loved caterer turned priest

There’s also a deep sense of fraternity as they meet. Like a family gathering, there’s smiles, warmth and yet a seriousness as they go about their business, planning their night ahead.

The Shannon is glistening under the clear night sky and the city lights as they disembark, ready for whatever the night throws at them.

And it throws the most profound passes their way. On average three times a week they have an “intervention”.

In these most delicate of moments, they give the gentlest tap on the shoulder that says, ‘you are not alone, ever’.

Our video with Joan Forde and Shannon McNamara, just two of the 61 volunteers currently signed up for duty, is a compassionate and compelling testimony of the hope that LSW gives. I urge you to watch their three-minute testimony. 

Joan’s recollection in the video of meeting one grateful recipient of that hope is heart-warming.

She recalls this gentleman at a Darkness into Light event approaching her and saying, “thank you so much, I wouldn't be here only for you”. Three months earlier, she met him at his lowest ebb at the river’s edge and told him she wouldn’t leave his side.

There’s something immensely powerful and symbolic in that.

Think of what that intervention did for his loved ones. They were saved from an indescribable level of pain that so many others can tragically testify to. Think, too, of how these interventions add up across a year. All the grief they avoid.

Joan’s comrade Shannon is equally compelling as she recalls asking a donor at a fundraiser why he had made a such a large contribution. The answer was emphatic. “You saved my son’s life”.

It’s humbling to be amongst these ‘Heroes of Hope’ who are out there even on the wettest and coldest of winter nights doing everything they can to protect the greatest gift we have, which is life.

We hear all too often about the noise of falling trees in life but if the forest is growing, we don’t hear about that so much.

That’s why we’re delighted to bring you the LSW story.