“Marriage and the family are the foundation of the common good”, declared Archbishop Séan Brady, Primate of Ireland and President of the Irish Bishops, in addressing a seminar promoted by the Irish Episcopal Conference in recent days. Theme of the meeting, held in Dublin, was “Supporting marriage and family life”. “The Catholic Church noted Brady has the right, and at the same time the duty, to teach and to act in defence of the primacy of the institution of matrimony and the family”, and for this reason must insist on the fact that “other forms of relationship have a different nature from marriage” and cannot be equated with it. “Today more than ever he added the pastoral and material resources of the Church of Ireland are aimed at protecting families from the pressures of which they are the victims. Rapid social changes, the revolution in values, the invasion of the mass media into our homes, the difficulties of finding affordable housing, the disillusion in consumerism and the growing disparity between ‘those who have’ and ‘those who don’t'” are, in the archbishop’s view, the main reasons for the “unprecedented difficulties that the Irish family has been experiencing in recent years”. According to the journalist Brenda O’Brien, “consumerism is aimed at isolating youth in a homogeneous group by levelling their tastes” and by “forcing them to spend and buy, unsatisfied by their body and by their lives; a truly demanding challenge for families, even if less visible that other problems such as youth consumption of alcohol”. Stephen Cummins, delegate for education of “Accord”, the agency of the Irish bishops aimed at supporting marriage, reported that “the activity of the 57 centres present in the island is divided between the spheres of preparation for marriage and marriage guidance, and is performed by 600 trained staff”. In 2003 Accord provided counselling in 5,000 cases, while its courses in preparation for marriage were attended by 6,200 couples.
