Newness and tradition

Which direction is Ireland taking and what is the role of the Church? This was the key topic of the opening address delivered a few days ago by Mons. DIARMUID MARTIN, Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland at the Irish Institute of New York. “The Church has its own contribution to make – welcome or not- to shaping the Ireland of the future. Ireland has changed but Ireland will continue to change. Today’s Ireland may well not be the New Ireland of the next generation”, said Mons. Martin, who believes that “if the Church’s task was simply to react to and adapt to society, it would inevitably always be yesterday’s Church,” whereas it must “be present within Irish society and it has its own leadership role to play.”AGENT OF CHANGE . The Archbishop stated that “the Church has contributed and contributes directly to the New Ireland. The quality of Irish education has often been identified as a key factor in the transformation of Irish economy in the last decade” he affirmed, and added that “the role of the Church in the delivery of primary and secondary education establishes it as an important agent as well as the object of change.” The Archbishop claimed that this role “will change, but not vanish”. “Various Church groups and organizations have made a critical contribution to the economic development” of the Country: “when I look at the suburbs of Dublin which were ‘developed’ without any attempt to accompany house-building with the infrastructures of community, I see the enormous contribution that parishes have made to building social cohesion and solid communities.” “When I speak of New Church”, Mons. Martin explained, “I am not talking of a Church which intends to recapture market share or to present an image of a Church putting its difficulties behind it. New Church must be forged in fidelity to its mission to bring the timeless Good News of Jesus Christ to a new generation who live in an Ireland that is very different from the Ireland of the past and to challenge that generation to understand that message”.INTEGRATING ECONOMIES. Two major themes dominate the reflection on Ireland, the archbishop said: “the peace process in Northern Ireland and the extra-ordinary economic success with the changes that prosperity has brought. Perhaps these two processes are more intertwined than we think.” According to Mons. Martin “the success of the Northern Ireland peace process will depend to a great degree on the way in which two economies can be integrated for the benefit of all.” The Archbishop remarked that economic development has entailed “great advances” but at the same time it has brought “all the temptations of affluence”. He noted that although he is not “among the many merchants of gloom who feel that a little bit of economic downturn might be good for the Irish soul”, there remains the risk “of a wider diffusion of consumerist and materialistic values” and in particular, of “the notion that personal success is determined” by wealth and by “the capacity to support an overstated lifestyle which has insinuated itself into the mentality of many younger Irish people”.LIGHT AND SHADOWS. What are the current problems? “Growing levels of unemployment” added to “unprecedented levels of immigration”. This “could give rise to competition for jobs” which “would test our social cohesiveness” and perhaps fuel “latent xenophobia”. Mons. Martin stressed the “inadequacies in our public health services”, “the endemic social inequalities of entire communities” and the poverty “of the elderly who do not have private health insurance or adequate pensions”. The violence of gangland leaders remains “unacceptable” even though its “levels are lower than elsewhere in Europe”, still “we cannot be satisfied with that”. The Archbishop then referred to the “room for God” and remarked that “sadly, there have been many occasions when structures from within the Church have damaged that pristine vision, but even in bad times there has been an extraordinary recognition of the work done by individual priests and religious and by lay women and men inspired by their Christian principles.” After all, “the Irish will never give any institution 100% marks”, he affirmed. The major difficulty encountered by the Church today is the “distinction” “that many people seems to make between the local Church , which is generally perceived as making a positive contribution to the lives of individuals and communities, and the institutional Church , which is viewed as being distant from the reality of people’s lives”. Mons. Martin pointed out that while the former “is primarily defined by people’s own experiences at local level, the perception of the institutional Church is determined often by media coverage”. “Irish people tend to have more traditional values on moral issues such as abortion, divorce and sexuality than their European neighbors”, however, Monsignor remarked, “even those young people who hold very strong moral convictions” are inclined “to see these convictions as purely personal” thus missing “the objective nature of moral values”. The Archbishop pointed to the population’s distinguishing characteristics: “the extraordinary level of confidence and self-esteem” which is evident also among children” and “the sense of the family, which in Ireland remains strong”.