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The Archbishop of Dublin has told the Catholic Church in Ireland it is “too timid” in bringing the Christian message to the problems of society.
In a homily in his pro-cathedral, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said the Church “should be active and present in society, drawing attention to suffering and repression of any kind and being alongside those who suffer”.
He suggested that the Catholic Church in Ireland today has “again become too timid in bringing its liberating voice to the ‘demons’ of Irish society.
“Scandals within the Church and perhaps a lack of real faith have made us all too timid in bringing the voice of Jesus and his Church to the basic issues of Irish society.
“We are tempted to succumb to the widespread opinion that Christianity is really something private and personal for our own devotion and inspiration and not something that has its relevance in the public square.”
Archbishop Martin, who held several Vatican posts before becoming Archbishop of Dublin in 2004, said: “It is not that Christians want to impose their views on others. It is more a challenging question for believers to find ways of presenting and witnessing to the Christian vision in terms which can win over and be respected by those alongside whom we work.
“Each of us is called to ensure that our being a Christian somehow brings an added quality to the way we live and to the contribution we bring to society, through how we live our Christian lives in family, in community and in society and indeed into the complex world of science and economics, of politics and communication.”
Referring to the instructions Jesus gave his apostles for their missionary journey, he commented: “The vision they present is the very opposite to a consumerist-driven rushing for the non-essential and the almost divinisation of the superfluous and the transient in life, which in the long term leads to emptiness.”
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