Print friendly
A Catholic bishop in Ireland has accused politicians and media of seeking the destruction of the Church.
Bishop William Crean of Cloyne said the goal of such people seems to be the elimination of the Church from public debate.
“Ireland through its political and media establishment seems determined to eliminate the engagement of the Catholic Church in the public sphere,” Bishop Crean said.
He was speaking at the ordination of nine deacons at Maynooth.
“There are many in these systems who have developed a gratuitous cynicism towards the Catholic Church and desire its destruction, believing that it stands between the people and Ireland becoming a progressive society,” he said.
He added “our response ought always to be positive”.
Meanwhile, Archbishop Michael Neary of Tuam said last weekend that there are consequences for the Church being frequently dismissed and disregarded in Ireland.
He said that it is “not surprisingly in this situation greed overcomes gratitude while selfishness frequently displaces compassion”.
Archbishop Neary said the real challenge facing modern culture in Ireland today is not atheism but idolatry.
This comes in the form of the worship of false gods “. . . whether it be money, a selfish and self-centred lifestyle or pleasure”.
Speaking at Corpus Christi celebrations in Country Galway,Archbishop Neary warned against the “huge temptation to assimilate, to accept and conform to the dominant values which are at variance so often with our faith”.
In such a situation, he said, “it is so easy to pick and choose between different aspects of our Christian faith, to acknowledge publicly what may be popular at a given time but to discard what is no longer regarded as ‘cool’ in our culture”.
The bishop warned that if people attempt “to separate faith from life then we do an injustice to both”.
“Faith and life impinge on each other, influence each other, challenge each other,” he said.
Sources
- Irish Times
- Image: Irish Times
Related Posts:
News category: World.
