A "strange paradox in Europe and a great part of the English-speaking world" has allowed "a kind of amnesia" where the Christian heritage was concerned, the Bishop of Limerick, Dr Donal Murray, said yesterday.
This was most clearly expressed in the EU constitution which contained no reference to Europe's Christian heritage, he said. "In some areas it is more respectable now to be agnostic. It is seen as more tolerant."
Dr Murray was speaking about "spiritual leadership in the Irish Church today" at an international assembly of representatives of English-speaking priests' conferences in Dublin. In a time of fear, insecurity and need for hope, as exemplified by the collapse of the Twin Towers - "one of the key images of the 21st century" - he felt it strange there was also such "tranquil apostasy".
It also seemed "obvious institutions are not popular in our day", he said, recalling that the former Anglican archbishop of York John Habgood had said there seemed to be a reaction against authority itself.
The archbishop had pointed out it was institutions which held society together. He was also critical of the role of the media. The archbishop thought the media guilty of cynicism, in that it fed on and benefited from the disillusionment with institutions, while portraying itself as just reflecting what was taking place in society.
The effects of sex abuse scandals had been to the forefront for over a decade, Dr Murray continued. "We have heard the anger and hostility of people. It has affected our image of ourselves. We have also received support and understanding we never had before." The trauma seemed to be part of "a process of purification" in Ireland, where there had been/were tribunals and inquiries into areas of law, politics, medicine, business.
While the number of priests convicted of child sexual abuse in Ireland was "hideously large", the figure amounted to just 3 per cent of abusers.
He spoke of the "frustration of priests and especially every bishop" at calls for spiritual leadership in the Irish church today, "and at the enormous variety of deeply conflicting reasons provided" for this.
Many Irish clergy suffered from the "self-infected clericalism of blaming themselves for everything that happened". Meanwhile, "concerned Christians" asked priests and bishops what they were doing to make their presence felt in various areas of life. "Why do they not do so themselves?" he asked.
"Everybody has their own area of expertise, their own story, their own network of relationships. If believers don't do it (make their presence felt) no one will." The church was not a secular institution. "Financial and statistical returns are not its final criteria," and a bishop was not a branch manager.
Holiness - a deepening knowledge of Christ - must come first or a deeper vision of renewal would be lost in preoccupation with the nuts and bolts, he said.
