There has been a call for the Catholic Church in Ireland to establish some mechanism through which pastoral clergy can contribute to debates and the formation of church policy.
In the current issue of Doctrine & Life magazine Father Walter Forde, parish priest of Castlebridge, Co Wexford, suggests that perhaps the National Conference of Priests might adopt a more active role in this regard.
"It makes me sad to reflect that the church whose whole raison d'etre is communications is one of the least successful agencies at conveying its core message in a simple, clear and convincing way. When the language, the reasoning and the communications methodology are defective, then the message is not only obscured, it is undermined," he said.
He was commenting in the context of the recent controversy following a speech by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Connell, on contraception. The overwhelming reaction of priests Father Forde knew to that speech was one of unhappiness with the message that had come across and a feeling that it had actually made pastoral work more difficult, he said.
"Priests involved in pastoral situations have a contribution to make to discussions of this sort precisely because of their particular experiences - as have lay people who practise their faith in real-life situations, whether difficult or joyful," he said.
"Pastoral priests would, very likely, have shared the despair of a loving couple who just cannot have a baby, and the joy they know when, thanks to modern and technological advances, they are helped to have one; and would have witnessed the special way in which such a child is treasured.
"They would also have worked with parents who decided to limit their families in a responsible way with the objective of being able to provide them with the best possible nurturing and opportunities. If they are my age they will have known families who had too many children and were unable to provide adequately for them materially, educationally and emotionally," he said.
His contact with parents suggested to him that the issues which most concerned them now included the pressures on young people to drink at an early age, the need for sexual relationship education, the need for responsible and principled standards of sexual behaviour, protection from the scourge of drug addiction, and some spiritual formation and beliefs.
