PRESIDENT Mary McAleese told clergy yesterday that Ireland was at "a kind of zero-hour" when the direction it takes will affect generations to come.Addressing the Church of Ireland Synod, Mrs McAleese said that after decades of conflict, Ireland could either construct a world of humanly decent values, or sow "another bitter harvest of dysfunction".
She said peace and prosperity had transformed Ireland but that social problems such as alcohol and drug abuse and community violence remained.
It was the first time that a sitting President of Ireland had addressed the Synod, and Mrs McAleese was given a standing ovation for using the occasion to reflect on "the significant journeys" Catholics and Protestants had made.
She spoke of a past which "at times struggled to credibly showcase Christian values", and the movement to a shared future in an Ireland that would be universally recognisable for its Christian cherishing of all its children.
In her historic speech to an assembled 600 Anglican bishops, clergy and laity at the Synod in Galway, she said Ireland is at a "pivotal moment" in history.
"One of those rare moments when all the accreted pain, planning and persuasion lead to a sea change -- to a sharp and manifest shift in direction."
Her central theme was the shift from a culture of conflict to one of peace and prosperity.
Welcoming
She said today's Ireland was neither Catholic nor Protestant, agnostic nor atheist, Islamic nor Jewish, but was a welcoming homeland for people of all faiths and of none, where the Government has set up a forum for dialogue between the State and the churches and faiths.
"In a way we are now at a kind of zero-hour, a moment when the direction of our next steps will fundamentally determine the trajectory of our history for generations to come," the President said.
"This period of reseeding is a time for patient, courageous visionaries who dare to believe in a bumper harvest, not simply of the consumer goods or gadgets, or the personal comforts bought with accumulated wealth, but of an island at peace, a place of vibrant caring communities, of graciousness and good neighbourliness and above all a place where all the children of the nation are and feel cherished equally."
Looking to the future, President McAleese said: "Not all our age old problems were behind us, some got worse and some new ones faced us."
"There is the cultural aneurism of alcohol and drug abuse with their legacy of family and community violence which make life so miserable.
"There are the children who desperately need love to complete them humanly but whose very human formation is being destroyed by abuse and neglect from those who are supposed to love them most.
"There are young people with more freedom than ever before but much less guidance; the coarsening of everyday social discourse, ironically at the very time when the language of politics has softened, our culture of courtesy is weakening.
"There are many still knocking at the door of social inclusion and strangers from abroad who want to be good neighbours and friends in this, their adopted homeland," she said.
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