Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Archbishop: Prosperity alone cannot bring a just Ireland

PROSPERITY cannot on its own bring about the just, compassionate and generous Ireland which society desires, the Archbishop of Dublin has suggested.

Speaking at St Michan’s Catholic Church in Dublin to mark the opening of the new Michaelmas law term, Dr Diarmuid Martin, urged the congregation of judges, lawyers and diplomats to work to strengthen the fabric of society and make it more caring.

Dr Martin went on to suggest violence was "a continual threat to the harmony of society... is profoundly anti-democratic... and limits the effectiveness of community through a climate of fear".

The archbishop also urged all those engaged in the building and support of community, including schools, sporting and voluntary bodies, community organisations and the gardaí to be given society’s full support.

"I think of those whose mission it is to advance legislation which promotes harmony and equality and those whose mission it is to apply such laws and administer justice," he added.

"Yours is a task of the spirit: to ensure that true communication in the fullest sense between people is not inhibited by the raw power of the self-interest of the few.

"The spirit renews. Ireland needs renewal today just as at any period in our history... we need men and women of the spirit, of courageous and generous commitment to the values that endure."

Also speaking at the service, the Bishop of Limerick and Kildare Trevor Williams called on all present to work to ensure post-Celtic Tiger Ireland becomes a compassionate society.

Addressing a congregation including Supreme Court judges Ms Justice Susan Denham and Chief Justice Mr John Murray; Law Reform Commission President Catherine McGuinness; and High Court judge Mr Justice Declan Budd, Right Reverend Williams said today’s Ireland is "sobering up with a painful hangover" after the "blind hedonistic rush of the ‘Celtic Tiger’".

He said former president Mary Robinson had sounded a bit like the prophet Isaiah when she recently said the lack of a comprehensive vision of what sort of society we want is at the heart of the problems Ireland faces.

"We have a voice. Whether we work in aspects of the legal profession, diplomatic service, the Church or wherever we are. In what we do, and how we do it; in what we say and how we say it, we have the opportunity to describe an inspiring vision which will call this society forward from depression of recession to a compassionate society."

He also suggested the way to achieve such a society was to begin with hearing the cries of the oppressed, hungry, homeless, poor and anyone bound by injustice and hopelessness.

"We need to respond to their needs not grudgingly but generously. We need to be purveyors of possibility, signposts for hope. We need to believe in the day of small things. To believe [in] the next step is important. If we can’t solve the whole problem, it doesn’t mean there is nothing we can do," said the bishop.

"When those in need are not heard, not only is an injustice done, but the fabric of society is torn. In a global village when we are closer than ever together, it seems that the walls between us are getting higher."
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