Monday, January 24, 2011

"On many moral and social issues I might easily be told to keep my reflections on religion in society within the walls of my private chapel" - Archbishop Martin

The aggressive secularism highlighted by Pope Benedict also exists in Ireland, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said.

In a homily at a service to mark the week of prayer for Christian unity, Archbishop Martin said that in Ireland “we encounter the aggressive secularism about which Pope Benedict spoke on his visit to Britain”.

But he said there were other secularisms, “the secularism of indifference and a secularism which is agreeable, pleasant and comfortable and which appeals to many in our society, there is even a secularism with a religious veneer”.

His comments come in the wake of remarks by a number of senior Irish politicians questioning the right of Christians to comment on public life.

Last week, Environment Minster John Gormley responded to critical comments by Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Dr John Neill about the Green Party. Mr Gormley said: "We have always believed that the Churches should not involve themselves in party politics and in this regard the comments were ill judged".

Archbishop Neill had said that the Green Party of had done a U-turn in relation to the use of Shannon by the US military. 

He added: "It's a very sad thing. It's not just true of the Green Party, but it is very true of them, power tends to corrupt."

In December, NUI Senator Joe O'Toole attacked Cardinal Sean Brady for expressing the Church's opposition to abortion.

He accused Cardinal Brady of ‘fundamentalism’ and of interfering in Irish affairs after the he criticised the decision of the European Court of Human Rights regarding Ireland’s abortion law.

He said: “Ireland won’t be lectured to by any fundamentalist whether he is wearing a red hat in Armagh or a white hat in the Vatican”.

Senator O’Toole lashed the Cardinal for responding to the ECHR decision given the Church’s past failure to properly protect children.

He stated: “Having failed for years to get any movement from the Church leadership to move to protect abused children and to deal with perverted clerics, where that arose, is it anything short of outrageous to witness the antics from Armagh in the past 12 hours?

"It has taken my breath away it is so disgraceful and the people should be told. One mention of pregnancy termination and the Church leadership is galvanised into action, immediately ready to take it on.”

Last June, in an interview with The Irish Times, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said that politicians must leave their religion to one side when legislating and not let it ‘cloud’ their judgement.

In the same month, Minister Gormley, in response to the Catholic bishops' statement expressing concern about the Civil Partnership Bill told RTE radio that the Church should “concentrate its efforts on looking after the spiritual needs of its flock and not intrude on temporal or State matters.”

He added that he “thought we had left the era of Church interference behind.”

Archbishop Martin said that ambivalance marked the modern Irish approach towards religion. 

While he said that there was admiration for much of what religious people did, he said there was a contradictory attitude on the part of some politicians when it came to Church involvement.

He said: “I was courted in some political sectors to speak in favour of the Lisbon Treaty but on many moral and social issues I might easily be told to keep my reflections on religion in society within the walls of my private chapel.”

SIC: CIN/IE