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