THE CONSTITUTION “has served the people well”, yet was “sometimes presented just as a fossilised child of its time”, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, has said.
“Within its limitations”, Bunreacht na hÉireann had “proven to be a document which was ably capable of guaranteeing rights and curbing power – including the power of the State – and has fostered a valuable culture of legal interpretation,” he said.
In a homily delivered at St Michan’s Church on Dublin’s Halston Street, at a Mass to mark the opening of the new law term, he said “the constitutional convention which is to be launched soon must be a moment of true discernment.
Renewal does not always mean discontinuity.
“Tradition is not outdated each new day. True values are different to fashion, where the fashion of the day can tomorrow be quickly out of fashion. Values must be rooted somewhere. They must represent a constant in society and what society aspires to.”
Addressing a congregation that included judges of the Supreme and High Courts, the Attorney General Máire Whelan, representatives of the Scottish and Northern Ireland judiciaries and the Garda Commissioner, he noted that “we live at a time of cultural ferment”.
There was “a welcome ferment in reflection on our educational system. There is a renewed climate of political reflection on the type of society we wish to build for the future. There is ferment in the church,” he said.
It was a time when those “who work for justice must serve right and truth through protecting the weak and curbing the natural arrogance of the powerful. Such a challenging role will not be attained just by systems but above all by people,” he said.
“Individual responsibility, however, is exercised within a society, within a culture, within a network of relationships and ideas. That is why we pray today to the Holy Spirit for the gift of discernment.
“Discernment begins with the ability to ask the right questions and address them in the right manner,” he said. “Discernment for today requires that we seek the truth both in tradition and in progress. A time of rapid change can tempt us to reject tradition and the past with a sort of logic of discontinuity. We should never overlook the fundamental values which have held our society together . . . discernment should help us to overcome a short-sighted assessment of our past.”
Yet, today there was “a tendency to reduce the role of faith to the margins of society”.
He agreed that “in Ireland, scandals have in their way damaged the credibility of what the Catholic Church brings to society,” but added “despite that, we should remember that Christian faith and belief in Jesus Christ have their role and contribution to bring to reflection on the future of society.”