Within the last week or so, Ireland has been grappling with the age of sexual consent and surprise surprise the Catholic Bishops decided to get their word in...and this in itself raised a lot of eyebrows.....Is it not a little hypocritical that they remained tight lipped during the recent uproar over the Child Sex Abuse scandal that ravaged through the church and how they so appallingly treated the victims and now they decide to make a full statement in relation to the age of sexual consent?
The following is taken from their recent meeting in Maynooth (The Purple Parliament) in relation to the matter......
The Age of Consent
The Irish Episcopal Conference welcomes the report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Child Protection of 30 November last. The Bishops recommend that the proposals be subject to serious study and wide public debate.
However, even at this stage, Bishops wish to register their deep concern at the lack of any reference to the moral issues involved.
The question of child protection should not blind the public to the broader issues, such as the increase in teenage sexual activity and its consequences in terms of danger not only to their physical and psychological health, but also, and in particular, to their moral well-being.
In this context, Bishops view the lowering of the age of consent to 16 with alarm, as this sends out the wrong signal to a young generation who, under the influence of teenage glossy magazines, peer pressure, and binge drinking, feel engaging in sexual activity as something trivial.
For Christians, sex is anything but trivial. Sex is sacred and is reserved for the loving, caring context of a life-long marriage, which in the Catholic and Orthodox traditions is a sacrament, namely a place of encounter with Christ.
Sexual Abstinence
Anything that would undermine the moral effort needed to preserve moral and physical integrity among teenagers must be resisted by any mature society.
Children need to be protected not only from irresponsible adults but also from themselves, until they reach the age of maturity, now considered to be 18.
Further, the proposal to lower the age of consent also sends out the wrong signal to parents, who are themselves often confused as to how they should react in the face of their children's activities.
Parents also deserve the support of the State as well as the Church to help them in their difficult task of rearing children in an age dominated by moral indifference.
Finally, as Bishops, we cannot but express our amazement that politicians and public opinion makers shy away from confronting the basic demands of morality, namely what is right and wrong.
Until such time as morality is respected for what it is - the bedrock of personal integrity and of communal life - Irish society, in the midst of increasing material prosperity, will continue its downward descent into moral chaos where literally anything goes.
Last few lines will certainly be remembered by those who have read the Ferns Report never mind the one due in the Dublin Archdiocese.....
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