Archbishop Diarmuid Martin appealed to the Government and other leaders to convoke a summit of community leaders leaders to forge a new national consensus to address the roots of the violence.“We cannot as a society but express our horror at the revolting new culture of violence which now in Ireland is almost daily claiming lives in stabbings and murders.”
Dr Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, was speaking at the annual Cemetery Mass in Donabate last Sunday (15th July) in the wake of another weekend of violence and murder. “The levels of violence and the repetitions of killings are reaching levels which are truly close to an emergency for our society”, he said.
He went on: “I appeal to the government to convoke a summit of a wide range of leaders in society, not just those involved in the important work of law enforcement, but of all those in society who are in a position to forge a new national consensus to address the roots of this violence.”
“We must take a stand as a society. Too many lives have been wasted. Too many families shattered.”
In the Mass for last Sunday, the gospel was about the good Samaritan – the story that Jesus told to the young man when he asked, “who is my neighbour?”
In his homily on the gospel of the Good Samaritan, the archbishop said: “The Good Samaritan of today’s Gospel is the opposite and the antithesis of those who attacked the poor man in the first place, of those who feel that they can impose themselves and their ideas and their power by violence.”
“As we reflect in this cemetery today on lives well-lived we cannot as a society but express our horror at the revolting new culture of violence which now in Ireland is almost daily claiming lives in stabbings and murders, as we have witnessed again this weekend.”
“This is a new culture of meaningless violence which only creates a climate of vengeance, fear and retaliation. It is a culture which breaks down and destroys neighbourliness. That is not the direction which life in modern Ireland should be taking.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce