In a speech to an Irish studies group in Cambridge, Archbishop
Diarmuid Martin said that he may not be the right man to lead the change
needed in the Irish Church.
The archbishop said that the radical change
needed in the Irish Church is so extensive that it would daunt even
experts in change management.
He added: ''Certainly I would have to say that despite all my efforts
I am failing in my attempts to lead such change. Change management has
to have the patience and the strategy to bring everyone along with it
and that may not be my talent.''
The archbishop went on to outline the areas in need of extensive
change such as Catholic education which he said was vaguely defined.
He
called again for a national forum to debate the issue of plurality in
education provision.
He also questioned how far Communion and
Confirmation are really faith-filled events anymore adding that
''admission to the sacraments is not something which is automatically
acquired when one reaches a certain class in school.''
He also highlighted the need to overhaul the formation of priests and
announced that he had plans for seminarians and trainee laity to share
some sections of their study together.
However, he said his greatest discouragement comes from the failure
of ''interaction between the Church and young people''...''everyone
knows there is a missing generation and perhaps more than one..''.
He also warned that the Church could go too far adapting to the
culture of the times, that it could become a type of civil religion,
politically correct but without the cutting edge of the Gospel.
He also repeated remarks about the inadequacies of Catholic
intellectual leadership in Ireland and the absence of a Catholic press
here on the level of the Catholic newspapers in France and Italy.
In conclusion he said the Church needs ''more than ever saints and
prophets'' and that secular societies expect Christians to witness to
the meaning of life.