The Coadjutor Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, has said Irish society must show greater maturity about alcohol.
Because of the moralising of the past, it wasn't a issue he would have mentioned up to a month ago, he said. But following the recent Murphy court case where it was seen that so many young lives were being destroyed as a result of alcohol, maybe it was time to speak out on the subject of both alcohol and drugs.
He also said violence in Ireland was a huge thing today in a context where last week two men could go into a pub, follow a man and shoot him in the head.
"I would expect that from the Mafia, but not in Dublin," he said. "We must raise our voices against these unscrupulous people . . . that this is not part of Irish tradition."
Violence, he said, was endemic in the home, on the street, among young people and against women.
He also referred to "the new Irish", who were doing what Irish emigrants had done abroad in the past, sending remittances home to their families. We should be helping them and recognising their contribution to Irish society.
Archbishop Martin was speaking in Rathfarnham Church of Ireland parish church, Co Dublin, last night. Both he and the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Dr John Neill, were addressing the theme, "A vision of the church in modern Ireland", which was also hosted by the Catholic parishes of Rathfarnham and Ballyroan.
Archbishop Martin said that the first congratulatory message he had received on his appointment to Dublin was from Archbishop Neill. And he praised the fact that both archbishops could meet for such a "natural and warm event" and that it was "the most natural thing for two archbishops of Dublin to do. It may not always have been such."
In the Roman Catholic tradition, Archbishop Martin said far more had to be done today to generate a "lively mature questioning faith". The church had to become a more listening church in that it listened to the word of God itself.
Archbishop Neill said he agreed with the vision as presented by Archbishop Martin as one we should all want to live with and want to own. He spoke of the deprivation in Ireland today, the alienation this bred and which was expressed as anti-institutionalism.
"Our churches on the whole are institutionalised," he said. There was little sense of history or tradition today and because the churches are so rooted in the past they are seen as irrelevant.
On ecumenism he was conscious of living in a post-denominational society where more and more people were not interested in differences. What makes them feel good was what mattered, he said. He linked this to growing individualism. Referring to changing structures, he said, "I can hardly use the words family now without explaining what I mean. It has so many understandings."
He said the Christendom image of church was gone, it was an outmoded model, even where there are established churches, as in northern Europe. The church no longer had power over people's lives, dictating to them. The temptation was to opt for a "sect model", such as is the case in Britain, but he felt that was "a sad resting place". The model of church he favoured was the "servant model"; it would be a church to serve people.
