WHEN TRINITY College Dublin was established 417 years ago, it would have been “unimaginable’’ that someone such as he could have preached at an ecumenical service there, the Catholic Primate Cardinal Seán Brady said yesterday.
That he should was a further indication of the “immense progress’’ in relations between the Christian traditions of Ireland over recent years.
The cardinal made his observations in a sermon at the Trinity Monday service of thanksgiving and commemoration at the College Chapel, TCD. He was the first Catholic Primate of All-Ireland and the first cardinal to do so.
He said it was “a great privilege to be asked to preach in this historic chapel. I am conscious of the role it has played in the lives of so many illustrious alumni of this university. I am conscious too of the enormous contribution made to the life and progress of the Irish nation by Trinity College Dublin since its foundation in 1592.
“I suspect it would have been almost unimaginable at that time to foresee a Catholic archbishop of Armagh preaching in this chapel at something called an ecumenical service. I thank God this morning for the immense progress we have made on the journey of mutual respect and Christian solidarity between the Christian traditions of Ireland.
“That the greater part of this progress has happened in recent years, and more quickly than many could have imagined, is grounds for even greater hope about God’s plans for the unity of his followers,’’ he said.
He continued: “I am told that Cardinal John Henry Newman and his idea of a university are much discussed and admired here. Pope Benedict is also a great admirer of Newman and of the broader education which is expected of institutions of higher learning and from their cultural milieu, be it secular or religious. Both Newman and Pope Benedict would hold that belief in God does not suppress the search for truth. On the contrary, belief encourages it.’’
Unfortunately, the cardinal said “there is a growing tendency in our western culture to regard religious belief as irrational, and religious difference as a de facto threat to peace’’. He recalled how in 1852, Cardinal Newman said that so often “the fundamental dogma” of the scientist today is “that nothing can be known for certain about the unseen world”. The pursuit of theological studies therefore is the pursuit of a mirage and in the mind of the scientist lacks the credentials necessary for inclusion in the university curriculum.
“This idea that ‘religion is a delusion’ has enjoyed something of a resurgence recently. It has been re-energised in the popular media by what one author describes as the ‘new atheists’. The fact is that the popular assumption that faith and reason are incompatible is false. Faith and religion remain an essential part of the human experience and of the search for meaning and truth.’’
