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Dublin Archbishop - Catholics are not passing religion on to the next generation

Failure to pass on religion will have serious consequences

ANTOINETTE KELLY,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Wednesday, May 18, 2011, 7:58 AM

Updated Wednesday, May 18, 2011, 7:58 AM

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Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin

Photo by REUTERS

The abuse crisis in the Irish church is not the only grave challenge facing it, Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin told the Catholic News Service this week.

The failure to pass on the faith to the younger generation has far reaching consequences for the church too he claimed.

"We have to completely, radically change the way we pass on the faith," Martin told CNS. "Our parishes are not places where evangelization and catechesis are taking place."

Speaking in Washington before he presented a lecture to the Order of Malta Martin, the Primate of Ireland, lamented the declining practice of the faith in Dublin - where just 18 percent of Catholics now regularly attend Sunday Mass.

Controversially, Martin noted that if the Catholic Church runs 90 percent of the elementary schools in Ireland yet only 18 percent of Catholics attend Mass, it made him wonder about the commitment of Catholic teachers.

"If people are being prepared for the sacraments by people who don't frequent the sacraments, there's a real problem there," Martin said.

"Unless we address it, we're not going to have a next generation of young Catholics," he said.

"We're suffering from some of the products of being a mass Catholicism in the past. We're still living, in some ways, as if that were the case today," he said.

Martin said he believed the secularization of Irish society was quite advanced and he spoke of the need for training laypeople to relieve priests of some of their extra tasks so they can focus more on priestly duties.

Young people in particular, Martin said, have a great deal to contribute but they must be treated with respect

"Parishes where young people are present and committed are parishes where they've been given responsibility," he said. "And the parishes which treat young people where they say 'You come on our conditions,' that's just not working."

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Collette2 | May 20, 2011, 04:22 AM EDT

"The abuse crisis in the church" is a good enough reason, one would think, but we would have to include the double lives of what did we read some time ago, 500 or so clergy. Then there's the displaced children born of these liason's with father unknown registered on their Birth Certificate. Rise up, beloved children of the Lord, and claim your inheritance.

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sirpeter | May 19, 2011, 07:33 PM EDT

murphy66..Yeah..Nothing like the fear of everlasting damnation to get people back into the Church.It's about the only reason religion works in the first place.

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Kilsally | May 19, 2011, 04:24 AM EDT

mayoman - the Protestant Churches took and many still do a similar line on women clergy although they do disagree with roman Catholicism on celibacy and married clergy. It stems ffrom verses like "1 Timothy 2:12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." and "Ephesians 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body." although such verses should always be balanced with others like: Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; Ephesians 5:33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

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mayoman | May 18, 2011, 05:00 PM EDT

One argument employed to exclude women from the priesthood is based upon the assertion that the Apostles were all male, and thus only priests can be male. While it maybe true that the Apostles were men, its also true that this is a patriarchical characteristic of Ist Century Judaism. Therefore is this really a good reason to prevent the inclusion of women in the priesthood of the 21st Century? It should be recalled that the women were quite active in the early development of the Church, but possibly because of Pauline sexism, women were soon assigned a second-class status. When the clergy was organized women were entirely excluded. This exclusion may have seemed wise at the time, but is it wise now? Does it make any real practical sense? And more importantly, we need to ask what Church traditions are so rock solid that they can never be amended for the sake of survival?

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Gearoid4 | May 18, 2011, 02:29 PM EDT

I think that Archbishop Martin has revealed a growing trend across Ireland. His diagnosis is well-rooted and it shows the downside of of a Catholic Culture which assumed the allegiance of the vast majority of the people. The current situation hopefully will present the Church with an opportunity to get back to it's roots which is a personal encounter with it's Founder, Jesus Christ. Extending the priesthood to married men and women will not be a panacea. The protestant churches have allowed these moves and their clergy numbers in Europe and America are similarly effected. The Blessed Pope John Paul gave the definite view of the Church on the admission of women to the priesthood in his papal letter 'Ordinatio Sacerdotalis' in 1994. The Church cannot change the wish of mind of Christ as he appointed only men to the apostolate which by extension effects the male-only priesthood

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mayoman | May 18, 2011, 12:47 PM EDT

If things are so dire, and something truly radical needs to be done: why not welcome women to the priesthood, and allow all priests, male and female, to marry? The greatest asset the Catholic Church has is its women, and its about time the boys let the girls have a fair say in managing Holy Mother Church. Need more priests? End the exclusive idiocy of celibacy immediately. The Church would have more applicants than they could handle. But if The Church stubbornly hangs on indefinitely to "traditions" that are the root and cause of its entropy, The Church has no one to blame but itself. Change must come.

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Kilsally | May 18, 2011, 12:02 PM EDT

Recent abuse revelations may have alot to do with it but I also think that secularism has come whooshing into Ireland North & South at a very rapid rate over the last 20 years which happened in the rest of the UK from the 1960`s onwards. You can see this in the downward tren of church attendances - even though Northern Ireland is a Bible belt, especially compared to the rest of the UK - there has been a great falling away from church attendance Protestant and Catholic in NI over the last 15 years, a falling away in people voting etc

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Sandyflash | May 18, 2011, 10:30 AM EDT

How can you "pass on" what no longer exist, a religion of faith and tradition is changed in dialog and beauty every two or three years. When you change "something of value" what it is changed to: must be better or at least equal in value....the new changes are not.(example) when I read things like this "Judas turned him in" instead of the familar, poetic "betrayed" I cringe.

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TiocfaidhArmani | May 18, 2011, 09:36 AM EDT

Maybe because you abused your power and ruined thousands of peoples lives while representing that faith. Why the hell would Irish people want to take up a faith represented by those scumbags?

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