Role of Churches in Secular Society:

Secular Society is not immune to the influences of faith communities. The negative memories of coercive influence whether it be Calvin’s Geneva, or even of the two separate almost confessional states that some sought to build on this island for the first half of the last century, or contemporary experience of the influence of militant Islam in parts of Asia and Africa, must not blind us to a more positive experience. Faith communities, and that means for us, the Churches, can still play a significant role in creating values within a secular society.

In a pluralist society that role can only be a positive contribution if it is offered with sensitivity, and concerned less with rights and privilege and more with working for a truly better society. One of the areas requiring such sensitivity that has occupied many of recent months in the European Union is as to how the unique role of Christianity in European culture as a historical reality can be expressed without excluding and alienating those of other faith communities and indeed of none.

The Christian Gospel centres on the fact that in Jesus of Nazareth, God became incarnate, involved in life on this earth. It is a story of great powerfulness on one hand and of total weakness on the other. In terms of power the incarnation tells of a life stronger even than death, a love that overcomes evil, but in weakness, it reflects total self-emptying, total self-giving, total unselfishness. Jesus was the exact opposite of power as seen in political terms, in terms of wealth, in terms of privilege, or in terms of military might. He came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. It is this Gospel that can still speak in secular society today and indeed must tell its message, because never did it need to be heard so clearly. But it is a message that will only be heard when it comes from those seen to be living it, and from Churches that exemplify it in their common life – caring for others as Jesus cared.

Diminishing Role of the Churches in Society in the Republic:

As one looks at the Republic of Ireland today, all would probably admit that it is fast becoming a very secular society. There is formal separation between Church and State, and has been, officially at least, for a very long time. The influence of the traditional churches in Ireland has diminished in Ireland quite dramatically of recent years. Some would say with quite a bit of justification that this is no bad thing, both because Christian values cannot be imposed on people, and because the Christian Church is never at its most effective when it is powerful. Power and servant-hood are virtually impossible to hold together. It is surely more than poetic style that one of the earliest Christian hymns quoted in the New Testament which speaks of Jesus taking the form of a servant, states first that “he emptied himself” of that divine power and privilege that belonged to him. We can only serve a secular Ireland when we are prepared to expose ourselves as well as the society in which we minister to Jesus the servant.

I constantly meet people engaging with many of the great issues in Irish life today, and equally with people who are feeling wounded and battered by this selfsame society. We have a name historically perhaps for being a Caring Society, but I feel it is a decreasingly accurate description of the Ireland that I know.

Many would point to a breakdown in caring as being caused by a growing individualism and a lessening of a sense of community and community values. This can hardly be denied. It is a symptom of much of Western Society today. But a symptom points not only to the cause of the problem, it points often just as much to a reaction. A Society which is harsh, and in which people feel “unsafe” or undervalued, itself creates a great upsurge of individualism, as each person is simply “out for themselves”.

Ireland no longer a caring society:

Recently The Irish Times published a survey of patterns of behaviour among our younger citizens. Probably little in it surprised those who are aware of what life is like, particularly, though by no means exclusively, in urban Ireland. But I would say that the common thread revealed through much of that survey was of trends in society, not restricted by any means to the under twenty fives, but trends which in their own way point to the isolation of the individual, whether by choice, or by default. We saw a social whirl portrayed that has little to do with real relationships and more to do with self-gratification. The consistent and intentional binge drinking and the ever- increasing drug culture, say little about real enjoyment, but a great deal about a lack of self-respect. Such a lifestyle says little about people having a wide circle of real friends whose company they enjoy, rather a great deal about the necessity to escape from something that deep down is found to be meaningless and without value. Such a breakdown in society linked with inner loneliness is perhaps not a hundred miles from our rising suicide rate.

An uncaring work environment:

We can blame the Celtic Tiger for much, or the fact that it has retreated once more across the ocean, but there may be more to it than that. Many in today’s world of business and commerce, find little concern for them in the workplace. Recently, I met a woman who had worked in a highly responsible position for many years in an established company suddenly simply cast aside without any concern for her feelings, her self-esteem nor indeed for what she had contributed over the years. I see young men and women given great opportunities as their skills appear to be recognised, and then through no fault of their own simply told that they are no longer wanted. Some years ago I travelled on a train across Ireland sharing a compartment with the head of a large IT consortium, it was at the height of the boom time in that industry. We got around to discussing the sort of people he employed. They were all young graduates, but he never kept them too long. I asked why, and his reply was because they would need retraining to keep them up-to-date in that fast developing sector. My next question was slightly more pointed, was it not his responsibility to give them opportunities to keep up to date. The reply said it all – it was cheaper to let them go, because then he could employ others a few years younger who were cheaper to pay, and at that stage were right up to date. It is indeed a cruel world and young people today are perhaps up against it more than many of the rest of us realise. In reality, do we live in a Caring Society at all?

The compensation culture:

Even the compensation culture that we all love to despise, particularly because it puts up our insurance premiums, and also because it genuinely spoils much of community life is more complicated than it appears at first sight. It is often the sheer unkindness and lack of respect that people encounter in the workplace, in the world of business or in the professions, in the public or the private sectors, in hospitals or in schools, that makes them fight back very bitterly. The massive damages against the employer or the institution may bring a measure of revenge, but it really solves nothing in terms of self-respect. Damages awarded in a Court of Law do little to redress the unkindness and even abuse that people have suffered in one way or another. A compensation culture may indeed be wonderful for greedy individuals, but we need to be aware that it points to a society in which people experience little of that ancient virtue of being charitable one to another. Real charity is about real caring.

An uncaring church?

What happens in society at large affects all of us. Many parishes from time to time experience such a breakdown in their core values – and people feel alienated and under-valued within the life of the Church as much as they do within the workplace. It is a danger of which all of us need to be aware, and one that is only overcome by a great deal of heart-searching, of humility and above all of prayer. We cannot stand in judgement, or point to a better way, unless that same spotlight is turned on us as churches.

Caring within church:

We are at the moment facing a real challenge in our churches as we seek to assert the real value of each person. It is easy to say that we value each person as a child of God, but how do we spell it out? I was very moved recently in Geneva at the World Council of Churches to listen to a quite severely handicapped Swedish Priest challenge us to recognise that God’s people with handicaps are not accepted if we simply build an access ramp to a building, but quietly exclude them from any positions of responsibility or leadership in the church. The speaker had severe speech difficulties himself, as well as other handicap, and I doubt that most churches would have considered ordaining him.

Same sex relationships

It is in the area of sexual orientation that we have to face very painful questions. We have within all our churches at every level people of both heterosexual and of homosexual orientation. We are quick to say that we accept them all and value them all. The difficulty for us is whether this acceptance in the case of those involved in same sex relationships involves the formal recognition of their relationships particularly for those who are ordained to the ministry. As bishops, we recently issued a pastoral letter on the issue pointing to its complexity, but reminding the church that we are not simply dealing with an issue, we are dealing with real people in the life of the church. I have no hesitation in saying that the pastoral letter is one that I am proud to be associated with. My hope and prayer is that real listening to one another, and a willingness to discern the mind of God together, rather than adversarial debate will characterise the conversation that must take place in the Church of Ireland as much as internationally. If our Lord to really engage with us was prepared to empty himself, not to cling to that status and power that was his by right, it is imperative that we encounter one another in that same spirit. I would urge your prayers today for the chief bishops of each church in the Anglican Communion as they meet now on this very issue, that they will see their task as being to hold a world communion together to allow it to encounter a real issue, and to further the discussion rather than fragmenting into the comfort of merely staying close to those who have already reached identical positions on an issue that is far from truly resolved.

It could be said that it is only those who are experiencing and living as a caring society that can speak with the authority of the servant Lord to an uncaring society. But on the other hand, God uses the wounded healer. It is often in our own experience of brokenness that we can humbly speak of another way.

Doctrinaire attitudes:

Church authorities have often hurt people, as they have imposed doctrinaire positions and simple answers on very complex problems. The damage done by the Inquisition in the distant past, or by the Communist world a generation ago can be replicated in a modern democratic state such as our own. One example recently being questioned is the total ban on “one-off” housing in many rural areas. It is a cruel act for any society to take up a doctrinaire position that ends up being destructive of the very patterns of rural community that have existed down the centuries in Ireland. There are structures necessary for urban development that are simply destructive to rural life which is much more flexible, and must remain so if it is to survive. The small island on which we live cannot afford to widen its urban/rural divide, and certainly must not if it is to be a truly caring society.

Living with difference:

Tomorrow we will be spending considerable time looking at the whole concept of living with difference, and with the issue of sectarianism in particular. I welcome this opportunity, because I feel that there are issues here that must be addressed, some of I have already mentioned this afternoon.

The work on Sectarianism began out of a particular situation in another part of the Church of Ireland. It has not always been understood in the Republic. In the early days of this work as we looked at the sectarian divide in Northern Ireland, it was observed by many people, some in the Republic, that the seeds of it were found right across Ireland, and the simple fact was that some were better at covering up these seeds than others. This statement at first sight has a ring of truth, but it can place the emphasis in the wrong place. It is often the covering up of those seeds that may prevent them ever seeing the light of day. It is often because of gospel values that people have suppressed or covered up their instincts to be narrow and exclusive.

Anybody with beliefs worth having can use those same beliefs in a sectarian and damaging way. We all have attitudes that are exclusive and self-protective and even self-righteous, but it is how we handle them and overcome them that is the real issue. The value of this study of sectarian attitudes is that it alerts us to the need to address such attitudes lest they creep up on us unawares. We pay lip service to the fact that Ireland is becoming a multi-racial and multi-faith society, but it is when that begins to impact on the culture of the institutions of society, such as the schools and hospitals, then naked sectarianism can spring quickly to the surface. I hope that Synod members will make it a matter of urgency to be present for the presentation to this Synod tomorrow. One of the fears when we discuss matters of interfaith concern, such as religious dialogue and living with different cultures is that we feel that we are being asked to let go of what is distinctive in our own faith. This must not be the case and in fact if we enter our encounter with other faith traditions, while hanging very loosely to our own, then no real dialogue is possible.

Education for religious minorities:

Distinctiveness within a society is not anything that we should ever be ashamed to uphold. A society is judged in its caring for its minorities as well as its caring for individuals. One of the attitudes in the Republic of Ireland that we in the Church of Ireland have always benefited from is the determination under the 1937 Constitution to provide space for minorities, in particular in the field of education. In the Church of Ireland we have consistently requested that this normally means for us the provision and maintenance of Protestant schooling, whilst recognising that parental choice will often enter the equation as well. The Department of Education and Science has been very sensitive to many of these issues across the years, enshrined as they are in the Constitution. Nevertheless this sensitivity can be misread by some in society at large as providing for isolation and privilege at best, or at worst pandering to sectarianism. A society that cherishes all its children equally will often have to make special provision for those with particular needs to make that goal attainable. It could be said that it is not always the institutions of State that are the most doctrinaire, but rather the political correctness of a few commentators!