Diocesan News17 Mar 04

'Churches growing in Ireland - a majority but not a monopoly' - Bishop Colton

CHURCHES GROWING IN IRELAND
A MAJORITY BUT NOT A MONOPOLY

Pluralism is not an excuse for an impotent secularist agenda

Preaching at the Annual Civic Service, (attended by the Lord Mayor and City Council of Cork together with civic leaders and voluntary workers) to mark Saint Patrick?s Day in St Fin Barre?s Cathedral, Cork, the Right Reverend Paul Colton, Bishop of Cork, said that leaders in the new Ireland have to get used to responding to the needs of people whose expectations are not moulded by the Christian tradition; and Christian churches, for their part, have to come to terms with sharing the stage with others.

Reflecting on the preliminary results of the 2002 Census in relation to religion, Bishop Colton, underlined, on the one hand, that ?religion ? albeit in many guises ? is still important to the people of Ireland? and on the other, said that account had to be taken of the fact that the numbers not espousing any religion had increased greatly.

Understanding the pluralism of the Irish religious scenario calls for maturity, he said.

?There is a danger in some of the voices we hear in response to this new religious tapestry in Ireland that pluralism becomes an opportunist?s excuse to peddle an impotent secularism. Pluralism is not a vacuous nothingness, an anaemia of ideals that impoverishes society and drains the nutrients out of its spiritual soul. Rather it is an energetic, animated diversity, where the variety is celebrated, is mutually enriching and the integrity of the other is valued equally.?

The Bishop challenged that achieving this will require openness, a commitment to dialogue, partnership and an affirmation of the truths we perceive in one another.