Press Releases
Professor Patricia Barker's address to the 'Church, Society and the Media' conference to celebrate 150 years of the 'Gazette'
'Church, Society and the Media'
ALL HALLOWS COLLEGE, DUBLIN
Friday, 6th October 2006
Response to Patsy McGarry?s address
Professor Patricia Barker, Dublin City University.
A hArdEaspaigh, a Chaithaoirligh is a charide go leir idir chleir agus tsua. Go raibh mile maith agaibh as ucht an chuireadh bheith anseo libh um thrathnothna. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be with you this afternoon to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Church of Ireland Gazette.
When Geoffrey invited me to respond to Patsy McGarry?s address this afternoon, he suggested that I might find some issues of disagreement with his address, fire some javelins at his conclusions, be provocative and contentious and whip up a bit of debate.
However, as I listened to what Patsy had to say I found myself fascinated, informed and almost wholly in agreement with his conclusions. I found it impossible to identify areas of violent or even gentle disagreement. So maybe I had better just shut up and sit down right now. Well, I am not going to do that, firstly because I am an academic and we can never resist the opportunity to force our views on a captive audience and secondly because I am a woman and am congenitally incapable of staying silent in any social gathering.
Patsy reflected on the amazing and courageous history of the Gazette and its editors and contributors. He looked back over the events of the Church of Ireland in a time of enormous social change. He looked backwards. Perhaps you will indulge me if I try to look forward and project what the Gazette might look like in ten years time.
In ten years time it will, of course, be printed on fully recycled paper with environmentally friendly inks, with full use being made of the latest digital print and image technology. I cannot foresee the demise of the printed word. There will be an electronic version, as at present which will probably have links to chat rooms to enable readers to debate the grittier opinions being expressed and to interrogate providers of information on meetings and conferences and social events. However, I suspect that the publication may be freely accessible with funding from advertising and sponsorship only.
I suspect that we might see a Gazette with some variation of language. We might see columns written in Swahili, Sanskrit, Chinese and maybe even Polish if we can manage to attract some of the opposition. Hopefully we will be a Church that has fully open doors to a multi-cultural community of worshippers. We might see photographs of worship being conducted through mediums of dance, drumbeat and movement. It would be nice to read articles and see images of our Church Leaders in more open debate with our separated brethren and with leaders of other communities be they Muslim, Hindu, Amish or Parsee.
The Gazette in ten years might reflect a Church of Ireland that:
? Speaks out clearly on issues relating to the conduct of business as well as public life ? giving strong leadership in areas of corporate governance and ethical conduct especially when there is evidence that markets are driven by greed, corruption and purely shareholder interest.
? Continues to hammer home the message that we are all responsible for the appalling breaches of human and civil rights around the world
? Preaches the message of our responsibility to protect all God?s creatures and the earth that we have been entrusted with.
? Has bishops, archbishops and (dare I suggest) a Primate of all Ireland that include women, under-thirty fives, members of the Traveller community, non-Caucasians, gays, people with disabilities and people with studs through their tongues and tattoos on their ankles.
I wonder was that provocative enough, Geoffrey? But seriously, I see a generation growing up at present that is horribly risk-averse, materialistic, competitive and self-absorbed. That?s a scary combination. I daily see young people who are reluctant to take risks, who have been reared in a protected environment ? nervous about climbing trees, told not to run in the school yard, afraid to speak to strangers, depressed by set-backs, anxious to be part of the crowd, constantly looking for the safety net and communicating more and more in abbreviated text. They feel that if things go slightly adrift there must be someone else to blame and they look around them to identify the culpable party. They look for the reward in anything they do and respond to controls and regulation. To give a simple example, young students will engage in an intellectual activity if there are marks in it and will turn up for workshops and seminars if there is a register taken.
Of course I am not talking about all young people and there are some terrific, confident, articulate and robust youngsters emerging from our schools who are just great fun. By way of illustration, I gave a class recently some misspelt words that I had received in assignments and asked them to suggest what they might mean. Here are a couple of responses:
? Cashtration: Buying the books you recommend rendering me financially impotent for a considerable period
? Beelzebug: Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
? Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund after the summer job, which lasts until you realise that it was your money in the first place
? Foreploy: Any misrepresentation of yourself for the purposes of getting laid.
? Glibido: All talk and no action
However, I do detect some tendency to the characteristics I mentioned of risk aversion and self centeredness. These people will be the readers of the Gazette in ten years time.
What can the Church of Ireland and the Gazette say to them?
I would suggest the following messages:
1. You are not a freak if you don?t want to work from 6 in the morning until 9 at night.
2. Your life is not over if you take a chance on something and fail due to a mistake you made or just bad luck
3. It is OK to speak out and express the unpopular view ? even if it will not propel your career or your popularity in your clique.
4. It really is not essential to family life to have two three litre cars, a Pogenphol kitchen, Roman blinds, Tiger Woods golf clubs, a Blackberry, and Welsh slate kitchen floors. You really are not damaging your kids if you don?t chauffeur them to swimming, fencing, creative writing, lacrosse, junior rugby and remedial chess all before midday on Saturday morning.
5. We wouldn?t need quite so many therapists, counsellors and psychoanalysts if we all stopped our frenetic self-absorption and spent some of our days just talking to people and listening to them.
Deep down I believe we are all left unsatisfied by the Celtic Tiger and left with feelings of guilt and a need to reconnect with our own spirituality and a sense of ourselves as part of a community. I think the Church, if it has its antennae up to this generation and their way of seeing the world can and must persuade them about the fundamental and really satisfying life tenet of ?Love God and love your neighbour as much as you love yourself?. The Gazette could have a huge role in that.
Patsy, thank you for your stimulating and fascinating address and thank you all very much for giving me the opportunity the opportunity to respond.