The Archbishop of Dublin has called for solidarity in the face of the country’s financial meltdown.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin said the Christian community should be a “model of solidarity” when he was speaking to graduating students at the Mater Dei Institute of Education earlier today. As the country faces the worst financial crisis in its history, the archbishop called on students not just to share “financial resources but also our own talents and abilities and our basic humanity and love”.
He said: “Ireland in its current crisis requires obviously to keep its feet firmly on the ground in addressing the unprecedented challenge we have inherited. We must be lucid about the mistakes of the past and the uncertainties of the path forward. A political climate of anger about the past and anxiety of the future could also lead to a negative politics which is only ‘against’.
“The basis of that national purpose must be solidarity. It will be solidarity among us all in the face of the challenge. Solidarity, however, cannot be dished out across the board in equal-sized portions, as a common percentage of cuts or additional revenue. Solidarity is the art of measuring in proportion to specific needs; it involves that special insight which comes by looking at reality through the lens of focus on the vulnerable.”
Archbishop Martin also alluded to the publication of the Murphy report which investigated the Church’s role in covering up clerical abuse in the Archdiocese of dublin. He said that openly testifying faith was becoming difficult for many people as a result of the abuse scandals.
He said: “Today is the first anniversary of the publication of the Murphy Report, an anniversary which will reawaken the pain and the anger of many survivors of abuse.”
The Vatican’s visitation of Irish seminaries and religious houses of formation started earlier this month.
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