Catholic Primate warns against ‘divisiveness’ as report prepared for Rome

Catholic Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin has warned against “divisiveness and polarisation of views” as preparations continue on a report to be submitted to Rome next month about the changes tens of thousands of Irish Catholics have sought in the church.

Laity countrywide spent nine months “in prayerful listening and reflection” as requested by Pope Francis, he said. And he added that the synopsis of the reflections of the faithful in 26 dioceses will feed into preparations for the next Synod of Bishops in Rome in October 2023.

In it, lay Catholics called for radical change in the Church including the ordination of women, removal of mandatory celibacy for priests and welcome for LGBTI+ people as well as divorced and remarried Catholics, single parents and cohabiting couples.

However, it was “vitally important” said Archbishop Martin not to allow the discussion about the papal-sought synod to “degenerate into a kind of them and us adversarial process which loses sight of our shared belonging within the Church of Christ.”

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The consultation with the laity, the fruits of which will go to Rome in mid-August, is “a small but significant first step in developing a synodal style consultation of the Catholics of Ireland about the future of their church”, said Archbishop Martin.

Concerns have been expressed in Ireland, and elsewhere, that the synodal discussions could damage, not create, communion in the church, though the synod “should not diminish the teaching authority of the pope and the bishops, but rather affirm and enhance it”.

The timing of the synod is historic and he said: “Seven years from now, in 2029, we will mark 200 years since Catholic Emancipation. I cannot help thinking that in doing so we will be drawing to a close a significant chapter in the life of the Church here, while at the same time opening a new one.”

New evangelisation

In 2032, Christianity in Ireland will celebrate its 16th centenary. “My prayer and hope is that during this decade we will be honest with ourselves, having the courage to let go of those ways of being church which may have served us well in the past, but which no longer respond to the urgent and primary need for new evangelisation in our country,” he said.

Supporting the synod, the Association of Catholic Priests said it was “overjoyed” that “a new way of being church” was so confidently expressed by the laity and had received such “active support of our bishops. It can truly be said that we are witnessing a watershed moment in the Irish Catholic Church’s repositioning itself for a difficult future.”

Emphasising that the laity will have to play an ever bigger role, Archbishop of Cashel Kieran O’Reilly said 35 of the existing 68 priests in his archdiocese will be over 75 within five years, with just one candidate for the priesthood. “The model of church that we have known is being replaced by a new reality,” he said.