In the current worldwide controversy within Anglicanism about homosexuality the church's bluff was being called, and it was not faring well, the Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork said on Christmas Day.
The Right Rev Paul Colton, preaching in St Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork, said it was time to ask forgiveness of gay people.
"As churches, especially in recent decades, we have made much of our claim to be on the side of those who are oppressed by society and consigned to its margins," he said.
"The present controversy within Anglicanism about homosexuality is now calling the church's bluff about this professed preference to be, like Christ, among those on that edge," he said.
"But how are we faring? This edge place is where most homosexuals were forced to live prior to decriminalisation and where, in spite of immense changes in society, many still find themselves, especially those within the church. The church has been complicit in the resulting injustice and immense human suffering," he told his congregation.
"Part of our responsibility centres on our acquiescence in the misuse of Scripture, caused by our inertia on the one hand and by our fear on the other of giving intelligent people of faith the tools for handling God's word rationally," he went on.
"Much of the debate has centred on protecting the structures of the institution rather than on people, understanding their situations and showing them Christ-like compassion."
Referring to the disjunction between the official line and practice, he said that for centuries the Church of Ireland, the Church of England and many other sister churches in Anglicanism had fully and happily utilised the talents of gay people, lay and ordained, while at the same time articulating an official public line.
"Of gay people in this congregation, in congregations all over the church and throughout our communities, I believe the time has come - too little, too late I know for many - humbly and contritely to ask forgiveness," he concluded.
In his Christmas homily for 2003 Cardinal Desmond Connell, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, emphasised how God created us to be with one another and to be with Him.
"Christ comes at Christmas in order to be with us, to show himself to us, to draw us into intimacy with him," he said. "He comes as an infant in weakness to show us that he has come not just for the strong. He comes in poverty to show that he has come not just for the rich. He comes without power to show us that he has come not just for those in command but also for those who serve," he added.
"He comes without magnificence to show that he has come, not just for those in high places but for the little ones above all. He came in a family to show that he had come not just for the self-sufficient but for all who value the ties of family, friendship, neighbourliness, who are glad to be 'with'," he said.
"He wants us to be with him, and that means also sharing his care for the weak, for the poor, for all who serve, for all who occupy the lowest places, who value the human ties that bind us in love for one another," he concluded.
The Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Rev Dr John Neill, told the Christ Church Cathedral congregation on Christmas Day that a feeling of exclusion was sharpened at Christmas but was not created at Christmas.
"We have serious questions to address in our society concerning the way in which so many are excluded and shut away in the most inadequate prison accommodation," he said.
"Prisoners are mentioned several times in the Gospels. Some people are indeed working hard to address the plight of prisoners, but one wonders if there really is sufficient determination about to effect real change," he said.
Good news was for all the people and for each person, including the prisoners, and we had a long way to go to reflect this fully.
The Right Rev Harold Miller, Church of Ireland Bishop of Down and Dromore, said he had sent a New Year card to every worshipper in his dioceses urging them to put worship of God at the very centre of their lives and their families in 2004
The Right Rev Richard Clarke, the Church of Ireland Bishop of Meath and Kildare, said there was growing demand around us for accountability.
"Some of this enthusiasm for accountability is a true thirst for justice. But some is shameful and pharisaic scapegoating.
"If someone else is being held up to public ridicule or contempt as 'being to blame', we can feel so much better about ourselves," he told a congregation in St Patrick's Cathedral, Trim, on Christmas Day.