Christians in the Republic have a responsibility to be active participants in the Northern Ireland peace process, instead of criticising it from their armchairs, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, said yesterday.
Since taking up his post, he said, he had been struck by the tendency to think that the peace process was primarily a matter for churches in Northern Ireland.
"There is also a responsibility for Christian believers in the rest of Ireland to be active participants in ensuring the success of the peace process, never just sitting, however critically, in our armchairs," Dr Martin said.
"The peace process in Northern Ireland will require a new church culture, North and South."
The Archbishop was speaking at St Finian's Lutheran Church in Dublin as part of Christian Unity Week.
He also said that disunity within Christian churches was a scandal. "It is a scandal to believers and an obstacle to unbelievers. Our disunity hinders people who seek unity and hope in our world from looking towards Jesus, our peace, as a source of unity," Dr Martin said.
Christian churches had travelled a long way together in their search for unity, he said. "We have become more open to other traditions of Christian piety, of forms of worship. We still, however, have our rivalries. There are still aspects of each other's practice which at times amuse, at times irritate."
The need for unity was important as we welcomed many new cultures into our communities, Dr Martin said. "When we reinforce prejudice, disunity and division we cannot be said to be following Christ's teaching."
The Archbishop said that, in the future, a united Ireland should refer to "the new kind of unity and Irish identity which would emerge as Ireland welcomes to its shores and into our communities peoples of many new cultures".
Christians must work with all in our society to create a new religious and civil culture, Dr Martin said. There was a temptation to think that moves towards unity would make Christian churches more popular in modern culture, but it might not, he suggested.
Nevertheless, people should always have the courage "to go against the stream, even to be considered and proclaimed fools" for their beliefs.
Dr Martin also pointed out that, while Roman Catholic numbers were still very high by European standards, it would be foolish not to recognise that many people were still attracted by a secularist view of life.
"We should not underestimate how a secularist viewpoint can be full of caring and service and be the source of meaning in people's lives," Dr Martin said.
"The goodness of many young people may be less and less attributable to explicit Christian belief. For many young people the 'primacy of Christ' in their lives is less and less a truly religious primacy."
It was important to ensure that young people were not turned off from the message of Jesus, Dr Martin added.
