BANKERS, LAWYERS and politicians who let the country down should put on sackcloth and ashes this Lent, sociologist Fr Harry Bohan told a conference on volunteerism over the weekend.
In an address delivered at the national conference of crisis pregnancy charity Cura, Fr Bohan suggested those who brought the country to its knees should repent for their greed and selfish ways.
The priest, chairman of Shannon-based social issues centre Céifin, said the grassroots would provide the creativity, leadership and vision for the future.
“Change will not now come from the top – it will come from a mobilised grassroots,” he said.
He called for a return to truth, thrift and trust, the latter of which he believes has been broken and will have to be earned back.
“Every day there are new revelations from the banks, same from the church. What people want most of all now is honesty,” he said. “It needs us to return to God and the basic messages of Gospel values, but above all, it needs those in authority to listen to and support a mobilised grassroots.”
Pregnancy and economic circumstances tend to sit side by side, the Bishop of Killala Most Rev John Fleming said, ‘’and very often they do so uncomfortably.’’ He praised the work of Cura, the Catholic Church’s pregnancy counselling agency, of which he heads.
“Your care for those who are experiencing their pregnancy as a crisis is legendary and it is prophetic. It is legendary, in that mothers throughout the length and breath of this country are able to enjoy today the company and the support of children who, during the first months of life in the womb, were a source of anxiety and a cause of fear,’’ he said.
The conference was also addressed by Cura president Bishop John Fleming, Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois, Colm O’Reilly, director of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA) Caroline Spillane and Cura national co-ordinator Louise Graham.