Sermons focus on Iraq, North, multiculturalism

The Catholic Archbishop of Armagh has advocated support for those seeking alternatives to war on Iraq. Dr Seán Brady, the Primate of Ireland, said the "appalling prospect" of war loomed menacingly, and many people seemed to assume that the inevitable death and destruction involved were acceptable in the world as long as they did not affect those who now had the privileges and the advantages.

That conclusion disregarded the Christian belief that God was a God who saved, a God of life who was opposed to all suffering, he said during a homily at midnight Mass in St Malachy's Church, Armagh. The Christian community needed to raise its voice "in support of those who urge alternatives to war in the Middle East at this time and who continue to search for effective and legitimate ways to contain and deter aggressive action and threats in that area".

In his Christmas message, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Robin Eames, said people in Northern Ireland felt increasingly removed from the political process, and the North needed a new vision of hope. Dr Eames said everybody needed to feel involved in the process, as new talks begin next month to attempt to restore the Northern Ireland executive.

"While much has been attempted to heal the wounds of society, and many have built their own bridges across barriers of a divided community, the political process requires a new impetus of hope," he said.

"For many people there is a sense of disenchantment with what they see and hear of that process. There is a growing feeling that the process is being removed from their actual experience of life," he said in his Christmas Day sermon at St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh.

"The need for the political process to give hope to ordinary people is urgent. The province needs a new vision of hope."

The Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork, Dr Paul Colton, said Ireland was an increasingly multicultural society and had to adapt accordingly.

In his Christmas Day homily at St Fin Barre's Cathedral he said that in a rapidly globalising world "we have never been closer to one another and yet still so far apart. Our ability to learn to live with differences based on dialogue and mutual insight will shape our future, not least in Ireland where we are no longer the monochrome society we once were."

He also referred to the prospect of war and said that, idealistic as it seemed, the "baby's birth is a sign announcing God's peace and is a challenge to peace-makers, even at a time when troops and armaments are being deployed with such steady intent in readiness for war".

Preaching at the Festive Eucharist on Christmas Day, the Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, the Very Rev Robert McCarthy, said that a recent visit to Tibet had made him more aware that both Christianity and Buddhism had incarnation at their centre. "Whether it is Lhasa or Rome, all are united by one wish, to find God and to serve Him".