Society has lost its way, warns archbishop

We are "being sucked into a society that has lost its way," the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Most Rev John Neill, has said, adding that "new year is an opportunity to ponder a new direction".

In his new year message, he said: "The beginning of a new year raises a variety of feelings, sometimes relief that the previous year is over, but also feelings of hope, or uncertainty, or even fear about what may lie ahead.

"Many such attitudes are shaped by the various economic forecasts that bombard us."

He continued: "We are as a nation more exposed than ever to this 'roller-coaster of feelings' as our value system becomes increasingly linked to wealth, instant gratification and a shallow celebrity culture.

"We watch the highs and lows of the lives of others with intensity, though often without asking deeper questions. The drug culture that has recently come to public attention is indeed about addiction, but it is also about wealth, instant self-gratification, and criminal activity, including mindless violence and murder.

"What I have described is not the way that God intends us to live our lives in this world. In Jesus, he has shown us the way of love, of self-giving, forgiveness and of life with meaning. In place of the inner peace that can change people, we have substituted the perpetual restlessness that destroys," he said.

In his new year message, the president of the Methodist Church in Ireland, Rev Roy Cooper, has described 2007 as "an answer to the prayers of many people".

"The fact that opponents are working together is by human standards a miracle. The year ahead continues the challenge, that nothing be allowed to derail the good work already accomplished by our politicians in the journey for lasting peace," he said.