People of the Catholic faith must be given space to express their views and opinions in society, Archbishop Eamon Martin told the Kennedy Summer School last week during a keynote lecture on faith and politics. He warned against the marginalisation of faith communities, maintaining that in modern Irish society a lot of people with strong Catholic convictions feel alienated from the state.

Archbishop Martin said he supports a “healthy secularity, allowing space for Christians to express opinions in public arguments”. The Catholic Primate of All Ireland welcomed An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s calls during the summer to rebuild the relationship between the Church and the State.

I think faith and politics need each other

“The Catholic Church may often appear to be counter cultural, on the side of contradiction in the secular world. People of faith are not extra-cultural, people of faith breathe, live, believe and work alongside people of other traditions and faiths,” Archbishop Martin stated. He added that people of faith are often those that contribute to society, to offer their gifts for the common good.

Right now in the US we have highly educated leaders with no moral compass

“I think in an Ireland where rising individualism is often accompanied by growing disaffection and disillusionment with the leadership provided by both church leaders and public representatives, I think faith and politics need each other.”

Modernity presumes that religion would be subtracted from the State, but there is a need for spiritual grounding of the modern society, Professor of theology and religious education at Boston College, Thomas Groome, said: “Right now in the US we have highly educated leaders with no moral compass.”

Thomas H Groome and Archbishop Eamon Martin at the Kennedy Summer School in New Ross on 5 September 2019. \ Mary Browne

Abortion referendum

The Catholic Church can often be seen as ‘out of step’ with society, the speakers at the Edward M Kennedy lecture agreed. Senator Ivana Bacik warned against believing in the Archbishop’s words about Catholics being marginalised in society. The repeal of the eight amendment was inevitably raised.

Last year Ireland voted by 66.4% to 33.6% to remove the amendment, making room for abortion to be legalised.

“No church has a monopoly on conscience,” Bacik said, adding that there is a profound disconnect between the dogma of the church in terms of its preaching’s about sanctity of life, but not showing compassion for women in crisis pregnancies.

In a democracy we must have absolute separation

“Practising Catholics voted with their conscience to change the law and repeal the eight amendment.

"In a democracy we must have absolute separation [between Church and State] to protect religion.”

However, Archbishop Eamon Martin argued: “There are matters where Catholics are bound, both by their faith and by reason, to give a consistent witness to the natural moral law.

“This includes the inviolable human life in all its stages from conception to death, the irreplaceable role in society of family based on marriage between and man and a woman and the right of parents to educate their children in accordance with their faith and beliefs.”

However, Bacik argued: “It ill behoves spokespersons of the Catholic Church to speak of the need for humility without acknowledging the immense harm done to so many people, particularly women and children, over so many generations by those in religious orders who practiced such terrible abuses on so many.”