IF IRISH society "is to remain as grasping, materialistic and self-centred as happened in the years of the Celtic Tiger, then the victims and casualties of recession will be those who have fallen into the 'poverty trap'," the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Rev John Neill, has warned.
He was referring to "those with skills no longer in demand, the long-term unemployed, the elderly and indeed the sick. Those who are in need of hospital care are particularly vulnerable, given the disgraceful level of health services, which are the legacy of the total failure to address the issue when there was an opportunity to do something about it," he said.
He also said his church could identify "with almost everything" being said by the Catholic Church on denominational schooling.
In his presidential address to the Dublin and Glendalough diocesan synods last night, he said: "As Christians, we are challenged as much as anybody else to face where our true values lie in times of recession. It is just as easy, perhaps even easier, in times of downturn to become extremely grasping, materialistic and self-centred."
The archbishop added that "in the face of economic change, we dare not simply cling to what is our own and isolate ourselves from the cries of others".
On denominational schooling, he said the Church of Ireland was not opposed to the emerging models of patronage. However, like the Catholic Church, it was "insistent that in today's Ireland, an Ireland which though pluralistic and increasingly secular, there remains a real demand for, and justification for, schools under church patronage".
He said: "If we have been less outspoken than the Catholic Church on this, it is not that we care any less, but simply that we could identify with almost everything being said. The only difference is that a majority church and a minority church face slightly different issues with regard to size, and in relation to the particular needs of a locality."
However, the archbishop said that where smaller schools were concerned, principals should not have to teach as well.
"The daily administrative load, to say nothing of crisis management on these individuals, makes the post in such schools an unenviable task - and the result is that it is increasingly difficult to persuade anybody to apply for such posts. This must be addressed with urgency by the Department of Education," he said.
Referring to last summer's Lambeth Conference, he said it was "undoubtedly our last 10-yearly conference, and I am glad that it has left a very positive feeling".
Resulting from it, he said, "we are seeking to produce a covenant which will affirm what we hold together as Anglicans, make explicit the commitments that we must make to one another to remain in Communion, and perhaps more controversially, express the consequences of not observing such commitments".
This was "a very difficult exercise because of the emphasis that we all put on the independence of each church within the Anglican Communion, but the resounding message of the conference was that we must find ways of remaining together", he said.
Where Dublin and Glendalough dioceses were concerned particularly, he spoke of the problem in finding curacies for the newly ordained. "The training of junior clergy must be a priority, and I trust that select vestries will make this a priority," he said.