The Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork, the Right Rev Paul Colton, has said that as far as many are concerned, a cloud hangs over Christianity worldwide.
"Walk around town in a clerical collar, sit in a taxi, get on a bus, listen to the radio or read the papers and you know this to be so," he said.
Delivering the sermon at the Eucharist for the General Synod in Dublin's Christ Church Cathedral, he said that where "many in the street are concerned", the church was not well placed in society at this juncture to level criticism at other institutions.
He was not referring only to criminal behaviour towards children. "More generally a sense of impotence, helplessness and uncertainty about the institutional church weighs on many minds."
It was a time for humble introspection, "not a reflection of self-preoccupied and stagnated by fear; but to mobilise a forward-looking advance."
Addressing the General Synod yesterday, Bishop Colton said the 1999 Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, as well as the Planning and Development Act 2000, could mean "the closure of some churches and, far from heritage being maintained, some buildings will become jettisoned waste on the landscape".
Under the legislation, many church properties had been listed as heritage buildings, he said. Listed buildings had to be insured for reinstatement and this meant a rise in insurance premiums.
He spoke of one west Cork parish which had 92 households, involving 263 people. Of that number, 55 were under 18 and 71 were over 61. The remaining members found themselves having to deal with a 73 per cent increase in insurance costs after a parish building was listed.
"I calculate that parochial communities in a diocese such as ours, with a population of about 8,000, in addition to their ongoing costs, are faced at this time with having to raise an astonishing €11.1 million in respect of anticipated essential works on heritage buildings, one of them, St Mary's collegiate church in Youghal, a national monument," he said.
The Dean of Ossory, the Very Rev Norman Lynas, spoke of a situation in Freshford, Co Kilkenny, where 12 families were expected to supply €250,000 to protect a Romanesque doorway.
The Dean of Limerick and Ardfert, Very Rev Maurice Sirr, said the church was being let down by the State where the preservation of heritage buildings was concerned.