Building communities with a sense of solidarity is the best antidote to the malaise of materialism and individualism that has accompanied our economic success, Fr Peter McVerry told a conference yesterday.
Fr McVerry, a veteran campaigner for young homeless people in Dublin, said the sense of community had almost disappeared from many urban areas as a result of factors such as increased prosperity and mobility.
However, he told a conference organised by Céifin centre in Co Clare, Filling the Vacuum, it was within people's grasp to challenge this culture and build communities which could offer much more fulfilment.
"People today are being pushed in a direction which is diametrically opposed to finding fulfilment and security - in the direction of individualism, isolation and aloneness," he said.
Fr McVerry said the primacy of the economy was persuading us that fulfilment could be reached through bigger houses, faster cars, better hi-fis and the latest gadgets.
"This, of course, is perfectly untrue. Indeed, the irony and contradiction of the capitalist economy is that while it seeks to persuade us that our fulfilment and happiness depend on consuming, it actually depends on our becoming dissatisfied with what we have recently acquired. So we feel the need to go out and purchase again," he said.
The reach of advertising was central in helping to persuade people that purchasing consumable goods was the key to happiness and contentment. These messages were also affecting people's relationships.
"Image becomes more important than the person. The young people I work with would go barefoot rather than wear from Dunnes. No, it has to be a branded runner. Otherwise, they will be made to feel inferior and therefore outsiders."
In contrast, he said, happiness could be found in letting go of material goods and contributing to the lives of others. "Young people today find an emptiness in their pursuit of individual wealth. They ask, 'what is the meaning of it all?' and cannot find an answer.
"What many do find meaningful and fulfilling is in giving to others, giving their time, their energy, giving themselves to make the lives of other a little less miserable, a little more meaningful," Fr McVerry said.