CONTEMPORARY IRISH society is more divided than it has been for a long time, an ecumenical service heard yesterday.
"The idealism, the hope, the tolerance, the courage, the social concern of the 1960s is sadly gone," said Fr Walter Forde, parish priest of Castlebridge, Co Wexford, and founder of the Byrne-Perry summer school. In a sermon at the annual civic service in the St John the Baptist Church of Ireland Cathedral at Cashel, Co Tipperary, last night, he said "there is now no social or civic philosophy that the overwhelming majority can subscribe to and which spurs them to social action.
"Sectional interest has taken over. We all find it increasingly difficult to look at issues from the other person's point of view . . . We are prepared to admit in principle that weaknesses and injustices exist here but too often this is a veneer because we retreat from the challenge of change and the demands of involvement.
"What one can see of the new philosophy that has emerged is that it is individualistic, self-centred, prejudiced and backward looking . . . even freedom is being defined in terms of private ownership, the rights of property, private schools and private medicine," he said.
"Selfishness and greed have seeped over from the market place into all walks of life. People are less polite, less considerate and less concerned. Consuming is more important than caring. Much of social life is scarred by oppression and violence," he said.
He acknowledged that "of course there have been real advances in recent decades. Life is so much better for many people today but in Ireland we must acknowledge that we have fallen short of the ideal of a Christian society". Instancing "the weakness and injustices" of contemporary Ireland, he referred to the growing gap between rich and poor, the creeping sectarianism that excludes or mocks those who disagree with us, the new loneliness and increasing isolation.
He spoke of increased inequality and opportunity, homelessness and a moral "free for all" that at times was dominant. He said there was an inability to realise how materialism blinded us to the needs of others as well as the serious weakening of community and the disengagement by a significant number from society.