Ten years ago I drew a certain amount of fire on myself by suggesting in an article that the catch-cry of the French Revolution "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity" was not only still highly relevant as a socio-political ideal, but was also an eminently Christian one.
Equality unbalanced by freedom can lead to state tyranny and bureaucratism. Liberty as the sole social ideal can lead to the worst excesses of undiluted capitalism.
Fraternity is the key to balancing and merging the two and fraternity implies social solidarity, community involvement and a passionate concern about society's development.
When Mary Robinson was President and continuously highlighted the importance and large amount of voluntary social and community work carried out in Ireland she described it as a "virtual black economy in caring". It was one of the richest and most positive features of Irish social life and much of it was inspired, I feel, by Christian sensitivity and commitment.
The term that political theorists devised to describe what we had in Ireland in the past is "social capital". A community rich in voluntary activity is a healthier community and politics, religion and business all benefit.
However, a new pattern seems to be emerging. Active membership of political parties, residents' associations, Churches, sporting and community groups have declined. This represents what Clifford Longley calls a worrying "retreat from the common good", a huge increase in personal isolation and a decrease in social capital.
Contemporary Irish society is more divided than it has been for a long time. There is no single social philosophy or civic vision that the overwhelming majority can subscribe to and which would spur them to social action.
What we can see of the new philosophy that is emerging is that it is self-centred, individualistic, greedy, prejudiced, and backward-looking. The idealism, the tolerance and social awareness of 20 or 30 years ago is almost gone.
I was thinking along those lines recently because I was invited back to Gorey, where I worked for 22 years, to open the Gorey summer fair. It has been organised for the past 14 years by Gorey Community Development Group. I tried to reflect on changes in that community. It may represent a case study of changing community life throughout the country.
In Gorey in the early 1970s I remember that money was readily available for worthwhile projects. People knew each other. Large numbers of volunteers came forward. There was a high level of social concern and widespread positive attitudes to general need and new developments. Sadly much is changing.
The town has grown and spread rapidly and has lost much of the cohesion and the sense of community. We have become locked into a shrinking world of friends and acquaintances. We know less people and are less socially concerned. It is much harder to raise money for worthwhile undertakings. Fewer people are volunteering for community tasks or to join established organisations.
Indeed when that mighty wave of volunteers, who first became involved in the early 1970s and are still the backbone of so many community undertakings, call it a day we will have a real social crisis on our hands. It is hard to see this massive network of caring and community building continuing.
The loss would be catastrophic. This town, with less than 5,000 in population, has over 100 clubs, organisations and groupings. If each has a core committee of 10 active members, and you allow for an overlap of memberships between committees, you still have at least 500 to 600 active members.
If each of these gives an average of one to two hours per week right through the year, and if each committee raises and spends the equivalent of £100 per week, you are talking about an annual figure of around £500,000 and 50,000-plus working hours.
This is a huge operation. It is important that people don't presume it will continue. It is necessary to take steps to support and maintain what has been built up. That includes PR and public education, volunteer recruitment, and especially a drive to involve younger people.
It also makes demands on statutory bodies. They need a policy, as well as specific plans and funding, to strengthen mainstream community work.
THERE has been little public discussion on the effects of the Celtic Tiger on our attitudes to neighbours and community. The cold climate has meant high walls and fences, security locks, separate and self-contained family units with a small circle of friends. It has meant more fragile relationships and greater alienation among some sections of the community.
It has also meant less knowledge of, contact with, and concern for the wider community, especially the marginalised and deprived. Communication technology makes a vast world of information resources and even people available to us instantly but at a distance.
We have got used to people and events not being personally present, not directly interacting with us, not being responsive to local conditions and circumstances, not slowly and painfully working to achieve something worthwhile. In other words the new, more impersonal lifestyle and society is in many ways growing at the expense of community.
G.K. Chesterton, who revelled in pointing out paradoxes, said "the generation that invented the microphone had nothing to say". He was echoing the response of Mark Twain who, on being told excitedly of progress in the development of the telephone, said: "Isn't it marvellous that New York can now talk to Seattle . . . but what will New York say to Seattle?"
There are many questions that need to be asked about our society and its direction. Two elements n contemporary Ireland cause me considerable anxiety. The first is the dominance of self-interest over a sense of compassion, and the other is the disregard for interests and views of others.
The second follows from the negligible degree and negative nature of participation in Ireland today. This is the rarely analysed downside of the much-vaunted Celtic Tiger.
Father Walter Forde is parish priest of Castlebridge, Co Wexford. He is also a writer and broadcaster.