Communicating Faith

17. Communicating Faith in Ireland: From Commitment through Questioning to New Beginnings

261 17 Communicating Faith in Ireland From Commitment through Questioning to New Beginnings Gareth Byrne Faith in Jesus Christ is never easy. Modern Western culture in particular seems to encounter faith in Jesus Christ as especially difficult. . . . Faith in Jesus Christ is not just a matter of the formulae of doctrine, but of a community which encounters Jesus Christ as a real person, a real person who reveals to us in his life and mission that God is love. Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, “Second Sunday of Easter 2007: Dedication of New Altar, St. Gabriel’s Church Dollymount,” Dublin, April 15, 2007 Communicating Christian faith, within the particular context that is Ireland today, is, it seems, a complex process that raises many issues worthy of exploration and investigation. Wherever one lives, be that in North America, Europe, or Asia, for example, reflection on communicating faith in other local churches can contribute to a fuller understanding of one’s own experience and needs and situate personal knowledge within the broader worldwide experience of church. Some people in Ireland may feel that things were simpler in the past, when clarity and commitment were the order of the day. 262 Gareth Byrne Certainly, Irish society is conscious of a rich tradition of lived Christian faith. Though some remember a narrow-minded adherence to rules and regulations , many can recount instances of those they have known and loved, within family, parish community, and religious congregation, who lived a simple life, committed to Jesus Christ, and did so with great joy. Their journey gave witness, in very ordinary ways, to a deep sense of belonging to God and belonging to their brothers and sisters in the church and in the world. In our time, for a variety of social, cultural, and ecclesial reasons, it seems that committed Christians in Ireland are often unsure how to express their faith, at least in public. They have become wary of letting it be known that they believe in Jesus Christ and that they have formed a deep personal bond with him. They seem to lack confidence in communicating their experience of a loving relationship with Jesus. They cannot explain their close connection with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with the church, the community of those who, with Mary, live together in the presence of Christ day by day. Some, too, have let go of regular attendance at religious services. Good questions, which might have been understood as promptings of the Holy Spirit designed to strengthen faith, have in our time often instead been read as overwhelming faith and undermining it. Yet, research repeatedly shows that there is still a great sense of the spiritual, of belief in core Christian doctrines, and of fidelity to the importance of God, religion, and prayer in the lives of Irish people.1 Communicating faith today is something about which there are at least as many questions as answers, at least as many unresolved dilemmas as easy solutions. Nonetheless, Pope John Paul II repeated the claim made by Pope Paul VI that at present “in the Church we are living an exceptionally favorable season of the Spirit.”2 It can be suggested that there are at least seven deeply rooted questions that must be acknowledged first and addressed if there is to be a renewed understanding, in the Spirit, of what it means to live and communicate Christian faith in Ireland at this time: What is the faith context in Ireland today? What kind of communication is being considering ? What is to be communicated? How can faith be communicated among 1. See Eoin G. Cassidy, “Modernity and Religion in Ireland: 1980–2000,” in Measuring Ireland : Discerning Values and Beliefs, ed. Eoin G. Cassidy, 17–45 (Dublin: Veritas, 2002); see also Andrew M. Greeley and Conor Ward, “How Secularised Is the Ireland We Live In,” Doctrine and Life (December 2000): 581–617. 2. Paul VI, Evangelii nuntiandi 75 (1975); John Paul II, Catechesi tradendae 72 (1979). Communicating Faith in Ireland 263 adults? How is faith to be shared with young people today? Can communication in faith be hospitable to all? And in what ways should communicating faith best be structured and resourced? These are the same questions, in fact, that must be asked in the church anywhere in the world, in any place or time, in any culture or circumstance. The Faith Context in Ireland Today? The first question that arises...