Marriage Referendum: Archbishop: Church must re-examine its interaction with youth

The Catholic Church needs to re-examine itself and how it interacts with young people and their views, according to Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin.

Mon, 25 May, 2015 - 01:00

Ed Carty and Conor Kane

Calling for a reality check, Archbishop Martin declared the groundswell of support for same-sex couples was a social revolution that did not happen in the last day.

“It’s a social revolution that’s been going on — perhaps in the Church people have not been as clear in understanding what that involved,” he said.

“It’s clear that if the referendum is an affirmation of the views of young people the Church has a huge task in front of it.”

In the weeks running up the polling day, a series of Catholic bishops issued open letters to congregations outlining their concerns about gay marriage and why the Church would not support the reform.

The Primate of All Ireland, Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin, said the hierarchy may even reconsider its position on whether priests would continue to solemnise the civil aspect of a marriage if the vote was passed.

However, Diarmuid Martin called on Church leaders to take a look at itself and how it interacts with young people and their views.

“I think really the Church needs to do a reality check,” he told RTÉ.

“I appreciate how gay and lesbian men and women feel on this day. That they feel this is something that is enriching the way they live. I think it is a social revolution.”

Diarmuid Martin said the Church needs to look at all areas it is involved in, from the things it is doing well in to areas where it has drifted away from young people.

The senior cleric said there have discussions at the highest level in the Church on where the contact was between the Church in Ireland and young people.

“We have to stop and have a reality check, not move into denial of the realities. We won’t begin again with a sense of renewal with a sense of denial,” he said.

“I ask myself, most of these young people who voted yes are products of our Catholic school system for 12 years. I’m saying there’s a big challenge there to see how we get across the message of the Church.”

No campaign group Mothers and Fathers Matter congratulated the yes side.

“The result was achieved by the Government after they issued certain promises about surrogacy, adoption, and a range of other issues. A lot of voters believed those assurances and they must now be kept,” the statement said.

David Quinn of the Iona Institute said: “We believe we fought a good campaign. It was always going to be an uphill battle. However, we helped to provide a voice to the hundreds of thousands of Irish people who did vote no. The fact that no political party supported them must be a concern from a democratic point of view.

“Going forward, we will continue to affirm the importance of the biological ties and of motherhood and fatherhood. We hope the Government will address the concerns voters on the no side have about the implications for freedom of religion and freedom of conscience.”

Independent TD Mattie McGrath was one of few Oireachtas members to declare himself a no voter in the referendum and said he “never expected” the no side to do much better than they have.

“The people have spoken,” Mr McGrath.

“It’s great to see a good turnout. We have to congratulate the ‘yes’ side on their victory and hopefully the promises that were made by Government ministers will be kept now.”

Asked if he made a political mistake by opting for a no vote, the TD said “no” and that opponents of the referendum were always up against it.