Recession reveals ‘shallow society’

A LEADING theologian told a Catholic conference in Limerick last night that the economic meltdown showed the shallowness and un-sustainability of a socio-economic order which Ireland prided itself on for the past number of years.

More than 200 theologians are attending the conference at Mary Immaculate College.

Rev Professor Eamonn Conway said that when the conference theme was proposed in February 2008, it was aimed to explore how Ireland’s apparently successful Celtic Tiger economy at the time was impacting on Christian values and how people in Ireland were marrying economic prosperity with Christian faith.

Fr Conway said: “The intervening international economic meltdown which has hit Ireland even harder than many other countries has made the conference theme all the more significant and timely. Across our continent we have experienced first-hand the effects of the shallowness and un-sustainability of the socio-economic order which we prided ourselves on over the past number of years.

“The economic collapse provides an opportunity for renewed socio-economic development which must be just and sustainable.

“The crisis in our ecology, while less immediately experienced, is much more serious than the crisis in our economy, and of course the roots of both crises are inseparably linked.”

The conference runs until Sunday.