Time to look at place of religion in society, says Colton

THE time has come to look at the place of religion in Irish society and the Constitution, according to the Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork.

This is no longer the society to which St Patrick came, Bishop Paul Colton will tell his congregation today at the annual civic service in St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork.

Hostility to institutional Christianity and questions about the patronage of education in the country were just some of the controversies leading to a debate “about the place religion has in Irish society and specifically in our Constitution”, the bishop says.