Brady urges support for each other in recession

THE biggest challenge facing the Irish people over the coming year is to offer encouragement to one another in a time of national depression, according to the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

Cardinal Seán Brady has urged people to have a positive attitude over Christmas and into the future to avoid prolonging the current recession.

“Just as an individual may spiral down into a state of depression, so too a community can allow itself to be overwhelmed by negativity.

“Nobody wants to minimise the pain that many are suffering, but having a positive attitude and coming together to support each other really can help us to get through these difficult times,” observed Cardinal Brady.

In his Christmas 2010 message, the Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland asked all citizens to give each other “an extraordinary helping hand” this Christmas.

“Hardship, bereavements, natural disasters and failures can either overwhelm and paralyse us or they can awaken our hope and rally our strength to help one another,” remarked Cardinal Brady.

He said it was important to recall the brighter moments in life at a time of year “when darkness can fall so deeply in different ways.”

Cardinal Brady referred to the rescue of the 33 Chilean miners trapped underground earlier this year as the most inspiring human story of the year. He remarked how they had survived through a combination of working together, communicating with their families and prayer.

He acknowledged how 2010 had been a very difficult year for the people of Ireland and had resulted in many families feeling under pressure through unemployment, falling salaries and growing debt.

The cardinal also claimed the two recent spells of icy weather this month had not helped by challenging the health of the vulnerable as well as placing extra pressure on household budgets by increasing heating bills.

He said he recognised there were questions to be answered about how a prosperous Ireland had suffered such a quick downturn. However, he stressed that it was more important to find solutions.

“It will take time and a great effort and we need to help each other in the process,” he observed.

“Of course it would be the height of insensitivity to offer glib reassurances. The difficulties ahead will be challenging.”

In a lengthy message, Cardinal Brady made no reference to ongoing criticism during 2010 of the Church’s handling of child sex abuse by members of the clergy.

The cardinal said the Christian message was to offer the prospect of hope because of what happened on Christmas Day. He stressed that Christmas is about families and how so many people owed so much to the love and support of their family, friends and neighbours. However, Cardinal Brady said Christmas was, above all, about the “great family of Jesus” and how the story of the infant in the crib was a lesson in how people will be judged in how they respond especially in times of hardship.

While Christmas is also a time for the giving of gifts, Cardinal Brady said the greatest gifts were not material things but compassion, forgiveness, self-belief, inner healing and dignity.