Archbishop: Church needs renewal of faith

ANY renewal of the structures of the Catholic Church in Ireland can only be achieved through a wider renewal of faith, the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin has warned.

Dr Martin said the Catholic Church needed healing and reconciliation as clerical sex abuse and the hierarchy’s subsequent handling of the issue had caused immense hurt to many victims and survivors. “Many in today’s Irish society have lost confidence in the Church,” said Dr Martin.

Speaking at a Mass in the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin yesterday to mark the National Eucharistic Congress, Dr Martin said next year’s International Eucharistic Congress, which will be held in Ireland for the first time since 1932, represented a chance for the Catholic Church in Ireland to oversee a wider renewal of faith.