The Archbishop of Dublin has described as "misguided" an interpretation of the role of the Second Vatican Council as articulated recently by the President, Mrs McAleese.
Speaking yesterday at St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, Dr Desmond Connell did not explicitly refer to Mrs McAleese, but said the "hope that flows from our faith" would fire the energy for the church's work of renewal "rather than enthusiasm stemming from misguided interpretations of the Second Vatican Council and depicting `a revitalised church comfortably adapted to the modern world'."
At the National Conference of Priests of Ireland in Dublin on September 25th, Mrs McAleese said "it was hoped that the Second Vatican Council would lead to a revitalised church comfortably adapted to the modern world . . ."
The full quotation from her speech, in which she expressed disappointment at the slow pace of change since Vatican II, said that "in the wake of a very bloody and hate-filled first half of the 20th century, it was hoped the Second Vatican Council would lead to a revitalised church comfortably adapted to the modern world yet a profound centre of spiritual gravity, helping us to radically understand the commandment to love one another".
There had been "change, massive change", she said, but continued later in the speech: "We can all sense disappointment and impatience on many fronts - the mixed messages about ecumenical dialogue with sister Christian churches and respect for other faith systems, the failure to utilise the full giftedness of women, the paucity of avenues for debate, and a sense of drift rather than direction in the face of the collapse of vocations in the Western world."
Mrs McAleese was speaking after publication of the Vatican's controversial Dominus Iesus document on September 5th, which described other religions as in a "gravely deficient situation", and following publication of a letter to bishops sent by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which advised that other Christian denominations were not to be referred to as "sister churches".
At a press conference in St Patrick's College, Maynooth, last Wednesday, Dr Connell said: "The Catholic Church cannot be the sister church of any other church. She is the mother church."
Yesterday Dr Connell spoke of his emphasis on the importance of joy in approaching this jubilee year, which was "not an easy message to convey".
