A "growing coarseness and aggression" in Irish society has been attributed by the Catholic Primate of All-Ireland, Archbishop Seán Brady, to increased secularisation and the marginalisation of religion.
In general there was "very deep concern, particularly by parents, about where we are going morally and spiritually", Dr Brady has said in an interview with The Irish Times.
"Do we want to have a culture of Podge and Rodge, or one of decency and respect?" he asked.
The increased "coarseness and aggression" in Irish society was evident "on the roads, in drinking, the increase in sexualisation of children at an earlier age, stress, excess generally. It is dehumanising".
Such "dehumanisation is linked to secularisation", he said. It was opposite to Christian core values which "called on Christians to look out for one another" and to develop "a good caring attitude, bringing healing to brokenness", he said.
This "is not just in Ireland", he added. He recalled a discussion at a recent synod of bishops in Europe where they were told "more and more people were fearful of the future, isolated, and made no life commitments".
He said that where child protection was concerned, the church would work closely with the authorities in both jurisdictions so its child protection policy was compatible with civil requirements in both.
He had learned a lot during his 10 years as primate about "the great suffering of [ abuse] victims and their families. We need to do everything we can to heal that suffering as fully as possible and to ensure it can never happen again".
The past decade had seen a rapid decline in both vocations to the priesthood and attendance at weekly Mass, but he felt using attendance at Mass as a yardstick was "an incomplete way to assess the life of the Church" as there had been, for instance, no decline in numbers at Catholic schools.
He said it was not right "for the State to seek to monopolise education" and did not accept that the segregation of children attending school along religious lines contributed to sectarianism.
