Sir, In his report on the appointment of Dr Donal Murray as Bishop of Limerick (February 12th) Andy Pollak includes the bishop's response when asked about "the desirability of making the Constitution reflective of a secular and pluralist Irish as an example of his "sometimes brusque defensiveness" at the Forum.
To characterise the bishops' response in this way seems inexplicable, since he specifically stated that "one of the things we have learned from the Second Vatican Council and from the ecumenical movement is to understand that the depth of my convictions are precisely why I must respect the depth of somebody else's convictions". Bishop Murray said that "we need to build a society in which we can all come and participate fully with all that we are".
It was the Tanaiste who had asked how the delegation from the Catholic Bishops' Conference regarded the suggestion that "a more secular and pluralist ethic within the Constitution might be an appropriate description of the current state of development in Irish life and a more open way in which to conduct the kind of relationship we want to foster with the people of Northern Ireland".
Bishop Murray replied by saying that the question was interesting because it implied that the words secularism and pluralism meant the same thing. It seemed to him that they did not. The bishop went on "Secularism is a particular kind of philosophy and if the State becomes more secular, there is a sense in which it becomes less pluralist. We need to get away from what is a very false idea, namely, that diversity is a bad thing.
"The question we are facing in Ireland is not unique. The more Europe becomes united, the more important it is to foster diversity.
What we are really talking about is trying to build an Ireland in which everybody belongs, with all that they have to offer, their religion their culture, their moral convictions, and so on.
"In the past these things did create division and conflict, but to try to produce harmony by ignoring them is actually a false step. What we have to do is to move to the stage of realising that to come across somebody whose moral or religious convictions are different from yours is not a reason to be hostile". Yours, etc., Director, Catholic Press and Information Office, Dublin.