ROSE TRAVERS,
Sir, - Religion is the least frequent of 10 topics of conversation among young adults (20-35-year -olds), according to the recent O'Donnell Young Adult survey. Is this indicative of a church crisis? It depends on how one defines church.
On one level, church is about going to Mass, believing doctrines and obeying laws. On this level, a crisis jumps out of the data. The O'Donnell survey discovered that 49 per cent of educated young Irish people believe all religions are equally useful or useless. They also believe that casual sexual intercourse, cohabiting before marriage, missing Mass on Sunday and contraception are the four least immoral behaviours on a 28-item choice list. Sexual intercourse is just a bit of fun for 21 per cent of men in the 20-25 age group and 53 per cent of singles are sexually active. Cardinal Connell could surely define this as a crisis.
At another level, however, I presume the church is about establishing and deepening people's relationship with God. On this level, may be the Church is not so clearly in crisis. The survey shows that 95 per cent experience God in their lives. Only 7 per cent say that they have no relationship with Christ. 95 per cent say they pray sometimes.
Commenting on the survey results, Father O'Donnell addresses the crisis when he writes: "The teaching Church may have to put much more emphasis and reliance on the effectiveness of the proclaimed central truths of revelation. It must then have confidence in the power of these truths to motivate moral behaviour. In the past this proclamation may have been blurred detailed list of sins. Moralising no longer motivates and this will call on church leadership to believe in the essential goodness of people."
Sometimes I wonder if church leadership trusts in my goodness and if it will give me time to grow. Does missing Mass or using a contraceptive or trying a second time after a bad marriage automatically put me on the road to hell for all eternity? If the church still thinks so, it is certainly in crisis; it will stand just as an usher at the gates of hell instead of preaching good news.
Guess what is the second lowest subject of conversation among young adults - politics. Is politics in crisis? It depends on how one defines the words "politics." - Yours, etc.,
ROSE TRAVERS,
Maignenn Terrace,
Old Kilmainham,
Dublin 8.