This article is from page 10 of the 2007-03-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
THE Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh has said that it irritates him when people suggest that bishops and priests are out of touch with life today.
He insisted that priests were very much in touch as a result of continu- ous dealings with families in diffi- culty.
‘I think the one area where we find
it difficult is to be 1n touch with the daily lives of young people, that 1s a difficulty.
“I would say to priests regularly that it is not just us that are finding life difficult at times in this era — that despite all the material progress, parents are finding it quite difficult CNM DO New DOM DB KOR
‘Also, whether it 1s young couples coping with pressures of mortgages, very long hours or work or it 1s cou- ples coping with teenage children.”
Dr Walsh went on, “I think that we have made great progress, financial- ly, economically, socially – in many ways in recent years.
“But I often think that, for some people, the Celtic Tiger hasn’t touched them and they are finding life difficult. I think of the ones who are successful 1n economic terms, very often they are under so much pressure they can’t enjoy the fruits.
“The way our society has devel- oped, there are an awful lot of people
who are under pressure.
‘Probably, we as priests tend to see more of it. We are more 1n touch with people who are suffering. Whether it is people suffering from poverty or tragedy, priests are very much in- volved in tragic events.”
He added: “We had so many priests that somehow in the 1950s, ’60s, °70s and ’80s that we didn’t encour- age lay people to get involved in the running of the Church. I suppose that if somebody has been doing that
all their lives, it 1s not easy if you come to 70, you tend to feel that you still have to do that. I would accept that we didn’t encourage lay people to take their responsibility.
Dr Walsh’s Lenten Letter sends out a call on lay people to get involved in the running of the Church.
He states: “It is not a question of helping the priest, it 1s a question of lay people and the priest working together, sharing their responsibili- on