Minister John Gormley is quickly acquiring a reputation as one of the most aggressively secular members of the Government. A few weeks ago he warned the Church not to ''intrude'' on ''matters of State'', and then last week he accused opponents of the Civil Partnership Bill of ''homophobia'' as though prejudice and hatred could be the only possible reason for opposing the Bill.
So what we have in John Gormley is a minister who has an extremist view of 'Church/State separation' and who simply assumes the bad faith of those who oppose his social agenda. Unfortunately, there are other Government ministers who aren't too far behind him, not least Dermot Ahern who also has very peculiar ideas, to put it mildly, about Church/State separation. In their efforts to differentiate themselves from the dogmatism of prelates like Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, these powerful politicians run the risk of repeating the same mistakes through arrogance and conceit.
This openly aggressive attitude, combined with the fall-out of the Ryan and Murphy reports, is forcing a migration of Irish Catholics, including priests and theologians, away from the far left or right, back towards the centre and there is some evidence that this movement has been taking place for some time. In other words, a reading of the 'signs of the times' is telling thinking Catholics that loyal opposition may ironically involve standing with the bishops and the priests as a sign of unity in the face of unthinking hostility from the religiously illiterate in our society. To quote Tony Blair: ''To be religiously illiterate in this world is foolish and dangerous.''
Is Ireland becoming a society that simply 'tolerates' religiously minded citizens? Surely a modern secular culture should welcome and celebrate cultural difference and complexity, pluralism in its true sense, rather than 'endure something unpleasant or disliked' as the dictionary defines the word 'tolerate'.
An intelligent secularist would welcome religious traditions in his or her society because faith helps people who feel at times overwhelmed by modern life; it can heal through teaching forgiveness and create a sense of purpose. Our society finds it increasing difficult to forgive - take the hatred meted out to property developers and bankers - and the growing rates of suicide as young people especially, but also those made victims - sometimes also bankers and property developers - feel that life has got too painful for them to endure it any longer.
The Catholic Church and indeed other Churches and faiths have huge potential to offer positivity to a society close to despair and mourning for the loss of riches and the fulfilment of fairytale lifestyles.
To use biblical language, we are a nation in exile, in exile from everything we thought was good and which has flowed through our fingers like sand. Like addicts, we are in forced detox and it is not a very comfortable place. As Catholics, our priests and bishops are in exile with us, many shamed, many bewildered.
More of us are people humbled by our hubris, yet others are people humiliated by their greed or the greed of others. All of us, victims, and perpetrators of the abuse of power whether it is sexual, political or financial are gathered as a broken people. This is no time to be throwing stones.
Like the Jews in exile in Babylon, we all need to sit down by the river and weep for our failures, for our greed, for our brokenness. Neither left nor right has the answers. Only by reflecting on what kind of society we want, in humility and openness to pluralistic voices, will we be able to gather all the riches of our society, old and new, and plot an inclusive way ahead for the future. The past is a distant country.
