After the Papal Visit: a new covenant between Church and State?
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s speech at Dublin Castle during the Papal visit was widely praised as being courageous, honest and direct. He called on Pope Francis to use the Office of the Papacy to ensure that victims of clerical sexual abuse receive justice, truth and healing. What received less attention was the call in his speech for a “new covenant between Church and State... a new covenant for the 21st century... a new chapter in the relationship between Ireland and the Catholic Church”. In unpacking his vision for what this new covenant might be, Dr. Varadkar spoke of a society where “religion is no longer at the centre... but in which it still has an important place”. In such a society there would be “greater diversity and choice when it comes to patronage of our schools – and where publicly-funded hospitals are imbued with a civic and scientific ethos”. The Taoiseach asked the Pope for his prayers “as we start that journey together”. It would seem that the Taoiseach only envisages a new covenant between the Roman Catholic Church and the State. He may have been trying to avoid including others in the abuse and failures outlined elsewhere in his speech, or he may simply have been guided by a realism which recognises that the other faiths and denominations combined are smaller in number than those professing to have no religion. That said, in an ever more pluralist society any new covenant between Church and State must be cast wider, to include the voices and insights of minority denominations and faiths as well as the voice of the majority. The Archbishop of Dublin recognised the challenge the Taoiseach’s words present to the Church of Ireland, telling the British Irish Association meeting in Oxford in September 2018 that it would be a massive task for the Church of Ireland, given its small proportion of the population, and the fact that it has all but disappeared from any dynamic contribution to public life, to engage meaningfully in a proposed covenant between Church and State.
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Stephen Farrell
Dean of Ossory and was formerly Diocesan Registrar for Dublin and Provincial Registrar of the southern province of the Church of Ireland.