Cardinal calls for 'a Europe of values'
CARDINAL Sean Brady has called for "a Europe of values" in which the EU respects Catholic Church teaching on ethical issues such as marriage and euthanasia.
His carefully worded address, delivered two months ahead of Ireland's referendum on the Lisbon Reform Treaty, was seen last night in Government circles as signalling qualified support from the bishops for a Yes vote.
Speaking in Rome yesterday at a special service to mark the 400th anniversary of the Flight of the Earls, the Primate of All-Ireland warned that in an increasingly technocratic and economic-driven Union today, the sense of vision and values which inspired it could be easily lost.
"This is why I believe that developing the concept of a 'Europe of values' remains a critical but somewhat unresolved dimension of the European Union," he warned.
The cardinal noted that some Christians had developed a suspicion towards any proposal from the EU which has an ethical dimension.
"Put simply, people of religious faith who may be natural enthusiasts of the concept of a European Union, increasingly approach European developments with scepticism," the cardinal said.
Secular
"They have an expectation that a secular, relativist and utilitarian approach dominates ethical considerations. It would appear that the right to maintain a distinctive ethos in religious institutions is constantly under threat.
"Issues such as the nature of marriage, the family or the origin and end of life have to be constantly defended against a dominant centralising and standardising tendency."
Cardinal Brady stressed that this trend made the structured dialogue between the Government, churches and faith communities proposed in the Lisbon Treaty and already established by the Irish Government so important.
"It would be regrettable if some people, on the assumption that the European Union is innately hostile to particular religious or ethical values, misjudged or misrepresented critical European developments."
- John Cooney
