Cardinal delivers annual St Brigid Lecture in Belfast
Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor delivered the annual St Brigid lecture at the invitation of the parish of St Brigid in Belfast on the evening of Monday 1 February 2010.
Entitled ‘A World Without a Father’, the lecture questioned why ‘in spite of the massive achievements of the past century, there are signs that people have lost the sense of being ‘at home’ in a world that makes sense.’
To put it simply, it’s because ‘Men have forgotten God’. There is ‘no God who speaks to us about who we are, how we are to live and who can receive and accept our lives lovingly’.
In this ‘brave new world,’ ‘we’ve begun to understand that the natural order is not a resource to be exploited but a living matrix on which our existence depends and which we must respect.’
‘We are beginning to see that unless we treat economic and social matters ethically, with respect for the principles of justice, globalisation, far from uniting the world in a single community, will effect a brutal division between rich and poor.’
Signs of hope
‘The rise in spirituality; the seeking after prayer and communion with the God who is transcendent.‘
A belief that ‘people will recover the value of family and community because marriage and the family will matter more in the future and not less, as children grow up in a rapidly changing society.’
‘’A world without a Father’ is really a world where people long for that which true Fatherhood brings: forgiveness, acceptance, love, security, truthfulness, fulfilment, purpose.’
