What Role for the Church in Modern Society?
Posted on: 22 June 2016
A conference on the role of the Church in a modern, ‘pluralist’ society opened this morning in Trinity College Dublin and continues until Friday (June 24).
‘The Role of Church in a Pluralist Society: Good Riddance or Good Influence?’ has drawn together an array of international guests, featuring contributions from the fields of theology, sociology, philosophy and the media. Speakers include influential literary critic Professor Terry Eagleton, archbishop of Munich and Freising Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Professor William T Cavanaugh from Chicago’s De Paul University and editor of The Tablet Catherine Pepinster.
The conference was opened by Provost Patrick Prendergast, who provided a welcome address to the assembled delegates.
“In keeping with the mission of the Loyola Institute, this conference looks at religion in the context of social justice and contemporary culture. It’s particularly appropriate, I think, that it’s being held in the Edmund Burke Theatre.
“Burke, the founder of modern conservatism – with a small ‘c’ – is arguably Trinity’s greatest graduate. Born of a Protestant father and Catholic mother in the Penal era, he believed that religion and religious tolerance were the foundation of civil society – indeed for him ‘toleration was a part of religion’. A great champion of liberty, who famously defended the right of the American Colonies to self-government, he also said that ‘liberty without wisdom and without virtue is the greatest of all possible evils: it is folly, vice and madness, without tuition or restraint’.
“The issues this conference raises – pluralism, choice in a consumer society, challenges to freedom – are Burkean issues. It is right to evoke his spirit.”
Throughout the course of the two days, 16 speakers will discuss what it means to live in a ‘pluralist’ society and what role, if any, the church has in this type of landscape.
Event organiser Dr Cornelius Casey, Associate Director of Trinity’s Loyola Institute, commented: “There is an influential view which claims that when it comes to public debate and policy making in a society like ours, the only way to proceed is to drain out all the distinctive religious traditions and find a common denominator language. This will be a completely secular language, in the sense of completely neutral to traditions. That is all fine but it is the opposite of pluralism.
“If I’m a Muslim, if I’m a Catholic, if I’m a Lutheran – I will have things to say that come from those traditions. Isn’t there is a danger that people coming from a religious perspective get written off, or simply don’t get listened to? Such issues need to be thrashed out and thought through and that’s the very point of this conference.”
‘The Role of Church in a Pluralist Society: Good Riddance or Good Influence?’ is intended to kickstart a discussion and is open to anyone who is curious about the kind of Church and society we are creating for future generations. It is the first major public event hosted by the Loyola Institute, which is part of the Confederal School of Religions, Peace Studies and Theology, and works at the creative intersection of theology, church and society.
