Archbishop: time to end Communion limos and £700 dresses
ARCHBISHOP Diarmuid Martin has said the current system of preparing children for First Communion requires much more involvement of parents and an end to £700 communion dresses and limousines.
Discussing the changes in sacramental preparation he announced earlier this month for the Archdiocese of Dublin, he said he had made it very clear “we are not pulling religion out of the schools. We are not even pulling First Communion and Confirmation out of schools, but we are having a much greater involvement of parishes and parents in that”.
Dr Martin told the Irish Independent it is parents who determine the passing on of values of faith and if they are not involved “then it is not going to work”.
“The current system requires much more involvement of parents and it is just not happening.”
He added that “exaggerations” like €800 communion dresses and limousines had to stop.
“People go into debt — that shouldn’t be the case, and people who have plenty of money spend exorbitantly on things which have nothing to do with the sacrament.”
He blamed “a wrong understanding of what First Communion is” for the excesses.
Acknowledging that numbers presenting for First Communion and Confirmation may go down as a result of the changes, the Archbishop of Dublin believes “the quality of the entire effort” will be better.
A trustee of the National Seminary in Maynooth, Dr Martin also spoke to the Irish Independent about proposals for change at the college, which is celebrating its 225th anniversary, drawn up by a working group of the bishops including Dr Martin.
He has been critical of Maynooth in the past and even withdrew his students from the Co Kildare college in 2016 following the Grindr scandal.
Speaking to the Irish Independent this week, he criticised those attracted to Maynooth for its “Downtown Abbey externals”.