Bishop Crean returns home to address societal changes

THE Catholic Church is currently locked in a battle with other models of education for control of schools towards the ultimate goal of control of the curriculum. This was how Kerry native and Bishop of Cloyne Billy Crean characterised the nature of the current debate on education at a talk he gave in the Gleneagle Hotel last week entitled ‘From what wells do we drink now?’

The 2017 instalment of an annual Diocese of Kerry series, Bishop Crean’s address drew a huge crowd, all deeply stimulated by his cogent argument for the continuing value of the Catholic Church as a force for good in everything from pastoral care to the running of our schools and hospitals.

“The debate around the ongoing church engagement in education is a kind of battleground where diverse philosophies of education are vying for control of schools and their management and, through them, control of the curriculum,” Bishop Crean said.

This was no Bishop of the 1950s excoriating his errant flock, however. Bishop Crean repeatedly called for the need among Catholics to engage in respectful discussion with those of other views. These struggles of belief take place at a critical time with mental health problems surging, he warned.

“It is well to acknowledge that we are immersed in the contemporary reality that is characterised by a deep anxiety... as a community of faith we cannot walk away from this ‘cry of the heart’ from which so many are suffering... is there a spiritual component that needs to be integrated into the mental healthcare process?” he asked among many other questions.

Photo by Michelle Cooper Galvin Bishop Billy Crean with Sr de Lourdes Fleming, Tralee, Mary O’Sullivan, Tralee and Sr Catherine Tierney, Bon Secours Tralee, at his talk in the Gleneagle, Killarney, last week.

Photo by Michelle Cooper Galvin Peggy Lynch, Peggy Walsh and Dora McCarthy Beaufort at Bishop Crean’s talk ‘From what wells do we drink now’ hosted by Diocese of Kerry at The Gleneagles, Killarney on Tuesday.

Photo by Michelle Cooper Galvin Bishop Billy Crean with Mary O’Driscoll, Dermot and Carmel Walsh, Cahersiveen, and Billy Condron, Killarney, at the Bishop’s talk in The Gleneagle last week.