Archbishop Diarmuid Martin 
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said that the challenge of the Pope’s visit for the World Meeting of Families is to remain open to diverse families while underlining the Church’s unchanging teaching about marriage.
Speaking at the annual Chrism Mass in Dublin’s pro-cathedral, Dr Martin said that “families are under enormous challenge” in modern Ireland.
He insisted that the August event – at which the Pope will preside – “is not just a five-day event but a moment in which we focus on the mission of families within the Church and society.
“In families, life and faith and love are celebrated and lived in an integrated way,” the archbishop said at the Mass for the annual blessing of the holy oils to be used during the Church’s year.
He said that “it is hard today to socially define what we call ‘the traditional family’. Every family has its own personal story and its own personal history. They are all different.
“Children are brought up in different settings, by married couples, by grandparents, by single parents, by non-married couples, by separated couples, by gay and lesbian couples. This is a statement of fact not of ideology.
“The Church must work to help that all these children are loved and are introduced to an appreciation of the Gospel of love,” he said.
Dr Martin insisted that the Church has to “find new and robust ways to attract future generations to an integral understanding of the beauty of Christ’s unchanging teaching on marital love and fidelity.
“Passing on the Christian understanding of marriage and families is another difficult challenge for families,” he said.
The archbishop also warned that the Church must ensure that families are at the centre of the Church’s care and ministry. “As a Church in this diocese, we have to rediscover the irreplaceable role of families in our understanding of ministry. Parents have inalienable rights regarding the education of their children. As Church communities we need to find structures of dialogue with parents on this issue,” he said.
Referring to the Church’s teaching on the sanctity of human life, Dr Martin said that: “every human life is precious at any moment in its existence and no matter what condition in which it may find itself.
“The Church is pro-life and its pro-life message is not simply an occasional political platform but something deeper and irreplaceable. Every human life is created in the image of God.
“No one is excluded from God’s loving care and from the care of the believers in Jesus Christ,” Dr Martin told the packed congregation representing every parish in the diocese.
