Dear Editor, Greg Daly’s report on the findings of the survey The Future of Ireland II:Belonging and Community (‘One-third of Irish adults active in local church’ IC 16/06/2016) is a surprisingly good news story for our Church, even if the survey highlights that there is a significant variation in the responses of younger and older persons. Credit must be given to our hard working clergy, supported by many lay persons, who are working to keep our parishes vibrant and at the heart of our community. But it would be naive to think that the many people involved in parish life are fully committed to or understand the core tenants of our Faith.
Arguably the real challenge for our Church is to implement meaningful and relevant faith development activities within all our parishes aimed at Catholics of all ages and provided by clergy and lay people confident in their message and particularly in working directly with young people.
Yours etc.,
Frank Browne,
Templeogue, Dublin 6
