Help me revitalise the Church says new Archbishop of Dublin

The new Archbishop of Dublin has appealed to Catholics to put their shoulders to the wheel and join him in the work of revitalising the Church in the capital.

In an extensive interview with The Irish Catholic ahead of his installation next week, Archbishop-elect Dermot Farrell has also urged Catholics to bring their ideas to the fore rather than waiting to be led by bishops and priests. He has vowed to engage in extensive consultation with priests and parishioners to chart a direction for the future of the country’s largest diocese.

Dr Farrell also warned that the Church cannot shun the responsibility to clearly articulate Church teaching and called on Catholics to make their opposition to euthanasia known as legislation is before the Oireachtas.

“It’s up to us [bishops] to encourage people to speak out and to push the importance of life which is the fundamental value that every other value is based on.

“If you don’t have the value of life then you can’t talk about other values,” he said.

The archbishop-elect said he wants to hear about “opportunities not just crises”.

“I have no problem with somebody coming in and telling me everything is wrong. That’s fair enough, but then come in and tell me a little bit as to how we could fix some of these things,” he said.

He insisted that: “No one with ideas or energy is going to be let go without [me] asking as Jesus did to the rich man, ‘What more can you give?’” Dr Farrell said.

The archbishop-elect, who will take up office on February 2, said his plan is to work collaboratively with laypeople, priests and religious. “I’m not going to be doing radical things just alone, as a lone ranger. I’ll try and listen. That’s very important to listen to people, to hear what they’re actually saying and to hear what the options are. And then we try and make a decision together,” he said.

Rather than pushing a predetermined outcome, Dr Farrell underlined the fact that he is keen to hear from people who have ideas for the future of the Church in Dublin. “I certainly will be involving anybody I can that have ideas and that has energy. They’ll certainly be welcomed by me with open arms.

“I couldn’t see why anybody would refuse to have people help who have talents,” he said.