Colm Fitzpatrick
Church communities and parish activities can play a vital role in tackling the problem of loneliness which is becoming more prevalent in Ireland, Waterford and Lismore’s Bishop Phonsie Cullinan has said.
Bishop Cullinan has urged those feeling lonely or isolated to turn their heads towards the Church, where they will be welcomed by a supportive community.
“All parish activities are helping communities to come together and can only do good, and the parish is in every corner of Ireland, there are so many wonderful parish activities which help to build and support community life,” Dr Cullinan told The Irish Catholic.
His comments come after new statistics released by Samaritans Ireland show that volunteers listened to almost three million calls over the last five years, the majority of which related to loneliness and isolation. More than 500,000 calls were answered by Samaritans volunteers last year, with almost 46,000 text replies and 5,300 emails sent.
Importance
Commenting on the figures, Bishop Cullinan said that today’s world has become “individualistic”, and stressed the importance of people gathering with one another in community, rather than remaining as “isolated units”.
“The Church gathers people to pray and help them to understand that they are children of God, not isolated units, so much of the thrust of the philosophy which governs our modern world is individualistic but the human person is made for community and the Gospel commands us to love God and love our neighbour as ourselves,” he said.
Dr Cullinan added that Christians must reach out to those on who may be feeling cut off from the world, so as to not create alienation in communities.
“For those who are truly trying to live the Gospel, they will by necessity reach out to their neighbour, especially if he or she is in need. The source of our breakdown of community is our rupture with God, so that the further as a society we go from God, the further we alienate ourselves from our brothers and sisters.”