His addresses were thought provoking, stating that the fundamental challenge for modern Ireland was "to retain the balance between the best of the old and the best of the new. This includes taking steps to build community and support for marriage and the family,"

Given the increasing inability of the media to promote genuine debate I was quite impressed by his clinical observation that we need to move to a new maturity in public and media debate. In both Irish jurisdictions we are witnessing a rapid transition between old and new and there is always a tendency in such scenarios to throw out all that is old without thinking about the consequences. In a period of flux we need genuine conservatism that preserves what is good and builds upon such foundations. What we are unfortunately seeing is what the Archbishop called "the erosion of external authority" and he recognised that attitudes to politicians, gardaí, financial institutions, the church and other traditional sources of social and moral authority in Ireland, had changed dramatically.

His analysis that "the land of saints and scholars has become better known as the land of stocks and shares, of financial success and security" should be a starting point for real debate on the implications of our fascination with property and wealth. A society that is fixated solely with the dramatic shifts in the international financial markets, the uncertainty of house prices, the potential for credit to dry up within days, even for the banks, is far ideal.

Rather than see the Archbishop’s comments as the opening salvos in a debate on religion and society, most media commentators simply chose to ignore the subject and instead became entangled in theological comments by the Pope. I wasn’t aware that there was such interest in theology and judging by most of the commentaries, their authors have much to learn about the subject.

As an expert on theology, Pope Benedict stated that it is difficult "to see how the title of 'Church' could possibly be attributed to Protestant communities, given that they do not accept the theological notion of the Church in the Catholic sense and that they lack elements considered essential to the Catholic Church. The detractors of the Catholic Church, most of whom would have difficulty in recognising a theological statement, were quick out of the blocks claiming that the Pope was insulted millions of Protestants worldwide.

Just for a moment let us put the Pope’s doctrinal statement in the context of doctrine of the main Protestant churches.