Derry Bishop: Life before birth and after death seen of ‘little value’

Dr Donal McKeown, speaking at Mass in Derry, remarked that modern society is “bombarded with a banal message that life for normal people is mixed up and that the best we can hope for is a bit of fun and minimal responsibility”.

He added: “If life here is of little ultimate value, it is no surprise that the culture sees life before birth and after death as of little value.

“Thus, we have a situation in law where it is an offence to intentionally take or destroy the egg of any wild bird – but the life of an unborn human with a medical complaint does not have any such legal protection.

“That ideology seems to me to blindly inhuman – but a logical consequence of a one-dimensional worldview.”

The Bishop also warned those who “speak of grace, forgiveness and healing from God, especially for the most needy” to be opposed and “mocked by those who benefit from a market-driven ideology that benefits the strong”.

Dr McKeown added: “These are challenging times for people of faith and for our parishes. On our synodal pathway in the Irish Church, we have to choose whether to face the future with trust in God’s love and grace – or to have a view of Church that is riddled with the cancer of fear.”