EU secularism undermined Lisbon, Irish cardinal says

Source http://euobserver.com/18/26637

Europe's attempts to keep religion away from the public domain was one of the reasons the Irish rejected the EU's new Lisbon treaty, the country's top Catholic church figure, cardinal Sean Brady, has suggested.

Speaking at the Humbert Summer School in Co Mayo on Sunday (24 August), the cleric said the EU's prevailing culture and social agenda seems to be driven by the secular tradition "rather than by the Christian memory and heritage of the vast majority of member states," the Irish Times reported.

Cardinal Brady warned of "dangerous individualism that does not care about God or about what the future might have in store" (Photo: EUobserver)

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"As the recent referendum on the Lisbon treaty in Ireland suggests, at least some of those who were previously enthusiastic about the founding aims of the EU, both social and economic, are now expressing unease," he added.

The cardinal referred to "a fairly widespread culture in European affairs which relegates manifestations of one's own religious convictions to the private and subjective sphere."

"Successive decisions which have undermined the family based on marriage, the right to life from the moment of conception to natural death, the sacredness of the Sabbath, the right of Christian institutions to maintain and promote their ethos, including schools - these and other decisions have made it more difficult for committed Christians to maintain their instinctive commitment to the European project."

"Without respect for its Christian memory and soul, I believe it is possible to anticipate continuing difficulties for the European project," Cardinal Brady warned, explaining that "dangerous individualism that does not care about God or about what the future might have in store" will compound the EU's economic and social problems.

Ireland was the only country to hold a referendum on the EU's new rule book - the Lisbon treaty. Its rejection in June has interrupted the ratification marathon and caused the delay of several institutional changes originally planned for next year.

The document was based on a package of key reforms introduced already in the European Constitution, which failed to see the light of the day after it was knocked back by voters in France and the Netherlands in 2005.

In a debate about the constitution, some countries, political leaders and organisations demanded that God be mentioned in the preamble as a reference to Europe's common Christian heritage, but the idea did not gather enough support.

The Late Pope John Paul II had criticised the final outcome, describing it along with other decisions in Brussels as the "loss of Christian memory" in European institutions and policy.

EU leaders are due to debate the future of the Lisbon treaty at an October summit organised by France, as the current holder of the bloc's six-month rotating presidency.