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The Ceifin Centre acknowledged in high places!

The recent publication of the Pontifical Council of Culture in the Vatican included a piece (below) on the ongoing work of The Céifin Centre for Values-led Change.

Pontifical Council of Culture (Vol XV 2007 N.1)
on 16th Apr 2007

In 2006 the Céifin Centre for Values-led Change (Ireland) presided over by Fr Harry Bohan held its ninth Annual Conference and published the acts of its 2005 under the title "Filling The Vacuum? " (Veritas, Dublin 2006). The stature of the project has increased significantly over the years and the 2005 meet was graced by the presence of the President of Ireland, Mrs. Mary McAleese. Her warnings about the "cul-de-sac of complacent consumerism" reached the more than 500 participants and featured in all the major Irish Press. The approach of the series remains unchanged: theologians, sociologists, sportsmen, teachers, businessmen ( In e-commerce this time) psychologists, media people etc. present their personal experiences in an Ireland in movement and, calling on the support of their faith, consider the values that can lead to a better future. The speeches are dominated by an experiential approach; "I" and "my", "we" and "our" dominate the discourse, but such personal insight is done to involve the modern audience and not at the expense of quality. One subtitle "Prophets or profits" tells all: Irish society has passed from the religious context to a time of unbridled quest for economic gain. But the new financial riches have not resolved all of Ireland's problems and new ones are appearing, so the quest for values continues.
Céifin's activities feature in another recent publication from Ireland. David McWilliams, a journalist, offers in an entertaining style, an overview of the not-so-entertaining moral and economic state of the generation of the Irish born nine months after the visit of John Paul II in 1979, under the title "The Pope's Children" (Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2006). He recites the usual facts: people of this generation received an excellent education thanks to the Church, but they have now put the Church aside; they have more money, more work and travel opportunities, and thanks to the economic miracle the country has transformed from a rural economy into a centre of service and construction industry; the countryide and culture are changing and everyone is consumed by the same frenetic rhythm of life, which appears to be an endless stream of exams in which one needs to be the best, the strongest, the most perfect, and where liberty has been translated into meritocracy, or worse expectocracy. On page 206 McWilliams describes the Céifin conference as a "gabfest," with participants drawn from the "'it's not right brigade,' heavily rural with an ample sprinkling of nuns and priests and farmers' representatives." This seems somewhat harsh given the actual content of the seven previous editions of the conference (see http://www.ceifin.com for publication details). However this criticism from McWilliams is at the same time an independent recognition of Céifin's growing fame. The Pontifical Council for Culture awaits publication of the 2006 Annual Conference on 'Freedom: Licence or Liberty? Engaging with a transforming Ireland' to see whether it was an occasion to bemoan the apparent lack of values in the youth of today or celebration of foresight and prophecy.

THE CEIFIN CENTRE

The Ceifin Centre acknowledged in high places!

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