POLITICO
During the recent general election campaign here in Ireland, the political party representatives canvassed people going in and out of church on Sunday mornings. In essence, that meant people going to Mass. It has traditionally been a very important part of wooing voters, and this time around it has remained an important focal point for all parties. In fact, on a number of occasions, rival party leaders have turned up at the same church gate at the same time, giving much amusement to both locals and to the onlooking press alike.
On the last Sunday before the election, I was driving to our own church, Grace, and passing the Catholic Church nearest to Deerpark School Hall, where we as a church meet. Turners Cross Catholic Church is a beautiful edifice built in the Art Deco style of the 1930's. I'm not sure how many attend the Mass each Sunday at Turners Cross, but it would hardly be more than 100, mainly elderly people. I know the parish church nearest to Turners Cross, known as "The Lough" very well. It was the church I attended as a child and teenager in the 60's and 70's. Back then there would have been 6 weekend masses in The Lough with an attendance of about 2500 to 3000 overall. A well known and very committed member of The Lough Church recently told me that they were now down to just 2 masses each Sunday with a total attendance of just 50 or so each week. The attendance at churches like Grace back then was of course zero, as no church of it's sort existed, and we only started 10 years ago.
Anyway, as I drove past Turners Cross, I noticed the Minister for Industry & Commerce, Micheál Martin of Fianna Fáil, outside the church looking for votes. He's often known as the third man in the Government and is a local T.D. (MP). When I saw him so near to Deerpark, I felt like stopping the car and asking him why would he spend hours on a Sunday morning canvassing the votes of a small group of people while at the same time, just around the corner there were up to 500 people attending Grace, most of whom take their civic duty to vote fairly seriously. And yet neither he, nor the local politicians ever come anywhere near us.
But.....is that their fault or our fault? And, do we really want them coming near us anyway?
In fairness to them, we have kept a very low profile as a community. Not having a full time traditional building probably doesn't help them in identifying us, and we haven't exactly been beating down the political party doors. However, even a casual Google search on Christianity or Spirituality in Cork should lead them to our web site, which you as a reader have found without too much fuss. And we do have a full time office with a large sign outside the door on a fairly busy street. Is part of the solution that we as Christians have to start to get involved in politics?
I'm not sure I fully agree with Christians throwing their time and energies into the things of time such as politics. It's the heart of man that needs to change far more than any particular government. However, we are called to pray for the Government, and to be good citizens, and as the evangelical community in Ireland grows, sooner or later we will have Christian politicians who could do a whole lot of good. Whether we like it or not we are affected by decisions government makes. "Pray for the prosperity of this city" Jeremiah told the Israelites in Babylon. "If this city prospers you too will prosper"
Because our community has always been a tiny minority in Ireland, we kept our heads down and hoped we would be left to get on with building up our churches. But the recent census figures show that across the various categories, evangelical Christians now constitute almost 2% of the population. That's a huge increase! So whether it comes to our children's education, government funding for church charities, abortion, etc. etc. our voice should be heard. I mean, we live in Ireland too, don't we? We pay our taxes too, don't we? Our children are growing up here too, aren't they?
The election is over and gone now and you won't see any politician outside a church gate on a Sunday morning for a long time to come. But maybe, the next time round, we should raise our heads above the trench, and tell Micheál Martin et al that we're here too. And I think we have a message that's worth listening to. Don't You?
On the last Sunday before the election, I was driving to our own church, Grace, and passing the Catholic Church nearest to Deerpark School Hall, where we as a church meet. Turners Cross Catholic Church is a beautiful edifice built in the Art Deco style of the 1930's. I'm not sure how many attend the Mass each Sunday at Turners Cross, but it would hardly be more than 100, mainly elderly people. I know the parish church nearest to Turners Cross, known as "The Lough" very well. It was the church I attended as a child and teenager in the 60's and 70's. Back then there would have been 6 weekend masses in The Lough with an attendance of about 2500 to 3000 overall. A well known and very committed member of The Lough Church recently told me that they were now down to just 2 masses each Sunday with a total attendance of just 50 or so each week. The attendance at churches like Grace back then was of course zero, as no church of it's sort existed, and we only started 10 years ago.
Anyway, as I drove past Turners Cross, I noticed the Minister for Industry & Commerce, Micheál Martin of Fianna Fáil, outside the church looking for votes. He's often known as the third man in the Government and is a local T.D. (MP). When I saw him so near to Deerpark, I felt like stopping the car and asking him why would he spend hours on a Sunday morning canvassing the votes of a small group of people while at the same time, just around the corner there were up to 500 people attending Grace, most of whom take their civic duty to vote fairly seriously. And yet neither he, nor the local politicians ever come anywhere near us.
But.....is that their fault or our fault? And, do we really want them coming near us anyway?
In fairness to them, we have kept a very low profile as a community. Not having a full time traditional building probably doesn't help them in identifying us, and we haven't exactly been beating down the political party doors. However, even a casual Google search on Christianity or Spirituality in Cork should lead them to our web site, which you as a reader have found without too much fuss. And we do have a full time office with a large sign outside the door on a fairly busy street. Is part of the solution that we as Christians have to start to get involved in politics?
I'm not sure I fully agree with Christians throwing their time and energies into the things of time such as politics. It's the heart of man that needs to change far more than any particular government. However, we are called to pray for the Government, and to be good citizens, and as the evangelical community in Ireland grows, sooner or later we will have Christian politicians who could do a whole lot of good. Whether we like it or not we are affected by decisions government makes. "Pray for the prosperity of this city" Jeremiah told the Israelites in Babylon. "If this city prospers you too will prosper"
Because our community has always been a tiny minority in Ireland, we kept our heads down and hoped we would be left to get on with building up our churches. But the recent census figures show that across the various categories, evangelical Christians now constitute almost 2% of the population. That's a huge increase! So whether it comes to our children's education, government funding for church charities, abortion, etc. etc. our voice should be heard. I mean, we live in Ireland too, don't we? We pay our taxes too, don't we? Our children are growing up here too, aren't they?
The election is over and gone now and you won't see any politician outside a church gate on a Sunday morning for a long time to come. But maybe, the next time round, we should raise our heads above the trench, and tell Micheál Martin et al that we're here too. And I think we have a message that's worth listening to. Don't You?