As Ireland becomes an increasingly secularised society, it is vital that we re-energise ourselves to rebuild our Christian Culture to sustain us as a society and as individuals. As the country is overwhelmingly Catholic (as per the 2016 census), the word Christian and Catholic is used interchangeably in this website. In any case, the degree of overlap of belief between the major Christian denominations has been estimated by Dr. Scott Hahn at approx. 85%, which speaks for itself.

This is a website that assists in the application of the key elements and principles of Christianity to daily life and individual and societal behaviour. It presents faithful viewpoints to show that a culture, which is infused with Christianity, “blows away” a secular, essentially a pagan culture. God and Christianity cannot be relegated to just worship. Prayer / worship leads to belief, in turn leads to values (what we consider important), then leads to attitudes (how we treat others and approach situations) and ultimately leads to behaviour and how we act.  G.K. Chesterton – “The individual who does not believe in God firstly loses one’s common sense and will next believes in anything”.

The Christian religion provides one with a way of life, behaviour and values that have been hard won over centuries, but this can easily be lost. “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty” – especially in times where liberty is being misinterpreted as licence.  This website addresses some fundamental theological and philosophical issues, such as the existence of God, the Trinitarian God, why Christianity and our nature as transcendent beings, namely that our souls survive death. These concepts form a bedrock to our religious and behavioural practices, but are being increasingly ignored by an indulgent society. Addressing this properly requires a return to basics and in some instances, the need to re-examine the interface between faith and reason / science.

The website specifically starts with the current topic of abortion and the need to (retain / keep the 8th Amendment)  (click to go to the page) in the forthcoming referendum . Allied to the abortion debate and secular human rights, there are a number of civilization principles proposed by Fr. Robert Spitzer SJ, to establish a reasonable level of discourse / level playing field for all members of the human civilization (including atheists). These are eminently reasonable in themselves and exclude abortion and euthanasia on the basis of principle. Click to go to: Principles-of-Civilisation

The website engages the debate on Christianity versus Secularism (click to go to: Christianity-versus-Secularism), and will outline key elements and principles  that govern our behaviour as human beings, such as The Ten Commandments, Christ’s summary of these, relationships with God (prayer / sacramental) and your neighbour, The Natural Law, Morality, Rights, Law, Sin, Conscience, Virtue / Vice, Good /Evil, key aspects of the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church/ Catholic Social Ecology, Christian marriage / families, and what a properly ordered civilisation should look like. This is a large body of knowledge, so this website will necessarily act as a primer for such material, and will point to where more detail is available.

A secular culture is unsustainable – Christianity can always tolerate individuals who may wish to dissent, but a secular culture will not tolerate a belief system that is and will always be greater than it – this is evidenced by the history of the Christian martyrs. Once God is out of the equation, it is only a matter of time before that particular society / culture fails. Thus secularism is a race to the bottom. Christianity in contrast helps us to lift ourselves and society to heaven. The issues presented in this website invariably lead to the necessity that we must rebuild the Christian culture in this society or it will fail in due course. We cannot allow ourselves be dragged down by vocal and particular interests. We owe this to our society and to our children and future generations. This rebuilding must happen from the ground up, as the individual is sovereign, but it is also necessary for society to re-direct our “ruling elites”, including politicians, the judiciary, and mainstream media and engage with the mechanisms to do so, including referenda, our election, political and media systems. We can no longer be mere bystanders / “hurlers on the ditch”.

The website will also act as a source of catechetical / learning material mainly for parish purposes. Click to go to: Exploring-your-Catholic-Faith-and-Culture

The website makes significant use of videos and articles, including links to various internet sites, such as those found in YouTube. It will be updated on a regular basis, with content modified as appropriate. The section on Christianity versus Secularism will be significantly updated over the course of the next few months.

The website is an initiative of CK 146 Council of the Knights of Saint Columbanus.

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