Press Releases / 'Have we begun to wrestle with the breakdown of values?': Archbishop of Dublin's Easter message

In his Easter message, the archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr John Neill remarks that the Easter message “must burst out into the world in which we live.”

Referring to the recent murder of two young men from Eastern Europe in Dublin he says “we wring our hands in horror…and so we should. But have we even begun to wrestle with the breakdown in values, the shattering of community values and family values that underlie so much of the violence in our midst?”

Concluding the archbishop says “In raising Jesus, God also placed unique value on human life and its potential to share in the very life of God. In Jesus, Risen from the dead, a new way of living, of relating to God and relating to each other is laid open.”

Easter Message from the Archbishop of Dublin
The Most Revd Dr John Neill

The Easter affirmation: “Christ has been raised from the dead” is about an event that reaches to the heart of Christian worship, but which must burst out into the world in which we live.

Many of the casualties of our modern society – casualties often represented by addiction, alienation and suicide – can be the direct result of the failure to take seriously the implications for living in this world – God’s world – with the values that God has shown to us. We wring our hands in horror at the appalling murder of two young men from Eastern Europe on the streets of the suburbs of this city – and so we should. But have we even begun to wrestle with the breakdown in values, the shattering of community values and family values that underlie so much of the violence in our midst?

In raising Jesus, God placed unique value on the way and message of Jesus, and the values that he lived and proclaimed. In raising Jesus, God also placed unique value on human life and its potential to share in the very life of God. In Jesus, Risen from the dead, a new way of living, of relating to God and relating to each other is laid open.

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