An Irish bishop has warned of an “epidemic of silent suffering” caused by the large number of people affected by alcohol and drug abuse. Source: The Tablet.
Bishop Michael Router, an auxiliary in the Armagh Archdiocese, was delivering the homily for the closing Mass of the Venerable Matt Talbot centenary weekend in Dublin’s Sean McDermott Street parish.
He highlighted problems caused by the increased threat of drugs and said that what once was a problem in cities and large towns has now become an issue in rural areas as well. Bishop Router, liaison bishop to the Irish bishops’ drugs initiative, said 278,000 family members are directly affected by addiction to drugs in Ireland.
Bishop Router said an important part of healing and recovery for Irish society is “the recognition by all that addiction is a healthcare issue, not simply a moral failing or criminal matter”.
The Mass commemorated the hundredth anniversary of the death of Venerable Matt Talbot, who was born into poverty in Dublin’s inner city and became an alcoholic at just 12 but at 28 managed to quit drinking following a return to his faith.
Bishop Router prayed for Matt Talbot’s beatification and progress towards sainthood.
Dublin Archbishop Dermot Farrell, speaking at a separate Matt Talbot centenary event, said Irish society needs to scrutinise its use of recreational drugs and ask itself how this is financing criminal networks and violence,
“Too easily, we ignore the misery inflicted in our country on parents, spouses and children of parents who drink too much to numb the pain of life they find impossible to bear,” he said.
He emphasised that behind every addiction there are concrete experiences, stories of suffering, loneliness, inequality, exclusion, lack of integration, and loss of dignity.
FULL STORY
Bishop warns of ‘silent suffering’ caused by alcohol abuse (By Sarah Mac Donald, The Tablet)
