Scotland staring into the abyss of social collapse, says cardinal

Published on Sunday 12 April 2009 21:49

THE leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics yesterday hit out at the way politicians are trying to tackle society's problems.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien said they were "paralysed by a chronic fear of moralising" as he called on them to stop passing "frenzied regulation" and do more to look at underlying causes of social problems, such as drug and alcohol abuse.

"Scotland is staring into the abyss of social collapse," he added. "Too many of our young people are caught up in a maelstrom of drug-and-alcohol- fuelled promiscuity, hedonism, vandalism and outright nihilism. It is a whirlwind we will reap for a long time to come."

The Government's crackdown on cheap alcohol stemmed from a "deeply flawed" and "utterly discredited" approach, he said.

And the Cardinal, in his Easter Sunday homily, said that too often public policy dealt with the symptoms of social breakdown rather than the causes.

He said: "When our fellow citizens err and lapse we seldom focus on them or ask why they behaved as they did. Rather we rush to impose legal restraints on such action forgetting dangerously that no external restrictions can ever match the effectiveness of self-restraint."

Cardinal O'Brien also called for action to address what he said were the underlying causes of social problems, such as marriage breakdown and the fracturing of family life.

"Scotland has one of the highest divorce rates in the western world; we also have one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates and STI statistics, which are both alarming and growing," he said.

"In the face of all this evidence our parliament has enacted legislation making divorce easier and quicker and giving greater legal recognition to cohabitation, while our taxation system ruthlessly penalises long-term legal commitment."

He called for investment in marriage preparation courses and reconciliation services and reform of the tax credit system.

Meanwhile, the Pope yesterday stressed that reconciliation was the only way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and said the world needed to rediscover hope to end wars, poverty and financial turmoil.

In his Easter Sunday message, delivered from the central loggia of St Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Pontiff said he planned to travel to the Holy Land in a few weeks and would bring a message of hope and love to the region.

The 81-year-old pope tripped as he climbed up to his gilded chair on the loggia, but recovered without incident to deliver his speech calling for "sincere efforts" to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to crowds below.

"Reconciliation – difficult but indispensable – is a precondition for a future of overall secur-ity and peaceful coexistence, and it can only be achieved through renewed persevering," he said.

&#149 The Queen was joined by members of the Royal Family at an Easter Sunday service at Windsor Castle yesterday.

The St George's Chapel service was also attended by the Duke of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal and her husband Tim Laurence, the Duke of York and the Earl and Countess of Wessex.