Bishop of Raphoe: 'We need to be people who listen to one another'

Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Raphoe, has highlighted a chaotic world raged by war, the sacredness of life and the possible threats posed by artificial intelligence in a message to mark World Day of Peace.

January 1, 2024 marks the 57th World Day of Peace, which was first stablished by Pope Paul VI in 1968.

In a message to parishioners across the Raphoe Diocese, Bishop McGuckian says that people can ‘show peace’ when the world shows chaos.

He invited people in the diocese to be advocates of peace.

“Some people say we are living into a Third World War that is going on piecemeal without being officially declared,” Bishop McGuckian said.

“We are very conscious of the ongoing tragedy of innocent people in Gaza, Israel and the West Bank. Ukraine is never far from our minds.

“Not so prominent is the tale of horrors going on right now in Sudan; in West Darfur 9,000 people died and 5.6 million were displaced in the past nine months. Other ongoing conflicts we rarely hear about and yet their suffering is every bit as real.

“May our prayer guide world leaders towards paths of justice, reconciliation, and lasting peace.”

In October, Bishop McGuckian attended the Synod on Synodality assembly in Rome - a summit leading commentators said could be ‘the most transformative event in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council’.

Bishop McGuckian said:  “There are many varying perspectives in our church; conservative and liberal; East and West; developed and developing world.

“The synod invited me and others to create a privileged space where we could speak openly and be assured that we would be listened to respectful.

“If we are to embrace a shared humanity, we need to be people who listen to one another. There is a temptation to surround ourselves by like-minded people but that runs the risk that we polarise and build up walls, barricading ourselves in our own narrow-mindedness.”

He said people must appreciate ‘the inherent dignity of each person and ‘resist the lure of polarisation’.

Bishop McGuckian acknowledged the ongoing threat posed by the defective blocks crisis, which is crippling the homes of thousands of families in his diocese.

He said: “We have an additional strain as people fear that their homes, built with their life savings, will crumble and fall around them.”

The Dublin Riots in November were described as ‘an appalling display of racism’ and something that highlighted ‘the fragility of peace here on our own shores’. He said the incidents in the capital ‘betrayed the spirit of Failte that is central to the Irish Christian soul’.

Bishop McGuckian referenced the saying that ’the measure of a society is how it treats its weakest members’ and added: “The weakest members in our society are the unborn, children and adults who are dependent on the care of others, and people at the final stages of life . . . Even as the society in which we live seeks to normalise the increased availability of abortion and now the proposal of assisted suicide, we must remind ourselves and others of the sacredness of life from conception to natural death.”

Pope Francis has warned of the risk of artificial intelligence and its possible impact on world peace. He has urged the international community to adopt a binding treaty to regulate its development and use.

“Any of us who use the internet even a little bit can see how algorithms are at work, noting our habits, picking up our preferences and showing us ads for things that 'they' think we might be interested in,” Bishop McGuckian said.

“Those processes are already being used to control mental and relational habits for commercial or political purposes. often without our knowledge. To what extent is Al already being used in campaigns of disinformation that spread false news, unfairly influencing elections and fostering a surveillance society in some countries?

“We know that so-called Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems are being developed. The very idea of autonomous weapons should give us pause.

“The advances that are being made all the time offer 'exciting opportunities and grave risks .... and ought to serve our best human potential and our highest aspirations, not compete with them.'

“The Pope is calling on our leaders to help us prepare to deal with the impact of Al. Ireland plays a disproportionately large role in the development of IT. It is important that we be leaders in developing a proper ethics for its use based on ‘inclusion, transparency, security. equity, privacy and reliability’.”