By Bishop William Murphy (Diocese of Kerry, Ireland)

I want to make four points about the sacraments and I believe each of them is very important and very relevant at the present time.

First of all, the sacraments are an essential element of the Christianity, an integral part of The Good News. To eliminate the sacraments from Christianity or to play down their role, as some fundamentalist evangelical groups try to do is to betray the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to lead his people astray.

It was Christ himself who commanded his Church: "Baptise all nations"; "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven"; "Do this in memory of me".

In recent years many Catholics in Ireland have become very negligent in celebrating the sacraments, especially the sacraments of the Eucharist, Confession, Matrimony and even the Anointing of the Sick. This trend amounts to ingratitude to Jesus Christ who gave us the sacraments as the chief means whereby our spiritual lives are fed, nourished, and strengthened. It is also, I believe, a sign of loss of faith and that brings me to my second point.

Celebrating the sacraments demands faith from us. Catholics believe that the sacraments bring us into contact with God. They are invitations to come closer to God, opportunities to become more conscious of his presence and action in our lives. It is our faith that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, meets us in each sacrament to grace us with his love, to give us his life, to renew his Spirit in us.

People who do not share this faith will consider the sacraments meaningless rituals and empty rites and should not receive them. To do so would be a lie, a charade, an abuse. It doesn't make any sense, for example, if a couple who are not believers ask for a Church wedding. And one wonders if it makes any sense if a couple who do not go to Mass expect a mass on the occasion of their wedding.

We have to ask ourselves too if it makes any sense if parents who do not share the faith of the Church or parents who do not go to Mass present their children for the sacraments.

We priests may not administer sacraments to children unless we are satisfied that faith is present in the parents or some other significant adults in the lives of the children who will surround them with an atmosphere of Christian faith as they grow up. The purpose of pre-sacramental meetings is to encourage and help parents to create such an atmosphere of faith in the home.

Thirdly, the sacraments are religious events. They are not social occasions. They are acts of Christian worship. In recent years we have seen an erosion of the sacredness of the sacraments, a gradual but steady secularisation of what Catholics always considered most sacred. The sacraments are the fundamental ways in which Catholics worship God and express their attitudes towards God in adoration, dependence and reverence.

Worship is rooted in a sense of awe and wonder at the greatness and goodness of God. Unfortunately, we live today in a society that is becoming ever more materialistic, secular and profane. People are in danger of losing, and many I fear, have lost a sense of the sacred, a capacity for awe and wonder, an openness to mystery and the spiritual dimension of life.

There is less respect for tradition and I feel less faith. Therefore, many approach the sacraments very casually and with very little respect and reverence, for instance ignoring the hour's fast before communion, consistently coming to Mass late and leaving early — sometimes accompanied by their own children. These children will not grow up with a strong sense of respect and reverence for the Mass.

Disregard for the dignity and sacredness of the sacraments is also shown when people attach more importance to the clothes, presents and meals than to the spiritual and religious significance of Baptism, First Holy Communion, Confirmation, Marriage and, indeed, Ordination. Recently a judge rejected an application for a six-hour licence to celebrate a children's First Communion and he remarked that the only sacrament he hadn't seen despoiled by drink was that of Ordination. The incident led a columnist in the Irish Times to comment: "Only a society which had lost contact with the meaning of Catholic Communion could have proposed to celebrate the sacramental re-enactment of The Last Supper with a six-hour booze-up".

In recent years a number of undesirable practices have grown up around the celebration of weddings. Examples are the use of videos and cameras, even during the most solemn and sacred part of the ceremony, namely, the exchange of vows; and the use of secular readings and secular songs instead of hymns. It was in order to eliminate these secular intrusions and abuses and to restore some sense of respect, reverence and dignity to the celebration of Church weddings that the diocese issued guidelines and a list of suitable hymns last year.

The celebration of funerals has not escaped this secularising trend either. Funerals are sad and sensitive occasions for bereaved families. The Catholic Church has over many centuries developed a rich tradition in its liturgy for funerals which seeks to balance the need to console those who are mourning with faith and hope in Jesus Christ who is "our life and our resurrection".

A Catholic Funeral Mass is realistic. It acknowledges that we are all sinners and are in need of God's compassion and it commends the deceased to the mercy of God. Therefore, while we give thanks to God for the life of a Christian, we pray that God may forgive whatever sins the deceased may have committed through human weakness. A Funeral Mass that canonises the deceased is not in the Catholic tradition.

The sacredness of the Funeral Mass is compromised by things that would be more appropriate outside the funeral liturgy, such as secular songs and music, eulogies and inappropriate items in the offertory procession.

People who are not regular Mass goers might be less familiar with what is deemed appropriate. Therefore, I ask all priests in the diocese to sit down with families who are arranging a Funeral Mass and discuss with them some of the suggested scripture readings and appropriate music.

Fourthly and finally: Sacraments are important events for individuals and families, but they are much more than private and family occasions. They are primarily community occasions. We come together as a community of believers to worship God. That is why the Church today encourages communal celebration of Baptism where as many parishioners as possible are present rather than private baptisms where only the family is present and communal celebration of the Sacraments of Penance and the Anointing of the Sick. That is why we have an enrollment of children for First Communion and Confirmation at a Sunday Mass when the parish community is present.

Our believing and worshipping community is our parish. Therefore people are encouraged to worship in their own parish, to have their children baptised in their own parish by the priests of their parish, to be married in their own parish and to be buried from their own parish Church.