A Tipperary priest says we shouldn’t fear change when it comes to the language used when referring to God.
The church said it would launch a new commission considering whether to stop referring to God as “He” and instead use gender-neutral terms this Spring.
Fethard Augustinian Priest Father Iggy O’Donovan says that while he thinks thing are unlikely to change in the immediate future, faith should reflect current culture.
He told Tipp Today that language in the Bible is based on what was known at the point of creation and times are changing.
“The whole concept of God as we know him and religion as we know it only arrived yesterday literally in terms of evolving history we are very recent arrival. The language we use is very much male language and I don’t have any problem if it comes to adapting it to changing times and circumstance because we are always learning there is always mores to learn there is more to come up with that is new always more to adapt to, and we need fear nothing.”
He went on to say that it is important to reflect modern society when it comes to religion, explaining on Tipp Today that it’s something he considers regularly.
“The big challenge we face, certainly the big challenge I face every day of my life is can I reconcile the basis of my faith with modernity… the challenges today in a highly secular world are very different from what they were when my Grandfather was around, it is the same faith but it is facing very different challenges. And this one – for the first time ever -gender identity and all that wasn’t an issue before, it is now and we have to face it.”
