By Canon P Delaney, Parish Priest at St Anne's Catholic Church - Most of us would subscribe to the view that certain laws are necessary to regulate the affairs of citizens and state. We can well imagine the chaos which would result if people were allowed to drive, however they pleased, on the left or the right. Restraint is necessary to safeguard the rights of others - self-discipline is necessary to bring about or maintain a just society. Our society, unfortunately, is not noted for such safeguards. Our airways are constantly buffeted and pulverised by the insidious sound of self-promotion, self-aggrandisement, the appeal of entirely superficial happiness that results from a 'gimme now' mentality.

We are invited to enjoy ourselves at every opportunity without any recourse to responsibility and commitment. The sexual revolution has brought about a breakdown in family life, never before witnessed, and a consequent destruction of the security and happiness all our children need. Forty years ago I regularly attended football matches in South Yorkshire. One policeman - just one - paraded around the ground where there was an average attendance of some 8-10,000. Any action he had to take - and rarely too - was welcomed and supported by the vast majority of those present. Nowadays people are escorted to and from games by hundreds of police. It seems as if wild beasts are being herded into an arena. Man's greatest gifts are intelligence and freewill. Many people nowadays seem to have abandoned all sense of responsibility. Our ultimate responsibility is to God and consequently all human laws should support God's laws, which are above all, the best means of securing the rights and respect of all and sundry. Sadly it is not so today. Governments and authorities are guided by convenience, political correctness and a vague 'do goodism'. We have lost our way.

We will only find that way again if we turn back to God and our responsibilities before Him.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.