Celtic Tiger and Christian values

“We spent money we didn’t have on things we didn’t need” was Peter McVerry’s summary of the Celtic Tiger in his keynote address to the bi-annual Irish Religious Education Conference on Sat Oct 3. Describing two defects of those  heady days, he said that Celtic Tiger wealth wasn’t sustainable or available to all. Addressing the conference theme “Between Memory and Hope”, in the Fairways Hotel, Dundalk, Peter McVerry SJ told the gathering of over 500 religious educators that no matter how well Ireland fared in the future, we must never go back to the days of selfishness and greed that characterised those heady Celtic Tiger times. Christian values represented the antithesis of that culture, he said,  as the Gospel commanded us  to build a society based on caring for our neighbour rather than looking out for ourselves. For the full address click here: Peter McVerry SJ on the Economic Crisis.