Over the weekend, Carol Hunt wrote a thought provoking piece about the prospect of the Irish Catholic Church going its own way, free from Vatican influence. Plenty of food for thought. In an article covering 1500 years of Irish history, she explains how the “Romanisation” of Irish Catholicism, with its contorted theology, unquestioned paternalism and petty proscriptions, is a relatively recent phenomenon; emerging primarily from the aftermath of the 1847 potato famine. Irish Catholicism had ploughed its own furrow for centuries, she argues. Maybe, it’s time for it to return to its roots.
Fascinating though a wholly Irish Catholic Church might be, I can’t see it happening soon. Even if the Vatican insult the lot of us when they respond to Enda Kenny’s Dáil speech, I don’t see the bulk of practicing Catholics here doing anything about it. Ultimately, it comes down to inertia. Many of those most likely to have had the energy to change the church from within have long since left the church in disgust and frustration, with no intention of ever going back. The remainder are split unequally along two lines: a core of deeply committed Catholics who prefer to believe that the whole scandal is a secular assault on their religion and a larger, more moderate group who, while affronted by the behaviour of the clergy in the past two decades, are unwilling to do anything about it.
There are likely to be a multitude of drivers motivating the second group to do nothing. For many, obedience to the Church is the respectable thing to do. Public dissent and argument have always been strongly discouraged within the Church, so why raise your head above the parapet? Some are keenly mindful of their “Catholic” identity, as opposed to a “Protestant” identity, in an island where too much blood has been spilled over these minor theological differences. In the background is the lingering fear of damnation, both in the putative next life and this one too. In the end, no matter what anachronistic pronouncements are uttered from on high; no matter what will emerge from the scandals of the future, most moderate Catholics will put up with it all for the sake of an easy life.
It’s not as if home-grown Catholicism, as opposed to Roman Catholicism, isn’t attractive to many within this second group. Most Irish Catholics would do away with the failed ban on contraception in the morning. They would welcome married clergy and women priests. They certainly wouldn’t mourn the passing of Vatican countenanced clericalism and secrecy, particularly when we have all seen its devastating effects in Ireland and around the world. It’s just that, for Irish practicing Catholics, desiring something and doing something about it are two very different things.
Protests and dissenting voices have been limited and sporadic. Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, has been highly critical of the Catholic hierarchy’s behaviour and is an uncompromising advocate of reform. He has been a lone voice, however, increasingly marginalised even if he is saying what many Catholics are privately thinking.
When a few trogloditic priests around the country revealed their true colours over the past few weeks – comparing Enda Kenny to Hitler and referring to the Cloyne aftermath as being part of a secular Jewish agenda – a few brave souls walked out of Mass and there were a small number of letters to the newspapers. The vast bulk of people remained silent. It seems that the spirit is willing, but the motivation to do anything about it is about as strong as a wet straw.
So, no. I don’t expect any real changes any time soon. Irish Catholicism will continue to ally itself with Rome, despite what outrages might emerge involving the Vatican in the coming years. The prognosis for this church is a slow and steady decline into irrelevance and backwardness while old age and disillusionment steadily swabs up the remaining bulk of congregants.
* Photo “Broken Cross” by Merlin1487 (Marino González) on Flickr (CC Licensed)
Passive Impressions 
I think you’re right – Irish Catholicism will continue to ally with Rome. Carol Hunt’s article, while interesting as far as its brief historical outline is concerned, is fanciful in its musings about a reversion to some kind of pre-Famine Celtic Catholicism. It ain’t gonna happen.
Will the church suffer ” a slow and steady decline into irrelevance”? That’s happening already. Certainly, the heady days of Irish Catholicism are long past having reached their apogee probably in the 1930s. The decline will be expedited over the next 10-20 years or so as priests now in ministry reach retirement and replacements can not be sourced due to the drying up of recruits. The decline in vocations is already making itself in many parishes with a reduction in the number of masses being said and individual priests having to take on extra duties which would formerly have been shared with colleagues.
Nor is the (unlikely) prospect of the Vatican countenancing married or female priests the solution to the problem. The Protestant churches are experiencing a similar fall-off in recruits to the ministry. The fact is that Ireland, in common with most of Western Europe, is evolving into a post-Christian society. Religion is no longer the guiding force in people’s lives in the way it once was.
That doesn’t mean that people are embracing secular humanism in large numbers – they’re not, and never will: the majority of people anywhere, while not necessarily subscribing to the beliefs of a particular religion, will invariably aver belief in a “higher power” or state they are “spiritual in their own way”, or some such. The stoicism required to embrace heady atheism will always be the preserve of a minority. And as GK Chesterton observed: when (the majority of) people stop believing in religion they don’t believe in nothing – they believe in anything.
A lot of people who have long since given up practising their Catholicism nevertheless retain some kind of connection to the institution and will get married in church, get their children baptised and confirmed, and will, like the writer and non-believer John McGahern, be buried to the solemn tones of a Requiem Mass. As someone said, no one does funerals as well as the Catholic Church. These religious rituals marking such important events in peoples’ lives have an attraction that secular ceremonies will struggle to counter. How the Church will continue to provide such services as the decline in vocations starts to bite hard remains to be seen.
And of course “the slow and steady decline” applies only to the Western World. Catholicism is growing apace elsewhere and the future focus of the Church will almost certainly be on Africa and Asia. And we might be surprised here too. The next pope could be a charismatic reformer who will shake the foundations of the institution a la Pope John XX111.There could be a religious revival resulting in an increase in seminarians (maybe even including females). It’s highly unlikely, of course, but we should remember that the RC Church is the longest surviving institution on the planet. Its current difficulties must seem like a blip given that it thinks in centuries and not years or decades. Don’t write it off just yet.
“That doesn’t mean that people are embracing secular humanism in large numbers – they’re not, and never will”
I wish I had a dollar for every time someone declared “never will” about something.
But you make a good point – secular groups need to shift focus to underprivileged areas and indoctrinate their children against religions like Christianity.
I disagree with both of these comments.
Atheist Ireland is a group which is always gaining members, and has many secular humanists.
Secondly, you should not indoctrinate children against religion, you ask them to think it over and come to a deeply considered decision. The Catholics the world over need to ask themselves something – why support a church with a history based in serfdom, fascism, racism, sexism and homophobia? why support a church which at present is homophobic and excommunicates women for having abortions, including in cases of incest rape? why support a church that thinks the top job of pope should belong to white males only?
What Catholics really need to ask is this
– If you would hate a political party with that history & set of values,why make it your religion??
Just think about it. That’s all you need to do, think it over.
Ditching the Pope would be a great first step. All those people attending mass can have their consciences a little clearer.
As a practising Catholic (yeah, we are still here) I can see the laity taking over a greater role in the running of the day-to-day duties in the parish, I see it in my own, we are a much smaller set of believers than before but there is a sense of great camaraderie & hope in us that God will revive the Church through the ecclesia/community of believers more so than the centralised hierarchy.
It is not the end of our Irish Catholic faith, but it is a new begining.
Do you not think you are completely constrained though? A lot of Catholics I know have major problems with many practical issues to do with Church doctrine – such as condoms, married clergy, women priests etc. Under Vatican rule these restrictions are unlikely to change this side of the 21st Century.
Why don t you lot not just trust in the BUIBLE and not in man?
Well, if you took the time to read the “Buible” with a critical eye from cover to cover, you might understand why.
I cannot believe the kind of nonsense I have heard from Ireland. First of all, the abuse was done by individuals, not the Catholic faith. There may have been issues of cover-up, but at that time, they didn’t know what else to do.There are strict regulations in place in North America for priests now to deal with these issues. Sadly, some individuals (above noted) spread hatred about Catholicism, but they will have to answer for their hatred in the end.
Now, lets make this point very clear—-any person who abused anyone should be punished to the highest level of the law and they have been in Canada and the United States. Contrary to some people and their ramblings there are good priests and many strong faithful. My family came to the new world from Ireland 200 yrs ago and our faith has not faultered.
The Irish must ask themselves: are the individuals who committed these crimes the church? The answer is no!! These so-called priests will answer for their crimes and their punishment will be far worse than anything they could ever receive on earth.
Michael Connors
Michael, while I acknowledge that child abuse crosses every creed, line of work and discipline, the issue here is how they were handled by church authorities – monsignors, bishops, archbishops and the Vatican itself. You say “they didn’t know what else to do”. Well, I say they could have tried much, much harder than they did. What they *did* do was to move abusing priests on to other parishes so they could abuse again. What they did to was to swear victims to secrecy, often bullying them with dire consequences if they mentioned anything. What they did do was to aggressively go after, with all legal means at their disposal, anyone who might question what was going on. What they did do was to lie with impunity to victims, using the cloak of “mental reservation” as their cover. They did this under the sanction of the highest authority of the Church. Some of this was still happening 10 years ago, when all this was out in the open, when they knew exactly what needed to be done.
None of this is hearsay or mere opinion. The facts have been established, time and time again through numerous inquiries, some performed by the Catholic Church itself. Evidence on top of further evidence. Systematic, widespread, consistent. I would ask you to read the Ferns Report. Read the Ryan Report. Read the Murphy Report. Read the Cloyne Report. They are all there, freely available, online. Nobody in Ireland denies these facts, including the hierarchy themselves. Listen to what Diarmuid Martin, Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, had to say. Even the Vatican has acknowledged huge problems of administration.
The failure of individual priests (of which there were many) was disgraceful, but the cover-up performed at the highest levels of the Church was utterly inexcusable, because it allowed the abuses to continue, with impunity, for decades. This was a problem, not simply of individuals. It was a problem of the Catholic Church.
The best thing to hapen for the Church was the uncovering of it’s sins. Only good will come out of it. Their is no Resurrection without the Crucifixtion. The Church had survived many heresies and schisms. The Church of England has been rent apart into many pieces over the ordination of women, embracing the views of the world. The best thing for the Church in Ireland is to encourage younf men to become humble priests who work with thier flock and not act above them. Yes, there have been bad priests and religious but there have been many holy ones and they must not be forgotten.