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Catholicism Slips in Popularity in Ireland

By Allison Stutzka
Opposing Views
October 13, 2017

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/world/ireland-catholic-population-decreases-6-no-religion-increases-74

A recent census report from the Republic of Ireland has shown a trend in religious affiliation with citizens identifying as 'no religion' steadily rising and the previously reigning religion of the country, Catholicism falling in popularity.

According to NPR, Pope Paul VI called Ireland the most Catholic country in the world back in 1946. The current census reports and political choices of the public have shown that statement to be losing it's credibility over the years.

The proportion of Catholics in Ireland fell by almost six percentage points between 2011 and 2016 when it stood at 78.3%, while the number of those saying they had no religion increased by 74% reports RTE News.

Those identifying as unaffiliated is expected to continue grow in popularity as a crossover of population between Europe and North America continues according to Pew Research.

In an interview conducted by NPR in 2015, the decrease in Catholic affiliated citizens can be correlated to the rise in scandals from the Catholic church involving the abuse of young children, women and sex scandals. Ireland was once referred to as the most catholic country in the world, however with the recent statistics and controversy, the number of unaffiliated is rising.



NPR reporter Miranda Kennedy spoke with Father Joe McGee and archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin about the decrease in attendance in Catholic churches and commitment to the Catholic religion by the people of Ireland.

"For a huge number of people in Ireland now, the church has become irrelevant. I mean, 30 years ago, the culture was that everybody went to some church on a Sunday. Now the culture has shifted. And we have to, in some sense, jettison the hope that one day all our churches will be packed to overflowing again. I don't think that's going to happen," said McGee to NPR.

According to the Irish Times, there have been very little convictions out of the groundbreaking report conducted by the National Board for Safeguarding Children that found 325 allegations made against 141 members of six religious congregations for sexual abuse.

Out of those reports, only 8 were convicted.



Four Dublin archbishops, who have since resigned, were reported to have ignored allegations of abuse from 1975 to 2004.

"The church hasn't been able to bring its teaching and an understanding of that to young people - not just about gay marriage but maybe about marriage altogether and many other things. Despite the fact that most Irish spend many years in a Catholic school, they come out with a very vague commitment to their faith," Martin said to NPR.

Catholicism's popularity hasn't only dipped due to the legal troubles they have experienced but as well with young people who have voted the opposite of the wishes of the Catholic church for social beliefs like marriage equality.

However, in the Marriage Act of 2015 it is stated that Irish churches and Catholic organizations would not be required to perform gay marriages as homosexuality is not supported by the Irish Catholic church reports the BBC.

The change in belief systems has been seen in the United States as well with social movements growing in momentum for marriage equality that led to a Supreme Court ruling calling the restriction unconstitutional. Another similarity is the controversies out of American Catholic churches like the investigative reporting out of Boston in the 1990's that exposed decades of abuse.

Catholicism in the United States has dropped in affiliation by 3% whereas unaffiliated has seen an increase of 6% according to Pew Research.

Globally, scandals have plagued Catholic churches in more than just Ireland and the United States. While Africa has seen a significant increase in Catholics according to the BBC, Europe where scandal has been rampant saw decreases by over 10% since 1970. Other countries that have had cases of child abuse include Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, and others according to the BBC.

 

 

 

 

 




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