For centuries on end, Ireland remained a bedrock of Catholic faith, even through dire persecution. The little country at the edge of Europe became among the world’s leading exporters of missionaries.
But, for almost five years now, Ireland—the “land of saints and scholars”—has not even had a single voting cardinal.
Ireland’s only current cardinal, Seán Brady, turned age 80 in August 2019. In accordance with Church regulations, cardinals who reach age 80 are no longer able to vote in a papal conclave.
Pope Francis has not been shy about creating new cardinals. In fact, he has appointed almost three-fourths of all the existing voting cardinals. And it is clear that the current pontiff has emphasized the creation of cardinals in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
Looking just at Europe, the numbers are quite striking: France has 6 voting cardinals. Italy has 14. Spain has 7. Portugal has 4. Great Britain has 2. Sweden has 1. But Ireland has none.
It is no secret that Ireland has undergone rapid secularization in recent decades. Yet there still are undoubtedly some Irish people who continue to care about religious matters.
Maolsheachlann Ó Ceallaigh, a Dubliner who operates the blog Irish Papist and is the author of Inspiration from the Saints, does not believe the Vatican is seeking to send any particular message by having Ireland go without a voting cardinal.
“I don’t get the impression Ireland features very prominently in Pope Francis’s thoughts,” he says. “It’s true that he spent some time learning English here, but I imagine this small island is not a major concern for him. He has a whole world to think about.”
However, Ó Ceallaigh does, in a sense, feel that the Church has given up on Ireland for the foreseeable future. “I think the hierarchy in Ireland has accepted that we are not going to see any sudden or drastic reversal of secularisation, and that rebuilding the Church in Ireland is going to be a long and arduous task taking many generations,” he says. “They are almost certainly right about this, although I do wish they would be more outspoken at times.”
Ó Ceallaigh agrees that even many Irish Catholics have given up on Ireland as secularized beyond redemption. “Most ordinary Irish people don’t share the hatred of the Church shown by the Irish media, entertainment, and other elites,” he says. “It’s something much more insidious.” He then mentions such factors as consumerism and pop culture addiction.
“It’s not hatred of the Church that stops Irish people from going to Sunday Mass. It’s because they want to go to the garden centre or wash their car instead,” says Ó Ceallaigh.
Such an atmosphere would have been unthinkable only decades ago.
The Irish “were the shining star in Catholicism for centuries,” says David Deane, a native of Ireland’s County Tipperary and a theology professor at the Atlantic School of Theology in Nova Scotia.
Deane says that “once or twice” he has heard someone raise the issue of Ireland’s lack of a voting cardinal, but not in the sense of having been done wrong. Rather, it is “expressed as a comment on the state of the Church in Ireland.”
The Vatican “is aware that a collapse as spectacular as that of the Church in Ireland doesn’t speak well of Church leadership,” says Deane, adding, “A collapse can happen despite some really good leaders, but it is more likely fueled by a significant number of ineffective leaders.”
For centuries, Catholic Ireland had been largely mired in poverty and persecution. When these conditions abated, Catholicism became so triumphant in Ireland that it began to create a sense of complacency.
In the latter half of the 20th century, a new sort of problem arose when it came to many candidates for the clergy.
“In Ireland too many boys went into the priesthood to be smiled on by their families and neighbours and respected in their towns and villages,” says Deane. “And when the culture shifted [toward secularism], they wanted to be respected by that culture.”
By the final quarter of the 20th century, the Church in Ireland was weakening, even if the church attendance numbers had not yet plummeted. And with the emergence of the clergy sexual abuse crisis, the Church was inevitably going to collapse, rapidly.
Irish Catholics feel “hurt and abandoned,” says Deane. “Those whose faith or character is weak or afraid, those whose need to be liked and affirmed is too significant a part of their nature, are not simply leaving the faith but joining mobs against it.”
Deane notes that a “horrible culling process is going on.” But the positive side of such ‘culling’ is that those who remain will be of exceptional stuff.
“What’s left? Saints and Scholars,” he says. “If I was picking a context to grow saints in the 21st century, I might pick Ireland. It requires huge courage, strength, and intellect to be a strong Catholic in Ireland today.”
Despite having numerous saints in the first Christian millennium, Ireland has had a curious lack of them since the late-medieval era. In fact, it has had just one saint canonized in the last 800 years. Ireland has also never had a pope.
Deane agrees that, historically, Ireland “has been cheated a bit.”
“We should have had a few more saints,” says Deane. He points out that, because Ireland typically did not have representatives in the upper echelons of the Church hierarchy, it “maybe lacked some of the ‘pull’” needed to get more canonizations or a pontiff.
Ó Ceallaigh does not believe that Ireland has been cheated. He points out the current Irish causes for sainthood, such as those of Bl. John Sullivan and Bl. Columba Marmion.
“The Irish contribution to the Faith is recognised around the world,” he says, adding, “We probably get more credit than we deserve at this stage, considering how far we have fallen short of our ancestors.”
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The episcopate has betrayed those they term “the people of God” while abandoning their authentic name CATHOLICS — neutralizing our identity in the service of an enterprise termed ecumenism. Ecumenism: the heresy of our age. The entire post-conciliar debacle has manifested its nature and character — an operation to eradicate Catholicism while what is left of Roman Catholicism is still hawking “the council” — the nightmare of an ecclesiastical Woodstock. Who can shoulder this baloney any more. Obviously not the Irish and they likely don’t even know why given the absence of authentic accurate catechesis for over sixty years.
With every passing day “the council” becomes ever more tragically recognized as the drug of choice by an episcopate bent on some sort of fantasy termed relevance, personal relevance, pride. The operation is a total train wreck. Knock it off and stand up for the faith gifted us by Jesus Christ and two thousand years of Gospel wisdom. The last thing in the world required is for the Church to be reimaged in the likeness of foolish little men who don’t know up from down. There is not a thing to do with renewal and reform in the present operation, it is more accurately recognized as mutilation.
I disagree, there has been much reformed; but not all for the good.
“Reformed” commonly denotes improvement. Having lived through both the pre-conciliar epoch and the post-conciliar debacle I can say anything you might term “reformed” didn’t need a council to effect. Our situation mirrors a city which required road improvement and to facilitate objective it was leveled to the ground over a span of sixty-five years…and still going.
Spot on!
Well said James. Ireland is the sign and summit of the fruits of Vatican II.
Two of the jurisdictions where the Catholic church wielded the most secular power and was most entangled with corrupt politics were Ireland and Quebec and it is no coincidence that they have become two of the most anti-Church. I believe anger at the Church’s crimes does indeed keep people away on Sunday, not just a desire to wash the car.
“God has no grandchildren” , only children!
Read about the Magdalene laundries and the abuse visited upon young women by sadistic nuns. Read about abusive priests in Ireland. Then you will have your answer.
The myth of the Magdalene scandal has long been put to rest. The issue of sexually abusive priests while real has also been magnified to justify the abandonment of the faith. Its a good excuse for letting oneself off the hook. Sin is real, really real. Let us regard the icon over our bathroom sinks. There is plenty of scandal right there.
The myth of sexual abuse of minors being something uniquely Catholic is just that. A myth. But a very useful one to demoralize Catholics.
Indeed it is, and it was a grave mistake to allow all of us Catholics to be held collectively responsible while nothing like that is allowed to be done in any other case. This is a blatant violation of justice – as entire dioceses can be driven into bankruptcy forced to pay monetary compensation to victims and their lawyers, then the same principle ought to apply in all the other cases: if the perpetrator is in the movie business, the entire industry ought to pay, a physician/psychiatrist/psychologist/a social worker – their employers and professional bodies, a lawyer or a judge – likewise, etc., etc. Yet this never happens – it’s not even discussed.
MrsC. You are right. Pedophilia by other faiths are abundant.
Abuse and cover-ups are rampant in evangelical churches. There seems to be little, if any, accountabiity.
USA Today: Some of the larger evangelical congregations and megachurches are nondenominational, meaning they operate outside the authority and accountability of a larger organization.
And while it’s not fair to tarnish all churches because of the crimes of one megachurch pastor, there is a clear pattern of abusive and at times criminal behavior among pastors and other leaders in a growing list of evangelical congregations.
Yes Mr. Morgan, it’s true that abuse is found everywhere & in every kind of religious institution. It’s not restricted to churches though. Any place where you have minors you may also have people that prey upon them. And real pedophiles are far less common than predators who exploit teens.
The Magdalene Laundry scandals were real, and horrific. As were abusive priests. Get real. People got fed up.
There are no great differences in the historic exploitation of minors & vulnerable people whether it’s in British workhouses, private & public schools, juvenile detention homes, the entertainment industry, youth gymnastics, etc. Children & minors are vulnerable populations. As are those who are in acre or incarcerated.
If one has an agenda against Catholic clergy or any other group they focus on exploitation & predation in that one sector. But there’s nothing uniquely Catholic about fallen nature & the simple fact that some people choose to work with minors for all the wrong reasons.
There are no great differences in the historic exploitation of minors & vulnerable people whether it’s in British workhouses, private & public schools, juvenile detention homes, the entertainment industry, youth gymnastics, etc. Children & minors are vulnerable populations. As are those who are in care or incarcerated.
If one has an agenda against Catholic clergy or any other group they focus on exploitation & predation in that one sector. But there’s nothing uniquely Catholic about fallen nature & the simple fact that some people choose to work with minors for all the wrong reasons.
Sorry if this is a duplicate comment.The first seems to disappear into cyberspace…
My comment did repeat. So sorry.
Irish Catholicism is the victim of Vatican II and Kennedy Americanism.
Irish Catholics traded one set of overlords for another. I’d rather have Britain than George Soros and Pfizer.
You have said it in one, Robert. The misinterpretation of the Vatican II documents which did not in fact alter one tenet of Catholic teaching and disappointed many who thought they would get all sorts of personal benefit from the Council’s determinations, is the major reason why Catholicism has gone down the plug hole since Vatican II- possibly one of the greatest disasters that has ever befallen the Church founded by Christ himself.
I just can’t figure out how someone could be unfulfilled by having a relationship with a friend who is not only invisible, but also completely undetectable. Gosh.
Meanwhile, you guys will keep pretending like this isn’t a primary reason people leave.
With a tepid, self-loathing Christian presence withing the culture, it is requisit that the individual take responsibility in their personal spiritual search. Its a rude reality but its very true. I was fortunate not to have that impediment — my generation still was handed on the gift of faith. What are you doing to bump into Him? What are you doing to avoid Him? You are here…that tells me you are engaged. Dig deeper.
I’m here to explain to you that you have been scammed.
People who claim no faith seem to spend a great deal of time on faith-based sites. And that’s a good thing they’re being led here.
🙂
I just can’t figure out why someone who doesn’t believe God exists spends so much time, effort, and energy posting comments on a Catholic website. Quite juvenile.
Shame Andrew. I know you feel keenly about things.
Never mind, Just be aware that God still loves the world. Take heart from the parable of the Prodigal Son.
All can still turn out well.
God bless
My grandparents came to America after the Irish potato famine and Queen Victoria.
In the “new world” Grandpa made it clear, he was the titular head of the family. That dominance along with strict Catholic reproduction rules, granny had 14 children, one was stillborn. She was perpetually in the bed and the kitchen. She did not partake of the American dream.
The Catholic Church’s dominance in Ireland for many of centuries could say something. An extended peiod of ideological changes seemed inevitable. Then in 1996 came the end of a massive incarsiration and degredation of women in the Magadelene laundries run by church orders in conjunction with the Irish government to cleanse the souls of the fallen.
History: When the mass grave at Donnybrook was discovered, the 155 unmarked tombs touched off a scandal that exposed the extent and horrors of the Magdalene laundries. As women came forward to share their experiences of being held against their will in restrictive workhouses, the Irish public reacted with outrage.
A heartbreaking event was when a “wayward” mother’s child was taken from her and she was forced into the dreaded laundry. Years later her “wayward” daughter was placed next to her doing the laundry and they did not know each other.
Enter Ireland’s first female President, Mary Robinson a champion for womens’s civil rights. She was widely known as a pioneering spirit at a time when women were a decidedly second-class in Ireland. She provided comfort and hope for the prisoners of the laundries.
The Irish washerwomen are are now doing their dirty laundry. We may want to have ours hung out.
The respectable Irish Catholic middle classes always despised the poor in Independent Ireland and any woman who had the misfortune to get pregnant outside marriage. Rate payers in Galway and their political representatives constantly complained about wasted money given to the local convent in Tuam who had the task of looking after the unwanted poor. Many of those religious also sisters shared the disgraceful lack of Christian kindness of the respectable classes.
American Fr Flanagan of Boys town fame was denounced in the Irish Parliament when he dared criticise state and church cruelty to children of the poor.
Nowadays in Ireland we simply abort the unwanted poor. Modern Ireland prides itself on that progress.
Well said, especially concerning the Servant of God, Fr Flanagan, whose castigation of the treatment of these children was well known and yet was castigated in return as a medling priest, shows that even then Catholic Ireland hated holy clerics!
My Protestant ancestors had families of 8-15 children without having to follow any “strict Catholic reproduction rules”. They considered each child a blessing from God, just as my Catholic ancestors did.
My Irish 2x’s great grandfather was said to be one of 20 some children.
Fertility’s a great blessing & a less common thing today. Witness the huge IVF industry. Fertility’s a fleeting thing & not something we should never take for granted.
True, many faiths had large families. True, every birth is a miracle from God. What you seem to miss is that my wonderful granny, whom I loved dearly, was the subject of matrial rape. Because of his raging libido he made her a baby factory. As with many faiths, in Ireland the man is dominant. You might walk in her shoes. The Catholic hierarchy may be complicit with their silence. And, because of physical limitations and ailments, not ever woman can be open to large families.
My mother had one abiding regret.
She was unable to have more than 5 children who survived.
Mr. Morgan, I know nothing of your grandparents’ marital relationship & therefore can’t comment on that.
Women who are blessed with many children are not “baby factories.” I have 8 children & that doesn’t make me a manufacturing unit either.
Its time to let the past go. Ultimately God is in control and has allowed our church to collapse to rebuilt it stronger and better.
I have learnt not to look back in anger, the religious orders of the lest century laid the foundations for something better.
Let’s leave all judgement to God and rebuilt the Church in the best way we can.
Between abortion and now the illegal immigrants storming Ireland there will not be many redheads left. And once that’s gone it can never be recovered
I believe red hair is said to have come from the Vikings. But red-haired or Black Irish , the Irish people need to begin having children. They’re their own worst enemy right now. Ditto for almost every part of Europe. The Faroe Islands do seem to be reversing that trend.
My largest ancestry is from Ireland, Sometimes I’d like to cut my veins and drain that blood out, but I have to remember there are many good faithful people in Ireland. Many Clergy betrayed their people, and many are now towing the party line of modernism. I often think that a majority of nine brought infanticide to America, but a majority of the Irish voted it in. Saint Patrick, St Brigid and Our Lady of Knock., intercede for Ireland
I believe also that we need to start having more children. The immigrants that are pouring into Ireland who happen to be muslim will be happy to outbreed you. Then comes the mosques which are expected gift from a rich muslim will wake you up very early in the morning with the call to pray. We are not perfect but we do more good than any other religion. You will have 10 foot fences all over the place. Ireland will forever be changed. I also believe that the church needs to tell males that they are not entitled to sex whenever. This is an American viewpoint but I am half Irish and proud of it.