 Catholic Church in Ireland | |
|---|---|
 St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, the seat of theArchbishop of Armagh, head of the Catholic Church in Ireland | |
| Type | National polity |
| Classification | Catholic |
| Orientation | Latin |
| Scripture | Catholic Bible |
| Theology | Catholic theology |
| Governance | ICBC |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Primate of All Ireland | Eamon Martin |
| Primate of Ireland | Dermot Farrell |
| Apostolic Nuncio | Luis Mariano Montemayor[1] |
| Region | Ireland |
| Language | Irish (historically),English,Latin (liturgical) |
| Headquarters | Ara Coeli,Armagh,Northern Ireland |
| Founder | St. Patrick |
| Origin | Claims continuity withCeltic Christianityc. 430. Roman diocesan structure introducedc. 1111 atSynod of Ráth Breasail. Gaelic Ireland |
| Separations | Church of Ireland (1536) |
| Members | 4,321,012[note 1] |
| Official website | Irish Bishops' Conference |
| Part ofa series on |
| Celtic Christianity |
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History |
| Portal Christianity |
TheCatholic Church in Ireland, orIrish Catholic Church, is part of the worldwideCatholic Church incommunion with theHoly See. With approximately 4.3 million members, it is the largestChristian church in Ireland.[2][3] In theRepublic of Ireland's 2022 census, 69% of the population identified as Roman Catholic,[4] and inNorthern Ireland's 2021 census, 42.3% identified as Roman Catholic.[5][6]
TheArchbishop of Armagh, as thePrimate of All Ireland, has ceremonial precedence in the church. The church is administered on anall-Ireland basis. TheIrish Catholic Bishops' Conference is a consultative body forordinaries in Ireland.Christianity has existed in Ireland since the 5th century and arrived fromRoman Britain (most famously associated withSaint Patrick), forming what is today known asGaelic Christianity. It gradually gained ground and replaced the oldpagan traditions. The Catholic Church in Ireland cites its origin to this period and considersPalladius as the first bishop sent to the Gaels byPope Celestine I. However, during the 12th century a stricter uniformity in the Western Church was enforced, with the diocesan structure introduced with theSynod of Ráth Breasail in 1111 and culminating with theGregorian Reform which coincided with theAnglo-Norman invasion of Ireland.
After theTudor conquest of Ireland, theEnglish Crown attempted to import theProtestant Reformation into Ireland. The Catholic Church was outlawed and adherents enduredoppression and severelegal penalties for refusing to conform to thereligion established by law — theChurch of Ireland. By the 16th century, Irishnational identity coalesced aroundIrish Catholicism. For several centuries, the Irish Catholic majority were suppressed. In the 19th century, the church and theBritish Empire came to arapprochement. Funding forMaynooth College was agreed as wasCatholic emancipation to ward off revolutionary republicanism. Following theEaster Rising of 1916 and the creation of theIrish Free State, the church gained significant social and political influence. During the late 20th century,a number of sexual abuse scandals involving clerics emerged.
Duringclassical antiquity, theRoman Empire conquered most ofWestern Europe but never reached Ireland. So when theEdict of Milan in 313 AD allowed tolerance for thePalestinian-originated religion ofChristianity and then theEdict of Thessalonica in 380 AD enforced it as thestate religion of the Empire (which comprised much of Europe - including within theBritish Isles itself,Roman Britain), the indigenous Indo-Europeanpagan traditions of theGaels in Ireland remained normative. Aside from this independence, Gaelic Ireland was a highly decentralised tribal society, so mass conversion to a new system would prove a drawn-out process when the Christian religion began to gradually move into the island.[7]
There is no tradition of aNew Testament figure visiting the island.Joseph of Arimathea traditionally came to Britain, andMary Magdalene,Martha andLazarus of Bethany to France, but none were reputed to have seen Ireland itself. Nevertheless, medieval Gaelic historians - in works such as theLebor Gabála Érenn - attempted to link the historical narrative of their people (represented by the proto-GaelicScythians) toMoses inEgypt.[note 2] Furthermore, according to theLebor Gabála Érenn, the lifetime ofJesus Christ was synchronous with the reigns ofEterscél,Nuadu Necht andConaire Mór asHigh Kings of Ireland. In medieval accounts,Conchobar mac Nessa, aKing of Ulster, was born in the same hour as Christ. Later in life, upon seeing an unexplained "darkening of the skies", Conchobar mac Nessa found out from adruí that Christ had been crucified, leading to the conversion of Conchobar. However, after hearing the story of the crucifixion, Conchobar became distraught and died. Some accounts claim Conchobar "was the first pagan who went to Heaven in Ireland", as the blood that dripped from his head upon his death baptised him.[note 3][8][9]
Regardless, the earliest known stages of Christianity in Ireland, generally dated to the 5th century, remain somewhat obscure. Native Christian "pre-Patrician" figures, however, includingAilbe (died 528),Abbán (diedc. 520),Ciarán (diedc. 530) andDeclán (fl. 5th century), later venerated assaints, are known. These figures typically operated inLeinster andMunster. The early stories of these people mention journeys to Roman Britain, toRoman Gaul and even to Rome itself. Indeed,Pope Celestine I is held to have sentPalladius to evangelise the Gaels in 431, though success was limited. Apart from these, the figure most associated with the Christianisation of Ireland isPatrick (Maewyn Succat), aRomano-British nobleman, who was captured by the Gaels during a raid at a time when theRoman rule in Britain was in decline. Patrick contested with thedruí, targeted the local royalty for conversion, and re-orientated Irish Christianity to havingArmagh, an ancient royal site associated with the goddessMacha (an aspect ofAn Morríghan), as the preeminent seat of power.[10] Much of what is known about Patrick comes from the twoLatin works attributed to him:Confessio andEpistola ad Coroticum. The two earliest lives of Ireland's patron saint emerged in the 7th century, authored byTírechán andMuirchú. Both of these are contained within theBook of Armagh.[11]
From its inception in theEarly Middle Ages, the Gaelic Church centred around powerful local monasteries, a system which suggests early links with theCoptic Church in Egypt.[12]The lands on which monasteries were based were known astermonn lands; they held a special tax-exempt status and were places of sanctuary. The spiritual heirs and successors of the saintly founders of these monasteries were known asCoarbs, and held the right to provide abbots. For example: theAbbot of Armagh was the Comharba Phádraig, theAbbot of Iona was the Comharba Cholm Cille, theAbbot of Clonmacnoise was the Comharba Chiarán, theAbbot of Glendalough was the Comharba Chaoimhín, and so on. The larger monasteries had various subordinate monasteries within a particular "family". The position ofCoarb, like others inGaelic culture, was hereditary, held by a particular ecclesiasticalclann with the same paternal bloodline and elected from within a family throughtanistry (usually protected by the local Gaelic king). This was the same system used for the selection of kings, standard-bearers, bardic poets and other hereditary roles.Erenagh were the hereditary stewards of thetermonn lands of a monastery. Monks also founded monasteries on smallerislands around Ireland, for instanceFinnian atSkellig Michael,Senán atInis Cathaigh and Columba atIona. As well as this,Brendan was known for his offshore "voyage" journeys and the mysteriousSaint Brendan's Island.
The influence of the Irish Church spread back across theIrish Sea toGreat Britain.Dál Riata in what is nowArgyll in Scotland was geopolitically continuous with Ireland, andIona held an important place in Irish Christianity, with Columban monastic activities either side of theNorth Channel. From here, Irish missionaries converted the pagan northernPicts ofFortriu. They were also esteemed at the court of the premierAngle-kingdom of the time,Northumbria, withAidan from Iona founding a monastery atLindisfarne in 634, converting Northumbrians to Christianity (the Northumbrians in turn convertedMercia). Surviving artifacts such as theLindisfarne Gospels, share the sameinsular art-style with theStowe Missal andBook of Kells. By the 7th century, rivalries between Hibernocentric-Lindisfarne andKentish-Canterbury emerged within theHeptarchy, with the latter established by the mission of Roman-bornAugustine of Canterbury in 597. Customs of the Irish Church which differed, such as the calculation of the date of Easter and the Gaelic monks' manner oftonsure were highlighted. The discrepancies were resolved in southern Ireland withClonfert replying toPope Honorius I with theLetter ofCumméne Fota, around 626-628. After a separate dialogue with Rome, Armagh followed in 692. The Columbans of Iona proved the most resistant of the Irish, holding out until the early 700s, though their satellite Lindisfarne was pressured into changing at theSynod of Whitby in 664, partly due to an internal political struggle.[note 4] The longest holdouts were theCornishBritons ofDumnonia, as part of their conflict withWessex. Indeed, the Cornish had beenconverted by Irish missionaries: the Cornish patron saintPiran (also known asCiarán) and a nun,princess Ia, who gave her name toSt. Ives, were foremost. As well as Ia, there were also female saints in Ireland during the early period, such asBrigid ofKildare andÍte of Killeedy.
The oldest surviving Irish Christianliturgical text is theAntiphonary of Bangor from the 7th century. Indeed, atBangor, a saint by the name ofColumbanus developed hisRule of St. Columbanus. Stronglypenetential in nature, this Rule played a seminal role in the formalisation of theSacrament of Confession in the Catholic Church.[citation needed] The zeal and piety of the Church in Ireland during the 6th and 7th centuries was such that many monks, including Columbanus and his companions,went as missionaries to Continental Europe, especially to theMerovingian andCarolingianFrankish Empire. Notable establishments founded by the Irish Christians includedLuxeuil Abbey (foundedc. 590) inBurgundy,Bobbio Abbey (founded in 614) inLombardy, theAbbey of Saint Gall (founded in the 8th century) in present-daySwitzerland andDisibodenberg Abbey (foundedc. 700) nearOdernheim am Glan. These Columbanian monasteries were great places of learning, with substantial libraries; these became centres of resistance to the heresy ofArianism. Later, theRule of St. Columbanus was supplanted by the "softer"Rule of St. Benedict. The ascetic nature ofGaelic monasticism has been linked to theDesert Fathers ofEgypt.[13]Martin of Tours (died 397) andJohn Cassian (c. 360 –c. 435) were significant influences.
Within the Catholic Church, theGregorian Reform took place during the 11th century, which reformed the administration of theRoman Rite to a more centralised model and closely enforced disciplines such as the struggle againstsimony, marriage irregularities and in favour ofclerical celibacy. This was in the aftermath of theEast–West Schism between the Catholic Church in the West and theOrthodox Church in the East. These Roman reforms reached Ireland with three or four significant synods: the First Synod of Cashel (1101) was called byMuirchertach Ó Briain, theHigh King of Ireland andKing of Munster, held at theRock of Cashel withMáel Muire Ó Dúnáin aspapal legate, affirming many of these disciplines. This was followed by theSynod of Ráth Breasail (1111), called by the High King withGiolla Easpaig as the papal legate (he had been an associate ofAnselm of Aosta), which moved the administration of the Church in Ireland from a monastic-centered model to a diocesan-centered one, with two provinces at Armagh and Cashel established, with twelve territorial dioceses under theArchbishop of Armagh andArchbishop of Cashel respectively. It also brought Waterford under Cashel, as the Norsemen had previously looked to theProvince of Canterbury.Cellach of Armagh, the "Coarb Pádraig", was present and recognised with the new title as Archbishop of Armagh, which was given thePrimacy of Ireland.
One of the major figures associated with the Gregorian Reform in Ireland wasMáel Máedóc Ó Morgair, also known as Malachy, who was an Archbishop of Armagh and the firstGaelic Irish saint to undergo a formal canonisation process and official proclamation. Máel Máedóc was closely associated withBernard of Clairvaux and introduced hisCistercian order fromFrance into Ireland with the foundation ofMellifont Abbey in 1142. He had visitedPope Innocent II in Rome to discuss implementing reforms. It was in association with these foundations that theSynod of Kells-Mellifont (1152) took place. Malachy had died a few years previously and so CardinalGiovanni Paparoni was present as papal legate forPope Eugene III. It rejected Canterbury's pretentions of primacy over the Irish Church. This created two more Provinces and Archbishops, with anArchbishop of Dublin and anArchbishop of Tuam added. Tuam was established in acknowledgement of the political rise of Connacht, with the High King beingToirdhealbhach Ó Conchobhair. Another major figure associated with this Reform wasLorcán Ó Tuathail, Archbishop of Dublin who foundedChrist Church at Dublin under theReformed Augustinians.
Due to the influential hagiography, theLife of Saint Malachy, authored by Bernard of Clairvaux, with a strongly Reformist Cistercian zeal, the view that the Gaelic Irish Christians were "savages", "barbarian" or "semi-pagan"; due to their difference in church discipline and organisation and despite a reform already underway under the native high kings; found a wide footing in Western Europe. In 1155,John of Salisbury, Secretary to theArchbishop of Canterbury (thenTheobald of Bec), visitedBenevento where the first English Pontiff,Pope Adrian IV (Nicholas Breakspear) was reigning. Here, he spoke of the need for reform for the Church in Ireland, requesting that this be overseen by theKing of England, thenHenry II Plantagenet, who would have the right to invade and rule Ireland. Adrian IV published the Papal bullLaudabiliter giving permission for this proposal.[14] This was not acted on immediately or made public, partly due to the king's own problems with the church (i.e. the murder ofThomas Becket) and his motherEmpress Matilda being opposed to him acting on it. TheNormans had conquered Englandaround century earlier and now due to internal political rivalries within Gaelic Ireland, began toinvade Ireland in 1169, underStrongbow, ostensibly to restore theKing of Leinster. Fearful that the Norman barons would set up their own rival Kingdom and wanting Ireland himself, Henry II landed atWaterford in 1171, under the authority ofLaudabiliter (ratified byPope Alexander III).[15] Once established, he held the SecondSynod of Cashel (1172). The synod, ignored in theIrish annals, is known from the writings ofGerald of Wales, the anti-Gaelic Norman who authoredExpugnatio Hibernica (1189). Three of the four Irish Archbishops are said to have attended, with Armagh not present due to infirmity but supportive. It relisted most of the Reforms already approached before and included atithe to be paid to the parish and that "divine matters" in the Irish Church should be conducted along the lines observed by the English Church. In the following years, Norman-descended churchmen would now play a direct role within the Irish Church as the politicalLordship of Ireland was established, though many Gaelic kingdoms and their dioceses remained too.
Crusadingmilitary orders, such as theKnights Templar andKnights Hospitaller had a presence in Ireland, mostly, though not exclusively, in the Norman areas.[16] The Templars had their Principal atClontarf Castle until their suppression in 1308[17] and received land grants from various patrons; from the de Laceys, Butlers, Taffes, FitzGeralds and evenO'Mores. Their Master in Ireland was part of the administration of the Lordship of Ireland. The Hospitallers (later known as theKnights of Malta) had their Priory atKilmainham and various preceptories in Ireland.[18] They took over Templar properties and continued throughout the Medieval period. During the 13th century, themendicant orders began to operate within Ireland and 89 friaries were established during this period.[19] The first of these to arrive were theOrder of Preachers (also known as the Dominicans), theyfirst established a branch at Dublin in 1224, shortly followed by one at Drogheda the same year, before spreading further.[19] Prominent examples of Dominican establishments from this era areBlack Abbey inKilkenny andSligo Abbey. Their biggest rivals, theOrder of Friars Minor (also known as the Franciscans) arrived at around the same time, either 1224 or 1226, with their first establishment atYoughal. TheEnnis Friary andRoscrea Friary inThomond founded by the O'Briens are other prominent Franciscan examples. TheCarmelites arrived next in 1271, followed by theAugustinians.[19] Within these orders, as demonstrated by the Franciscans in particular, there was often a strong ethnic conflict between the native IrishGaels and theNormans.[20]
During theWestern Schism which lasted from 1378 to 1417, within which there were at least two claimants to the Papacy (one in Rome and one inAvignon), different factions withinGaelic Ireland disagreed on whom to support.[21] This was not a doctrinal dispute, but a political one. ThePlantagenet-controlled Lordship of Ireland followed theKingdom of England in backing the Pope in Rome. Meanwhile, there were two main power blocs among theGaelic kingdoms andGaelicised lordships supporting different contenders. TheDonn faction, led by theO'Neill of Tyrone,O'Brien of Thomond,Burke of Clanrickard andO'Connor Donn of Roscommon supported Rome.[21] Through the agency of theEarl of Ormond, they had been loosely allied toRichard II of England when he made an expedition to Ireland in 1394–95.[21] Secondly, there was theRuadh faction, led by theO'Donnell of Tyrconnell,Burke of Mayo andO'Connor Ruadh of Roscommon; from 1406, they were joined by theO'Neill of Clannaboy.[21] This alternative power faction backed the Avignon antipapacy and were more closely allied to theStewart-controlledKingdom of Scotland.[21] The situation was finally resolved by theCouncil of Constance of 1414–1418 with full reunification of the church.
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A confusing but defining period arose during theEnglish Reformation in the 16th century, with monarchs alternately for or againstpapal supremacy. When on the death of Queen Mary in 1558, the church in England and Ireland broke away completely from the papacy, all but two of the bishops of the church in Ireland followed the decision.[22] Very few of the local clergy led their congregations to follow. The new body became the establishedstate church, which was grandfathered in the possession of most church property. This allowed theChurch of Ireland to retain a great repository of religious architecture and other religious items, some of which were later destroyed in subsequent wars. A substantial majority of the population remained Catholic, despite the political and economic advantages of membership in the state church. Despite its numerical minority, however, the Church of Ireland remained the official state church for almost 300 years until it wasdisestablished on 1 January 1871 by theIrish Church Act 1869 that was passed byGladstone's Liberal government.
The effect of theAct of Supremacy 1558 and thepapal bull of 1570 (Regnans in Excelsis) legislated that the majority population of both kingdoms to be governed by anAnglican ascendancy. After the defeat of King James II of the Three Kingdoms in 1690, theTest Acts were introduced which began a long era of discrimination against the recusant Catholics of the kingdoms.
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The slow process of reform from 1778 on led toCatholic emancipation in 1829. By 1800 Ireland was a part of the newly createdUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. As part of theKingdom of Ireland (de facto Independent after theConstitution of 1782),St Patrick's College, Maynooth was founded as a national seminary for Ireland with theMaynooth College Act 1795 (prior to this, from the time of Protestant persecutions beginning until around the time of theFrench Revolution, Irish priests underwent formation in Continental Europe). TheMaynooth Grant of 1845, whereby the British government attempted to engender good will to Catholic Ireland became a political controversy with theAnti-Maynooth Conference group founded by anti-Catholics.
In 1835, Fr. John Spratt, an IrishCarmelite visited Rome and was given byPope Gregory XVI, the relics and the remains ofSt. Valentine (whose feast is St.Valentine's Day), a Roman 3rd century Christian martyr, which Spratt brought back toWhitefriar Street Carmelite Church, Dublin. The faith was beginning to be legalised in Ireland again but the relics of most of the old Irish saints had been destroyed, so Pope Gregory XVI gifted these to the Irish nation.[24][25] In the aftermath of theGreat Hunger, CardinalPaul Cullen became the first Irish cardinal of the Catholic Church. He played a significant role in shaping 19th century Irish Catholicism and also played a leading role at theFirst Vatican Council as anultramontanist involved in crafting the formula forpapal infallibility. Cullen called theSynod of Thurles in 1850, the first formal synod of the Irish Catholic episcopacy and clergy since 1642 and then theSynod of Maynooth.
In 1879, there was a significantMarian apparition in Ireland, that ofOur Lady of Knock inCounty Mayo. Here theBlessed Virgin Mary is said to have appeared, with St.Joseph and St.John the Evangelist either side (along with theAgnus Dei) and she remained silent throughout. Statements were taken from 15 lay people who claimed to have witnessed the apparition. TheKnock Shrine became a major place of pilgrimage andPope Pius XI declared Our Lady of Knock to be "Queen of Heaven and of Ireland" at the closing of the1932 Eucharistic Congress.
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From the time that Ireland achieved independence, the church came to play an increasingly significant social and political role in theIrish Free State and following that, theRepublic of Ireland. For many decades, Catholic influence (coupled with the rural nature of Irish society) meant that Ireland was able to uphold family-orientated social policies for longer than most of the West, contrary to thelaissez-faire-associatedcultural liberalism of the British and Americans. This cultural direction was particularly prominent underÉamon de Valera. For example, from 1937 until 1995, divorce and remarriage was not permitted (in line withCatholic views of marriage).[note 5] Similarly, pornography, abortion, and contraception[note 6] were also resisted; media depictions perceived to be detrimental to public morality were also opposed by Catholics. In addition, the church largely controlled many of the state's hospitals, and most schools, and remained the largest provider of many other social services.
At thepartition of Ireland in 1922, 92.6% of the south's population were Catholic while 7.4% were Protestant.[26] By the 1960s, the Anglican and Nonconformist Protestant population had fallen by half, mostly due to emigration in the early years of Irish independence, with some Anglicans preferring to live within the UK. However, in the early 21st century the percentage of Protestants in the Republic has risen slightly, to 4.2%, and the absolute numbers to more than 200,000, almost equal to the number in 1920, due to immigration and a modest flow of conversions from Catholicism.[citation needed] The Catholic Church's policy ofNe Temere, whereby the children of marriages between Catholics and Protestants had to be brought up as Catholics,[note 7] also helped to uphold Catholic hegemony.
In both parts of Ireland, church policy and practice changed markedly after theVatican II reforms of 1962. Probably the largest change was thatMass could be said invernacular languages instead ofLatin, and in 1981 the church commissioned its first edition of the Bible in theIrish language,[27] but the church overwhelmingly uses English. ArchbishopJohn Charles McQuaid was uneasy about the introduction of an English liturgy and ecumenical revisions, finding it offensive to Catholic sensibilities; he wished to uphold the liturgy in Latin, while also offering Irish as the vernacular (he promoted an Irish language provision more than other Bishops).[28]
Since theCeltic Tiger and the furtherance ofcosmopolitanism in Ireland, Catholicism has been one of the traditional elements of Ireland to fall into decline; particularly in urban areas. Fewer than one in five Catholics attend Mass on any given Sunday in Dublin with many young people only retaining a marginal interest in religion the Archbishop of Dublin,Diarmuid Martin, said in May 2011.[29] According to a 2012 Ipsos MRBI poll by the Irish Times, the majority of Irish Catholics did not attend mass weekly, with almost 62% rejecting key parts of Catholicism such astransubstantiation.[30] After the results of both the2015 same-sex marriage and the2018 abortionreferendums,Úna Mullally, a liberal journalist who writes forThe Guardian claimed that "the fiction of Ireland as a conservative, dogmatically Catholic country has been shattered".[31]
Notwithstanding the partition of Ireland in 1922, the Catholic Church in Ireland has remained organised on an all-island basis.[32]
TheGovernment of Ireland Act of 1920 acted as the constitution ofNorthern Ireland, in which was enshrined freedom of religion for all of Northern Ireland's citizens.[33] Here Catholics formed a minority of some 35 percent of the population, which had mostly supported Irish nationalism and was therefore historically opposed to the creation of Northern Ireland.
The Roman Catholic schools' council was at first resistant in accepting the role of the government of Northern Ireland, and initially accepted funding only from the government of theIrish Free State and admitting no school inspectors. Thus it was that theLynn Committee presented a report to the government, from which an Education Bill was created to update the education system in Northern Ireland, without any co-operation from the Roman Catholic section in education. Instead, with regard to the Roman Catholic schools, the report relied on the guidance of a Roman Catholic who was to become the Permanent Secretary to the Minister of Education –A. N. Bonaparte Wyse
We hope that, notwithstanding the disadvantage at which we were placed by this action, it will be found that Roman Catholic interests have not suffered. We have throughout been careful to keep in mind and to make allowance for the particular points of view of Roman Catholics in regard to education so far as known to us, and it has been our desire to refrain as far as we could from recommending any course which might be thought to be contrary to their wishes.[34]
— Lynn Commission report, 1923
Many commentators have suggested that the separate education systems in Northern Ireland after 1921 prolonged the sectarian divisions in that community. Cases ofgerrymandering and preference in public services for Protestants led on to the need for aCivil Rights Movement in 1967. This was in response to continuing discrimination against Catholics in Northern Ireland.[35]
The church is organised into fourecclesiastical provinces. While these may have coincided with contemporary 12th century civil provinces orpetty kingdoms, they are not now coterminous with the modern civil provincial divisions. The church is led by fourarchbishops and twenty-three bishops; however, because there have been amalgamations and absorptions, there are more thantwenty-seven dioceses.[36] For instance, the diocese ofCashel has been joined with the diocese ofEmly,Waterford merged withLismore,Ardagh merged withClonmacnoise among others. The bishop of theDiocese of Galway is also theApostolic Administrator ofKilfenora. There are 1,087 parishes, a few of which are governed by administrators, the remainder by parish priests. There are about 3,000 secular clergy—parish priests, administrators,curates, chaplains, and professors in colleges. TheAssociation of Catholic Priests is a voluntary association of clergy in Ireland that has more than 1000 members.[37][38][39]
There are also manyreligious orders, which include:Augustinians,Capuchins,Carmelites,Fathers of the Holy Ghost,Dominicans,Franciscans,Jesuits,Marists,Missionaries of Charity,Oblates,Passionists,Redemptorists, andVincentians. The total number of theregular clergy is about 700. They are engaged either in teaching or in givingmissions, and occasionally charged with the government of parishes.
Two societies of priests were founded in Ireland, namelySt Patrick's Missionary Society, with its headquarters inCounty Wicklow, and theMissionary Society of St. Columban based inCounty Meath.
Almost all Catholic religious in Ireland belong to theLatin Church. A few residentEastern Catholic priests serve mainlyimmigrant communities, with supervision split between anapostolic visitor of the same church based abroad and a Latin-church bishop in Ireland. TheSyro Malabar Church has several priests withStephen Chirappanath of Rome as visitor;[40] theSyro-Malankara Church has several with Yoohanon Mar Theodosius ofMuvattupuzha as visitor;[41] theUkrainian Greek Catholic church has one with theUkrainian Catholic Eparch of London as visitor.[42]
Besides numerousreligious institutes such as theDominicans, there are many groups more focused onCatholic laity in Ireland, such as:
Other organisations with Irish branches:
In the years surrounding the Great Famine in Ireland, the Catholic Church was doing much work to evangelise other nations in the world. As a consequence of the famine, the Parish Mission's Movement commenced that would lead to a stricter observance of Catholicism in Ireland as well as the push for reform of healthcare and education which would later be expanded into the overseas missionary work.[43] Initially inspired largely byCardinal Newman to convert the colonised peoples of the British Empire,[citation needed] after 1922 the church continued to work in healthcare and education what is now theThird World through its bodies such asTrócaire. Along with the Irish Catholicdiaspora in countries like the US and Australia, this has created a worldwide network, though affected by falling numbers of priests. For a large part of the 20th century, the number of men entering the priesthood in Ireland was so overwhelming that many were sent to the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia.
In the 2022 Irish census 69% of the population identified as Catholic in Ireland.[44] Ireland has seen a significant decline from the 84.2% who identified as Catholic in the 2011 census and 79% who identified as Catholic in the 2016 census.[45]In October 2019 the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) announced that reform is urgently required to prevent parishes from closing across Ireland. The number of clerics dying or retiring continues to exceed the number of new priests. The ACP has long promoted church reform, including relaxing celibacy rules, ordaining married men, and ordaining women to the diaconate.[46]
In 2020, 65% of Irish Catholics supportedsame-sex marriage and 30% opposed it.[47]
| Christian denominations inIreland |
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| Irish interchurch |
In Ireland the church had significant influence on public opinion. The introduction of the Irish Education Act (1831) of Lord Stanley placed Irish primary school education under it. It was associated with theJacobite movement until 1766, and withCatholic emancipation until 1829. The church was resurgent between 1829 and the disestablishment of theChurch of Ireland in 1869–71, when its most significant leaders includedBishop James Doyle,Cardinal Cullen andArchbishop MacHale. The relationship toIrish nationalism was complex; most of the bishops and high clergy supported the British Empire, but a considerable number of local priests were more sympathetic to Irish independence. While the church hierarchy was willing to work with Parliamentary Irish nationalism, it was mostly critical of "Fenianism"; i.e. –Irish republicanism. This continued right up until it was clear that the British-side was losing, then the church partly switched sides. It supported theAnglo-Irish Treaty and therefore were formally pro-treaty in theIrish Civil War, excommunicating anti-treaty followers. Despite this, some Protestants in Ireland stated that they were opposing Irish self-government, because it would result in "Rome Rule" instead of home rule, and this became an element in (or an excuse for) the creation ofNorthern Ireland.
The church continued to have great influence in Ireland.Éamon de Valera's1937 constitution, while granting freedom of religion, recognised the "special position of the Holy Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church". Major popular church events attended by the political world have included theEucharistic Congress in 1932 and thePapal Visit in 1979. The last prelate with strong social and political interests wasArchbishop McQuaid, who retired in 1972.
Pope Francis visited Ireland in 2018 upon invitation extended to the Supreme Pontiff by Ireland's Catholic bishops to visit the country in August 2018 for theWorld Meeting of Families.[48] This was only the second visit of a pope to the country, the first one having taken place in 1979 withJohn Paul II.[49]
After independence in 1922, the Church became more heavily involved inhealth care andeducation, raising money and managing institutions which were staffed by Catholicreligious institutes, paid largely by government intervention and public donations and bequests. Its main political effect was to continue to gain power in the national primary schools where religious proselytisation in education was a major element. The hierarchy opposed the free public secondary schools service introduced in 1968 byDonogh O'Malley, in part because they ran almost all such schools. The church's strong efforts since the 1830s to continue the control of Catholic education was primarily an effort to guarantee a continuing source of candidates for the priesthood, as they would have years of training before entering a seminary.[50]
As Irish society has become more diverse and secular, Catholic control over primary education has become controversial, especially with regard to preference given to baptised Catholics when schools are oversubscribed. Virtually all state-funded primary schools – almost 97 percent – are under church control. Irish law allows schools under church control to consider religion the main factor in admissions. Oversubscribed schools often choose to admit Catholics over non-Catholics, a situation that has created difficulty for non-Catholic families. TheUnited Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva asked Ireland's minister for children,James Reilly, to explain the continuation of preferential access to state-funded schools on the basis of religion. He said that the laws probably needed to change, but noted it may take a referendum because the Irish constitution gives protections to religious institutions. The issue is most problematic in the Dublin area. A petition initiated by a Dublinbarrister, Paddy Monahan, has received almost 20,000 signatures in favor of overturning the preference given to Catholic children. As of 2016, a recently formed advocacy group, Education Equality, is planning a legal challenge.[51]
From 1930, hospitals were funded by asweepstake (lottery) with tickets frequently distributed or sold by nuns or priests.[52] In 1950, the church opposed theMother and Child Scheme.
Less hospitals in Ireland are still run by Catholic religious institutes. For example, theMater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin is run by theSisters of Mercy. In 2005, the hospital deferred trials of a lung cancer medication because female patients in the trial would be required to practisecontraception contrary to Catholic teaching. Mater Hospital responded that its objection was that some pharmaceutical companies mandated that women of childbearing years use contraceptives during the drug trials: "The hospital said it was committed to meeting all of its legal requirements regarding clinical trials while at the same time upholding the principles and ethos of the hospital's mission", and "that individuals and couples have the right to decide themselves about how they avoid pregnancy."[53]
Divorce allowing remarriage was banned in 1924 (though it had been rare), and selling artificial contraception was made illegal. The church's influence slipped somewhat after 1970, impacted partly by the media and the growingfeminist movement as well as the sexual revolution. For instance, theHealth (Family Planning) Act, 1979 showed the ability of the Catholic Church to influence the government to compromise over artificialcontraception, though the church was unable to get the result it wanted—contraception could now be bought, but only with a prescription from a doctor and supplied only by registered chemists. A 1983 Amendment to theconstitution introduced the constitutional prohibition of abortion, which the church supported, though abortion for social reasons had already been illegal under Irish statutory law. However, the church failed to influence the June 1996 removal of theconstitutional prohibition of divorce. While the church opposed divorce allowing remarriage in civil law, itscanon law allowed for a law ofnullity and a limited divorce "a mensa et thoro", effectively a form of marital separation. The church helped reinforce public censorship and maintained its ownlist of banned literature until 1966, which influenced the State's list.[54][55]
In spite of objections from the Catholic hierarchy, voters in Ireland approved a referendum to legalisesame-sex marriage in 2015 andabortion in 2018. In September 2010, an Irish Times/Behaviour Attitudes survey of 1,006 people showed that 67% felt that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry. This majority extended across all age groups, with the exception of the over-65s, while 66% of Catholics were in favour of same-sex marriage. Only 25% disagreed that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, opposition that was concentrated among older people and those in rural areas. In terms of same-sex adoption, 46% were in support of it and 38% opposed. However, a majority of females, 18- to 44-year-olds, and urban dwellers supported the idea. The survey also showed that 91% of people would not think less of someone whocame out as homosexual, while 60% felt the recent civil partnership legislation was not an attack on marriage.[56]
War-time censorship by the government for security was strict and included the church; when bishops spoke on aspects of the war, they were censored and treated "with no more ceremony than any other citizen".[57] While statements andpastoral letters issued from the pulpit were not interfered with, the quoting of them in the press was subject to the censor.[58]
Several reports detailing cases ofemotional,physical andsexual abuse of thousands of children while in the pastoral care of dozens of priests have been published in 2005–2009. These include theFerns Report and theCommission to Inquire into Child Abuse, and have led on to much discussion in Ireland about what changes may be needed in the future within the church.
Alongside the church itself, many Irish devotional traditions have continued for centuries as a part of the church's local culture. One such tradition, unbroken since ancient times, is of annual pilgrimages to sacred Celtic Christian places such asSt Patrick's Purgatory andCroagh Patrick. Particular emphasis on mortification and offerings of sacrifices and prayers for the Holy Souls ofPurgatory is another strong, long time cultural practice. TheLeonine Prayers were said at the end ofLow Mass for the deceased of thepenal times. "Patterns" (processions) in honour of local saints also continue to this day.Marian Devotion is an element, focused on the shrine atKnock, an approved apparition of theVirgin Mary who appeared in 1879. Feasts anddevotions such as theImmaculate Conception of Mary (1854) and theSacred Heart of Jesus (1642), and the concepts ofmartyrology are very prominent elements. Respect formortification of the flesh has led on to theveneration ofMatt Talbot andPadre Pio.
Once the idea of monasticism was introduced to the west by Athanasius, it spread quickly. We see it in Africa and France in the late 300s, and even as far away as Ireland about the same time. How it came to Ireland is a matter of some debate. The liturgical and literary evidence is strong that it came directly from Egypt without the moderating influence of the Roman Church. [...] Liturgical similarities between Copts and Celts are striking [...] the austerities of Celtic monks were extreme - a feature of eastern monasticism more than western. Finally, Celtic artwork, as seen in the Book of Kells or the Lindisfarne Gospels, is decidedly eastern.
Early Irish monastic sites [...] provide spectacular if largely undocumented testimony to the eremitical zeal of early Irish monasticism. The origins of monasticism in the Egyptian desert were well known in the early Irish church and can be traced in the literature and art of the period. In particular, theDialogues and theConferences of John Cassian were seminal texts in early Irish monasticism, disseminating the monastic ideals of the Desert Fathers and influencing the most notable Irish contribution to medieval pastoral theology, thePentitentials[sic].
Reverend Cherian Thazhamon ... Chaplain to Syro-Malankara Community
Bishop Yoohanon Mar Theodosius ... made his first Pastoral Visit to UK and Ireland from March 27 to April 8, 2018
Parish / Organisation / Other : Donnycarney Parish & Chaplain to the Ukrainian Community
