The troubled Church in Ireland needs to “continue to put its house in order” following clerical abuse scandals, while at the same time remaining true to the basics of the Gospel as it waits for the currently prevalent mood of anger toward Catholicism across much of the country to diminish.
The comments follow a new study that highlights how attitudes toward the Church are “deeply divided” in the once deeply Catholic country.
“The Church has to preach and practice the Gospel as best it can, continue to put its house in order with regard to the scandals, and essentially wait for this period of anger to burn itself out,” said David Quinn, the founder and director of The Iona Institute, that commissioned the poll.
“We should also keep in mind that the number of people with a largely positive view of the Church balances out those with a negative view, despite everything.”
The poll commissioned by the Institute shows that the Irish public are almost evenly divided in their attitudes towards priests and nuns, with almost exactly a third in each case viewing them positively, a third negatively, with the rest remaining neutral.
“Our research comes at a time of considerable change in Irish society," the report says. "Not surprisingly, religious attitudes and beliefs are also changing as well. While perceptions of the Catholic Church remain negative on balance, especially among younger generations, nevertheless religious identity and spiritual orientation remain important for the vast majority of Irish people."
Once one of the most Catholic nations in Europe, revelations about clerical sexual abuse has left public confidence in the Church at its lowest level in the history of Ireland.
Not only has Mass attendance dropped significantly over the past quarter century, the Irish people have increasingly rejected laws seen as rooted in Catholic teaching.
In 2015, the country held a referendum on same-sex marriage in which 62 per cent of the voters backed changing the constitution to allow the practice. An even larger number – over 66 per cent – voted to change the constitution to allow legal abortion in 2018.
The new poll showed that 42 per cent of those with negative views of the Church named abuse as a reason for their views, while 31 per cent named scandals. Only 17 per cent named “old-fashioned views” – such as attitude towards women, abortion and LGBTQ+ issues – as the reason, while 14 per cent named the traditional control of the Church on the country as a reason.
Quinn said that despite the high ranking of the abuse crisis, it nevertheless isn’t the primary reason for the falling status of the Church in Irish culture.
“I think even without the scandals, issues such as the Church’s past influence on society, its attitude to women – as critics see it – and more generally its ‘old-fashioned views’ would still be cited,” he told <em>Crux</em>.
“I think the scandals definitely increased public anger greatly, but I also think we would have had drastically reduced Mass attendance anyway due to secularisation. The Protestant Churches here have also seen huge falls in attendance. The scandals definitely mean increased negativity towards priests and religious though,” Quinn said.
The report noted that despite the legacy of the clerical abuse scandals, most people agree Catholic teachings and the Church itself “remain relevant and important to the wider sense of Irish identity and as a source of values and guidance for the future".
It continues: “The challenges facing the Irish Catholic Church are clearly enormous but there are trends and preferences in our survey that point to possible future priorities. For example, there is an obvious hunger for spiritual insights and practices, with 18-24s (‘Gen Z’), for example, revealing a more open, more curious take on religion and spirituality than some older age groups.
“Much of what Catholic and other Christian believers affirm (however imperfectly) remains relevant, helpful and inspiring for most people in Ireland, even for many non-believers and non-Catholics,” the report says.
Unsurprisingly, the poll shows significant differences by age when it comes to how the Church is perceived, with younger people being more likely to hold a negative view and older people a more positive one.
Also unsurprisingly, regular Mass-goers have by far the most positive view of the Church, while those who do not consider themselves Catholic at all having the most negative one.
Breda O’Brien, a spokesperson for The Iona Institute, said it is not surprising that public attitudes towards the Catholic Church are so divided and that there is considerable negativity, “especially in view of all the scandals which are still fresh in the public mind".
“It’s good to see that many people are less negative about the teachings of the Catholic Church than they are towards the institution,” she said.
The poll shows Christianity in general – and Catholicism in particular – remains a powerful source of individual and collective identity for many Irish people, one that will continue to resonate with younger and future generations as Ireland navigates the many challenges ahead.
“It’s interesting that older people, who are most familiar with priests and nuns are the least negative in their attitudes. Many young people never meet priests or nuns and their whole image is shaped by the scandals or by negative portrayals in the movies or in documentaries,” O’Brien added.
“But the vast majority of priests and nuns do good work in their parishes or in the wider community, and hopefully over time those who view priests and religious negatively will come to a more rounded view, and this will eventually be reflected in dramas and documentaries as well,” she said.
“We hear a lot from those who are most negative. Maybe it’s time that those who are more positive find their voice and are given space to express themselves as well,” she continued.
Quinn said that one of the main surprises from the poll “is that so many people have no opinion either way".
“There is growing indifference. The Church is only a remote presence in Irish life for a lot of people and a big majority under the age of 40 would barely even meet a priest – except at funerals and so on – never mind a nun. A similar poll to this one in 20 years will probably find a lot more people with no opinion,” he told <em>Crux</em>.
“What also surprised me a bit is that the age group 18-24 – Gen Z – are a bit less negative in their views towards the Church than the Millennials. Perhaps in time this will lead to a mini-revival among some young people as seems to be happening in Britain and maybe in the United States,” he said.
<a href="https://thecatholicherald.com/ireland-deeply-divided-over-catholic-church-new-poll-finds/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><strong><em>RELATED: Ireland deeply divided over Catholic Church, new poll finds</em></strong></mark></a>
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