Catholic Church in Ireland

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

St. Patrick
OriginClaims continuity with Celtic Christianity c. 430. Roman diocesan structure introduced c. 1111 at Synod of Ráth Breasail.
Gaelic Ireland
SeparationsChurch of Ireland (1536/1871)
Members3,729,000 (2016)
Official websiteIrish Bishops' Conference

The Catholic Church in Ireland (

ordinaries
in Ireland.

pagan traditions. The Catholic Church in Ireland cites its origin to this period and considers Palladius as the first bishop sent to the Gaels by Pope Celestine I. However, during the 12th century a stricter uniformity in the Western Church was enforced, with the diocesan structure introduced with the Synod of Ráth Breasail in 1111 and culminating with the Gregorian Reform which coincided with the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland
.

After the

Maynooth College was agreed as was Catholic emancipation to ward off revolutionary republicanism. Following the Easter Rising of 1916 and the creation of the Irish Free State, the church gained significant social and political influence. During the late 20th century, a number of sexual abuse scandals
involving clerics emerged.

History

Gaels and early Christianity

The Christianisation of Ireland is associated with the 5th century activities of Saint Patrick.

During classical antiquity, the Roman Empire conquered most of Western Europe but never reached Ireland. So when the Edict of Milan in 313 AD allowed tolerance for the Palestinian-originated religion of Christianity and then the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 AD enforced it as the state religion of the Empire; covering much of Europe (including within the British Isles itself, Roman Britain); the indigenous Indo-European pagan traditions of the Gaels 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 even as the Christian religion began to gradually move into the island.[3]

There is no tradition of a

druí that Christ had been crucified, and in doing so, converts Conchobar. However, after hearing the story of the crucifixion, Conchobar becomes distraught, and dies. 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 baptized him.[note 2] [4][5]

Regardless, the earliest stages of Christianity in Ireland, during its 5th century arrival, are somewhat obscure. Native Christian "pre-Patrician" figures, however, including

An Morríghan), as the preeminent seat of power.[6] Much of what is known about Patrick is to be gleaned from the two Latin works attributed to him: Confessio and Epistola ad Coroticum. The two earliest lives of Ireland's patron saint emerged in the 7th century, authored by Tírechán and Muirchú. Both of these are contained within the Book of Armagh.[7]

From its inception in the

clann with the same paternal bloodline and elected from within a family through tanistry (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 the termonn lands of a monastery. Monks also founded monasteries on smaller islands around Ireland, for instance Finnian at Skellig Michael, Senán at Inis Cathaigh and Columba at Iona. As well as this, Brendan was known for his offshore "voyage" journeys and the mysterious Saint Brendan's Island
.

"Christ Enthroned" from the Book of Kells. Created at a Columban monastery, it was at the Abbey of Kells for many centuries.

The influence of the Irish Church spread back across the

Wessex. Indeed, the Cornish had been converted by Irish missionaries: patron saint Piran (also known as Ciarán) and a nun princess Ia; who gave her name to St. Ives; were foremost. As well as Ia, there were also female saints in Ireland during the early period, such as Brigid of Kildare and Íte of Killeedy
.

Michael the Archangel
. Irish monasticism was known for its asceticism.

The oldest surviving liturgical text of the Church in Ireland is the

were significant influences.

Gregorian Reform and Norman influence

Within the Catholic Church, the

King of Munster, held at the Rock of Cashel with Máel Muire Ó Dúnáin as papal legate, affirming many of these disciplines. This was followed by the Synod of Ráth Breasail (1111), called by the High King with Giolla Easpaig as the papal legate (he had been an associate of Anselm 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 the Archbishop of Armagh and Archbishop of Cashel respectively. It also brought Waterford under Cashel, as the Norsemen had previously looked to the Province of Canterbury. Cellach of Armagh, the "Coarb Pádraig", was present and recognised with the new title as Archbishop of Armagh, which was given the Primacy of Ireland
.

Cistercian abbey located close to Drogheda in today's County Louth. It was the first abbey of the order to be built in Ireland. In 1152, it hosted the Synod of Kells
-Mellifont.

One of the major figures associated with the Gregorian Reform in Ireland was

Cistercian order from France into Ireland with the foundation of Mellifont Abbey in 1142. He had visited Pope Innocent II in Rome to discuss implementing reforms. It was in association with these foundations that the Synod of Kells-Mellifont (1152) took place. Malachy had died a few years previously and so Cardinal Giovanni Paparoni was present as papal legate for Pope Eugene III. It rejected Canterbury's pretentions of primacy over the Irish Church. This created two more Provinces and Archbishops, with an Archbishop of Dublin and an Archbishop of Tuam added. Tuam was established in acknowledgement of the political rise of Connacht, with the High King being Toirdhealbhach Ó Conchobhair. Another major figure associated with this Reform was Lorcán Ó Tuathail, Archbishop of Dublin who founded Christ Church at Dublin under the Reformed Augustinians
.

Due to the influential hagiography, the Life 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,

King of Leinster. Fearful that the Norman barons would set up their own rival Kingdom and wanting Ireland himself, Henry II landed at Waterford in 1171, under the authority of Laudabiliter (ratified by Pope Alexander III).[9] Once established, he held the Second Synod of Cashel (1172). The synod, ignored in the Irish annals, is known from the writings of Gerald of Wales, the anti-Gaelic Norman who authored Expugnatio 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 a tithe 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 political Lordship of Ireland
was established, though many Gaelic kingdoms and their dioceses remained too.

Kingdom of Thomond
. Mendicant orders became a common feature in 13th century Ireland.

Crusading

Order of Preachers (also known as the Dominicans), they first established a branch at Dublin in 1224, shortly followed by one at Drogheda the same year, before spreading further.[13] Prominent examples of Dominican establishments from this era are Black Abbey in Kilkenny and Sligo Abbey. Their biggest rivals, the Order of Friars Minor (also known as the Franciscans) arrived at around the same time, either 1224 or 1226, with their first establishment at Youghal. The Ennis Friary and Roscrea Friary in Thomond founded by the O'Briens are other prominent Franciscan examples. The Carmelites arrived next in 1271, followed by the Augustinians.[13] Within these orders, as demonstrated by the Franciscans in particular, there was often a strong ethnic conflict between the native Irish Gaels and the Normans.[14]

During the

Stewart-controlled Kingdom of Scotland.[15] The situation was finally resolved by the Council of Constance
of 1414–1418 with full reunification of the church.

Counter-Reformation and suppression

St. Oliver Plunkett, Primate of All Ireland was executed by the English during the "Popish Plot" affair.
penal laws
-era. It was especially common in rural areas.

A confusing but defining period arose during the

disestablished on 1 January 1871 by the Irish Church Act 1869 that was passed by Gladstone's
Liberal government.

The effect of the

Anglican ascendancy. After the defeat of King James II of the Three Kingdoms in 1690, the Test Acts
were introduced which began a long era of discrimination against the recusant Catholics of the kingdoms.

Between emancipation and the revolution

The slow process of reform from 1778 on led to

St Patrick's College, Maynooth was founded as a national seminary for Ireland with the Maynooth College Act 1795 (prior to this, from the time of Protestant persecutions beginning until around the time of the French Revolution, Irish priests underwent formation in Continental Europe). The Maynooth Grant of 1845, whereby the British government attempted to engender good will to Catholic Ireland became a political controversy with the Anti-Maynooth Conference
group founded by anti-Catholics.

In 1835, Fr. John Spratt, an Irish

ultramontanist involved in crafting the formula for papal infallibility. Cullen called the Synod of Thurles in 1850, the first formal synod of the Irish Catholic episcopacy and clergy since 1642 and then the Synod of Maynooth
.

In 1879, there was a significant

Blessed Virgin Mary is said to have appeared, with St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist either side (along with the Agnus Dei) and she remained silent throughout. Statements were taken from 15 lay people who claimed to have witnessed the apparition. The Knock Shrine became a major place of pilgrimage and Pope Pius XI declared Our Lady of Knock to be "Queen of Heaven and of Ireland" at the closing of the 1932 Eucharistic Congress
.

Following the partition of Ireland

Catholic Emancipation Centenary procession from the Phoenix Park, 1929
Corpus Christi procession, Cahir, 1963

From the time that Ireland achieved independence, the church came to play an increasingly significant social and political role in the

Catholic views of marriage).[note 4] Similarly, pornography, abortion, and contraception[note 5]
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 the partition of Ireland in 1922, 92.6% of the south's population were Catholic while 7.4% were Protestant.[19] 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 over 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 of Ne Temere, whereby the children of marriages between Catholics and Protestants had to be brought up as Catholics,[note 6] also helped to uphold Catholic hegemony.

In both parts of Ireland, church policy and practice changed markedly after the

Vatican II reforms of 1962. Probably the largest change was that Mass could be said in vernacular languages instead of Latin, and in 1981 the church commissioned its first edition of the Bible in the Irish language,[20] but the church overwhelmingly uses English. Archbishop John 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).[21]

Since the Celtic Tiger and the furtherance of cosmopolitanism 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.[22] According to an Ipsos MRBI poll by the Irish Times, the majority of Irish Catholics do not attend mass weekly, with almost 62% rejecting key parts of Catholicism such as transubstantiation.[23] After the results of both the 2015 same-sex marriage and the 2018 abortion referendums, Úna Mullally, a liberal journalist who writes for The Guardian claimed that "the fiction of Ireland as a conservative, dogmatically Catholic country has been shattered".[24]

Northern Ireland

The Government of Ireland Act of 1920 acted as the constitution of Northern Ireland, in which was enshrined freedom of religion for all of Northern Ireland's citizens.[25] 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 the

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.[26]

— 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 of gerrymandering and preference in public services for Protestants led on to the need for a Civil Rights Movement in 1967. This was in response to continuing discrimination against Catholics in Northern Ireland.[27]

Organisation

Catholic Dioceses in the island of Ireland

The church is organised into four

Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora. 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. The Association of Catholic Priests is a voluntary association of clergy in Ireland that has over 1000 members.[29][30][31]

There are also many

Vincentians. The total number of the regular clergy is about 700. They are engaged either in teaching or in giving missions
, and occasionally charged with the government of parishes.

Two societies of priests were founded in Ireland, namely

.

Almost all Catholic religious in Ireland belong to the

Syro Malabar Church has several priests with Stephen Chirappanath of Rome as visitor;[32] the Syro-Malankara Church has several with Yoohanon Mar Theodosius of Muvattupuzha as visitor;[33] the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church has one with the Ukrainian Catholic Eparch of London as visitor.[34]

Affiliated groups

Besides numerous religious institutes such as the Dominicans, there are many groups more focused on Catholic laity in Ireland, such as:

Other organisations with Irish branches:

Missionary activity

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.

Cardinal 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 the Third World through its bodies such as Trócaire. Along with the Irish Catholic diaspora
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.

Statistics

In the 2022 Irish census 69% of the population identified as Catholic in Ireland. [36] 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. [37] 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.[38]

65% of Irish Catholics support same-sex marriage and 30% oppose it.[39]

Society

Politics

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 the

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 the Anglo-Irish Treaty and therefore were formally pro-treaty in the Irish 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 of Northern Ireland
.

The church continued to have great influence in Ireland.

Papal Visit in 1979. The last prelate with strong social and political interests was Archbishop 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 the World Meeting of Families.[40] This was only the second visit of a pope to the country, the first one having taken place in 1979 with John Paul II.[41]

Education

After independence in 1922, the Church became more heavily involved in health care and education, raising money and managing institutions which were staffed by Catholic religious 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 by Donogh 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.[42]

As Irish society has become more diverse and secular, Catholic control over primary education has become controversial, especially with regard to preference given to baptized 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. The

United 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 Dublin barrister, 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.[43]

Health care

From 1930, hospitals were funded by a sweepstake (lottery) with tickets frequently distributed or sold by nuns or priests.[44] In 1950, the church opposed the Mother and Child Scheme.

Less hospitals in Ireland are still run by Catholic religious institutes. For example, the

contraception 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."[45]

Public morality

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 growing

nullity and a limited divorce "a mensa et thoro", effectively a form of marital separation. The church helped reinforce public censorship and maintained its own list of banned literature until 1966, which influenced the State's list.[46][47]

In spite of objections from the Catholic hierarchy, voters in Ireland approved a referendum to legalise same-sex marriage in 2015 and abortion 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 who came out as homosexual, while 60% felt the recent civil partnership legislation was not an attack on marriage.[48]

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".[49] While statements and pastoral letters issued from the pulpit were not interfered with, the quoting of them in the press was subject to the censor.[50]

Abuse scandals

Several reports detailing cases of

emotional, physical and sexual abuse of thousands of children while in the pastoral care of dozens of priests have been published in 2005–2009. These include the Ferns Report and the Commission 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.

Popular traditions

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 as

.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Specifically, works such as the Lebor Gabála Érenn, Book of Ballymote and Great Book of Lecan, say that, during the time of Moses, Goídel Glas (the reputed progenitor of the Irish) was bitten in the neck by a snake while in Egypt as a youth. His father, the Scythian prince Níul (husband of Egyptian princess Scota) brought Goídel to the noted wonder-worker, Moses, who healed the boy immediately upon applying his rod to the wound. Moses made a prophecy that no serpent would live in the land of his progeny, and that God promised his descendants a "northern island of the world"; he claimed that “kings and lords, saints and righteous” would come from the seed of Goídel. In some ways, the Gaelic authors of these works sought to present themselves as a kind of "chosen people" while approaching the Biblical narrative, mirroring the Israelites.
  2. ^ Accounts actually attribute Conchobar's death to Mesgegra's brain, which had been lodged into Conchobar's skull by Cet mac Mágach. Conchobar's anger once hearing the story of the crucifixion leads to Mesgegra's brain bursting from his head, killing him.
  3. Celtic Church" or "British Church" independent from Rome in the Early Middle Ages as part of their historiography. However, during the dispute over the dating of Easter, the Primacy of the Bishop of Rome, Catholic doctrine, liturgical practice (see Hiberno-Latin
    ) or the sacraments—issues of importance to Protestants—were not under question.
  4. ^ Divorce was permitted under the Constitution of the Irish Free State. The ban on divorce was introduced with the 1937 constitution. The ban was repealed in 1995. While the ban forbade remarriage, it provided for separation.
  5. ^ The sale of contraceptives was banned until 1978. They were regarded as medical items thereafter, and were only available from pharmacies; see [1]. Other outlets issued them freely, accepting donations and, as this was not selling, it was legal; see Contraception in the Republic of Ireland. For comparison, some other countries had a total ban: in the United States, for example, laws in some states prohibited contraception to married couples until the Griswold v. Connecticut decision in 1965; unmarried couples had to wait until the 1972 ruling Eisenstadt v. Baird.
  6. ^ The Ne Temere decree was issued in 1908. In one Irish instance, a court ruled, in 1957, that a pre-nuptial agreement based on this was legally binding. This led to the Fethard-on-Sea boycott. Many, including Éamon de Valera condemned the incident. Ne Temere was criticised by the Second Vatican Council and repealed by Pope Paul VI in 1970, declaring: "The penalties decreed by canon 2319 of the Code of Canon Law are all abrogated. For those who have already incurred them the effects of those penalties cease" (see [2]).

References

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  2. ^ Young, David. "Protestant-Catholic gap narrows as census results revealed". Belfasttelegraph. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  3. ^ "The Adoption of Christianity by the Irish and Anglo-Saxons: The Creation of Two Different Christian Societies". Thomas Martz. 8 February 2015.
  4. ^ Stokes, Whitley. (1908). The Tidings of Conchobar son of Ness. Ériu. vol II.
  5. ^ Meyer, Kuno. (1906). The Death Tales of the Ulster Heroes. Royal Irish Academy
  6. ^ "Legends of Macha". In Armagh. 8 February 2015. Archived from the original on 12 November 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
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  9. ^ Hull, Eleanor. "Pope Adrian's Bull "Laudabiliter" and Note upon It", from A History of Ireland and Her People (1931).
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  12. ^ O'Donnell, Francis M. (2021). "The Kerry Days of the Knights Hospitaller". Stair na hÉireann
  13. ^ a b c Gandharva, Joshi. (2021). "Monastic Ireland: The Mendicant Orders". History Ireland
  14. ^ Gallagher, Niav. (2004). "Two nations, one order: the Franciscans in medieval Ireland". History Ireland
  15. ^ a b c d e Egan, Simon. (2018). Richard II and the Wider Gaelic World: A Reassessment. Cambridge University Press
  16. ^ Mant, Richard (1840). History of the Church of Ireland, from the Reformation to the Revolution. London: John W. Parker. p. 277.
  17. ^ "How did the remains of St Valentine end up in a Dublin church?". Independent.ie. 14 February 2017. Retrieved on 10 April 2022.
  18. ^ "No love lost in the battle to claim heart of St Valentine". Irish Times. Retrieved on 10 April 2022.
  19. ^ M.E.Collins, Ireland 1868–1966, (1993) p431
  20. ^ An Biobla Naofa, Irish Bible Society, Maynooth 1981 ed. Pádraig Ó Fiannachta.
  21. S2CID 163195744
    . Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  22. ^ Smyth, Jamie (30 May 2011). "Fewer than one in five attend Sunday Mass in Dublin". The Irish Times.
  23. ^ O'BRIEN, CARL. "Many Catholics 'do not believe' church teachings". Irish Times. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  24. ^ "Una Mullally: Referendum shows us there is no Middle Ireland, just Ireland". The Irish Times. 26 May 2018.
  25. ^ His Majesty's Government (23 December 1920). "The Constitution of Northern Ireland being the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, as amended (Clause 5)". Government of Ireland Act, 1920. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1956. Retrieved 13 February 2007.
  26. .
  27. .
  28. ^ "Archdioceses and Dioceses of Ireland". Archived from the original on 7 May 2009. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
  29. ^ "Irish priests discuss wrongful abuse accusations, safeguarding their rights". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  30. ^ "Priests' association writes to bishops asking for arbitration panels to address complaints". Independent.ie. 13 March 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  31. ^ "Parishes may not perform baptisms due to lack of priests, group warns". Irish Examiner. 29 October 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  32. ^ "Hierarchy". Syro Malabar Catholic Church Community, Cork Ireland. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  33. Diocese of Cork and Ross. 24 April 2023. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  34. "H.E. Most Rev. Dr. Yoohanon Mar Theodosius". Diocese of Puttur. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  35. "History of Syro-Malankara Catholic Church in Unite Kingdom"
. Malankara Catholic. Retrieved 26 January 2024. Bishop Yoohanon Mar Theodosius ... made his first Pastoral Visit to UK and Ireland from March 27 to April 8, 2018
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  • ^ irish Central, "Irish priests warn Catholic sacraments will disappear amid vocation crisis" 30 Oct. 2019 [3]
  • ^ How Catholics around the world see same-sex marriage, homosexuality Pew Research Center
  • ^ "Pope Francis' 2018 visit to Ireland will be a great gift – Archbishop Diarmuid Martin". thejournal.ie. The Journal. 28 November 2016.
  • ^ Sherwood, Harriet (12 August 2018). "When faith fades: can the pope still connect with a changed Ireland?". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  • ^ E. Brian Titley Church, State and the control of schooling in Ireland 1900–1944; McGill-Queen's Univ. Press, New York 1983.
  • ^ Catholic Church’s Hold on Schools at Issue in Changing Ireland. The New York Times, 21 January 2016
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  • ^ "Mater responds to drug trial controversy". RTÉ News. 3 October 2005. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
  • .
  • .
  • ^ "Yes to gay marriage and premarital sex: a nation strips off its conservative values". Irish Times. 9 September 2010. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
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  • Further reading

    External links