Once upon a time, Ireland was synonymous with Catholicism. It is not coincidental that the Emerald Isle was one of the first countries that Pope John Paul II visited. In 1979, the largest crowds in Ireland’s history greeted him. Yet those days are no more.
Surveys show that approximately 40% of the Irish are regular Mass-goers. By European and North American standards, that is quite an impressive number. Yet we must remember that in the early 1990s that number was over 80%- and in the 1970s, over 90%! Also, the number of priestly vocations declined to a depressingly low number. In 2007, the Protestant Church of Ireland- which, having 380,000 members, is one-tenth of the Catholic Church in Ireland- ordained 20 priests, more than twice as many as the Catholic Church, which ordained nine, while 160 died. Meanwhile, every single county in Ireland has seen a growth in the number of Church of Ireland members at the cost of the Catholic Church.
What happened in this Catholic El Dorado in less than two decades? A few days ago, a particularly damning government report was published, shocking the Irish, detailing many horrible cases of priestly pedophilia in Ireland throughout the past century. The bishops did nothing, while the police and the courts gave these collared criminals immunity.
In 1992, it was revealed that Eamon Casey, one of Ireland’s most popular bishops, had an affair with an American divorcee and paid her diocesan money to keep mum about it. From then on until currently (2009), a flood of priestly abuse has been exposed and, more important, the bishops’ indifferent attitude to these horrors. The Ryan Report, released in May of this year, outlined the intense emotional, psychological, physical, and sexual abuse some priests and nuns practiced in the country’s correctional schools.
Research consistently reveals that pedophilia among Catholic priests is at a lower level than it is for doctors, schoolteachers, and other people who work with youths. I know this, and I think the Irish are smart enough to infer this. The Irish were turned away from the Church in such large numbers not because of scandals themselves- although they are repulsive- but by the pompous attitudes the country’s bishops took. Rather than help the victims of abuse, the bishops transferred pedophile priests to different parishes.
The horrifying anti-Church sentiment following these scandals in Ireland should be a lesson for the faithful of all the world. As Catholics, we are expected to live according to the Gospel in everyday life. When we hurt someone, we must acknowledge our failure and help them, not arrogantly deny wrongs. Otherwise, we will anti-Evangelize and turn others away from the Church. This is particularly the responsibility of bishops.
Reading about the collapse of Irish Catholicism, we must pray for conversion. We must pray for the conversion of those wicked priests who, as opposed to following Christ’s example, terrorized innocent children. And we must pray for our own conversion.
Fortunately, there is still hope for Ireland’s Church. Studies show that sometime in the early 2000s, the decline in Irish Mass attendance has halted, and even increased slightly in recent years. While still nowhere near replacement levels, the decline in seminary recruitments in Ireland has also leveled off in the past decade- and this year, with 38 first-year students enrolling in Ireland’s diocesan seminaries, their number has doubled compared to last year. These are all blessings.
Yet it is very unlikely that the Church will ever regain the confidence it once boasted in Ireland. This is what happens when we are more interested in preserving temporal power than in living as witnesses to Christ.