In January, Irish national broadcaster RTÉ aired two documentaries examining the decline of the Catholic Church in Ireland. “The Last Priests of Ireland” will be hosted by acclaimed comedian Ardal O’Hanlon, one of the stars of the iconic 1990s sitcom “Father Ted,” and will be hosted by “The Last Priests of Ireland.” The Nun” was hosted by an award-winning journalist. Dearvale McDonald.
Both shows avoided the easy path of gloating about the challenges facing the institutional church. Even as Mr. O’Hanlon struggles to believe in anything, he reflects carefully on his ambiguous relationship with his faith and the need for the church’s liturgy. And Ms. Macdonald sensitively explores the remarkable achievements of her Irish sisters, without forgetting the abuse and neglect that often took place under their watch.
Half a century ago, there were more than 14,000 religious women in Ireland. The number now stands at nearly 4,000, with an average age of over 80 years. Starting a new job is “vanishingly rare.”
In all his interactions with the priests, Mr. O’Hanlon’s show is warm and generous. Ms. McDonald brings to the fore the voices of religious women themselves, which makes the program all the more interesting. She recalled her debt to the Sisters of St. Clare, who ran the school she attended, and said, “They taught us to be critical thinkers, to be independent, to interrogate wherever we went.” “It taught me to look for the truth,” he recalls. Her show also strikingly depicts the fundamental nature of a contemplative life.
But the numbers tracked in both documentaries are clear. Half a century ago, there were more than 14,000 religious women in Ireland. Today, that number is close to 4,000, and the average age is over 80 years old. In McDonald’s words, starting a new job is “very rare.”
The National Theological Seminary in Maynooth once had as many as 500 seminarians. Today, that number is just 20. Neither MacDonald nor O’Hanlon conclude that the Church in Ireland will actually disappear. In fact, in both programs, Christian leaders say that rather than the state of the modern church suffering from decline, they feel a kind of “fulfillment” as the state of the church undergoes a change of seasons and a period of hibernation. You are given enough space to clearly explain how you are looking. A new spring comes at an opportune time for the Catholic Church in Ireland.
But can we find signs of that new life in churches across Ireland today? Nile Leahy, SJ, Parish Priest of St. Francis Xavier Parish, Dublin. The parish is located in an economically and socially disadvantaged area of the north inner city of Dublin. The community made international news in November when schoolchildren and their parents were attacked, leading to riots that Irish police blamed on “a gang of hooligans motivated by far-right ideology.”
While Irish culture may reject organized religion, and for good reason given the revelations of numerous abuse scandals, Irish citizens still believe that the core of the gospel is good.
Father Leahy said he was surprised by how much he enjoyed the documentary, agreeing with the basic theme that the decline of the Church in Ireland is in some sense terminal, given their dark nature. “Cultural Catholicism will disappear,” he says, but he believes he can already sense its replacement on the horizon.
According to Father Leahy, the new role of the priesthood in Ireland “will be to form missionary disciples.” According to this vision, which he finds encouraging, the parish priest shifts from his role as a minister who strives single-handedly to meet the spiritual and pastoral needs of his community, to his role as a pastoral catalyst; In other words, it shifts to a person who gives power to Christians. He should become a minister himself. ”
He is already seeing elements of this evolution become a practical part of parish life “in the Sunday night Young Adult Mass, not just for young people, but by young people.” The new involvement of young people is not yet a return to the days of the 1950s, when thousands of people spilled out of church buildings onto Gardiner Street during Jesuit Mission Week. But Father Leahy said participation has steadily increased since the service began. And, more important than any numbers, what encourages Father Leahy is the sense that these young Catholics have ownership in the life of their parish.
According to Father Leahy, when the Church seemed most powerful, “the Church was oversacramentalized.”
“The importance of receiving the Eucharist and attending public devotions has been so emphasized that other elements of the Christian life have been sacrificed. The inner faith can be left completely undeveloped. At one point in his documentary, he explains, “O’Hanlon is surprised that the church didn’t even encourage its members to read the Bible.”
Now, the Church in Ireland may seem much weaker. But those who still participate are very active, Father Leahy said. Gone is the old Irish Catholic passivity.
“Cultural Catholicism will disappear,” says California’s Nile Leahy, but he believes he can already sense its replacement coming in the near future.
This is borne out by the experience of a new generation of Catholics coming into their own in Ireland today. Annie, like other young people, America I spoke to a woman who asked not to use her full name to protect her privacy, a young professional from rural Ireland who describes herself as a “practicing Catholic.” She doesn’t claim it as a countercultural statement. It’s just part of who she has become.
She grew up in a Mass-going family and has embraced her faith as her own and cherished it throughout her adult life. She expresses this not only through her sacramental observance, but also through her participation in soup runs for homeless people in Dublin, Bible studies, and spiritual book clubs. She is part of an intentional Christian community. She assists with children’s ministries in the parish and leads young adult ministries. It is as if she views her faith as requiring a response in action that is seamlessly woven into her own life.
In her view, while Irish culture may ostensibly reject institutional religion, and for good reason given the revelations of a number of abuse scandals, Irish citizens still believe that the core of the gospel is good. He says he thinks it’s a thing.
Many of her friends are adamant that they are not religious, but “they will say they believe in Jesus,” she explains. It is probably true that the rank and file who are statistically moving away from the Church are actually not that far away, and this is due to the “hyper-sacramentalized” power relations typical of the Irish Church. It’s kind of the opposite.
Annie believes that the many good activities sponsored by the Church could transform the Church’s diminished status in Ireland today. She wants the church to think more seriously about connecting grassroots efforts, and people are learning about the good things happening across the country: the web of various young adult ministries, the number of noteworthy charities, and the mistakes made. We want to make it easier for you to find more things. The most extensive environmental movement in Irish society. If she could get the bishops to listen, she said, “I would advise them to work diligently to promote and align with what they are already doing.”
The church needs to communicate that there is room for “intellectual conversation and intelligent faith, and that everyone is welcome, even if they are alone.”
Annie says there can be a gap between “what the church actually is compared to what we think the church is.” By clearly presenting what the church actually does, rather than always allowing conversations about static positions that the church should uphold, she believes that the church does not initially think it needs to. We believe we can start more conversations with the people who are there. For faith.
Chris is a teacher in a suburb of Dublin. He said he was “somewhat pleasantly surprised” by both shows and the panel discussion that aired immediately after the first episode on the clergy vocation crisis. Considering that the number of people who are committed to religious life is decreasing, he also feels that: We are moving into a new era. ”
He sees Pope Francis’ commitment to the synodal system as central to this emerging new church and a return to a more communitarian understanding of the faith. Chris admits that these are controversial topics and that there are young people within the Irish church who are skeptical of the project. But he sees no other way forward than, in a sense, a return to the vision of the early Christian communities found in the New Testament. He believes that forming people to a deeper understanding of the faith will be a major demand in the coming years.
Both recognize the challenges facing the church, but neither believe the decline in religious vocations should be a particular priority. Chris says that the fact that some young Catholics take their religion so seriously means that individual communities and ministries are turning inward, rejecting full Catholicism and becoming more like intense sects. I am concerned that this means there is a danger.
Indeed, God may be urging the church to be “pastoral outward, reaching out to those who are not in the fold.”
He explains that some communities of believers can become so fervent that they become almost a church within a church. Part of the reason for this is the tendency to foster a sense of victimhood based on the hostility seen in the Irish media and wider culture. They end up taking an “us and them” position towards the wider society and sometimes even towards their fellow Catholics. “They have very little judgment,” Chris confesses. “The important thing is not to participate in that sacred gathering.”
He praised a scene in O’Hanlon’s documentary in which a young priest quotes Pope Francis’ famous call that “the church must be a field hospital.” Annie and Chris feel that God may actually be urging the church to “be pastoral outward and reach out to those who are not in the fold.”
Also of particular concern is the longstanding controversy over the church’s position on sexuality. On a personal level, Annie and Chris say they have witnessed sensitive, nuanced, and pastorally sensitive responses to non-heterosexual Catholics. But they say the church’s “on-paper” position is so harsh that LGBT people can’t even approach the church and be welcomed.
Above all, Annie says, the church needs to communicate that “there is room for intelligent conversation and intelligent faith, and that everyone is welcome on their own.” However, that is not a widely accepted perception.
The idea of a “faith that does justice” may also be appealing to many people. Annie envisions a church where congregants who share the church’s social vision can host dialogue about those issues through the church, “rather than just going to an empty church where you don’t feel very welcome.”
Father Leahy believes the future of the church lies in the faithful who strive to become disciples of missionaries. The story Annie and Chris tell is proof that this has already begun.
One sister told Ms. MacDonald: It was too much. ” This is a harsh assessment, but one that probably resonates with many Irish Catholics. If more care had been taken in testing the reliability of vocations, the Church in Ireland might have avoided its current decline.
We won’t see the last priest or nun in Ireland anytime soon. But even if vocations remain low, growing lay leadership, an unashamed desire to evangelize, and an overall commitment to faith formation have left the Church of Ireland stronger than when it appeared. It may be healthier now, even though it looks weak.