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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIreland Was Once “the Most Catholic Country.” Now It Might Be the First to Vote to Legalize Gay Marr
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Irish citizens are at the polls today for a historic vote that could make the country the first in the world to legalize gay marriage through referendum. The referendum has been heavily favored to pass in opinion polls, though the gap has been narrowing in the days leading up to the vote. The votes wont be counted until tomorrow, but even if the polls are wrong and the measure doesnt pass, the fact that the referendum is even taking placeand that all of the countrys major political parties are supporting legalizationshows a remarkable social change in a famously Catholic country that legalized divorce only 20 years ago.
The archbishop who would later become Pope Paul VI described Ireland as the most Catholic country in 1946. Church attendance was once nearly universal in the Republic, and the church controlled almost all the schools and hospitals, as well as exerted substantial influence over the government. John Paul II visited Ireland on one of his first foreign trips in 1979 and drew some of the largest crowds in Irish history. But around that time, Catholicism in Ireland began a long, slow decline.
Eighty-four percent of the Republics citizens still describe themselves as Catholic, but thats becoming more of a cultural than a religious identity. According to the countrys archbishop, weekly church attendance has declined from 90 percent in 1984 to 18 percent in 2011. Less than half of Irish now consider themselves religious, and surveys show religiosity is declining faster in Ireland than almost every other country in the world. Ireland now ranks seventh in the world for atheism. And Irelands Catholics are decidedly non-orthodox about their faith: Ninety percent believe priests should be allowed to marry, for instance. Ireland once supplied priests to churches throughout the world, but the country now has so few that the church fears there may soon not be enough for weddings and funerals.
So what accounts for Irelands dramatic retreat from the pews? For one thing, its part of an international trend: Church attendance has been declining in nearly every European country. Globalization likely played a part: Ireland joined the EU (then known as the European Economic Community) in 1973, increasing its exposure to the regions larger social trends. Immigration also transformed Irish society, with 17 percent of the countrys population now foreign-born. Free secondary education and mass broadcast media, neither of which was universal in Ireland until the 1960s, also likely played a role, as did the Celtic tiger, the countrys late-1990s economic boom, which transformed what was formerly one of Europes poorest countries into one of its wealthiest.
Irish citizens are at the polls today for a historic vote that could make the country the first in the world to legalize gay marriage through referendum. The referendum has been heavily favored to pass in opinion polls, though the gap has been narrowing in the days leading up to the vote. The votes wont be counted until tomorrow, but even if the polls are wrong and the measure doesnt pass, the fact that the referendum is even taking placeand that all of the countrys major political parties are supporting legalizationshows a remarkable social change in a famously Catholic country that legalized divorce only 20 years ago.
The archbishop who would later become Pope Paul VI described Ireland as the most Catholic country in 1946. Church attendance was once nearly universal in the Republic, and the church controlled almost all the schools and hospitals, as well as exerted substantial influence over the government. John Paul II visited Ireland on one of his first foreign trips in 1979 and drew some of the largest crowds in Irish history. But around that time, Catholicism in Ireland began a long, slow decline.
Eighty-four percent of the Republics citizens still describe themselves as Catholic, but thats becoming more of a cultural than a religious identity. According to the countrys archbishop, weekly church attendance has declined from 90 percent in 1984 to 18 percent in 2011. Less than half of Irish now consider themselves religious, and surveys show religiosity is declining faster in Ireland than almost every other country in the world. Ireland now ranks seventh in the world for atheism. And Irelands Catholics are decidedly non-orthodox about their faith: Ninety percent believe priests should be allowed to marry, for instance. Ireland once supplied priests to churches throughout the world, but the country now has so few that the church fears there may soon not be enough for weddings and funerals.
So what accounts for Irelands dramatic retreat from the pews? For one thing, its part of an international trend: Church attendance has been declining in nearly every European country. Globalization likely played a part: Ireland joined the EU (then known as the European Economic Community) in 1973, increasing its exposure to the regions larger social trends. Immigration also transformed Irish society, with 17 percent of the countrys population now foreign-born. Free secondary education and mass broadcast media, neither of which was universal in Ireland until the 1960s, also likely played a role, as did the Celtic tiger, the countrys late-1990s economic boom, which transformed what was formerly one of Europes poorest countries into one of its wealthiest.
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Ireland Was Once “the Most Catholic Country.” Now It Might Be the First to Vote to Legalize Gay Marr (Original Post)
Agschmid
May 2015
OP
Hoppy
(3,595 posts)1. I suspect the church scandals contributed to the decline in respect for the church.
pnwmom
(108,980 posts)2. There is no doubt that they did. n/t
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)3. I work overseas in South Korea and one of my fellow teachers is from Ireland
and is in the same office as I am. I probably wouldn't ask her directly, but I am curious what she thinks of the measure. Sometimes people talk about the news in the office first thing in the morning and if it comes up in casual conversation I might ask. My guess is she's fairly liberal, but I don't know her well.