Ireland without Religion - Niall Gormley

Ireland

without

religion

Four features

on the

Irish experience

of secularisation

Dublin City University

Department of Communications

Masters in Journalism | 2024 | Journalism Project

Niall Gormley | 23275342

12,000 Words | Supervisor: Jane Suitor

IRELAND WITHOUT RELIGION 1

Secularisation Timeline

1967 Free second-level education was

introduced in September 1967

1968 The encyclical Humanae Vitae

decreed that artificial contraception

is not morally permissible.

1971 The Contraceptive Train protest

brought condoms from Belfast to

Dublin on 22 May 1971

1972 Referendum to remove 'special

position' of Catholic Church

1973 Ireland joined the EEC on 1 January

1979 The 'Irish solution to an Irish problem'

allowed contraception for 'bona fide'

family planning purposes only.

1979 Pope John Paul II visits Ireland

1982 Eileen Flynn case, a single mother

in a relationship with a separated

man, lost her teaching job

1983 Eighth Amendment referendum with

constitutional ban on abortion

1984 Kerry babies case

1985 First divorce referendum which was

defeated by 2:1

1987 Abolition of the concept of

illegitimacy - Status of Children

Act in 1987

1990 Mary Robinson elected President

1992 Bishop Casey scandal breaks

1992 Triple abortion referendums.

Two, Right to Travel and Right to

Information are passed 2:1, the third

outlawing suicide as grounds for

abortion is defeated 2:1

1993 Homosexual acts were

decriminalised in Ireland

1993 Contraceptives fully legalised

1995 Second Divorce Referendum passes

by less than 1 per cent margin

1999 'States of Fear' documentary series

produced by Mary Raftery

2002 Second attempt to outlaw suicide as

grounds for abortion. Narrowly

rejected 50.4:49.6 but with a much

smaller turnout than in 1992.

2005 The Ferns Report into clerical sexual

abuse in Wexford

2009 Report of the Commission to Inquire

into Child Abuse (The Ryan Report)

2011 Civil Partnership introduced for

same sex couples

2011 Unprecedented Dáil attack on the

Vatican by Taoiseach Enda Kenny

2012 Members of secular bodies allowed

to perform legal civil marriages

2013 6th April 2013 - the first Humanist

marriage in Ireland

2013 Report of inquiry into the Magdalene

Laundries

2015 Transgender Self Identification

introduced in the Gender

Recognition Act 2015

2015 Marriage Equality referendum

passes 2:1

2015 Same sex couples can legally adopt

children

2018 Pope Francis visits Ireland on 25

and 26 August 2018

2018 Abortion prohibition removed in

referendum 2:1

2018 Blasphemy provision removed from

constitution in a referendum 2:1

Note: This is not an exhaustive timeline of all the events relating to secularisation in Ireland

but the main events that I came across in researching these features.

Contents

Inside Front Cover:

Secularisation Timeline

Written and designed

by Niall Gormley

Using Adobe InDesign,

Photoshop and Acrobat.

Main font: Proxima Nova 9pt

on an 11pt grid.

Heads: Proxima Nova

Heading, pull-quote

and cross-head colour:

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with various tints for tables.

Charts and graphs created

with Datawrapper.

Printed by Snap Print,

Charlemont Street, Dublin 2.

3 Contents

4 Feature 1: Ireland without Religion

Ireland's states and churches

8 Feature 2: Religion without Ireland

Can secularisation work to

give religion a future?

12 Feature 3: Northern Protestant Secularisation

Did Protestants secularise before Catholics?

16 Feature 4: Life without Religion

Believing in people instead of just believing

20 Reflective Essay

Inside Back Cover:

Amen: how old churches in Dublin live on

Outside Cover:

Secularisation through the front

covers of the newspapers

Cover Picture: The Papal

Cross in the Phoenix Park in

Dublin, designed by architect

Ronnie Tallon in 1979 for the

visit of Pope John Paul II. It

was designed to be a

temporary structure.

It was manufactured by

J and C McGloughlin Ltd

across the river in Inchicore.

Photo on 25 July 2024

using an iPhone 13 Mini by

Niall Gormley.


Feature 1: Ireland without Religion

Ireland's

states and

churches

By Niall Gormley

4 IRELAND WITHOUT RELIGION

POPE John Paul 2 landed in Dublin

on Saturday, 29 September 1979

around lunchtime. He boarded a

helicopter which took him to the

Phoenix Park where an estimated

1,250,000 people had gathered to

see him.

I was 14 years of age at the time

and I was there. I made my way to

the Papal Cross, or as close as I

could get to it, and I climbed up on

a fence. I balanced precariously on

a wooden fence post and looked

out on a sea of people. Tens and

hundreds of thousands of people in

every direction. I will never forget it.

It was a prodigious statement of

belonging in the hearts and minds

of Ireland's Catholics and it was

authentic. It reflected the power of

the church and also the regard,

socially and culturally, that the people

had for it.

It was the high point of the

Catholic Church in Ireland. It marked

Ireland out as an outlier, in defiance

of modernity, giving the Church a

position long relinquished in other

European countries.

There have been many detours

on the road Ireland has taken since

but a good end point is the next

Papal visit to the Phoenix Park in

August 2018 where Pope Francis

said mass in front of a crowd estimated

at 132,000, barely one tenth

of that 40 years previously.

What happened between these

two visits to the Park could be characterised

as a foreseeable linear

secularisation which got us to where

we are and will stretch into the

future. But that's not what happened

and there is no certainty about

where Ireland is going.

Predictions about the end of history

haven't worked out well. The

current populist crisis betrays the

view that the past is a bad place left

behind and the future we are arriving

to is a happy destination.

In the beginning

How did the Roman Catholic

Church in Ireland end up with so

much power? It's a story that is very

much a relationship of church and

state. But at the start of the journey

the state in question was not Irish

but British.

Catholic power in Ireland was

destroyed at the end of the

Williamite War in Ireland in 1691 and

the Protestant Ascendancy was

cemented. The Irish Parliament was

run by and for a small landed, Anglo-

Irish elite which then promptly

enacted some of the harshest Penal

Laws in Europe. Edmund Burke

famously wrote that the Penal Laws

A machine

of wise and

elaborate

contrivance, as

well fitted for

the oppression,

impoverishment

and

degradation of

a people, and

the debasement

in them of

human nature

itself, as ever

proceeded from

the perverted

ingenuity of

man

were: "a machine of wise and elaborate

contrivance, as well fitted for

the oppression, impoverishment and

degradation of a people, and the

debasement in them of human

nature itself, as ever proceeded

from the perverted ingenuity of

man". ¹

The 1703 Popery Act included

many restrictions and repressions

on Catholics but the most notable

was that Catholic land inheritance

was by 'gavelkind' (equally divided

among sons) while Protestant inheritance

was by primogeniture (to the

eldest son).

Overall power lay in London as

laws made by the Irish Parliament

had to be approved by the

Westminster Parliament. By the late

1700s the position of Catholics

slowly improved in the Kingdom of

Britain and consequently in the

Kingdom of Ireland.

Up to this point, it was illegal to

educate priests in Ireland and many

seminaries and Irish Colleges were

set up across Europe but mainly in

France. When the French Revolution

broke out in 1789 the Europeeducated

clergy became a threat to

the authorities in London.

The Irish Catholic Hierarchy took

a similar view believing that the

Europe-educated young clergy

At the heart of Catholic Ireland: the College Chapel at St Patrick’s Pontifical University, Maynooth built between 1875 and 1891 (seminary.maynoothcollege.ie)

might become infected with enlightenment

values. Equally, they wanted

control of an emerging public education

system.

Archbishop of Dublin, John Troy

argued that British support for a

Catholic seminary would be good

"for the support of His Majesty’s

government and the maintenance

of good order, both of which…would

be endangered if the Roman

Catholic people were deprived of

their religious instructors". ²

The Maynooth seminary was

established under the Maynooth

College Act 1795, voted through by

the Protestant Irish Parliament

including funding for the new college.

In 1798 the rebellion of the

United Irishmen led to a bloodbath.

The British government cajoled

and bribed the Irish Parliament to

vote itself out of existence and in

1801 the United Kingdom of Great

Britain and Ireland was born. The

Catholic hierarchy in Ireland condemned

the 1798 Rebellion and

supported the Union.

Hearts and minds

Both the British government and

the Catholic Church had engaged in

what is now known as Realpolitik. A

protestant British state had built a

headquarters for a church whose

By 1850

Maynooth had

become the

largest

seminary in the

world and over

its history has

ordained over

11,000 priests

The radical

antisectarianism

of

the United

Irishmen had

dissolved into

mainly tribal

camps

members couldn't even vote. In

return the Catholic Church had an

avenue into every parish in Ireland.

By 1850 Maynooth had become

the largest seminary in the world

and over its history has ordained

over 11,000 priests, many of whom

brought an Irish brand of

Catholicism to many parts of the

Empire and the world. ³

By the time Catholic Emancipation

had arrived in 1829 many of the

priests around Ireland had been

educated in Maynooth. Politics in

Ireland revolved around the need

for reform of the land issues and the

link with Britain. The radical antisectarianism

of the United Irishmen

had dissolved into mainly tribal

camps.

Officially, the state church in

Ireland was the Church of Ireland

but disestablishment came in 1871

and again the thinking in London

was to pacify Ireland. It also earned

the British state kudos with the

Catholic Church and funding for

Maynooth was maintained. ⁴

Nationalist power

The event that cemented the

church's power in Ireland was the

Parnell split. Charles Stewart Parnell

was by far the most influential and

powerful politician in Ireland in the

1880s. He built the Irish

Parliamentary Party into a political

powerhouse, and he made and

broke British governments.

Then the scandal of his affair with

Katherine O'Shea split the movement.

The Catholic Church

denounced Parnell, the Irish Party

split and the Anti-Parnellites, now

hand-in-hand with the clergy, were

victorious. The modern Irish News

in Belfast was born out of the split.

The motto 'Pro Fide et Patria' (For

Faith and Country) is still printed on

every editorial page the paper publishes.

⁵

I have some family history in the

Parnell split. My great grandfather

was in the Irish Republican

Brotherhood. At the height of crisis

in the 1890s there was serious violence

and faction-fighting across

Ireland. As my great grandfather had

sided with Parnell against the

church, at one point he had to leave

his house for fear of being attacked

or having the house burned.

Partition

The point here is to understand

that the church or churches, and the

state or states, always used each

other when their interests required

it. But there were various interests

to balance.

>>>


>>>


Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

The deleted subsections of Article 44

2° The State recognises the special position of the

Holy Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church as the

guardian of the Faith professed by the great majority

of the citizens.

3° The State also recognises the Church of Ireland, the

Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Methodist Church

in Ireland, the Religious Society of Friends in Ireland,

as well as the Jewish Congregations and the other

religious denominations existing in Ireland at the date

of the coming into operation of this Constitution.

Figures 1 and 2 show the proportion

of the population of Ireland who

were Catholic since 1891. It has been

a remarkably consistent three quarters

of the population. Partition

changed the landscape for the

independent southern state. The

CSO records that the Catholic

population in the South rose to a

peak in 1961 of 94.9 per cent.

When the new Irish Free State

came into being in 1923 the Catholic

Church had a free run. An early

indication of how things would be in

the fledgling state was flagged

when the Free State Senate considered

what to do about divorce in

1925. It was already very restrictive,

people had to petition parliament to

get a divorce. After consulting the

Catholic hierarchy the government

decided to close the loophole.

Ireland's most famous senator

William Butler Yeats was furious and

he said so in the Senate. He warned

about the impact on the minority

and on the possibility of a United

Ireland.

"If you show that this country,

Southern Ireland, is going to be

governed by Catholic ideas and by

Catholic ideas alone, you will never

get the North. You will create an

impassable barrier between South

and North, and you will pass more

and more Catholic laws, while the

North will, gradually, assimilate its

divorce and other laws to those of

England." ⁶

But Yeat's words were not heeded

and over the next 50 years the

Church's power became

entrenched. The 1937 constitution

was drafted with Eamon De Valera's

close relationship with future Dublin

Archbishop John McQuaid, placing

many teaching of the Church front

and centre.

Which brings us to 1979. The

Catholic Church was unassailable

and the Pope's visit sealed the deal.

But change was already in the air.

An apostle of change

I met Michael Nugent outside a

cafe directly across from the gates

of the Archbishop's House in

Drumcondra, a fact he delighted in

drawing my attention to. Michael is

the Chair of Atheist Ireland and a

veteran campaigner for the separation

of church and state.

"I grew up in the 1960s and there

was just complete church power

over everything, When you had

Mods in England, you know, fighting

against Rockers on the beaches of

Brighton - you had Mods in Ireland

queuing up to get their scooters

blessed by the local priest, so that's

where we were," he says with a

laugh.

Nugent identifies peak Catholic

political power in the Pro-Life

Amendment referendum in 1983.

"Even feminists back then didn't

campaign on the right to abortion.

There were obviously feminists who

did support the right. But they

wouldn't say it, you know, because

they felt it was counterproductive.

Secularism was very cautious back

then."

Decline by referendum

Much of the history of secularisation

of the past 40 years can be

mapped in referendum campaigns.

On the page opposite I've laid out

three sets of twin referendums.

Those around religion, divorce and

abortion.

The 1972 referendum is an outlier

but important. In the 1937 constitution

the 'special position of the

Catholic Church' was recognised.

The clause was widely seen as sectarian

but actually was a result of De

Valera fending off demands to make

the Catholic Church a state church,

In any case by the early 1970s the

Troubles were raging in the North

and the subsections made the South

look like a theological state notwithstanding

the inclusion of other

religions. (See panel 'The deleted

subsections of Article 44' left).

The main point is that the proposal

to delete the 'special position'

was passed overwhelmingly, showing

a nascent ability of the

electorate to park their Catholicism

and to see the interests of church

and state as separate. ⁷

As Nugent pointed out sentiment

against abortion was also overwhelming

when Ireland's politicians

promised the newly formed Pro-Life

Amendment Campaign (PLAC) in the

early 1980s that they would introduce

the Eight Amendment to the

constitution to stop the Supreme

Court pulling a 'Roe vs Wade' in

Ireland.

The referendum was passed by a

2:1 majority but there had been

many criticisms of the move including

that it was sectarian, divisive and

that it reflected church power.

Nugent thinks that at that point

opinion in Ireland was beginning to

change and he sees the emergence

of the Progressive Democrats as

significant.

"It had the potential, and indeed

did in the long run, to break the two

and a half party system, which was

one of the things that was keeping

everything the way that it was. Des

O'Malley, who had been quite a

conservative Catholic, had moved

on and was supporting the secular

agenda when he was kicked out of

Fianna Fáil for refusing to vote

against condoms."

In the early 1990s the Bishop

Eamon Casey scandal broke out. If

a cleric having consensual sex with

a woman was a big problem for the

Church, then the scale of clerical

sexual abuse of children that was

coming into the public sphere shook

the institution to its core.

At this point Nugent lets fly at the

Catholic Church. "When you think

about it, if any other organisation

had spent decades raping children

and covering up, they'd be closed

down and all their leaders have

been jailed. You know, there would

be no question of letting them still

run schools. It's just scandalous."

Part of a pattern?

For a more dispassionate take on

secular Ireland and secularisation in

general I met with Joe Humphreys

who writes the philosophy based

'Unthinkable' weekly column for the

Irish Times and holds a Masters in

Political Philosophy from UCD.

Joe says its irrational to turn away

from God simply because some

advocates for God do bad things.

"But there's no doubt, I think, a lot

of people's faith was heavily

dependent on the respect and

authority the church had in Ireland.

So as that authority waned, people's

faith declined in tandem," he says.

He said that some theologians

identified that the Irish belief in religion

was thin, that there was an

expectation that the Church would

'do' religion on their behalf. He

instances the tradition that many

people learned prayers by rote -

they recited the words but they

didn't really say them.

This brings two big outstanding

issues around secularisation into

focus. One is that Catholic parents

sub-contract faith formation to the

schools and the other is that the

Catholic Church controls 90 per

cent of primary schools. Joe agrees

that there has been very little reform

in this area. The bishops are not too

pushed and a minority of Catholic

parents are vociferously opposed to

change.

"The gaping anomaly here is that

we still do faith formation in schools.

The state is paying to indoctrinate

children in religious beliefs that half

(of parents) don't believe in. I mean,

that's extraordinary. We're paying

Joe Humphreys

I think there's

not necessarily

a fall off in a

kind of a

spiritual belief,

or a kind of a

searching or

questioning.

That's often the

epitome of what

religious belief

is, not

necessarily

having a dogma

but thinking

beyond the

material.

Michael Nugent

REFERENCES:

teachers salaries to go in and teach

kids Catholic education."

"I think the lever here is faith formation.

I think the name of the

school doesn't matter. At the end of

the day, you can call it St Joseph's,

St Michael's or whatever. One thing

you could do is have an opt-in to

faith formation rather than opt-out.

And I think that's actually more

important this than stripping schools

of Catholic identity"

Of the broader question about

enduring religious belief I asked Joe

whether people turning away from

traditional religion meant they were

leaving religion behind.

"I think there's not necessarily a

fall off in a kind of a spiritual belief,

or a kind of a searching or questioning.

That's often the epitome of what

religious belief is, not necessarily

having a dogma but thinking

beyond the material.

"I think probably what is lost is the

communal element of it. People are

doing their own sort of spiritual

quests and maybe turning to things

like self-improvement and self-help,

things like self enhancement almost.

So you're a bit more on your own."

Your own internal church

On Reek Sunday thousands still

climb Croagh Patrick, the believers

and the doubters. No law makes

them do it nor does marketing.

People flock to the Camino, to

walk the old routes in search of

downtime away from the smartphone.

Much of what people valued

in religion was the ability to have an

internal dialogue.

The final battle will be over the

control of schools and it is well

under way. The recent rejection of

referendums around family and care

might indicate a conservative pushback

that may slow change.

Perhaps the solution is for the

Catholic Church to move first, to

agree to share their schools proportionately

and thus to take control of

their 50-year decline.

Twin Referendums

Religion

1972 Referendum

Special Position of Church

Yes 721,003 84.4%

No 133,430 15.6%

Turnout 50.7%

2018 Referendum

Blasphemy

Yes 951,650 64.8%

No 515,808 35.2%

Turnout 43.8%

Source: Referendum Ireland www.referendum.ie

Twin Referendums

Divorce

1986 Referendum

Dissolution of Marriage

Yes 538,279 36.5%

No 935,843 64.5%

Turnout 60.8%

1995 Referendum

Dissolution of Marriage

Yes 818,842 50.3%

No 809,728 47.7%

Turnout 62.1%


Twin Referendums

Abortion

1983 Referendum

Right to Life of the Unborn

Yes 841,233 66.9%

No 416,136 33.1%

Turnout 53.7%

2018 Referendum

Reg of termination of pregnancy

Yes 1,429,981 66.4%

No 723,632 33.6%

Turnout 64.1%


1. Charles Ivar McGrath, 2021 The Penal Laws: Origins, Purpose, Enforcement and Impact. Chapter in Costello, Kevin;

Howlin, Niamh (eds.). Law and Religion in Ireland, 1700–1970. https://books.google.ie/books?id=gW1LEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA

12&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

2. Dáire Keogh, Maynooth: a Catholic Seminary in a Protestant state, 1995, History Ireland. www.historyireland.com/

maynooth-a-catholic-seminary-in-a-protestant-state/

3. St Patrick’s Pontifical University, Maynooth https://sppu.ie/about/a-brief-history

4. Kenneth Milne, History Ireland, Disestablishment-in the nick of time https://www.jstor.org/stable/26853156

5. Frank Callanan, 1990, 'Clerical Dictation': Reflections on the Catholic Church and the Parnell Split https://www.

jstor.org/stable/25487499

6. WB Yeats, Seanad Éireann debate - Thursday, 11 June 1925; https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/

seanad/1925-06-11/12/

7. Niall Meehan, 2019, History Ireland, Article 44 reconsidered https://www.historyireland.com/article-44-reconsidered-2/


Feature 1: Religion without Ireland

Can secularisation

work to give

religion a future?

By Niall Gormley

IF the movement to separate church

and state is successful then it will

also mean the separation of state

and church.

It sounds obvious but in the case

of Ireland the policy assumes campaigning

secularists prying the

hands of the church away from the

civil state. It assumes only downsides

for religion.

In fact, many despots, kings and

emperors have used religion as a

crutch, given its popularity and credibility

among the people and ruled

with various shades of theocracy.

From the pharaohs of Egypt to the

emperors of Rome, gods were

power. When Henry the Eight broke

from Rome, he made himself the

head of the church in England. Not

a God but not far off, certainly with

the power of life or death.

There were two main downsides

for religion in getting mixed up with

the state. Firstly, the earthly powers

wanted to control the church. The

House of Borgia came to have two

popes from the family. Their rivals,

the Medici's, made their money in

banking in Florence, and produced

four popes.

This political meddling left religion

with little room to manoeuvre, open

to political intrigue and with nobody

looking after its best interests.

The second problem for religion

is the reputational damage that

inevitably comes with the abuse

power. In the Middle Ages, Rome

became a byword for corruption.

The sale of indulgences by Pope

Leo X (one of the Medici popes) to

raise money to build St Peter's

Basilica in Rome played a big role in

the Reformation in the early 1500s.

The Catholic Church in Ireland is

another example. Left in positions of

power in education, in health and in

the community, it failed to apply

morality, one of the foundational

tenets of religion, to itself.

Running orphanages has been a

reputation killer everywhere (think

communist Romania) and while the

Irish state deserves some of the

blame here, it's the Catholic Church

that got, and deserves, most of the

blame.

In Hugh Turpin's 2022 entertaining

and meticulously researched

book, Unholy Catholic Ireland:

Religious Hypocrisy, Secular

Morality, and Irish Irreligion, the

church's hero-to-zero implosion in

the space of half a lifetime is laid

bare.

Getting back to god

Although separation of church

and state in Ireland has long been a

goal of secularists, it was conceived

in its modern form by Christians in

America. Many of these early

migrants to the New World fled

Europe to escape persecution.

These included Puritans who, ironically,

wanted to escape control so

that they could exercise absolute

control of their own errant members.

One of these was Roger Williams

In the past

priests were

ordained and

took from

that an

unchallenged

right to run the

church and

church affairs.

That is

unsustainable.

Fr Tim Hazelwood

who departed Salem in the winter of

1636 accused of preaching dangerous

ideas like religious freedom. He

made it to Providence where, with

some like-minded people, he

founded a colony based on the idea

of limited government and to let

people sort out their own relationship

with god.

Later English philosopher John

Locke appealed for religious toleration

so that those of different faiths

could co-exist. Europe had been

ravaged by the sectarian wars of the

post-Reformation years and tolerance

made political as well as

religious sense.

In Ireland republicans and nationalists

promised that Church power

would be kept in check but the

realities of partition left the Church

in a very influential position, in the

state, in society and around the

country. Perhaps things could have

been worse. Ireland kept its constitutional

government which allowed

secular forces to compete with the

Church for power eventually.

Where is the Church heading?

Fr Tim Hazelwood is part of the

Association of Catholic Priests (ACP)

leadership team and is based in East

Cork.

He talks about the many difficulties

that the Church faces where

there has been a crash in vocations,

priests are overwhelmingly elderly

and retiring, and still the public want

the same services in funerals, wed-


A mountain to climb? Many facets of church and religious life retain their popularity such as the Camino or Croagh Patrick shown here (Pic: Niall Gormley)

dings and baptisms. He

acknowledges the fall-off in demand

for many of these life events but that

the Churches resources have fallen

even faster.

I asked him what can be done and

whether the Church is capable of

reforming itself. He identifies a more

hopeful future for the Church in the

concept of 'synodality'.

"In the past priests were ordained

and took from that an unchallenged

right to run the church and church

affairs. That is unsustainable.

Synodality focuses on the sacrament

of baptism which locates

power in the Church much more

widely."

Writing in a piece on the ACP

website in May, Fr Brendan Hoban

says of synodality:

"Once the clergy – priests, bishops,

cardinals – were in charge;

now with synodality the baptised

and the ordained work together.

"For instance, up to now, the parish

priest made decisions for Parish

Councils which were merely consultative

bodies. Now priests and

people will together follow a synodal

pathway: together listening

attentively to one another; together

discussing issues; together discerning

what God wants them to do; and

together making decisions." ¹

This is radical stuff and a complete

turnabout in how the

hierarchical church has operated in

the past. And, ironically, some of the

pressure for this is coming from

Rome where Pope Francis is pushing

"the need to dismantle what he

calls ‘clericalism’, effectively, an elitist

and exclusivist understanding of

vocation, as a power to be exercised

rather than a service to be given."

Earlier this year, 200 parish

priests were called to Rome, two

from each country, to share their

experiences of the transition to

synodality.

Some might say that this is just a

reality check where the real anticlerical

force is the fact that clerics

are disappearing.

Writing in the Catholic Herald

Declan McSweeney quotes Fr

Paddy Byrne who summarised the

statistics in his recent column in the

Laois Nationalist:

“The number of priests and members

of religious orders in Ireland

has dropped by 70 per cent since

1970. In the past three years, more

than 25 per cent of priests in Ireland

have died. And the average age of

priests has risen substantially in that

time; it is now well above 70. Add to

those, problems of health and

morale and you have a serious difficulty

with staffing.” ²

McSweeney says that half a century

ago, there were 14,000 nuns in

Ireland; now the number is around

4,000, the average age being over

80. So if the Church doesn't

embrace change that transfers

power to the laity it's facing a huge

crisis.

I put it Fr Hazelwood that even

Now priests

and people will

together follow

a synodal

pathway:

together

listening

attentively to

one another;

together

discussing

issues;

together

discerning what

God wants

them to do;

and together

making

decisions

given the looming problems many

parts of the conservative church are

resisting change. He agreed and

instanced that this was particularly

evident in the role of women in the

church.

"In our churches most of the work

is done by women. We have been

asking for women deacons in the

ACP for many years. Equality is an

essential part of our humanity, which

we haven't acknowledged"

The Church embracing women?

So the Catholic Church is heading

into the new secular Ireland in a

continuing debate about its own

relationship with traditional ideas.

Mary McAleese, former President

of Ireland, is also a committed

Catholic and a long-time advocate

for progressive change in the

Church. This is what she had to say

about women in the Church on 25

March 1995 at the Jesuit

Conference Centre in Dublin before

she became President:

"At a time when numbers seeking

admission to the priestly Iife are

dwindling to a negligible trickle,

when convents and monasteries are

closing down or seeking a recycled

living as conference centres it

seems an extraordinary act of

ingratitude to say to those of the

female gender who would wish to

play their role in the future of the

Church as pastors, whether deacons

or priests, and whose newly

released spiritual energy could truly

>>>


>>>

renew the face of the earth, that

their services are not required.

"How different one wonders is the

voice which argues for female circumcision

in Africa because that is

how tradition always would have it,

from the voice once raised in the Far

East for the binding of female feet

because that is how tradition would

always have it and how different is

that from the voice which rejects the

admission of women to priesthood

because that is how tradition would

always have it?" ³

In the intervening years how

much has changed? Speaking in

March 2024 at the 'On Being A

Catholic' event at Mary Immaculate

College in Limerick President

McAleese said:

“I’ve read everything that has

been written on theology that

excludes women and I’ve read nothing

yet that is impressive.

“It’s the kind of theology that is

custom raised to meet the

Magisterium teaching and to flatter

it but not to integrate it, and I think

that’s a pity. The important thing

about excluding women from priesthood

is you also exclude them ipso

facto from decision making because

all decision making in the church is

written through the Magisterium.”

Since Ms McAleese left the presidency,

she has devoted more of her

time to Catholic Church affairs and

she has tooled up on Canon law.

She holds a Doctorate and

Licentiate in Canon Law from the

Pontifical Gregorian University Rome

and a Master’s Degree in Canon

Law from the National University of

Ireland (Milltown Institute).

She's not impressed with progress

so far: “There are a few

women in the curial roles and I don’t

want to be mean about this but it

just strikes me as minimalism.

"It’s just enough to stop people

from whinging and complaining and

to look like you’re doing something.

But what you’re doing is never really

addressing the fundamental inequalities

and the fundamental waste

of talent."

President McAleese also said that

she approved of the synodal process

and she called for a forum

where clergy and laity could meet

as equals.

Can the centre hold?

Should churches liberalise to

meet the new secular world or

should they hold on to old values

and meet the challenge head on?

The Anglican churches have

made many changes, such a allowing

women into the priesthood and

embracing gay people. But these

moves, and the growth in the

How

different one

wonders is the

voice which

argues for

female

circumcision

in Africa

because that is

how tradition

always would

have it?

Anglican churches in the more conservative,

developing world, have

threatened to split the whole

Anglican communion.

Same-sex marriages are not

allowed and 'blessings' are as far as

the Anglican leadership dare to go

for fear of causing a schism. But in

June a proposal in the Church of

England to allow gay couples to

have stand-alone services in

Anglican churches caused open

rebellion from a conservative alliance

within the Church.

"If the further departure from the

Church’s doctrine ... does go ahead,

we will have no choice but rapidly

to establish what would in effect be

a new de facto 'parallel Province'

within the Church of England," the

alliance, made up of leaders from

different networks backed by over

2,000 clergy, said in a Reuters

report. ⁴

The Catholic Church is in a similar

bind as conservatives rebel against

church liberalisation. ⁵

Mix and match beliefs

For a different, and perhaps more

optimistic, version of the future I

headed to the Jampa Ling Buddhist

Temple in west Cavan.

On an old estate, out in the woods

and lakes, a tired and weary cosmopolitan

can put down their

President Mary McAleese with Dr Patricia Kieran, Director of the Irish Institute for Catholic Studies in March 2024 at the 'On Being A Catholic' event at

Mary Immaculate College in Limerick (Pic: Mary Immaculate College)


smartphones for a few days and find

some peace. Far from competing

with the entrenched Christianity of

either Cavan or Ireland, the Temple

finds lots of Christians willing to mix

and match practices and beliefs.

Desmond Geogh (rhymes with

cough, he says) is a facilitator at the

centre. He agrees that people come

for peace of mind.

"I think that would be a common

thing. Some people might have a

particular thing going on in their

lives they want to tease out. This

place gives you a time to reflect and

contemplate. People come and stay

for three or four days. Occasionally

people come and stay for a month

or two," he says.

The Temple is a retreat centre, a

meditation centre and follows the

practices of Tibetan Buddhism.

"We have a Tibetan lama living

here who is the teacher, the spiritual

director, the Venerable Panchen

Ötrul Rinpoche. He is a very knowledgeable

Tibetan Buddhist scholar,

practitioner and meditator," he said.

He says that the purpose of the

centre is not to make people into

Buddhists.

"There would be a Christian,

Catholic, Irish majority of people

who come here and they fit it in with

their practice. They don't necessarily

drop their old practices to come

here. They can straddle the two or

they're on a journey of self-discovery

or whatever," he adds.

"Because in Buddhism, one of the

things we say is 'you can't fix the

world'. You may not be able to make

the world a more peaceful place in

your lifetime, but you can make your

mind a more peaceful, relaxed,

chilled out mind."

Perhaps the a-la-carte Catholic is

also an a-la-carte Buddhist and an

a-la-carte agnostic. Instead of the

leaving religion behind the decline

in institutional religion is opening up

options for people, while keeping

the pressure on the old churches to

work on reform.

REFERENCES (Not referenced in text or charts):

Some people

might have a

particular thing

going on in

their lives they

want to tease

out. This place

gives you a time

to reflect and

contemplate

Because in

Buddhism, one

of the things

we say is 'you

can't fix the

world'...

...you may not

be able to make

the world a

more peaceful

place in your

lifetime, but

you can make

your mind a

more peaceful,

relaxed, chilled

out mind

1. Brendan Hoban: Priests must embrace a new era of synodality

https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/brendan-hoban-priests-mustembrace-a-new-era-of-synodality/

2. Ireland’s vocations crisis reflects lack of ‘initiative’ and ‘evasion

of issue’ by Church https://catholicherald.co.uk/irelands-vocationscrisis-reflects-lack-of-initiative-and-evasion-of-issue-by-church/

3. marymcaleese.com https://marymcaleese.com/basic-seminardublin

4. Church of England faces threat of split over stance on gay

couples https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/church-england-facesthreat-split-over-stance-gay-couples-2024-06-27/

5. Can Conservative and Liberal Catholics Coexist? https://www.

nytimes.com/2024/05/08/opinion/pope-francis-catholic-church.

html?searchResultPosition=1

Desmond Geogh, a facilitator with the Jampa Ling Buddhist Temple in Bawnboy in

west Cavan, is pictured here in the centre's library

The Jampa Ling Buddhist Temple at Summer Solstice celebrations

That would be an ecumenical dog....

MEET Rufus, making herself at

home on the floor of the small

library in the Jampa Ling Buddhist

Temple in west Cavan.

She's just visiting as she lives

next door and belongs to the

Smith family. Sean Smith was a

veteran Fianna Fáil councillor on

Cavan County Council serving for

43 years until his death in January

2023.

His daughter Áine topped the

poll in this year's local elections in

the Cavan-Belturbet constituency.

Des Gough says that Rufus visits

every day and helps the guests

chill out and relax. She takes them

for walks in the woods and Des

says she's famous the 'length and

breadth' of Ireland with the

Temple's visitors who always ask

for her.

Des reckons she's a Catholic

dog at home and a Buddhist dog

when she's at the Temple. She's

also a Fianna Fáil dog and a girl

call Rufus.

Who says we can't all get along?


Feature 3: Northern Protestant Secularisation

Did Protestants

secularise before

Catholics?

By Niall Gormley

IN September 2023 it was

announced that Catholics outnumbered

Protestants in Northern

Ireland for the first time. The 2021

Census found that Catholics made

up 45.7 per cent of the population.

Protestants accounted for just 43.5

per cent.

This was the second census in

row that a major demographic

change had been captured. The

previous 2011 census showed that

Protestant numbers had fallen

below 50 per cent for the first time.

At that time the balance was 48 to

45 in favour of Protestants.

A quick search on Google shows

that this news was carried around

the world from the major wire services

to the likes of The New York

Times. It was a moment full of meaning:

that the state of Northern

Ireland, built to house a Protestant

majority, had outlived its raison

d'etre.

But did it? The numbers in Figure

1 below are stark. They take account

not only the people who say they

are Catholic or Protestant but also

those who no longer consider themselves

described by these labels. It

asks what community you were

Community Background NI (%)

Protestant

Catholic

2001 53.13 43.76

2011 48.36 45.14

2021 43.48 45.70

Figure 1

Source: Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency

brought up in and the question has

only been asked since 2001 in

anticipation of the growing number

of 'not stated' and 'no religion'

replies.

It's the living embodiment of the

old joke that you can't be an atheist

in Northern Ireland. You have to be

a Protestant atheist or a Catholic

atheist.

What's going on?

What stands out is the astonishing

decline in the number of people

describing themselves as

'Protestant'. In both ten year periods

the overall numbers of Protestants

fell by about 5 per cent. So the number

of Protestants has declined by

half a percentage point every year

for the past 20 years.

However this seems to have been

a longer term trend for Protestants

in Northern Ireland (See Figure 2).

From 1860 to 1960 the number of

Presbyterians was around 30-33 per

cent. The numbers of Catholics was

generally reducing despite high

birth rates due to emigration.

Presbyterians were also subject to

emigration as their socio-economic

position was lower than that of

Anglicans, whose numbers actually

increased to 1940.

As can be seen from Figure 3 the

absolute numbers of Protestants

stayed fairly constant up to 1970. But

starting from around 1950 their proportion

of the population started to

fall. Why was that?

What stands

out is the

astonishing

decline in the

number of

people

describing

themselves as

'Protestant'.

So the number

of Protestants

has declined

by half a

percentage

point every

year for the

past 20 years

Firstly, Catholic emigration began

to ease off (see Figure 4), large

numbers were still leaving Northern

Ireland but the absolute numbers of

Catholics were increasing.

Also Protestants also emigrated

as the figures from Dr Johanne

Devlin Trew of Ulster University

show, especially in the 1970s.

Over the first sixty years 85,000

more Catholics than Protestants

emigrated but by the 1970s the

numbers leaving were even. The

'brain drain' movement meant that

as more Catholics went to in

Northern Ireland, more Protestants

went to university in Britain.

Disappearing Protestants

Looking at Figure 2 it looks like a

lot of Protestants are not disappearing

but instead turning into 'nones'.

Peter McLaughlin in The Fitzwilliam

takes up the argument:

"Some of this is being driven by

secularisation, which is happening

in a lopsided manner in Northern

Ireland.

"Of those who said they had no

religion in 2011, a majority identified

as British, and over two-thirds identified

either as British or Northern

Irish; only 14% thought of themselves

as Irish compared to 28.4%

of the general population, which

suggests that those from a

Protestant background are secularising

more quickly than their

Catholic counterparts.

"Or at least, secularisation in


Marching off the stage? Young loyalists taking part in the 12th July 2024 Orange parade in Gilford, Co Down on their way to the field (Pic: Niall Gormley)

Catholic communities had less of an

impact on cultural identity and

political beliefs." ¹

Meanwhile, the proportion of

Catholics seems to have plateaued

at around 45 per cent, especially

when many immigrants come from

Catholic countries like Poland. There

were around 25,000 more Catholics

than Protestants from European

countries in the 2021 census.

Asymmetrical secularisation

What other evidence can be

adduced for earlier Protestant secularisation?

Well one strand is that

Protestants are what they say they

are, which is British. And the situation

in England is that identification

with religion has been on the

decline from the early 1900s, see

Figure 5 next page. So it's not inconceivable

that those who imbibe and

>>>

The situation

in England

is that

identification

with religion

has been on

the decline

from the early

1900s

Figure 2

Figure 4

Source: Dr Johanne Devlin Trew, ‘Lost generations’? Taking the longer view on Northern Ireland migration; kess.org.uk/

Figure 3


>>>

resonate with British culture would

also be also influenced by it.

England and Britain in general is

also part of the European, developed

world mainstream and subject

to wider secularisation trends. See

panel below: 'Secularisation is predictably

but unevenly tied to

development'.

Protestant movement

So is it possible that the disappearing

Protestant is an illusion, that

there's more going on. Reformation

values among many Protestants

emphasised individual conscience

and a rejection of hierarchies.

John Gray is a former Librarian at

the renowned Linen Hall Library and

from a Protestant background. He

was a member of the Ulster Liberal

Party in the 1960s and then the

more radical People's Democracy in

the 1970s. He is now the chair of

Reclaim the Enlightenment, a crosscommunity

group hoping to

recapture some of the democratic,

non-sectarian radicalism in Belfast's

past.

I asked him about the transition

from 'Protestant' to 'None' in the

census results. Although agnostic

he's not convinced that they've all

given up God.

"It means, I think, 'no organised

religion'. There are people who were

brought up going to church but have

stopped going to church. But are

they actually saying that they've

abandoned religion? It's not clear,"

he says.

He points to many of the

Protestants involved in Reclaim the

Enlightenment who embrace rationalism

and a civic republicanism.

"What I mean by civic republican-

ism is a rational rejection of

monarchy, aristocracy and, a very

Protestant thing, a rejection of hierarchy

within the churches."

I asked him about the changes in

recent years where, in heavily

Protestant constituencies in the east

of Northern Ireland, that the Alliance

Party, adamant that it is not unionist,

is gaining a large share of the vote.

Alliance has won (and lost) East

Belfast and North Down in the past;

and won Lagan Valley in the recent

2024 Westminster election.

"I think that it is true, in a political

sense, that people are desperately

clutching for anything but the old

rubrics, because the old rubrics

have proved so disastrous and

failed.

"This is sometimes condemned as

the Protestant middle class retiring

to the Gold Coast, along the shores

of Belfast Lough, and simply deciding

they couldn't care less what the

politics are so long as they can

continue making money.

"But actually, there's more to it

than that. Many areas where the

middle classes live are mixed and

people are buying into that. It's a

more pleasant way to live"

John points out that many of the

areas where loyalism is strongest

are where people have been

excluded from third level education

by academic selection. These are

also areas hit by recent racist rioting

in Belfast.

This might indicate that the

Protestant population once characterised,

mistakenly, as monolithic,

are heading in even more starkly

different directions. One, middle

class, indifferent to unionist ideology

and identifying more with a

John Gray

This is

sometimes

condemned as

the Protestant

middle class

retiring to the

Gold Coast,

along the shores

of Belfast

Lough, and

simply deciding

they couldn't

care less....

....but actually,

there's more to

it than that

'Northern Irish' or even 'Irish' identity.

The other, poorer, excluded by

geography, social class and academic

selection, becoming more

(British) nationalist and xenophobic

- and ultimately self-destructive.

Not all bad news

Ben Lowry is the editor of the

Newsletter in Belfast, famously the

oldest continuously printed English

language newspaper in the world,

and possible the most important

unionist institution in Northern

Ireland.

In the wake of the 2021 census

results Ben penned an opinion

piece in the Newsletter making the

point that part of the reason for the

precipitous decline in the Protestant

population was asymmetrical secularisation.

²

He instanced the changeover in

schools to in the North to 'integrated'

status and said that the

majority of such schools came from

the Protestant community.

He has a point here. Firstly, even

though most people say that

Northern Ireland's education system

is divided by religion, actually the

'Protestant' schools are state

schools, while only 'Catholic'

schools form a separate sector.

Figure 7 seems to back up this

contention. Enrolment from the

Protestant community is falling but

enrolments from the 'Others' has

increased and the Catholic numbers

are stable. But it's not true that all

the 'Others' originate from the

Protestant side as Peter McLaughlin

pointed out above.

Ben takes up the argument:

"Meanwhile, for many years some

schools in greater Belfast have been

Secularisation is predictably but

unevenly tied to development

THE Inglehart–Welzel analysis divides values into two

axes to measure where populations stand at any given

time. The pull of secular vs traditional values is measured

against how difficult it is to put bread on the table.

The values plotted here for countries show an unmistakable

pattern: as countries and populations get richer,

traditional beliefs and family structures wane.

But there are bumps and counter-intuitives on the

way. The Eastern Bloc countries of Europe have

become more traditional since the fall of the Iron

Curtain even as they joined the EU and grew richer.

Also, Latin America has seen a fall in Catholic beliefs

but also a huge rise in Protestant churches.

The secularism of the west may actually be putting

a brake on secularisation elsewhere in that reactionary

forces scare their populations with tales about the

degeneracy of the developed countries.

Source: https://www.economist.com/interactive/international/2023/08/03/western-values-are-steadily-diverging-from-the-rest-of-the-world


becoming integrated in reality, even

if not formally designated as such.

"The most religiously mixed such

schools, with intakes of almost

50-50 Protestant-Catholic in a number

of cases, tend to be grammars,

and they tend to be middle class.

They are atypical of wider society,

but were the fore-runners in a trend

that has been building for more than

50 years.

"When I was at school in the

1980s such mixing was well established

but like many pupils, I knew

little about it. Why? Because like

many people from a cultural

Protestant background in greater

Belfast I came from a family that

rarely attended church and I did not

know what Protestant or Catholic

meant until I was approaching my

teens."

And this touches on the effect of

secularisation on the middle classes.

National and religious identity matters

less and three political trends

emerge: not voting unionist, voting

for the centre ground; and not voting

at all, this last point evidenced

by the lower turnout in eastern

constituencies in Northern Ireland.

Border poll looming

Politically the statistics indicate

change, perhaps even constitutional

change. Figure 8 shows a large drop

in 'British Only' identity so that the

traditional profile of Protestants in

Northern Ireland is on the wane.

Both election results and the census

data show that unionism is in

decline. But that doesn't mean that

all these former, Alliance and Green

voting Protestants want a United

Ireland much less vote for one.

I'm reading Claire Mitchell's book

The Ghost Limb where she talks to

Protestants who, in the spirit of the

United Irishmen, want a new nonsectarian

future and a new

relationship with the island. But

again that doesn't necessarily mean

a United Ireland.

It might mean joint sovereignty, a

new federal arrangement, and a

different cultural and social outlook

for a previously Anglophile people

who are open to the idea of seeing

their future in a shared space.

Ben Lowry

The most

religiously

mixed such

schools, with

intakes of

almost 50-50

Protestant-

Catholic in a

number of

cases, tend to

be grammars,

and they tend to

be middle class.

They are

atypical of

wider society,

but were the

fore-runners in

a trend that has

been building

for more than

50 years

Will the move

from 'Catholic'

to 'Other' mean

a move from

'Nationalist' to

'Other'?

Source: British Religion in Numbers www.brin.ac.uk; Religion in Britain https://www.brin.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/BSA-83-08-England-affil.jpg Figure 5

n Protestant n Catholic n No Religion n Not Stated n Non-Christian

Source: Wikipedia graphic from Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency data. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Northern_Ireland#cite_note-10

Figure 6

Figure 7


1. Peter McLoughlin, The Fitzwilliam, Northern Ireland:

Demography as Destiny? https://www.thefitzwilliam.com/p/northernireland-demography-as-destiny

2. Ben Lowry: Protestant population has fallen in Northern Ireland

in part because they were early to secularism https://www.

newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/columnists/ben-lowry-protestantpopulation-has-fallen-in-northern-ireland-in-part-because-they-wereearly-to-secularism-3855237

Figure 8


Emer Dillon concludes a Humanist

wedding ceremony in Bellinter

House in Co Meath in May 2024

Feature 4: Life without Religion

Believing in

people instead of

just believing

By Niall Gormley

EMER DILLON describes her background

as traditional Irish. Born in

1960. Educated by nuns. Went

through all the stages: baptism,

communion, confirmation, marriage.

No, not marriage. By the time marriage

came round Emer had turned

away from the religion of her youth

and had embarked on a different set

of ethics and understandings about

how the world works.

She is a Humanist Celebrant officiating

at ceremonies to name

babies, bind people in matrimony

and mark the end of lives. These are


Interview with Emer Dillon

HUMANIST CELEBRANT and

MEMBER OF THE HUMANIST ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND

special events for people and those

who love them; occasions that form

the way points of life and make

lifelong memories.

She is a member of the Humanist

Association of Ireland (HAI), a committed

humanist, active in

campaigning for separation of

church and state, and legally enabled

to make marriages.

A childhood journey

If her background was as conventional

as she says it was, how did

the journey in the other direction

come about, I ask.

"I suppose I can probably actually

pinpoint the first time I questioned

whether there was a God or not. I

was only ten years of age. My father

was in a road traffic accident.

"I was told he was in an accident

and I prayed and prayed and prayed

and prayed. I promised I would do

this and that. I was only ten.

"He died.'

Our conversation comes to a

dead halt. I wasn't expecting that. To

lose your father at 10 years of age

must be a life event bigger than the

ones she officiates over.

Her mother told her that her father

had gone to heaven but that didn't

add up for her because God was

supposed to be good and kind.

However, her mother's faith was

still intact and she expected Emer to

go to mass and be religious. As she

exited her teenage years she didn't

believe in it anymore, she was "skirting

religion and not taking part".

"I suppose when it solidified was

when I became a mom. Dan was

born in 1987 and I decided there

and then." Her son's father also

agreed that they wouldn't be bringing

him up religious.

She says that a lot of her friends

at the time wouldn't have been

going to mass but when they had

children "they fell back into it. They

got married in the church and they

baptised their children."

So the decision was made not to

go for a baptism. But this was 1987

in Ireland. I put it to her that it was

fairly radical for the time and I wondered

how her mother reacted.

"Well she would say to me 'think

about that poor child's soul'. I said to

her 'It'll be fine, mom'.

"I also said to her 'under no circumstances

do you even think

about putting him over the kitchen

sink. And don't you dare put any

miraculous medals into his cot or his

basket because we could fall out

quite badly'."

They didn't fall out and they

agreed to disagree. Emer says that

her mother felt let down by the

scandals in the church and in her

later years, she lived to 96,

described herself as an 'a la carte

Catholic'.

But like daughter, like mother.

When Emer became a Humanist

Celebrant her mother told her:

"Don't you dare give me one of

those humanist funerals. If you do I'll

come back and haunt you".

Minding the kids

Heading into the 1990s and trying

to raise kids without religion presented

some difficulties. Emer

wasn't married and she wanted her

son to have his father's surname.

She basically refused to register the

child herself and got the child's

father to do the registration. The

other alternative was that the father

would have to adopt his own child

in order to have the same name.

The Status of Children Act 1987

Emer Dillon about to conduct a wedding ceremony at City Hall, Dublin (www.instagram.com/emerdillon)

was passed in December of that

year. Up until then children who

were born outside marriage were

'illegitimate' and did not have the

same inheritance or succession

rights as 'legitimate' children. It

included the right of unmarried

fathers to register a child (See panel

on next page).

In Emer's case the Registrar simply

assumed they were married and

things could have been complicated

otherwise.

In order that her children wouldn't

have to go through faith formation,

communion or confirmation; or sit

through all the religious instruction,

she chose to send them to a small

fee-paying Protestant school.

The Baptism Barrier

The other problem that she

avoided by sending her children to

a non-Catholic school was having to

overcome the so-called 'baptism

barrier'.

In many urban areas of Ireland

there is competition for school

places and schools are oversubscribed.

As the vast majority of

schools are controlled by the

Catholic Church, they could and

Dublin diocese percentage difference in baptism rates

5%

0%

-5%

-10%

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

>>>

Source: Archdiocese Of Dublin via The Journal

Figure 1

Data from the Catholic Diocese of Dublin showing a noticeable

fall in baptisms in 2019 after the ban on the baptism barrier


>>>

would give preference to Catholic

children, or more accurately children

who were baptised Catholic.

The speculation was that many

parents were opting to get children

baptised just in case they needed

to qualify for their local Catholic

school or a Catholic school of their

choice.

In 2018 then Education Minister

Richard Bruton introduced legislation

to outlaw the 'Baptism Barrier'

whereby religious schools were able

to choose children of the faith of the

school.

The Education (Admission To

Schools) Act 2018 came into force

despite the opposition of the

church. The Journal news site

reported that in the year following

the ban on the baptism barrier the

number of baptisms in the Dublin

archdiocese fell by 10 per cent. (See

Figure 1). 1

Finding humanism

Although she had gone well out

of her way to avoid religion, Emer

had not run into many people like

herself either. The thought of herself

as a bit of an outlier.

Then a good friend's mother died

suddenly and with the shock she

was at a bit of a loss about what to

do because the lady in question

wasn't religious. But they discovered

that the women had, in fact, left

clear instructions that her funeral

was not to be held in a church.

Emer remembered she had seen

a guy on RTE1 TV that week talking

about humanist funerals and that he

was now a celebrant.

The guy was Brian Whiteside, a

long-term advocate for humanism

and campaigner for secular marriages.

He conducted the funeral,

and it was only his second ever.

Humanist marriage is another

case of religious versus secular

legitimacy. The Civil Registration Act

2004 recognised religious bodies

only as marriage solemnisers. If

people wanted a secular wedding,

they also had to get a civil registrar

to make it legal. Emer refers to these

as "symbolic" ceremonies because

they didn't have legal force behind

them.

After much campaigning by the

HAI the Civil Registration Act 2012

was introduced which added nonreligious

organisations to the list of

registered solemnisers.

The first Humanist wedding happened

on the 6th of April 2023 and

since then there have been around

14,000. Humanist weddings are

becoming more popular with more

than 2,000 per year taking place in

2022.

The change taking place in the

type of wedding ceremony chosen

by couples is breathtaking. Catholic

ceremonies from 62 per cent in

2013 ago to just 35 per cent in

2023. Some of this reduction is due

to the increase in other religious

options such as spiritualist and 'new

age' ceremonies. A larger proportion

is due to the increase in

non-religious weddings from the

Humanists and civil registrations

from the state. Figure 2 shows the

narrowing gap. 2

And my

teenage

children were

absolutely

horrified

because as far

as they were

concerned,

they'd been

able to live

their lives free

from any

cultism.

And now I

was signing

them up to a

cult!,"

So we actually

had time to

work back and

forth on the

draft of the

ceremony.

What he

wanted said.

What he didn't

want said

Finding her tribe

For Emer finding out about

humanism was like a revelation. She

immediately signed up for a family

membership.

"And my teenage children were

absolutely horrified because as far

as they were concerned, they'd

been able to live their lives free from

any cultism. And now I was signing

them up to a cult!," she laughs.

She had already decided to

become a humanist celebrant and

her training was fast-tracked

because another HAI celebrant was

terminally ill and had many

advanced bookings. She says she

was "thrown in at the deep end".

I ask her about her approach to

secular weddings, especially as for

many people this is new territory as

most people, especially older people,

would be more comfortable with

religious ceremonies.

"First of all, the couple would have

made the decision. I'm quite clear.

I'm kind of quite down-the-line.

Absolutely no religious content

whatsoever.

"So even if Auntie Mary wants to

come up and read a reading that

has a prayer that was read at her

own wedding or something like that,

you know, I might need to edit that.

There's plenty of other readings that

Auntie Mary could read."

But, I say, that sounds a bit, kinda,

sorta.......

....militant?

She's not shocked at the allegation.

"I am a bit," she says with a

smile. There are other Humanist

celebrants who are more flexible.

"I just think it's a mixed message,

you know. The Humanist

Association of Ireland celebrants are

the only secular ones. So there's lots

of others.

"First of all, there's the civil servants,

which are the celebrants in the

HSE when you go to the registry

office. They will now come to some

venues as well and conduct the

legal elements to your ceremony."

Her point about the HSE

Registrars is that they are not celebrants

and these are thus not

secular weddings. There are other

celebrants as well such as the

Spiritualist Union of Ireland or interfaith

celebrants.

A screen grab of Emer Dillon delivering the National Day of Commemoration Ceremony contribution from

the Humanist Association of Ireland at National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks in Dublin.

Not like for like

Naming ceremonies are not direct

replacements for baptisms. Firstly,

there is no legal side to baptism, it's

simply registering with the religious

body involved. The civil registration

of birth takes place in the hospital

or wherever the birth happens and


that is where children are legally

recognised by the state.

A naming ceremony is a replication

of baptism which, in turn,

evolved from many birth traditions

throughout human history. Because

of the traditional beliefs around

original sin, many Catholics got

babies baptised as soon as possible.

Humanists are not keen on the

idea of original sin and so there's no

hurry. I ask Emer what the typical

time frame is.

"In around about a year or so,

usually around the first birthday.

Sometimes it can be earlier, depending

on the season. There's legal

restrictions on where you can conduct

a wedding whereas there's

nothing on naming ceremonies."

Final destination

Weddings and naming ceremonies

are happy occasions. The other

main business of a celebrant is

marking death.

"I became a celebrant in order to

conduct funerals much more so than

weddings. But of course, weddings

have taken over most of the work I

do," she says.

The reason for this is that weddings

are planned and funerals can't

be. So Emer may have weddings

booked a year in advance but funerals

really must be planned within a

day in most cases.

While people can't accurately

predict the day they will need a

celebrant, there are many plans that

they can make.

"You have to say what your intentions

are, you have to. That's one of

the greatest gifts you can give your

family," she says.

"I will guide people through the

process. I would always meet with

the family. I'll drop things, I'll get into

my car, I'll drive over to the other

side of the city, or down to Kildare

or whatever it might be."

What about tragic cases? How

does she handle those?

"We do complete a certain

amount of training over the years to

prepare us for hard cases. So if

somebody has died by suicide,

that's a tough one. And I haven't

done any baby funerals but there's

a few Humanist Celebrants that

have."

Emer recalls a case where she got

a call from a woman whose husband

was at the end of his life. He had

attended two funerals that Emer had

conducted and he said to his wife

'get that woman!'.

"So I said, would he like to have a

chat? And she said 'oh, he would

love that'. So I took myself into the

hospital where he was, three weeks

prior to him passing away."

She read the draft to him and he

was really happy. "So we actually

had time to work back and forth on

the draft of the ceremony. What he

wanted said. What he didn't want

said."

Emer has also conducted some

funerals for people that she knew,

which she found to be personally

difficult.

On the agenda

Finally, I ask her to put her

Humanist Association hat on. What

does she see as the secularist

agenda over the next few years?

She points to the education system

where the Catholic Church still

has a huge amount of control. (See

Figure 3). There has been very little

change and she seems to accept

that there won't be any wholesale

handover of schools. Her approach

would be to move the faith formation

and sacrament preparation out

of schools.

In the meantime, life outside religion

is becoming more accessible

and acceptable by the year and

Emer Dillon intends to keep playing

her part in that.

Emer Dillon at a naming ceremony in Stonybatter in Dublin

When children weren't 'legitimate'

The Cherish organisation was set up in 1974 with the

aim of improving the situation for single mothers and

their children. The group is now known as One

Family.

On its website the group says that at the first

Cherish conference in 1974 “The Unmarried Parent

and Child in Irish Society”, Professor William Duncan

summarised the main legal discriminations against

children born outside wedlock:

• *Regarded as illegitimate and the child of no one

(filius nullius) such children had no rights in

relation to the estate of the natural father

• Rights to the natural mother’s estate took

second place to the rights of her legitimate

children

• In order to obtain child support from the father,

the mother had to take him to court within six

months of the birth of the child

• Her evidence had to be corroborated

• If successful she would receive a maximum of £5

a week under a district court order

• The law reaffirmed an attitude of social

disapproval and discrimination against single

parents and their children

(Source https://onefamily.ie/status-of-illegitimacy-was-abolished/)

Figure 2

Figure 3


1 The Journal, 2022, Dublin archdiocese saw 10% decline in

christenings in the year after 'baptism barrier' was removed https://

www.thejournal.ie/archdiocese-of-dublin-largest-decline-baptismrates-5673794-Feb2022/

2 Dr Angelo Bottone, Iona Institute, 03 May 2024; The huge rise of

‘New Age’ weddings in Ireland; https://ionainstitute.ie/the-hugerise-of-new-age-weddings-in-ireland/


Reflective Essay

I'm interested

in the art of

telling stories

FEATURE writing is a push-pull experience. In order to conceive a feature the

writer must have an idea how it will turn out. There must be a story there to tell

as well as a means to tell it.

Then in writing there has to be room for the information gathered to build

on top of the idea. It might be that in the process of telling the tale that a new

direction is taken or even that a new story emerges.

My background in journalism is mainly editing and design. I worked at the

Northside People and Southside People local newspapers in Dublin for many

years. For most of that time I was a page designer.

For nearly eight years, between 1999 and 2007, I wrote a weekly opinion

column entitled 'Straight Talking'. The newspapers were free distribution and

were the biggest local newspapers in Dublin. There were four editions, an east

and west version of both papers, and the print run at its height was over

200,000 weekly copies. The opinion column ran in all editions.

There were two other notable features of the column. Firstly, I chose what

to write, and covered politics, sport, planning, moral issues like abortion and

euthanasia, racism, drugs policy; everything and anything. Secondly, the topics

were not necessarily related to the issue of the day but obviously current affairs

did intervene occasionally.

So I spent many moments staring at a blank screen waiting for an idea to

arrive. When it did, I wrote the headline first and read it to myself. When the

headline was good enough to encapsulate the 600 words, I wrote the words.

The issue of secularism

I grew up in Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s. When I left school in 1982 there

was widespread unemployment at a time when the baby boom of the 1960s

was producing record numbers of young people. We spread to the four corners

of the globe. But before we did many of us went to college and the Regional

Technical Colleges help transform the experiences of young people in Ireland.

Since that time Ireland has been on the path of social change. New access

to media, to international ideas, to experiences abroad, concepts around

sexual liberation and gender inequality started to change Ireland forever.

Most of these changes revolved around the relationship of the Catholic

Church to the state and to the people of Ireland. Secularisation is one of the

biggest stories in Ireland in the past 50 years. Only the North and the economy

have been as important.

Why me?

In 2023 two of my lecturers at DCU, Kevin Rafter and Dawn Wheatley, published

'Irish Journalists at Work', a product of research into the world of

journalists in Ireland. In relation to religion the research found that 55 per cent

of journalists said they had no religion. This compares to 14 per cent of the

general population in the 2022 census.

In terms of source material for journalists the authors said: In considering

how secular, or not, Irish journalism is, it is worth noting that ‘religious groups

and institutions’ are considered the least influential factor/source for Irish

journalists, with just 1% saying they are ‘very/extremely influential’, 17% saying

‘slightly/moderately influential’, and 48% saying ‘not influential’.

So why are journalists so irreligious? Well, in some respects the report found

that journalists are different from the general public in other ways too. 73 per

cent defined themselves as 'middle class'. 85 per cent have a third level educa-

20

tion as against 53 per cent generally.

You could also observe that journalists tend to be sceptical, of everything,

not just religion. Over three quarters of journalists said they saw their role in

holding power accountable.

But I'm not just a census 'none' when it comes to religion. I'm an atheist, a

word that has to be written on the census form. I come from a Catholic background

but I didn't reject Catholicism or god. I didn't have any negative

experiences with the church.

I just wasn't that interested. Then I read David Attenborough's Life on Earth,

published in 1979 to accompany the series, including the concept of natural

selection. That was far more plausible and I've been a atheist all my adult life.

The importance of religion

Religion has fallen out of favour for political and civil discourse, and organised

religion seems to be becoming a thing of the past. That doesn't mean that

religion is not important. In the 2022 census 69 per cent of people declared

themselves Catholic. In 2018, 66 per cent of people voted to repeal the Eighth

Amendment and legalise abortion.

Something is not quite right there. People are more complex than labels

cater for and so we need to think more carefully about what secularisation

means. That's what these features are about.

Venue and format

My background is in print and I have conceived these pieces as magazine

features for Village magazine. I have included a feature and cover from a recent

issue of the magazine top left. Multi-page spreads are typical for the magazine

and so my four-page features would fit right in.

I should, of course, mention that I have been involved in Village magazine

as a volunteer, helping out with editing and proofing, and generating some

ideas. The magazine is a current affairs magazine in the tradition of Magill,

founded by Vincent Browne in 1977. Village was also founded by Browne in

2004 and is now owned and run by Michael Smith, whom I know.

The magazine is left-of-centre and its mission statement says: "Village promotes

in its columns the fair distribution of resources". It publishes investigations

and commentary, and takes a robust view on green matters and the need for

action on climate change. These are all good reasons why I would like my

features to be published in the magazine.

The importance of design

In our Masters course there is a module called News Design given by Joe

Breen, a former designer of the Irish Times. Of the 20 students in the Masters

class only four chose News Design.

Those that didn't take up the offer were probably swayed by the fact that it

was mainly about newspapers and, as we all know, newspapers are dying. But

that would have been making a big mistake because the principles of news

design apply everywhere whether on smartphone, tablet or laptop.

What makes news legible? Where should videos and pictures be placed?

How do you break down the information so that the user can understand and

stay with a story?

You must consider the real estate. Whether you're looking at a tabloid page,

a 16:9 screen or the portrait orientation on your smartphone, the layout is

crucial. An understanding of layout principles; the golden proportion, the rule

of thirds, white space; are universal be it in your supermarket, your new kitchen

or how you read the news.

So I write with space in mind and how it's going to be read. On the left you

can see this project at two stages of design. These are snapshots of InDesign

zoomed out to show all the pages. At the beginning I had a 20-page design in

mind, with three page features. But as can be seen below, it evolved into a

24-pager because that would give each feature two spreads and more space

for pictures, tables and charts, which would suit Village's readers.

My aim is also to improve Village. I used a 7-column page which gives a more

flexible canvas, more asymmetry and white space, based on grid design.

The problem with interviews

Interviews are a big problem for students. Getting people to do interviews

can be tricky in real life but for students it's a nightmare. The people you are

asking for an interview know it will be of no use to them. Many, many of my

emails went unanswered. Ditto for messages left after the tone.

This has been one of the main problems with journalism over this course

>>>

21

>>>

and it has hardened me up. I've learned to ask early and to work on an escalation

strategy: email, phone call, second phone call, depending on how much

you want them.

Doorstepping is a difficult concept but still valuable. It doesn't have to be

aggressive. I called to the Jampa Ling Buddhist Centre without an appointment,

because I was passing, and they were happy to talk to me.

Sometimes interviews are the wrong option. I thought about interviewing

Mary McAleese, which would have been prestigious but I found what I was

looking for in her writings and speeches. My interview with Michael Nugent

lasted an hour, because he was so interesting, but I've barely needed two

minutes of it in the piece.

Finally, on interviews, I should say that I asked Ben Lowry, editor of the

Newsletter, for an interview and I needed him. The feature needed his perspective.

He agreed and then he ghosted me. We had an over-and-back series of

emails, there was no problem and then he disappeared (insert unsavoury

expression here). I had to use his opinion piece instead. That will probably

toughen me up a bit too.

Data journalism

I love charts, graphs and maps and I do actually think they can express what

a thousand words can. Dawn Wheatley taught us about Datawrapper and how

to use it. On the left here is a spreadsheet with Irish census information and I

produced the two charts below from it. It's such a brilliantly useful skill to have.

Game changer, really.

Figure 1

Figure 2

On the Orange march

I attended my first Orange March in Gilford, Co Down to get a feeling for the

subject of Northern Protestant secularisation. As someone from a republican

background I didn't know what to expect. I wanted to talk to people and get a

sense of sentiment and morale.

I got some great pictures and video, and I did talk to some people but overall,

it felt like 'mission unaccomplished'. I was glad I went and it's really important

for people to make an effort to get a broad view, especially journalists.

The lesson I'd take from it is to be better prepared. I would talk to people

before hand and arrange to meet some people, who in turn, could guide me

and introduce me to others, making the visit more productive.

The big lesson - talk to people

We have computers, smartphones, AI transcription, Photoshop, templates,

sub-editors, microphones, USB-C cables, yada, yada. But an awful lot of journalism

depends on one ability - talking to people. There are amazing stories

out there, fantastic sources, networks, contacts and opportunities all there if

you talk to people. Sometimes it's not easy, sometimes you have to play nice,

sometimes you have to get over the fear of rejection, of 'no', of imposter syndrome,

sometimes you have to play mean, to ask again but mostly you just

have to try and talk to people.

And in conclusion

I'm currently on placement in RTE and I have been working on the Continuous

New Desk. Recently, I put together a story about an Egyptian mummy from the

wires. It was published on their app (which 1.5 million people have on their

phones) and four hours later a tracker showed that it had been read by 55,000

people who had spent 1 minute 55 seconds on average reading it.

This, without doubt, is the future and everything that I've done in these features

has to fit into this model. I think it does. But remember, RTE is a broadcast

company, this model made them move to text, albeit on a screen. They also

ad video, audio and pictures.

I have designed these features for print because there's still a market for it.

Village magazine still exists and it has a subscription model which people are

increasingly willing to pay for. Everything that Village produces goes on their

website so my features would go to press and go to screen at the same time.

Long reads are popular, despite our alleged modern short span of attentions,

and books are doing well. I want to tell stories and feature journalism is where

I want to go. My next step is 'scrollytelling' where you put your feature on a

scroll-down web page. On the way down the user reads the text, sees pictures,

runs into audio and video and is referred to charts, tables and maps.

Finally, there must be place for levity and I'll leave the last thought with Rufus,

who knows how to make her presence felt. She probably doesn't believe in

God but she's never fallen out with anyone over it.

22

Amen: how old churches in Dublin live on

Langrishe Place Methodist Church is

now an auto workshop

The lower facade of Ormond Quay

Presbyterian Church was retained

Old Church of St George, Hill

Street is a resource centre

St. Paul's Church, North King

Street is now the

Spade Enterprise Centre

The Scots Presbyterian Church and its adjacent church hall

is now the VHI Headquarters in Abbey Street

St. Luke's Church in

The Coombe in now offices

St Mary's Chapel of Ease

is now offices

St Mary's, Mary Street is now

The Church Café Bar

St George's Church has been better

known as the Temple Theatre

St Kevin's Camden Row is

now a community park

ALL PICTURES BY NIALL GORMLEY

23

Front pages accessed through the National Library of Ireland and the Irish Times

Ireland without Religion - Niall Gormley

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