One out of eight Irish priests is a dissident.
At the annual assembly held by the Association of Catholic priests (540 priests present), Fr. Kevin Hegarty, from the Diocese of Killala, presented the “memorandum” of requests to the Holy See, including those related to the abolishment of ecclesiastical celibacy and the removal of bishops guilty of covering up cases of sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy.
Supporters of the “manifesto” say it is backed by almost 13% of the Irish clergy.
The manifesto echoes other requests made by core figures within the Catholic Church, who are outraged by the paedophilia crisis within the clergy: an end to obligatory ecclesiastical celibacy, women’s access to priesthood, more lay people in positions of power and in leadership roles.
For years it looked as though the Irish Church was in decline but in actual fact, it is a laboratory for change and new ideas.
In recent years, a hundred priests, nuns and clerics have been put on trial for sexual abuse and violence. At the start of the “paedophilia storm”, the portrait painted by monthly Pauline magazine, “Jesus” was ruthless: a serious drop in the vocations (a 90% fall in the space of 30 years) and in religious practice; diffused hostility in the media towards the Church as an institution and towards its leaders.
Christianity, strong and pious as it once was, the flag of the Irish nation, seemed to be crumbling. It became a disoriented Church that was always on the defensive.
However, according to the Association of Catholic priests, this crisis can give birth to a renewed, freer and more evangelical ecclesiastical community.
The pilgrims gathered in Croagh Patrick embody the traditional image of Ireland: a poor but extremely devout nation, proud of its hierarchy and loyal to the Pope, so laden with vocations that it could easily go on for centuries exporting some of these. But today, this image is completely misleading.
The Catholic Ireland that once existed, no longer does. And the strong and pious Christianity that was one the flag of the nation came tumbling down in the space of a few years, leaving behind just a faint and vaguely folkloristic shadow. The signs are brutal. Trials and sentences for sexual abuse, plummeting vocations and a steep drop in religious practice, diffused hostility within the media and in civil society towards the Church as an institution, and towards its leaders.
Even the institutions were ready to attack, notably Irish PM, Enda Kenny, with an unprecedented anti-Vatican document he signed about a month ago. “In sum, the crumbling of a myth, a nightmare, which it seems unlikely the Church will wake up from,” “Jesus” magazine stated. The wave of mayhem and anger caused by the sex scandals which have involved dozens of priests, has dragged under the good and the bad, the innocent and the guilty.”
A priest from Dublin recounted a revealing episode: “A while back, when I found out that a new family had moved to the neighbourhood, I knocked at their door to introduce myself and welcome them to the parish. A man opened the door and after giving me a once-over, he said: “We don’t have any children. So we don’t have anything that might interest you.” And he slammed the door in my face.”
The Irish Times wrote that “No group on the island has been given as big a whipping as the 26 men that currently make up the Irish Episcopal hierarchy.”
Before all this, Ireland had a closed culture, a culture of isolation.
But over the past years, thanks to the internet, television and travel, it has taken part in a globalised culture and way of thinking. Ireland’s population has gone from being mainly rural and poor to mainly urban and rich. It witnessed a sudden economic development, as a result of which, youngsters are more educated and have jobs that use cutting edge technology.
“In the ‘50s everyone was Catholic. Even the Country’s institutions: schools, hospitals and newspapers, the Pauline magazine explained. But today, there is a greater variety of voices and the Catholic Church’s voice is no longer dominant. This combination of prosperity and “world irruption” has created a sense of disorientation.”
Despite the crisis, however, “Christianity still forms part of the backbone of Irish people. And youngsters still have a great thirst for spirituality.
If anything, the problem is how to reconcile material prosperity with the Gospel. Over the past ten years, the crisis seems to have also sprung from the crushing economic boom which struck Ireland ten years ago, leading observers to coin the phrase “Celtic Tiger”, just as Korea, Taiwan and Singapore are known as the “Asian Tigers”.
With development came urbanisation, consumerism and secularisation. At the same time, average attendance at Sunday mass plummeted from approximately 92% to 60%. But, while more than 5% of people do not go to mass in the outskirts of the Country’s largest cities, in Western Ireland, attendance remains above 80%.
The crisis exploded around 1992, after the revelations about the various sexual abuse cases.
But many of the scandals took place in the ‘50s and ‘60s, periods in which the Church was considered powerful and parishes were pace with faithful. Back then, the Church was inspired by a very strong but uncritical faith. Living habits were Catholic but people were oppressed and Church leaders were authoritarian.
“Yes, marriages were stable, but the cost paid was very high, and it was mainly paid by women who suffered greatly and in silence. The Church tended to paper over these sufferings or present them as the will of God. But this was not the will of God at all,” “Jesus” magazine pointed out.
Many bishops and priests admit: “They were in a position of power, up on a pedestal, they could not be wrong by definition. Yes, on certain occasions we abused the power we had, we committed injustices, we hurt many people. The current hostility shown by many individuals and the media towards the Catholic Church is linked to this past.”
It is rooted in the suffering caused by the Catholic clergy, wounds that have remained hidden for a long time, but which can now be brought to light in the freer and more pluralistic society in which we live today.”