Saturday, October 13, 2012

Religious divide over first holy pomp and ceremony (Opinion)

Dear Lord, who'd be an archbishop these days? 

It's a tough job in the current climate. 

But someone's got to do it, and last week our own Diarmuid Martin attempted to bring some sense of dignity, reverence and ahem, spirituality back to the much battered Irish church.

Last Tuesday, he announced new church guidelines for the faithful under the heading: First Communion and First Reconciliation.

They're pretty radical.

Martin is hoping to see the roles of parish and parents increase and costly communion outfits and other material trappings become a thing of the past because, he says, they "detract from the sacrament". 

Basically, he's hoping that Catholics who wish their children to be reared in the faith will take a more spiritual and intellectual role in the preparation for Holy Communion and ease up a bit on the fake tans, bouncy castles and horse-drawn carriages.

I wish the good archbishop the best but I fear he has a difficult battle to fight -- on quite a few fronts.

(We'll kindly ignore the incongruity of a church, which, since the days of Constantine, has consistently indulged in ostentatious displays of wealth, pomp and pageantry to boast its worldly power, calling on its flock to show a little restraint and "simplicity" when celebrating religious festivals.)

But what Martin doesn't seem to understand is that Catholicism, as practised in Ireland, is more of a cultural tradition than a firmly held belief in a specific religious doctrine. 

Or perhaps he understands only too well, and is determined to rid himself of the 'a la carte' crew.

Embarrassingly, a recent survey showed that the majority of Irish Catholics are really ideological Protestants in that they believe the bread and wine blessed during Mass is only a representation of Christ's body and blood and not the real deal. 

But even though wars have been fought over such trifles, Irish Catholics no longer think that such heresy matters much (if only we'd been as pragmatic during the reformation!)

Two main issues seem to concern Irish parents -- cultural tradition and education. Even though so many parents today only attend Mass when they absolutely have to -- for the major sacraments -- they still identify themselves as Irish Catholics regardless of their (non) religious practice.

Sometimes beyond logic.

Here's an example that had me roaring at the radio:

Sometime last year, when the debate about the need for more multi-denominational schools was being discussed, RTE's Liveline (what else?) aired the views of a variety of parents who argued that if too many Catholic schools were turned over to the secularists, who would teach the children the doctrines of the Catholic faith, who would prepare them for their first Holy Communion and Confirmations?

The obvious answer to this, of course, was -- eh, you, the parents, in conjunction with your parish and school, as is already a successful practice in Educate Together schools.

This, of course, is exactly the concept being promoted by the Archbishop of Dublin.

But these Catholic parents were having none of it. Teach their children themselves? Take time out of their very busy schedules to attend meetings about religious stuff? Ah now, Joe, this is real heresy you're proposing.

Because, one woman argued, as Irish (there was a lot of emphasis on being Irish as opposed to, well, newcomer) Catholics, their children had the right to be given instruction on Communion and Confirmation during school hours by teachers. This is what had always occurred. 

This was Irish Catholic tradition. 

As is the tradition that the only role of parents was to spend far more than they can afford on celebrating these events.

I've spoken to so many parents who can't afford to get their washing machine repaired but will spend hundreds of euro or more on all the insane 'necessities' for a 'Holy' Communion. 

Seemingly, families in Ireland spent about €45m on First Communions this year.

And you know it just looks bad, parents, to be whinging about cuts to child benefit and the cost of the household charge (all very legitimate whinges!) etc, etc while choosing to voluntarily spend wads of cash on a religious celebration. I don't mean to be horribly judgmental and say will you ever give over this nonsense but ... . for Christ's sake, will you ever give over this nonsense.

Similarly, a whopping €26m was collected by children in the form of cash gifts from family and friends -- who probably had better things to do with their money, like pay the gas bill.

When my daughter told me, with great awe and envy, that her friend had "made" over €500 in donations from family and friends, I asked would such riches be enough to entice her to become Catholic. 

(I piously added that membership of a religion is a serious business, respect must be shown for those who truly believe, and just for the fun I said that kids who can't explain transubstantiation shouldn't get any cash.)

After a bit of a think, she admitted -- no, she prefers learning about all religions and keeping an open mind, but she added that the money was very tempting. 

Presumably the lure of Cash for Communion is one of the sins of simony that Archbishop Martin is trying to stamp out.

But apart from the froth and the frills and the insanity of spending, the other issue that seriously concerns many people is their child's education. 

Many parents understand the hypocrisy of belonging to a church they don't believe in, but find their child has no option but to attend a Catholic national school (92 per cent of schools) and partake of Catholic sacraments because the majority of schools in the country are Catholic and a non-Catholic can consequently face fierce discrimination within the education system (I know this from experience). 

I've spoken to so many parents who have honestly said: "I don't believe in any of it [Catholicism] but what choice do I have?"

Hopefully, discussions between the Minister for Education, the Catholic Church and various other school patrons will eventually result in this monopoly being broken.

The Church's attempt to make so many wishy-washy Irish Catholics seriously consider the responsibilities of their faith is admirable on many fronts. 

But what's the betting there'll be a (religious) war waged by those a la carte Catholic parents who are determined to uphold their children's cultural rights to bouncy castles, fake tans and fabulously inappropriate costumes -- all in the best possible Catholic taste, of course.

I await the schism ...