Ireland has said 'yes' to gay marriage and 'no' to Catholicism

The Telegraph ^ | 05-23-2015 | Tim Stanley

[NRx]

...It used to be that Irishness was defined by affection for the Catholic Church and resistance to European liberal trends. So stubborn was this identity that the country took longer than the rest of Western Europe to embrace secularism. But the paedophile revelations of the 1990s rightly rocked faith in the Church as an institution, while a series of recent scandals shook faith in its actual theology. The latter set of outrages were, frankly, distortions of the facts. It was wrongly claimed that a woman had been allowed to die because Catholic doctors would not give her a life saving abortion (no such thing even exists). It was falsely charged that a Catholic children's home had dumped the bodies of hundreds of unwanted babies into a septic tank. Never mind that both stories crumbled under scrutiny – the popularity of them spoke to a growing sense that everything wrong with Ireland was due to the imported tyranny of Catholicism. Shake off the last remnants of traditional religious authority, it was reasoned, and Ireland could finally join the 21st century. Au revoir, Father Ted.

To emphasise, the Yes vote was undoubtedly a reflection of growing tolerance towards gays and lesbians. But it was also a politically trendy, media backed, well financed howl of rage against Catholicism. How the Church survives this turn, is not clear. It'll require a lot of hard work and prayers.

[TalBlack]

Any affection I had for the country of my ancestors is entirely gone now. To HELL with them.

[mware]

That is what my parish priest told me not long ago.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

-— Africa may wind up as the last bastion of civilization. -—

That’s where things are trending. Christianity, both Protestantism and Catholicism, is spreading rapidly in China as well. Confucianism seems to be a stepping stone to Christianity.

Hinduism, which ultimately rejects the categories of true and false, has historically resisted Truth. Similarly, outside of the Spanish Reconquista, Islam is almost impossible to roll back, although there seem to be a lot of conversions in Africa lately.

[Ge0ffrey]

Moral decline follows the decline in faith. Ireland has lost its faith. The United States has lost its faith. What follows next is loss of freedom.

[marshmallow]

Ireland is the poster child for the new secularism and the new Europe. This was a foregone conclusion from the moment the referendum was announced. That fact that there even was a referendum in the first place speaks volumes about the desperate state of affairs in Ireland, since in times gone by, no politician with an ounce of savy and sanity would even have suggested such a thing if he or she wanted to remain in office. Sadly, they knew the faith of old had been extinguished and that they were on safe ground here.

This is just the beginning. Other Western countries will soon follow suit and the sodomite tyranny will begin in earnest against those who dare to dissent. There will be holdouts; the formerly communist countries of Eastern Europe and Russia, China and of course the Islamic world which will increase its onslaught against the godless, decadent West.

[McGruff]

The world is turning upside down.

[IrishBrigade]

I can’t help but think that this issue will end in open schism within the Catholic Church.

Judica me Deus, et discerne causam meam de gente non sancta...

Catholic schism is just fine with me...

[ravenwolf]

Bunch of queers.

[pleasenotcalifornia]

Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from the nation which is not holy: deliver me from the unjust and deceitful man.
For Thou, O God, art my strength: why hast Thou cast me off? and why go I sorrowful whilst the enemy afflicteth me?
Send forth Thy light and Thy truth: they have conducted me and brought me unto Thy holy mount, and into Thy tabernacles.
And I will go into the altar of God: to God who giveth joy to my youth.
To Thee, O God, my God, I will give praise upon the harp; why art thou sad, O my soul, and why dost thou disquiet me?
Hope in God, for I will still give praise to Him: the salvation of my countenance and my God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Thanks for this, it is a comforting prayer.

[lostboy61]

That is why I never trusted the Lucky Charms Leprechaun.

[ex-snook]

Anybody - Is the Church required to them?

[RegulatorCountry]

Being the State Church of the Republic of Ireland, that’s a good question.

[Rashputin]

Doesn't really surprise me

With the "the troubles" over for the time being, the Irish won't give a damn about Catholicism or even rabid Ian Paisley Protestantism either until the next round of troubles start.

JMHo

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Ireland has no state Church.

[RegulatorCountry]

That’s something of a semantic distinction. There is no separation of church and state as we understand it.