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Journey with an ex-seminarian as he fulfill his dreams and search his place in the greater scheme of things on the wings of his dream11 Million Irish Americans leave the Catholic Church
Niall O’Dowd of Irish Central ran an article about the latest survey regarding American Catholics abandoning their faith. His views are based on the Trinity College survey in Hartford CT conducted by the college professors. Read on:
A new survey shows 34 million Americans, or 15 percent of the population, say they have no religion. Even more significant is that one-third of those, about 11 million people, are Irish Americans. The survey by professors at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, does not explain why Irish Catholics are by far the highest number of people who are losing their religion every year in America. We can only surmise the reasons for this, but I have some definite ideas. Think church sex scandals. Let’s look at the timeline first. The number of non-religious or “Nones” has nearly doubled between 1990 and now.
- In 1990, Nones accounted for 8.2 percent of the population
- In 2001 they accounted for 14.2 percent
- As of 2009, they account for 15 percent
The report estimates that the figure will grow to 25 percent in 10 years time — making non-religion the largest “religion” in America. Why are so many Irish Catholics leaving the faith? The obvious reason to me is the church sex scandals. They disproportionately affected Irish Catholics and most of the abusers we read about were Irish Catholic priests. Certainly, based on evidence from Ireland where hundreds of thousands have fled the church and vocations have plummeted after the church scandals there, America with a similar experience is unlikely to be any different.
There has been such incredible scrutiny of the church from every angle and the church has responded so poorly since the scandals began that it is hardly surprising that people are leaving. For instance, the Boston archdiocese, a hub of Irish Catholicism in America, has been riven by deep scandals that surely have turned many parishioners off.
It is only my opinion but Irish Catholics had a deep and almost mystical attachment to the church and followed her rules more devoutly than other groups. “Rome dictates and Ireland takes” was the old saw about how devoutly the Irish followed the signals from the Vatican. Once that trust was broken — indeed shattered — it was always likely that many would turn away.
We are told that the leavers are “young, male and independent” and that almost all of them were identified as Catholic at age 12. The loss of faith by Irish Americans has been profound and will require an incredible effort to win the faithful departed back. The church has a massive struggle on its hands.
My Take:
I always believe that leaving the church is not the answer. St. Francis of Assisi have showed us an example when, during his time, the church was also rocked by scandals and immorality. Yet when he responded to Christ’s call to rebuild the church, he did the rebuilding “inside” and not “outside” the Church.
The Church is divine but ran by humans. It is nevertheless perfect as what others may expect her to be. It is a struggling church that along her journey comes the millions of faithful struggling with her to be perfect as well. Some leave the church because they are scandalized by priests who cannot seem to devote wholeheartedly their life to loyal service to God and the Church, so as a result, the faithful, scandalized and demoralized, ran away from her fold. But that is not the answer.
Our Faith as Catholics does not depend on some of the priests or bishops who sin. Our faith depends on the triune God whom we worship. Priests, though their office is the most important of all in worshiping Christ through the mass and his sacraments, yet they are not the focal point of our faith. They are shepherds who guide us. And sometimes, like the lambs, shepherd lose their way too. But never will you see the sheep scatter and leave the flock. They stay put and go with each other, waiting for another shepherd to fetch and guide them. This I think should be the attitude of most catholics.
Never leave the church and sacrifice your faith just because of one or two Priests who rocked the church by their scandal. Look beyond the Priests who sin. There are more priests and bishops out there who are dedicated and committed to Christ and who are willing to Guide us. I do not believe that the Majority of the Catholic Clergy are all bad fruits. Its has been always the case, that in a basket of tomatoes, one or two are rotten, but never the entire number. To give up the faith just because of the folly of the few is like fulfilling what Jesus had said in the parable of the sower:
Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. (Matthew 13: 5-6, 20-21)
They leave the church because their faith is not firm, but rather shallow, anchored on the worries and troubles of the world and not on the the Lord himself. That’s why in times wherein faith is most necessary, they leave the Church without the the same faith that they ought to have in times of trials… Gold is tested by fire, the impurities just melts away… Be the Gold and not the impurities…
About the Catholic Blogger
Romuald Matthieson, a.k.a. "bluepanjeet" has been writing in cyber space since 2005. In 2006, he jump-started his Catholic blogging a few years even before the Catholic Church realized the importance of utilizing social networks in spreading the Gospel. In 2007, in response to a realization of the growing need for Catholic Bloggers online, he officially launched his own self-hosted Catholic blog and called it "On The Wings Of My Dream" or simply OTWOMD which is a metaphor of his favorite psalm in the Bible, Psalm 63. Since then he has been blogging, and sometimes podcasting, for the Catholic Church using his enthusiasm in the New Media, his inclination on visual and digital arts, his passion for the written word and his love for the Catholic Church. You can follow Rom's tweets on Twitter @rommatthieson
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The writer made a mistake that many unfamiliar with America make: He assumes that those who call themselves “Irish” are the Irish Catholics who came over after the potato famine.
He ignores the 5.6 million of “Irish” (AKA Scots Irish) who live in the southern US but call themselves Irish. They often are unchurched.
http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/rac.2006.16.1.25?cookieSet=1&journalCode=rac
Priest sociologist Andrew Greeley often points out this fallacy in his books and newspaper columns.
What is going on in Ireland is that the “elites” have long decided that the only way to make Ireland “modern” is to destroy the credibility of the Catholic church there, which they have done via the various scandals. This allows them to become modern, enter the European Union, and eventually allow divorce, abortion, infanticide and euthanasia of the culture of death that the EUnion will undoubtably impose via their courts and bureaucracy in the near future.
Most of the elites are Anglo Irish, who are trained in the UK. The UK is rabidly anti Irish and Anti Catholic, although this bigotry has decreased in recent years thanks to the anti Muslim bigotry that has replaced it.
Doc, thanks for the link. I read the article and indeed the writer i mentioned above may have overlooked the fact that the Irish who migrated the US were mostly Protestants.
The vatican has every right to enforce all the rules/regulations of the catholic church. The last 5-10 years the church has been in chaos and a tremendous split between conservative/liberal catholics, especially in the USA. Its time for the vatican to dump all the fence sitters and cafeteria type catholics and focus on core believers. The sex abuse epedemic is a worldwide problem for the church. Now the vatican has two investigations ongoing involving the liberal nuns of america. The nuns will have to decide whether their in or out. Cardinals in each of the 195 dioceses should send letters/questionaires to all catholics. What are your beliefs? …….birth control, divorce, same sex marriage, gays, abortion, celebacy, mass attendance etc….. Liberal catholics should heed the call and exit the church. Picking and choosing what you want to believe is not really in the churches best interest. 20 years ago I left the church. I was not a conservative catholic and felt I did not fit in with what my beliefs were but only because I was indoctrinated into the faith by my family like most catholics through generations of hand me down catholicism. I am a better person for leaving. I am now classified as ” NON RELIGIOUS” and according to statistics the fastest growing group in america. I left behind all the guilt, shame, & fear baggage the church instills in you. So if you are a liberal catholic and can’t decide what to believe in the church its time for you to go as well. Its time to move on, let the church make its rules and have those that are committed continue on with their belief. Over 64 million catholics in the USA and more then half don’t follow most of the rules regulations regarding birth control, same sex marriage, abortion, gays, celebacy optional, mass attendance etc. If you are in the group that I just mentioned then break the chains and LEAVE THE CHURCH. Your money they want, but you are not wanted.
I think this is a very unfair statement.
Bluepanjeet: I call them as I see them. The church requests that catholics tithe. 10% of your take home pay. Its not mandatory, but the church often requests it. thats how they keep the institutional wheels greased and turning. Tithing is also in the bible. Don’t want to upset the bible writers. Being a conservative catholic, who wouldn’t want to do his/her fair share in giving.? Give 10% of your take home pay. I am sure if the catholic church is the most important thing in your life then 10-20% of your pay (doing your part) would be a nice amount to put on the collection plate at every sunday mass. Now I am sure Bluepanjeet that you know that a portion of your offering goes to pay for the sex abuse scandal lawsuits that continue to this day, and the $1.1 million dollar investigations of our nuns in the USA will also come from the collection plates.
Those
that belong to the 7 dioceses in the USA that have recently filed for bankruptcy, (more bankrupcies coming) big changes will be coming soon. Church properties, assets and buildings will have to be sold to make good on outstanding debts and I am sure more money will be requested …….again on the collection plate. I am sure Bluepanjeet you tithe.
Hello Richard.
Yes I share my tithe. But what I’m saying is that Church funds does not only comes from tithes. Some of the diocese are self supporting and are subsidized. Like here in our Country, some of the diocese have schools, printing press, radio and tv stations etc…
The church fund does not only go to litigation cases like what you are implying. Remember that the Catholic church has the biggest charitable institutions in the world. Most of the funds you are talking about also goes to charities.
So saying that tithes are only going to sex abuse cases is a sweeping generalization. Not all diocese and parishes have sex abuse cases. so I think making general statements like what you said in your comments is a bit unfair. There are more Priests and Nuns who are faithful to their vows. If there are abusive priests and nuns, its a small portion when you compare it to the total population of religious all over the world.
Peace!
hello bluepanjeet: off topic: There are 195 catholic dioceses and arch-dioceses in the USA. Sexual predator priests have been caught in all 195 dioceses in the USA, this is a known fact. One can google and find that information. The John Jay report from 2004 indicated that up until 2003 over 4,3,00 confirmed priests have been accused or charged with sexual crimes in the USA out of 109,000 priests from 1950 until 2003. These numbers do not include priests who never got caught which I am sure there are many and does not include the explosive numbers now still coming in today from the USA, Canada, Ireland and Italy just to name a few countries. I believe it would be more fair to say the contributors, volunteers, and parishioners of the catholic churches are the ones who should get credit for charity works and donations. The catholic church is just the organization that distributes the money they collect. The hard work is done by the followers not the church itself. The face of the catholic church is changing quickly. Many western european (background) catholics have moved away from the belief in recent years, especially the younger generations coming up. Recent information indicates that 1 out of every 3 american catholics are Latinos, and within 20 years will be more then half of all catholics in america. There are many good catholic priests and sisters, I do feel sorry for them that have got caught up in the sexual abuse scandals and now the 2 investigations of the nuns in america.
Growing up in the catholic church in the 50s and early 60s catholics never heard of investigations, or allegations against church leaders….. ever. Times are a changing.
As an obviously non-Catholic Judeo-Christian, I think the real reason that so many Catholic Church members leave the Catholic denomination, is that they have access to the internet, and can study the religion that Jesus observed, along with the weekly and annual special holy times each year, for themselves. They can study early Christian Church hstory, and discover that the early Christians worshipped alongside religious Jews in the synagogues each Shabbat, and kept the annual, God-appointed holy convocations as instructed by God, but the Christians did it without animal sacrifices and Temple services that went along with the sacrifices. The Christians kept the same days, but with Jesus at the center of those special times. Many Christians are now examining their Judaic roots and discovering that the God of the Old Covenant of man’s promises, and the New Covenant of Jesus’s promises to us, is the same God known to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, and the prophets. We, as Christians, were thjrough Christ, grafted into the religion He gave to Moses. Not the other way around, as many replacement theologians think today.