Catholic Decline and Christian Revival in Ireland » The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator

The Catholic faith has, for decades now, been waning in what was once a devout stronghold of the faith, but a new survey is suggesting that Ireland may soon experience a sort of Christian revival, although it may not be a Catholic one. The Dublin-based Iona Institute for Religion and Society just published a study tracing “changes in religious attitudes and practices in recent decades” across Ireland.

Most statistics in the report are unsurprising. For example, only 16 percent of survey respondents said that they regularly attend Mass, while 62 percent identified as Catholic but said that they do not attend Mass, or at least only attend rarely. Twenty-two percent said that they are not Catholic. The largest share of regular Mass-goers (31 percent) was among those aged 65 or older, while the largest share  of those who self-identify as Catholics but do not attend Mass (what the Iona Institute calls “cultural Catholics”) was to be found among those aged 45 to 54 (71 percent) and 55 to 64 (72 percent).

Burgeoning secularism, poor catechesis, rampant non-Christian immigration, and a host of other issues have been driving the Irish out of the Catholic Church, but the wounds dealt by the clerical sex abuse scandal have been deep. Overall, 40 percent of respondents said that they hold a negative view of the Catholic Church, compared to only percent with a positive view. Of those with an unfavorable view of the Church, 42 percent cited the clerical sex abuse scandal as the basis for their unfavorable view, while other cited “old-fashioned” positions on issues like abortion and the LGBTQ agenda or the influence the Church has historically exerted in Ireland. Most Irish additionally misjudge the scale of clerical sex abuse, overestimating the number of abusers by four to one.

While nearly half (45 percent) of Irish agree that the Catholic Church’s teachings have been beneficial for society, nearly a third (32 percent) disagree, and one-quarter of Irish polled said that they “would be happy if the Catholic Church disappeared from Ireland completely.”

Animosity towards the Church — and Christianity more broadly — seems to be highest among those aged 25 to 34. Only 5 percent of that age cohort identifies as religious, only 23 percent (the lowest rate reported in the survey) attend religious services, and the cohort holds the least positive (5 percent very positive, 24 percent mostly positive) and most negative (15 percent very negative, 23 percent mostly negative) views of Christianity. That cohort also holds the most negative (51 percent overall) view of the Catholic Church, but holds a slightly more positive view (24 percent) of the Church than those aged 18 to 24 (19 percent).

Ireland’s Sliver of Hope

Those aged 18 to 24 aren’t far behind those aged 25 to 34 in their animosity towards the Catholic Church, but they are far more open to Christianity more generally. Only 6 percent of those 18 to 24 identified as regular Mass-goers (the lowest share out of any cohort) but 41 percent (the highest share out of any cohort) said that they are not Catholic. Overall, 54 percent of those 18 to 24 identified as spiritual or religious, and they were more likely than most other cohorts to pray (42 percent), attend religious services (32 percent), read religious books (22 percent), or seek out religious content on YouTube (21 percent) or social media (23 percent).

There are, again, a number of factors contributing to the decline of Catholicism in Ireland. While that cynical cohort aged 25 to 34 seems to have completely abandoned Christianity, the younger folk have only abandoned the Catholic Church. And why wouldn’t they? The Catholic population in Ireland is aging, and rapidly. What 18-year-old wants to go to Mass surrounded by 70-year-olds? From my own time living in Ireland, I can report that Sunday Masses in Ireland are often a painful experience for faithful Catholics. The concept of Christ as God is a forgotten one: instead, He is hailed as your buddy, if He’s even acknowledged at all.

The Iona Institute said that it’s study found “an obvious hunger for spiritual insights and practices” in Ireland, especially among the younger generations. But Ireland’s Catholic leaders offer nothing to satisfy that hunger, only trite platitudes, politically correct political commentary, jokes that weren’t even funny when they were first told 75 years ago, and a dash of heterodox ideology. If Ireland’s Catholic leaders can’t even pretend to offer young people Christ, then the youth will seek out a church that will.

READ MORE from S.A. McCarthy:

The Church’s Reasonable Approach to Immigration

Is the Pope Woke?