The Impact of Geography

I will soon launch into a more detailed examination of what I believe some of the difficulties we currently face are as a Church, but first I would like to quickly take a look at an issue that is currently an obstacle but could easily be turned on its head to become an advantage.

I think that we must always be careful when trying to emulate the successes of the Church in other countries; cultures vary, and aspects that might be advantageous elsewhere can prove disadvantageous when adapted to a different culture.

That said, we can still attempt to learn from others. Each culture comes with its own unique strengths and weaknesses and we can learn from what is good in other cultures as long as we carefully discern that which is not so good and avoid it. Catholicism is a both/and religion, and it does fusions quite well; just look at the drawing of the good elements of pagan Irish culture into the art, literature and life of early Catholic Ireland for one successful example.

Geography and Travel

I want to take a specific look at one aspect of American culture which does not come naturally to us in Ireland but could prove advantageous in future cooperation between Catholics here. I am speaking of our respective attitudes towards geography and travel.

Because the US is such a large nation and its cities and towns are spread out across such a vast countryside, the average American is quite content to travel long distances each day for work or pleasure and indeed very long road trips are the norm. From having spent time in numerous parts of the US in various different circles I can say that most people seem happy to drive three hours to a meeting and three hours back and still take time out in the evening to go somewhere else.

Here in Ireland, because we are such a small country we tend to think that the relatively small distances between different parts of the country are an entire day’s journey each way. Part of the difference is of course the difference in the quality of roads between the two countries, but I think that there’s more to it than that. We have an attitude that travel is difficult and thus more of an obstacle than it needs to be in the 21^st Century.

I generalise, of course; I’m sure that there are Americans who just want to stay in a small area and dread the thought of long road travel, and of course there are Irish who think nothing of a jaunt from Belfast to Cork in the car. But these are general cultural differences I’ve noticed between the two countries.

What can we learn from this?

It’s quite simple. With a bit of a shift in our attitudes, we can see travelling and meeting others in different parts of Ireland as much easier and simpler than we often believe these things to be. I think that this is important because the in the years ahead we as Catholics are going to have to cooperate to a greater degree to try and evangelise our culture. We are too few to not work with those on the other side of the island.

And let’s face it: it is a small island. It can be crossed north to south in a day and east to west in much, much less time than that.

On top of that, face-to-face communication is always superior to electronic. Connections are made much more firmly in person than they are over the phone or online. Meeting with others in person is going to be important to form the networks we’ll need for the years ahead.

I don’t mean to dismiss the advantages that the internet or modern communications in general bring (I am writing a blog after all), but personal contact nonetheless comes with its own advantages.

City and Countryside

There is another aspect to this, of course, which is perhaps uniquely Irish. I mean the divide between Dublin and the rest of the country.

There is a tendency of the part of Dubs to see their city as the centre of Ireland. Obviously, given that a quarter of the people on the island live in the city or county of Dublin, it does carry a certain weight politically and infrastructure such as roads and railways are focused on the city to a large degree, which makes it a central hub in which meetings of those around Ireland are easily organised.

But there can be a tendency to focus too much on the city and leave out the other parts of Ireland, which can cause resentment amongst those who live outside and likewise can blind those who live in the city from seeing what lies outside the Pale. I’ve seen this happen when trying to organise events between groups from around Ireland.

Here there needs to be another shift in attitude on both sides. Those in the city need to take into account the fact that three quarters of Irish live elsewhere, and even if outside the smaller cities they are more dispersed, there tends to be a greater degree of faithful practising Catholics in the countryside and there cannot be such a focus on the city that it excludes those outside.

On the other hand, the simple fact is that, rightly or wrongly, a great deal of Irish infrastructure is set up with Dublin as the centre of all things, and organising a meeting with Catholics from the four provinces is often easier in a place where everybody can travel to easily by car, bus or rail. Despite being more secularised as well, the large population of Dublin does mean that there is nonetheless a fairly big concentration of Catholic groupings in the city as well.

Change in Attitudes

We’re facing into a difficult period ahead and every little advantage we can gain will help us to weather the storm and God willing rebuild the Church here in Ireland.

I give this as one example of how we can adjust our attitudes towards our country and the Church here by rethinking our geography.

Remember, we’re a small country, which can be used to our advantage in building tight networks between Catholics. And whether we’re from the centre of Dublin city or the furthest parts of the Donegal or Kerry coast, we’re all in this together and we need to work together and understand each other if we’re going to weather the storm.

Musings on the Same-Sex Marriage Referendum

I just thought I would post some musings on the passing of the same-sex marriage referendum here in Ireland and on the campaign that went on beforehand.

I’m not going to dissect the referendum myself. I’m not particularly interested in blogging about the specifics of the culture wars here in Ireland. The copy of the Irish Catholic that came out after the result did a good job of that and anybody interested in analysis should go there.

Instead, I want to raise a few concerns on my mind after the whole campaign.

The victors have labelled it a defeat for the Catholic Church in Ireland.

Of course, this shouldn’t bother us. We were never promised that we would win every battle, only that Christ and His Church would triumph in the end.

What does bother me is how far we’ve moved, and how we’ve responded to it as a Church in Ireland.

To begin with, the Yes side made many convincing arguments about the legal implications of the referendum and how it would change very little. Convincing, I say, not because gay marriage doesn’t mark a profound shift in how we conceive of marriage, but because that shift has already happened. We’ve simply added gay people to this soluble, adult-oriented institution we refer to as civil marriage. Marriage has already been gutted.

For example, there is the fact that surrogacy was a key component of the No campaign’s argument. But if children deserve a mother and a father, why not tackle the issue of adoption by gay couples?

Because it’s already happening. Unmarried couples, single people, you name it, are already adopting here in Ireland. Child-rearing has already been separated from matrimony, just as procreation has. During the referendum, attempts by the No side to point out the link between procreation and marriage were rebutted by those who pointed out that many couples who got married didn’t bother having children.

More than that, the tax benefits associated with marriage have dwindled, supposedly to prevent discrimination against cohabitating couples. We’ve already axed the indissoluble nature of marriage with the passing of the divorce referendum in 1995.

I think that this referendum should be seen simply as a symbolic victory for a view of marriage, sexuality and procreation that has already been dominant in our country for some time now.

So to sum up my first point: marriage has already been completely gutted in this country. What can be done to reverse this? I think the best thing the laity who are not directly involved in ministering to married couples can do is to pour their efforts into strengthening and sanctifying their own marriages (assuming, of course, that that’s the path they are called to. We can’t forget about those God calls to the single life).

On to my second point.

Now, there are a few difficulties which this referendum presents us with. The first of course is outright persecution, by which I mean not ISIS-style beheadings but rather the inevitability of more court cases along the lines of the Asher’s Bakery case in the North directed at Christians who refuse to provide services for same-sex marriage ceremonies. Perhaps this is better termed ‘Persecution Lite.’ However I think that this is the least of our problems overall.

There’s a second issue, upon which I’m quite conflicted. On the one hand, it’s crucially important that the Church stand up for the institution of marriage, as it did during the referendum. I heard some who were dissatisfied with the level of the bishops’ response as being too milk-and-water, but in general I thought that they didn’t do too bad of a job for the most part. Their voices were heard, and they were generally heard to be reasonable, even if once or twice I wish that certain members of the hierarchy hadn’t rowed back or being a little cagey about the issue.

But here’s the problem: We now have a situation where a radical shift has taken place, and Catholic teaching on sexuality is no longer seen as just a bit of a weird thing, which is alright if you’re into it, as long as you don’t force it on anyone. Rather, Church teaching on sexuality is now seen as positively evil and unenlightened. The fact that those who believe this usually haven’t properly engaged with the Church’s arguments is beside the point. What worries me is that we now have a situation where the Church’s teaching is seen as being so off-putting and repulsive that the average Irish person who’s not into their faith all that much won’t even consider Catholicism. The perception of the teaching has become a barrier to getting to know Jesus Christ in His Church.

So what’s the solution? Let me rule out changing the teaching. It can’t be done; it reflects reality, and reality doesn’t alter itself to suit our feelings. Some teachings are always going to be difficult and we have to learn to embrace them regardless because ultimately they are what leads us to God.

So how do we both remain faithful to the Church’s teaching on marriage, and also bypass the prejudices that have emerged against it during the referendum campaign?

It occurs to me that the Church needs to take a different tack and place less emphasis upon the culture war issues such as gay marriage, at least in its outreach at a grassroots level. Statements can still be made about such issues at a hierarchical level (as will be necessary with the oncoming onslaught of pro-abortion/euthanasia propaganda coming) but perhaps what’s needed is an attempt to make conversions, bring people first to know and love God, and then their hearts will be more receptive to the difficult teachings.

The how is the critical question.