This is the second in a three-part series on division with the Irish Church. As previously stated, these posts are largely based on personal observation, although in this one I’ll inject a little hard data so as to get an idea of certain proportions.
The first part looked at divisions amongst active, practising Catholics in Ireland.
I demonstrated this using a diagram:
Diagram 1: The Four Camps
It’s time to develop this argument. I originally brought up the ‘Four Camps’ idea with a good friend in the Church and he broadly agreed with the points I had made. But he pointed out that I was missing a very, very large part of the picture. He said that the camps could be seen as extremes, and in the middle was a much larger group of Catholics who were practising but not active. They might have tendencies or leanings one way or another, but in general they do not get involved in the life of the Church beyond showing up on Sunday and going through ceremonies such as weddings and funerals in the Church. It is worth noting that like in the active practising group, there will be a number who are not orthodox.
We might now take the diamond in the diagram above and place it in a new diagram.
Diagram 2: Active and Non-Active
I’m not certain how proportionate this diagram is, as I’ve no idea of the real percentages, but I do imagine that it is a minority of weekly Massgoers who are active in parishes, movements and apostolates in the sense of actually running things and moreover attempting to evangelise and build the Kingdom of God. Reflecting on this idea, I decided to develop it further, and contrast these two distinct groupings again with another, larger grouping: non-practicing Catholics.
This brings us to a diagram within a diagram within a diagram.
Diagram 3: The Distinct Groupings Who Call Themselves Catholic on the Census
You’ll notice that I decided to include Non-Catholics in the diagram, outside the circle, mainly for completeness’ sake.
Before we look at what the point of all this categorization might be, I’ll crunch some of the available numbers, and make up some estimates where numbers are not available. The links to the data are available in this previous post of mine.
According to the most recent Census:
- About 85% of Irish citizens and residents identify as Catholic
- About 15% of Irish citizens and residents do not
Of those who identify as Catholic, an Association of Catholic Priests survey found that:
- 35% go to weekly Mass (which is roughly 30% of all Irish)
- 65% do not go (which means that roughly 55% of Irish are non-practicing Catholics)
- A maximum of 13% agree with all of the Church’s teachings that were surveyed (which is roughly 11% of all Irish)
Now, two caveats about these stats:
One, the ACP survey has a much greater margin of error than the Census, given that they polled about a thousand people and the Census polled everyone.
Two, I’m about to conflate orthodox Catholics with Massgoing Catholics, which you can’t do in 100% of cases, but for the sake of ease we’ll assume that they are the same thing, which in the majority of cases they are.
So we end up with statistics like these for the population of Ireland:
- 11% Practising, orthodox Catholics, of which an unknown percentage are active
- 19% Practising, unorthodox Catholics, of which an unknown percentage are active
- 55% Non-practising Catholics
- 15% Non-Catholics
Now, I’m going to make a wild estimate of how many of the people who show up in the pews each Sunday are active according to my previous definition. Does 1 in 5 sound reasonable? (I imagine that this grouping is weighted towards the orthodox, but that’s just my perception).
Here are some new statistics, the bold being estimates.
- 6% Practising, Active Catholics, some orthodox, some not?
- 24% Practising, non-Active Catholics, some orthodox, some not?
- 55% Non-practising Catholics
- 15% Non-Catholics
Now, where on earth am I going with all of these figures?
Simple. We now have a series of distinct groupings within Ireland as regards their relationship with the Catholic Church:
- Orthodox, Practising, Active Catholics
- Unorthodox, Practising, Active Catholics
- Orthodox, Practising, Non-Active Catholics
- Unorthodox, Practising, Non-Active Catholics
- Non-Practising Catholics
- Non-Catholics
My point is that the Church in Ireland is divided into five categories, the largest of which by far is Non-practising Catholics.
In addition to this, there is a minority of Non-Catholics, which is an entirely heterogeneous category consisting of Muslims, Protestants, Orthodox, Atheists, Agnostics and everything in between.
So in order to reach out to people and bring renewal to the Church, we need a different approach for each category.
Those who are Orthodox Practising Active form the bulk of the group that fall into the Four Camps I mentioned previously. They are the backbone of the Church, but as I pointed out face poor leadership and are divided, often over petty differences.
This group requires the building of bridges, greater unity and closer networks as well as stronger leadership, of the holy kind and not the charismatic, egotistical kind. This group also needs greater catechesis and spiritual guidance so as to grow in knowledge of the faith and personal sanctity. Encouragement too. We need to stand by each other and watch out for each other in the days t come.
You know what else what be great? More retreats, guided and non-guided, preferably in retreat houses that haven’t been swamped with New Age practices.
Those who are Unorthodox Practising Active need those of us who are orthodox to reach out to them. They obviously feel deep within themselves the need of the Church, but have left its teachings somewhere along the way.
Patience, charity and clear, informed, reasonable discussion will be key to drawing them back to the Church’s teachings. Hammer-of-the-heretics style attacks will drive this group away more than anyone else, since their bête noir is the return of more rigid days.
Those who are Orthodox Practising Non-Active need those of us who are active to encourage them, invite them, inspire them to become part of the mission of the Church, to respond to the calling that is in their hearts; we need to help them to catch fire. Beautiful, attractive communities (in the sense of communities that really practice Christian charity and strive for a true relationship with God) of the faithful will help.
Those who are Unorthodox Practising Non-Active need a bit of both of the previous approaches.
Those who are Non Practising need to be reached out to as well, although probably with the assumption that their understanding of the faith is very limited. The whole gay marriage issue will be particularly difficult here, I think; as I’ve said before we need to find ways around that particular barrier. Above all else we need people to feel welcome to come home.
Those who are Non-Catholic…well, they will need as many approaches as there are beliefs. But again, they will need those of us active in the faith to be willing to reach out, answer questions, invite, try to dialogue and understand where they are coming from.
In a way, there is a hierarchy here; the approaches needed for each group can be built upon as they grow closer to being Orthodox, Practising, Active Catholics.
This is a brief sketch, but I hope I’ve made the point; the divisions we face will need a myriad of solutions, but unity and charity amongst those of us already active is key. After all, as somebody once said, a house divided against itself cannot stand.
As always, these are broad brush-strokes; really there needs to be an individual approach to each person. But we need to recognise the broad trends and where we stand to make a start, and putting the means in place and getting our own house in order will be the first step.
I’ll have the final post up in this trilogy soon I hope, on the different generations.
By Grace and Banners Fallen 