Church influence and secular life: The Irish Abortion Vote
Posted: Sat May 26, 2018 8:24 pm
In a country over 75% Roman Catholic, a national referendum to the Irish Constitution that allow abortions passed with 66 % of the vote.
So what is the disconnect? How do so many Catholics in a predominantly Catholic country vote against the wishes of their Church?
The history of the Irish People and the Catholic Church is long and complicated. The church was seen as a bulwark against the English, especially after the establishment of the Church of England. Through famine, rebellions and English occupation, the Church was there to give solace. The Church grew to be an integral part of Irish life. But with religious power came temporal corruption.
I think many Irish trusted the Church without question, and the paedophilia and Magdalena scandals destroyed the core of that trust. I think the Irish might have been asking themselves what business celibate men had in making the rules for women's reproductive health issues.
So what is the disconnect? How do so many Catholics in a predominantly Catholic country vote against the wishes of their Church?
New York Times wrote: “No more doctors telling their patients there is nothing that can be done for them in their own country,” [Prime Minister Leo Varadkar] said. “No more lonely journeys across the Irish Sea. No more stigma. The veil of secrecy is lifted. No more isolation. The burden of shame is gone.”
The vote followed months of soul-searching in a country where the legacy of the Catholic Church remains powerful. It was the latest, and harshest, in a string of rejections of the church’s authority in recent years.
The church lost much of its credibility in the wake of scandals involving pedophile priests and thousands of unwed mothers who were placed into servitude in so-called Magdalene laundries or mental asylums as recently as the mid-1990s.
The church was, in fact, largely absent from the referendum campaign. Anti-abortion campaigners actively discouraged its participation, preferring to emphasize moral values and human rights rather than religion, possibly to avoid being tarnished by the church-related scandals.
During the campaign, the Association of Catholic Priests urged its members not to preach politics from the pulpit. The guidance came after some priests had threatened their congregations that they would not be able to receive Communion if they voted “yes,” according to people who attended the Masses.
“This is devastating for the Roman Catholic hierarchy,” said Gail McElroy, professor of politics at Trinity College Dublin. “It is the final nail in the coffin for them. They’re no longer the pillar of society, and their hopes of re-establishing themselves are gone.”
The history of the Irish People and the Catholic Church is long and complicated. The church was seen as a bulwark against the English, especially after the establishment of the Church of England. Through famine, rebellions and English occupation, the Church was there to give solace. The Church grew to be an integral part of Irish life. But with religious power came temporal corruption.
I think many Irish trusted the Church without question, and the paedophilia and Magdalena scandals destroyed the core of that trust. I think the Irish might have been asking themselves what business celibate men had in making the rules for women's reproductive health issues.