Being Catholic in Ireland

Today is Sunday. When I asked my host, John--at a late hour, which I knew I shouldn't have done, and I began the question with those words--if I could possibly make the noon Mass in town today, he agreed. Then he said that Sara could drive me, or I could take a bike, but ultimately I needed to ask Sara. Then John plunged into a great recent history of Catholicism in Ireland:

When the pedophilia-among-clergy scandal (as John called it) broke to the public in Ireland, people asked the usual questions about what was being done. Apparently, a bishop made the comment, "80% of Ireland is still Catholic," as some sort of placation, and that sent the laity over the edge. According to John, being Catholic in Ireland is a big joke--most of the Irish only go to Mass to receive Baptism, First Eucharist, and Matrimony--and everyone knows it. He told me about Cormac Flynn and his website of Count Me Out, which helps people officially excommunicate themselves, and John is quite proud of the fact that he himself has formally left the Church. He went on to explain that this was the only way people saw that they could make the Church understand that they didn't want to be an excuse for this scandal and that they wanted no part in it. John said that the Church in Ireland started to make some changes after 12,000 people officially left via this website's instructions.

I'm still not clear on this whole issue, but it seems that children have to be baptized before they are educated in Ireland. My understanding is that the Church is responsible for primary education in public schools, and so it is a requirement that children are baptized, but I have also heard that there are other schools available. My guess is that there is a fee for these private schools. Igor in Dublin said that he will not baptize his one-year-old son, and he knows that is going to cause a problem later on. John here in Rosscarbery believes that the Church doesn't actually want this responsibility but that the national government is dragging its feet on the issue. Church and State are, if you haven't inferred by now, not separate here in Ireland, and--oops!--I should have mentioned that earlier. I guess my point is that John's pulse on Irish-laity sentiment could be quite accurate. If education is mandated by the government, and baptisms are a prerequisite for those who can only afford public school because the Church is in charge of that, then Catholicism is seemingly more associated with the business of politics than with faith. That's a real pity.

Back to the original story. I went inside to see if Sara was going to take me to Mass or if I should take a bike, and I couldn't find her. I decided to just hop on a bike because I really didn't want to mention this sore issue again today. This was a bad idea for a couple reasons: 1) I didn't really know where I was going, and 2) I was wearing a long skirt. What's the first thing that happened? You guessed it; my skirt was caught in the wheel within about 20 yards of the house. No worries; the brier bush on the side of the narrow road caught my fall, and I managed just a small poop-like stain on the skirt where I pulled it from the clutches of the tire. I pressed on. I figured I would just go to the beach like I had done the day before and then take a left because that had to be where the church was. I passed a castle. I passed a nature preserve. When I stopped for directions, a couple of nice walking ladies said, "Just stay straight on this road. Turn right at the shop. It's up a bit of a hill." There were a few of those. Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe they said "stop" and not "shop," but either way, I didn't end up finding the church. About twelve kilometers later, I returned to the farm. I had gone completely the wrong way; John supposedly had come looking for me to see if I knew where I was going; and to top it all off, I had chosen to ride Sara's bike, and that's a no-no.

I hope that by the end of my stay here, I'll have a different story to relay about being Catholic in Ireland--ideally one about an actual relationship with Jesus. So stay tuned!