Catholicism is in crisis all over Old Europe. Nowhere is that crisis more pronounced than in Ireland, where clerical corruption and disastrous episcopal leadership have collided with rank political expediency and a rabidly anticlerical media to produce a perfect storm of ecclesiastical meltdown. The country whose constitution begins “In the name of the Most Holy Trinity…” is now thoroughly post-Christian. And while there has been no one cause of that radical secularization, the Church in Ireland had best look to itself, its sins, its errors, and its unbecoming alliance with political power as it considers how to begin anew.
That reconsideration would be aided by dramatic Vatican action that includes a major downsizing of the Irish dioceses. There are currently four metropolitan sees and 22 dioceses in Ireland, for a total of 26 ecclesiastical jurisdictions. Ireland’s total population is some 4.6 million which is about the total Catholic population of the archdiocese of Los Angeles. That there are 26 dioceses in Ireland is manifestly absurd.
So one step toward the reform of the Church in Ireland will be to rationalize what has become an irrational ecclesiastical structure: an overgrowth that has, over time, become an impediment to the Church’s mission. And rationalizing, in this instance, means downsizing. It’s not a matter of retribution (“You made a colossal mess, so you have to be punished”). The point is to create structures through which the new evangelization in Ireland, which is going to be a struggle in any case, can flow.
The downsizing should not be symbolic, but deep, mirroring the deep reform to which the Church in Ireland is called. Halving the number of current Irish dioceses by combining some sees and suppressing others would put an average of 354,000 Catholics into each restructured Irish diocese. That’s still less than half the Catholics in Pittsburgh, so no complaints ought to be heard from Irish clergy or bishops about “draconian measures,” should the Holy See make a dramatic reduction in the number of Irish dioceses.
Then there is the question of replacing bishops. That many Irish bishops are resisting proposals for downsizing the number of Irish dioceses confirms the impression that the present Irish episcopal bench must be cleared: again, not as a matter of retribution (although in some cases deposition for malfeasance would certainly be warranted), but as an essential prerequisite to re-establishing a foundation of public confidence for the new evangelization of the Emerald Isle. And in considering candidates for a reduced number of episcopal chairs in Ireland, the Holy See might well look outside, as well as inside, Ireland for candidates.
Michael Joseph Curley, the archbishop of Baltimore who confirmed my father, came to Baltimore as successor to Cardinal Gibbons in 1921. Curley was a native Irishman; he was ordained for what was then mission territory in Florida, where he served as a circuit-riding priest before becoming bishop of St. Augustine at age 34. Seven years later, he succeeded the most important Catholic churchman since John Carroll. If this native of Athlone, educated in Limerick and Dublin, could become the archbishop of the premier see of the United States at a moment in American history marked by deep anti-Irish and anti-Catholic prejudices, it is not clear why (to take hypothetical examples) a native of Los Angeles educated in Denver, or a New Orleans native educated in Washington, D.C., could not become a bishop in Ireland today.
Twenty-first century Ireland is mission territory. The damage of recent decades has been so severe that it is not so much a matter of reforming the Church as of re-founding it: and re-founding it as a vibrant evangelical movement, not as a clericalist institution. That re-founding will require institutional downsizing in the service of radical evangelization. That re-evangelization, in turn, will require bishops on fire with the Gospel, men who can make the Christian proposal compelling again amidst widespread cynicism and bitterness. Men of that caliber can come from anywhere. Serious Irish Catholics will welcome them, whatever the place-of-birth recorded on their passports.
George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.
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Comments:
I can't see that it is a winning gambit to continue with a "Vatican first" strategy, which is the message most clearly communicated in your proposal to centralize Ireland's diocesan org chart. Whoever determined that LA or Pittsburgh had the correct number of dioceses in the first place?
If the Catholic population in Ireland continues to diminish, then obviously the supporting infrastructure needs to contract, but "dramatic Vatican action", i.e., top-down diktat, is hardly an organic means to accomplish the contraction.
Better by far, I think, is the idea contained in the second thesis of the Austrian Bishops' group, Wir Sind Kirche: the number of active communities should determine the number of Eucharistic celebrants, not the other way around.
Italy, by way of comparison, has 225 dioceses for a population of 60 million, about the same as that of France, reflecting a municipal, rather than regional culture.
People tend to turn to religion in a crisis, perhaps this will change.
Irish operative values, materialistic as the result of the Celtic tiger economy, and shallow as a result of the influence of the hedonistic media culture of the modern world, need to find depth again in Christian values.
It's not sufficient to blame anti Church bias in the Media. The Media may sensationalise but the Irish Church has presented much material to sensationalise. It hasn't been made up, the things reported did happen and now the Church is paying the price for its earlier arrogance and inattention.
My fear is that Ireland ends up like Holland - once a beacon a faith that sent missionaries around the world - but no longer.
The total population of the island of Ireland, in which the 26 dioceses exist including Northern Ireland (legally part of the UK), is 6.2 million. About 75% of that population is baptised Catholic constituting about 4.6 million people.
Whilst the number of dioceses is unusually large, there are historical reasons for it. Their boundaries were defined by the Synod of Rathbreasail in 1111 according to the political situations of that time, though some dioceses were unchanged by that synod and the Diocese of Ossory for example exists in it's current form since 544 A.D.
There is also the question of depopulation. The estimated population of Ireland before the great famine in the 1840s was just over 10 million. Considering that that was in an era less prosperous and much less populated than ours, it's food for thought.
Whilst we certainly need to reduce the number of dioceses here, it is foolish to compare the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to the island of Ireland. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has 4.6 million baptised Catholics living in it, but it's geographical size is comparable to that of 5 - 6 Irish Dioceses. Ireland is a geographical areas that encompasses huge variation for such a relatively small place. Further, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has six auxiliaries (noticeably comparable to our comparative number of geographical dioceses in Ireland). Very few dioceses in Ireland have Auxiliaries, they don't need them. Further, the church has shown herself keen in recent times to move away from the concept of the 'Auxiliary Bishop'.
The Catholic Church is beautiful. Her simplicity is beautiful as is the hierarchy - a simple hierarchy which (theologically) is made up of priest, bishop, and pope. The other ranks don't really matter. Personally I'd prefer a bishop and a smaller diocese than a whole bunch of auxiliaries and another layer of hierarchy and beaurocracy.
The reality is that there isn't a huge beaurocracy in most Irish dioceses (except perhaps Dublin). You simply called that wrong. In fact most dioceses don't have adequate systems of leadership and governance which is probably one of the reason for current difficulties.They are not run properly and that is most certainly not because they employ too many people. What I feel you're really doing is applying some sort of Neo Liberal/Proto Republican political analysis to the Irish Church. You don't downsize dioceses George, you introduce people to the Lord and encourage them to deepen their personal relationship with Him and discover the beauty that is His church. We're not talking about some government agency here. Our dioceses aren't quangos that you can poke fun at. The Irish church isn't an Obama neo socialist project. Your analysis is shallow.
So often I get frustrated when I have to listen to self professed 'prophetic liberal theologians' who seem to believe every hope for the future lies in structural change. They want to change the way we're governed, who governs us and how we're governed. They want 'lay' this and lay the other. They want to 'radically', as they put it, reform the structure of the church in Ireland. They are obsessed with structures and structural reform, yet they have little or no understanding of the hand of God in all this. Faith doesn't matter to them, structures do.
What about you George, which matters most to you?
Were Ireland reduced into one great diocese of 4.2 million people, do you really think it would be any better? Most certainly not, in fact it would be probably worse off. The dominant liberal agenda would be enabled and empowered to reach churches and congregations they never dreamed of. George, you should spend less time thinking about 'downsizing' and more time 'uplifting' the hearts that yet beat in the Irish church with love, faith and hope.
George, I have huge respect for you. I hoped to attend the talk last night but couldn't as I've exams at the moment. I'm reading your book, 'The cube and the cathedral' at the moment. It's excellent.
Just give this one on structures a little bit more thought please. I think you spoke too soon. Unfortunately, the solution isn't actually that easy.
God Bless,
Sean D Rafter
And the consequences of 'where much is given , much is expected ' - a country whose people brought forth in abundance , harvestors for the Kingdom, having fallen for the dry and desert landscape of contraception, recieving 'communion' while denying communion , to each other and thus to God ...and the hierarchy , not having done enough on their part - thus indirectly exposing themselves for the attacks of the enemy , in the same arena - an example of how sins of the laity can affect the priests ,as mentioned in the Old Testament !
Ireland thus could be a warning for others too !
May St.Benedict who is reported to have done the miracle of putting back a broken plate together , in union withprayers of St.Patrcik , drive away the snakes that seem to have crawled back in , to mend and heal , at deep levels , the broken hearts and esp. the broken communions/covenants .
and we would already thank Him , that He would , in His mercy , grant same through His friends !