The Catholic Church in Ireland Today

Author: David Carroll Cochran, John C. Waldmeir, Andrew Auge, Brian R. Calfano, Michele Dillon, Bernadette Flanagan, John Littleton, Eamon Maher, Matthew J. O'Brien and Elizabeth A. Oldmixon

Through international and interdisciplinary perspectives, The Catholic Church in Ireland Today considers the problems facing the contemporary Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. This book offers a thorough analysis of the Church’s present condition and indicates directions the Church could take to begin addressing the multiple challenges it faces.

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From a Church that once enjoyed devotional loyalty, political influence, and institutional power unrivaled in Europe, the Catholic Church in Ireland now faces collapse. Devastated by a series of reports on clerical sexual abuse, challenged publicly during several political battles, and painfully aware of plunging Mass attendance, the Irish Church today is confronted with the loss of its institutional legitimacy. This study is the first international and interdisciplinary attempt to consider the scope of the problem, analyze issues that are crucial to the Irish context, and identify signs of both resilience and renewal. In addition to an overview of the current status and future directions of Irish Catholicism, The Catholic Church in Ireland Today examines specific issues such as growing secularism, the changing image of Irish bishops, generational divides, Catholic migrants to Ireland, the abuse crisis and responses in Ireland and the United States, Irish missionaries, the political role of Irish priests, the 2012 Dublin Eucharistic Congress, and contemplative strands in Irish identity. This book identifies the key issues that students of Irish society and others interested in Catholic culture must examine in order to understand the changing roles of religion in the contemporary world.

Critic Reviews

“This collection is a clarion call. Intelligent and wide-ranging, it clearly demonstrates that the Irish Catholic Church needs a new kind of leadership and thinking.”

[The Catholic Church in Ireland Today] showcased both a broad range of perspectives and a lively exchange of ideas designed to reach various audiences, from teachers and students to pastors and parish workers. . . .Throughout the essays, the writers agree the potential is great for an Irish Catholicism that otherwise stands liberated from long relationships to political power and social privilege. Using various approaches, the contributors assert that this is a time of tremendous opportunity for Catholicism, a time when it can discover both a more authentic and prophetic voice in Irish belief and practice. Irish Times
The volume is of great value to anyone desiring an understanding of the Irish Church today. It addresses the situation in a nonpolemical way and suggests that there is a way forward that requires recognizing the changes in Irish society. Highly recommended for college, university, and seminary libraries, and larger parish libraries, especially those which have large Irish-American populations. Catholic Library World
This collection is a clarion call. Intelligent and wide-ranging, it clearly demonstrates that the Irish Catholic Church needs a new kind of leadership and thinking. -- Colum Kenny, Dublin City University

About the Author

David Carroll Cochran is professor of politics at Loras College and author of Catholic Realism and the Abolition of War.John C. Waldmeir is professor of religious studies and theology at Loras College and author of Cathedrals of Bone: The Role of the Body in Contemporary Catholic Literature.