Why Catholicism is Dying in Ireland

The Chicago Tribune explores the breathtaking decline of Catholicism in Ireland, where mass attendance has plummeted from nearly 90% to 25% in thirty years and where the archdiocese of Dublin last year ordained no priests for the first time in its history.  (HT: CT) The article offers an interesting historical snapshot as insight on the nature of the decline:

"The 1979 visit of Pope John Paul II, that was the high-water mark of Catholicism in Ireland," said Simon Rowe, a Catholic commentator and editor of The Voice Today, a new Catholic newspaper.

But the visit also contained the seeds of decline, Rowe said.

About two-thirds of Ireland's population turned out to see the pope during his three-day visit. On one memorable day, more than 200,000 young people attended a special mass at Galway's Ballybrit racecourse. Before the pope's arrival, they were entertained by two of the Irish church's most popular and charismatic leaders: Bishop Eamon Casey of Galway and Rev. Michael Cleary, Dublin's "singing priest," who had his own show on national radio.

A decade later, it would come to light that Casey was the father of a son by an American woman and had "borrowed" from church funds to silence them. Cleary, it was discovered, fathered two children and had an abusive relationship with a troubled young woman who worked as his housekeeper.

Rob