The Catholic Church Betrays the Irish…Again

Approximately two weeks ago from the time of this writing, a Catholic Mass was raided by the Gardai (Irish police) in Athlone (for the American readers, a fair-sized town that is roughly in the center of Ireland).  At the time, a man named Patrick Sweeney filmed the Gardai’s ham fisted assault on religious freedom.  More specifically, the Gardai was attacking a Catholic Mass – a right for which thousands of Irish had died over the centuries to secure – and Mr. Sweeney caught them in the act.  His reward?  At three-thirty in the morning, the police crashed into his home and took his children away from him without warning, early on May 2^nd (a week after the police shuttered the Church).  Mr. Sweeney was subjected to a mental health evaluation (of which he was cleared) but was still kept from his children for several days. 

Some Gardai mocked the concerned father who went to the station to inquire as to his children.  Some Gardai ignored him.  The Gardai even blew off national political actors seeking to assist Mr. Sweeney.  Eventually, Ireland’s enforcement version of Child and Family Services – Tusla – returned Mr. Sweeney’s children to his ex-wife (their mother), without warning or regard for Mr. Sweeney’s rights as a father.

Tragic as this might be from a series of state actors who lack the same courage to shut down Islamic worship in Dublin and elsewhere, more tragic is the deafening silence of the Catholic Church in Ireland.  Where is the Catholic leadership?!  Coming on the heels of a series of major sex scandals that rocked the faith of millions of Irish, both in Ireland and abroad, the outrageous betrayal of the Catholic Church toward one of its own parishioners – a man who was attending Mass and calling out Gardai hypocrisy – is yet another smack in the face of the Irish people.

For a Catholic faith attempting to reassert itself into Irish society, the betrayal of the Catholic Church – which has done nothing to address the countless insults levied against faithful Catholics, all under the guise of “Covid” – is yet another missed opportunity to provide moral leadership and courage.  The Catholic Church in Ireland is failing.  Just when Irish Catholics need religious leaders with a backbone, the Catholic Church has turned its back on the Irish. 

Unfortunately, this is not new.

For centuries, the Irish remained steadfastly loyal to a Catholic faith that had once all but abandoned them to Anglo deprivations.  The Irish would hide priests.  The Irish would hold Mass under penalty of imprisonment and even death.  Yet, the Irish always remained loyal to Catholicism.  It defines the Republic’s identity.  Even an Irish atheist would have a very hard time denying the influences of Catholicism on his very being.  Ireland is culturally and spiritually Catholic, even when the Irish are not.

Now, you have a Catholic Church that has remained tragically silent as Mosques and Synagogues continue to worship in the Republic of Ireland unabated.  The cowards at the Archdioceses of Dublin, Tuam, Armagh, and Cashel and Emly refuse to take a stand against excessive, secular overreach.  The betrayal is enough to make anyone’s Gaelic blood boil.  How dare these creatures assume the mantle of spiritual leadership from those who once died holding Mass in secret?  They are certainly not worthy of standing on behalf of Jesus Christ.

With each new week, the Irish people are forced to endure new levels of undignified outrages.  Transgender freaks and homosexuals now fully run a political party that once stood for Irish independence in the face of British aggression.  These disgusting vermin get their way with Irish children and on RTE.  Yet, the Catholic Church does nothing to use its Christian mantle to push back against the increasing degeneracy on an island once known for its moral fortitude. 

Boatloads of “new Irish” come to Ireland and enjoy housing that is denied of the native Irish homeless.  Adding insult to injury, a country that was tragically poor only thirty years ago, now gifts handouts to migrants who are neither Catholic nor have any inclination to assimilate to a culture that stubbornly endured countless attempts to destroy her cultural fabric.  Instead of speaking out on behalf of their native parishioners, many in the Catholic hierarchy are licking their chops at the potential new bodies who might fill their pews and maybe their offering baskets.

When hordes of violent Africans assaulted Ireland’s native White population over the justifiable killing of a maniac named George Nkencho, the Catholic leadership chose to address systemic racism in Ireland.  That is not bravery.  That is cowardice. 

Ireland deserves better than the Catholic hierarchy it now has.  Covid is a really bad cold.  I know – I had it.  It lasts a few days.  The worst part about Covid is the loss of taste and smell for a week.  Quarantine the immunocompromised and let the Irish go about their daily routine.  The Irish should absolutely be allowed to go to Sacred Mass.  It can be done safely. 

The fact that the Catholic Church lacks the strength of Christian conviction to stand on behalf of men like Mr. Sweeney tells you all you need to know about the political animal that the Catholic Church of Ireland has fallen into being.  It is a tragic shell of itself.  The Irish deserve better from a Church to which it gave so much over the centuries.

In 1921, when Father Edward Byrne ascended to become the first Archbishop of a free Dublin, he chose as his motto: “In Te Domine Speravi.”  It means, “In thee, O Lord, have I put my trust.”  That was a man who stood with conviction during the tail end of the War of Independence and the Civil War that shortly followed.  He took principled stands on behalf of his flock – the Irish People – and trusted that God would protect him and them.  Today’s Catholic leadership in Ireland is a pathetic disgrace.