The Changed Reality of Being a Catholic Priest in Today’s Ireland

Abstract

The Changed Reality of Being a Catholic Priest in Today’s Ireland John Littleton (bio) Setting the scene I was ordained a Catholic priest on 8 June 1986. That is nearly forty years ago, indeed probably half my lifetime. Over the decades since then, my personal reflections along with my conversations with family members, colleagues and parishioners have persuaded me that the experience of being a priest in Ireland in 2022 differs greatly from that of the 1980s and earlier times. It is frequently said that change in the hierarchical Church happens incredibly slowly, usually occurring over centuries, as the Church trundles along rather like a huge millwheel moving almost undetectably. Irrespective of the pace of change within the Church, the past half century has witnessed a major transformation in how the institutional Church in particular and Catholicism in general are perceived in Ireland; the reality is that contemporary Irish society, similar to other Western democracies, is becoming increasingly secular, individualistic and materialistic. Anecdotal testimony One of my abiding memories is that, within a few weeks of ordination, I was asked to help with the hearing of confessions at one of the large Redemptorist novenas (nine consecutive days of prayer) in honour of Our Lady of Perpetual Help that were common at that time in various locations around the country.1 The availability of confession (the sacrament of reconciliation) for novena attendees, which was provided by a sizable team of confessors, was a noteworthy part of each novena session. Participants were encouraged to use that opportunity to express repentance for their sins, receive God’s forgiveness and renew their commitment to the principles and values of the Gospel. A recurring phrase in the standard list of novena announcements each day was, ‘Confessions are being heard before, during and after each session!’2 What astonished me most during my first experience of hearing confessions [End Page 249] was the large number of people who specifically asked how they should vote in the upcoming referendum on 26 June 1986 that would propose an amendment to remove the prohibition on divorce from Bunreacht na hÉireann (Constitution of Ireland). Some of them did not desire the sacrament; they simply wanted to be told how to vote. Many of them were well educated and worked in professional settings where they made important daily decisions that had serious consequences for business, finance and people. Yet when it came to deciding how to vote on an issue that had significant moral and social implications, they abdicated their responsibility as citizens in a democracy and expected the priest to tell them what to do. It was as though their faith development had ceased at the end of their secondary schooling, although their expertise and competence in other capacities had continued to develop according to their chosen career paths. Thankfully, although inexperienced, I had sufficient common sense to refuse to tell them how to vote. I told them that they needed to vote in accordance with their conscience and that I would answer any questions about the Church’s teaching on conscience, marriage and divorce, but that it would be wrong for me to tell them how to vote. Some penitents were displeased with my stance and threatened to complain to the priest in charge. Nevertheless, I insisted that it would be improper for me to tell them how to vote.3 Afterwards, I discovered that the other confessors on the team had much the same experience as me. This demonstrated to me that there was a perception among Catholics that priests – in addition to bishops – had the right and the duty to inform people how they should act in fundamentally important areas of life. About thirty years later, following the 1986 unsuccessful referendum to remove the prohibition on divorce from the constitution, my experience was that the perception of priests’ rights and duties had changed completely, especially in the lead-up to more recent referenda. In the 2015 ‘Marriage Equality’ referendum, the proposal was that marriage between two people be recognised regardless of the sex of the partners.4 Then three years later, in 2018, the ‘Repeal the Eighth’ referendum proposed that the 1983 Eighth Amendment to...