Avec le recul sur l'Irlande comme sur le Québec, ou sur les vieux terroirs démocrates-chrétiens en France, je suis frappé par le parallèle avec la révolte généralisée des élites alphabétisées il ya quelque 600 ans au profit du self-service théologique et moral - "évangélique" ou presbytérien - contre les "domaines réservés" des clercs. C'est l'esprit missionnaire et pédagogique (type "Chabeuil" ou "Châteauneuf de Galaure" à l'époque) qui nous a manqué!
Les tradis des années 1970 ont trop laissé passer l'impression qu'ils refusaient surtout de passer à la langue vulgaire en liturgie, alors que la colonne vertébrale de leur combat, c'était de refuser que l'Église passe à la facilité pédagogique du caté sans "par-cœur" et à tous les subjectivismes et modernismes.
Les tradis des années 1970 ont trop laissé passer l'impression qu'ils refusaient surtout de passer à la langue vulgaire en liturgie, alors que la colonne vertébrale de leur combat, c'était de passer à la facilité pédagogique du caté sans "par-cœur" et à tous les subjectivismes et modernismes.

How does one explain Ireland’s rapid slide into secularism and embrace of liberal values?
There’s no doubt that the clerical abuse scandals have been a major factor. The scandals have dramatically undermined the Church’s moral authority. And Father Vincent Twomey, professor emeritus of moral theology at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, has written a book provocatively entitled The End of Irish Catholicism?, rooting the dramatic transformation in the Church in Ireland’s failure to prioritize education.
“Traditional Irish Catholicism, for all its other greatness, was to large extent an unthinking, if cunning, entity,” Father Twomey said in an interview with The Irish Catholic. A narrow education meant that most were not exposed to world literature, art or serious theology that would have broadened their minds and made their faith a questioning one.
“Parochialism and conformism reigned supreme,” Father Twomey believes.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has described the referendum result as a “reality check” for the Church.
Speaking on State broadcaster RTÉ, the archbishop said: “I think really that the Church needs to do a reality check, a reality check right across the board, to look at the things it’s doing well, to look at the areas where we really have to start and say, ‘Look, have we drifted away completely from young people?’”
Dublin’s archbishop described the result as a “social revolution.”
“It’s a social revolution that didn’t begin today,” he said. “It’s a social revolution that’s been going on, and perhaps in the Church people have not been as clear in understanding what that involved.
“It’s very clear that if this referendum is an affirmation of the views of young people, then the Church has a huge task in front of it to find the language to be able to talk to and to get its message across to young people, not just on this issue, but in general.”
David Quinn, director of the pro-marriage Iona Institute and de factor leader of the referendum ‘No’ campaign believes the Church does need a “reality check.”
“The reality check is that the Church has done almost no catechesis in the area of marriage for years and years. It has done lots of pastoral counseling, but it has not taught on a systematic basis what marriage is and why it is so important to society and why it can only be between a man and a woman by its very nature,” he told the Register.
Quinn believes this failure of catechesis “is why many Catholics were bowled over when the referendum came, especially as they have been subjected by the media to such relentless propaganda in favor of gay marriage for years.”

Mainstream Media Bias
That “relentless propaganda” Quinn referenced was demonstrated by the fact that an independent assessment of mainstream media in the run-up to the campaign found that articles in newspapers ran three-to-one in favor of a “Yes” vote.
Breda O’Brien, a longtime Catholic activist based in Dublin, said, “We have learned a lot from the grueling campaign. We cannot rely on mainstream media to get our message out.”
Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, the primate of Ireland, also believes the Church has a lot to learn from the campaign.
“Among the many lessons that we as Church can learn from the referendum debate is to re-commit ourselves to the pastoral care of anyone in society who experiences victimization and stigmatization,” he said May 31 at Ireland’s Marian National Shrine in Knock. He added the Church has to continue “to reach out pastorally to different kinds of families and relationships while at the same time continuing to be advocates for a Christian vision of marriage and for the unique and fundamental contribution to society of the family founded upon the love and marriage of a man and a woman”.
Archbishop Martin acknowledges that the abuse scandals are “part of the reason” why some people have rejected the Church’s teaching. However, he said that the “wave of secularism” that has hit Ireland “has meant that even were it not for the scandals, we would be dealing with the same issues.”
Still, there are hopeful signs for the future of the Church in Ireland: Ireland’s primate said in his remarks that he is moved by the “many young Catholics who are committed to their faith and want to share their faith with others.” These signs of hope are acutely visible in some of the new ecclesial movements. Youth 2000 has a network of vibrant groups around the country, for example, and Pure in Heart — which aims to promote chastity — is growing in strength.
For Quinn, the lesson from the referendum campaign is clear. “Now that the referendum has been carried it is more imperative than ever that the Church teaches very clearly on the issue of marriage. It will need to contrast its belief about marriage with the state’s new version of marriage and make crystal clear to people why it believes what it believes.
“The Church must always teach what is true both in season and out of season. Its teaching on marriage is now out of season. So be it. It must teach it all the same,” Quinn said.
The counting of referendum votes was scarcely over when senior politicians — including Deputy Prime Minister Joan Burton — made it clear that the passing of the same-sex “marriage” referendum means that abortion is the next item on the agenda.
Petra Conroy, coordinator of Catholic Comment, a bureau of lay Catholics who work to present the faith in the media, thinks the bishops need to put more emphasis on catechesis in order to address such issues better.
Said Conroy, “The lesson of the referendum is that we must equip Catholics with the vocabulary of the faith to face the inevitable challenges that are coming.”
Michael Kelly is the editor of The Irish Catholic. He writes from Dublin. ->Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/slide-into-secularism-what-the-marriage-referendum-says-about-ireland/#ixzz3crbBpl6u

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