During the early 1930’s two American anthropologists Conrad Arensberg and Solon Kimball from Harvard University spent an extended period in county Clare. They lived in a hotel in Ennis and with families in north Clare and engaged in numerous conversations with townspeople and with rural families. The result was the celebrated study entitled Family and Community in Ireland.
Almost a century has gone by since that groundbreaking book and if Harvard or some other university were to repeat the exercise one wonders what their conclusions might be. To gain public acceptance for their research Harvard sought and received the approval of Bishop Michael Fogarty. It is unlikely that a modern-day researcher would consider it necessary to contact Westbourne.
I imagine that one of the significant changes that a contemporary study of community in Ireland would identify is the extraordinary decline in the institutional presence of the Catholic Church. Until recent decades virtually all the big, imposing buildings in Ennis and elsewhere with the exception of the courthouse and some private residences were managed by catholic clergy or religious. Ireland had an extraordinary network of churches, convents, catholic schools, hospitals and a matching array of clergy and religious to manage and staff them.
Those days are gone. Religious sisters no longer teach in our schools or nurse in our hospitals. Even maintaining a presence on boards of management or as trustees is becoming increasingly difficult. The impressive convent and monastery buildings have mostly been repurposed as the remaining elderly sisters and brothers live in more appropriate settings. In the diocese of Killaloe thirty-one parishes out of a total of fifty-eight (53%) no longer have a resident priest aged under 75 years.
The resultant vacuum has been filled in various ways. In 1947 the state established a department of health. Many hospitals and some schools have passed to state or other management and now follow a secular vision. Many catholic schools and hospitals are managed and staffed by qualified and committed lay people inspired by the vision of the founder. Social services are increasingly provided by state bodies.
In addition to education, health and social care a great many individual priests and religious played significant roles as community leaders. This was especially evident in gaelic games and other sport, drama and community development. Catholic parishes also provided community centres and halls. Due to clergy becoming scarce and old there are ever fewer examples of they fulfilling these community roles. Fortunately, sporting and cultural organisations continue to thrive.
But what of the spiritual? The heart of the ministry of clergy and religious is spiritual; preaching the gospel, celebrating sacraments, leading prayer, ministering to the sick, witnessing to justice, consoling the troubled. As we immerse ourselves ever more deeply in the vision of the Second Vatican Council, we rediscover the richness of the sacrament of baptism and the mission that flows from it. Every baptised person shares in the life of Christ and so has an invaluable role in the life of the faith community. Pope Francis’ synodal vision of Church, which Pope Leo endorses, springs from this truth. Increasingly, baptised faithful are fulfilling leadership roles in our Church through pastoral councils, finance councils, liturgy groups and other initiatives. It is ever more common for committed lay people to lead aspects of the funeral liturgy and animate community prayer on Sundays. We are likely to see lay people presiding at the sacraments of baptism and marriage before long.
Questions abound. What of the future? Is Ireland on the cusp of becoming a secular place where the spiritual is relegated to the margins? Will local faith communities survive without a resident priest? Can lay leadership fill the resultant void? How can a faith community be truly alive and authentically Christian without the Eucharist? What is the role of missionary priests from Asia and Africa? Are the sacraments of initiation primarily spiritual or social events in our culture? How many of our church buildings are sustainable as attendances diminish? Do we have the resources and energy to re-imagine our structures and pastoral style and engage in an inclusive manner with new realities?
The Ireland that Arensberg and Kimball studied in the 1930’s was largely homogenous and profoundly religious. Today, one in five of people living in Ireland were not born here, and there are growing numbers of people who adhere to other faiths, or do not identify with any religion. The Christian faith continues to be important to a great many Irish people, but it is no longer at the centre of our society. History often proceeds in cycles. Perhaps the challenge facing the current generation of Christians in Ireland is to keep the dream alive so that our re-imagined Church may be a welcoming home for all who seek Christ, the way, the truth and the life.
Fr Albert McDonnell, Tradaree Pastoral Area.
Clare Champion Article 11th of July 2025