David Quinn
We have a new Government, but will a new leaf be turned in Church/State relations? That is to say, will relations between Church and State begin to thaw, and will there be any kind of formal, structured dialogue between Government representatives and Church leaders, not just Catholic ones?
The question is very relevant, because no such meeting has taken place for several years. Going all the way back to Bertie Ahern’s time as Taoiseach, a formal process of Church/State dialogue was established but aside from a few meetings, it never really went anywhere. Then Brian Cowen took over as Taoiseach. This was around the time of the financial crisis, so the Government had other things on its mind.
The public and our politicians react as though the abuse and cover-ups are happening today”
In 2011, Enda Kenny took over. The financial crisis was still in full swing, and the Kenny-led Government, in power with Labour, turned out to be extremely hostile towards the Catholic Church. In his first year in office, the Cloyne report into child sex abuse by priests in that diocese was published to general public outrage, and Enda Kenny announced that he was closing the Irish embassy to the Holy See. The abuse the Cloyne report uncovered had mainly happened decades before, which is what most of these investigations reveal, including the recent investigation into abuses in Catholic schools, but each time the public and our politicians react as though the abuse and cover-ups are happening today.
In any case, Church/State relations become much worse under Enda Kenny. His time in office also saw the huge public controversy over the death of Savita Halappanavar, and the subsequent passage of abortion legislation under the terms of the X-case. During this period, Fine Gael politicians like Lucinda Creighton, Fidelma Healy-Eames and Terence Flanagan lost the Fine Gael party whip, and subsequently their seats, for voting against the Government on the matter. Other countries allow a free vote on issues like this.
Nevertheless, there was a meeting between State and Church leaders in 2013.
Referendum
In 2015, we had the referendum on same-sex marriage, and then in 2018, under the Taoiseach-ship of Leo Varadkar, the referendum on abortion. The State was in no mood to meet with Church leaders, and at that point, Church leaders have might felt it was just as well.
Also in 2018, Pope Francis visited Ireland, and on that occasion, Leo Varadkar spoke about the need for a new “covenant” between Church and State.
In May 2019, a meeting did take place in Dublin Castle which included 28 representatives of Churches, faith communities and non-confessional organisations. Why non-religious organisations were there is a good question. They often have interests and aims at direct variance with those of the Churches. Wouldn’t it be better to meet them separately?
Also, with the Catholic Church being easily the biggest Church on the island, wouldn’t it be better, at least sometimes, to meet with its leaders separately as well? The State can’t play favourites between the various religions, but it ought to recognise the fact that one of them is particularly big and in a democracy, numbers are supposed to count for something.
The State was content to close down public worship for longer than anywhere else in Europe”
Since 2019, no similar meetings have taken place. In 2020, Covid broke out and our lives changed drastically for about two years. But one of the things notable from that period was how little attention was given to the Churches. The State was content to close down public worship for longer than anywhere else in Europe. When we could go to Mass during those two years, it was with severe restrictions on numbers, although everyone accepted that some restrictions had to exist.
In Britain, public worship was only banned during the first lockdown and after that, it was never banned again. The Government there listened to religious leaders, including the Catholic bishops. Here, we were fining priests for saying Mass in public.
Hostile
This might not even have been a hostile act as such by the Government, and more a product of the fact that it has become deaf, dumb and blind to religious concerns.
As reported in this newspaper a few weeks ago, the Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin, contrasted the openness of the Government in the North to dialogue with religious leaders about pandemic restrictions, compared with the lack of any similar dialogue in the South.
In their statement in November just ahead of the General Election, the bishops drew attention to the lack of Church/State dialogue. They said in a very understated way: “The current structures for Church-State dialogue are not functioning for the greater good of society and need review. Any such structures must be made work so that the voice of Churches and other faith communities can be heard and contribute to a national reawakening based on the reality of people’s lives, and not ideology or special interests. As a Church, we are open to engaging with Government and with other Churches and faiths on this question.”
But it is not just in Ireland that such dialogue is not taking place. The EU used to be quite good at meeting religious leaders, but more recently, this has changed.
Last week, the Archbishop of Luxembourg and Vice-President of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences, Jean-Claude Hollerich, noted that the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has shown a lack of willingness to engage in dialogue.
Mass attendance may have fallen sharply over the last few decades, but hundreds of thousands of people still go to Mass every week”
Yes, Europe is becoming ever more secular at present, but at the same time, both the EU, and our own Government, seem perfectly content to hold meetings with various NGOs and lobby groups that have very little connection with the general public. A good example in Ireland is the National Women’s Council. Its representatives appear to be a semi-permanent presence inside Leinster House, whereas Church representatives almost never seem to be in that building.
Mass attendance may have fallen sharply over the last few decades, but hundreds of thousands of people still go to Mass every week. This is simply not reflected in the attitude of the State towards the Church, or religion in general.
The lack of Church/State dialogue on almost everything bar the future of schools shows an attitude of indifference at best on the part of the State, and contempt at worst. The Church is actually not being treated equally with other parts of civil society such as the NGO sector. It is treated far, far worse than that. This needs to be remedied by the State restarting Church/State dialogue. Over to you, Micheal Martin and Simon Harris.