Chai Brady
Photo: Press Eye Ltd/Shutterstock Chai Brady discusses Mater Dei’s findings on the religious feelings of young people North and South
The need for religious education and research on young people’s relationship with religion is more important than ever to dispel myths and understand how they really feel, according to the Director of the Mater Dei Centre for Catholic Education.
Dr Gareth Byrne, Associate Professor of Religious Education, tells The Irish Catholic: “Young people can appreciate RE as a subject, what goes on in the classroom and the importance of the discussion that takes place. Sometimes older people might think that young people aren’t terribly interested in that but it turns out they are actually very interested.
Although it may not mean young people are attending church on Sunday, he says, “they’re certainly very interested in the issues and the questions, it’s not that that’s all gone away”.
“So for parents who are interested in Church or Catholic schools, the question then becomes well how do we grab hold of that conversation with young people and help them to ask their questions and work with them through the material. That is, I suppose, what I’m interested in as an educator, as a Catholic educator, to try and promote that kind of conversation.”
Differences
One of Mater Dei’s most recent studies published in April found religious students in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are generally happier than those who weren’t particularly religious according to research conducted on older Catholic teens. It also found students in the North have a more positive relationship with religion.
The study, entitled ‘Religious affect and personal happiness: are there significant differences between Catholic adolescents in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland?’ was published in the Journal of Religious Education. It gathered data from thousands of Catholic students aged 16-19 in both jurisdictions supported a “growing consensus” that religious students are happier, but also found there was no significant differences in happiness on either side of the border.
The authors were Prof. Leslie J. Francis of the University of Warwick, Dr Gareth Byrne, Dr Christopher Alan Lewis of Leeds Trinity University, and Dr Bernadette Sweetman.
3,015 Catholic students in the Republic attending 5th and 6th year classes and 1,624 Catholic students in Northern Ireland attending sixth-form classes participated”
Dr Sweetman, who also works in the Mater Dei Centre for Catholic Education at Dublin City University’s Institute of Education, says it was not a “stand-alone” investigation and expands on a wealth of information gleaned in previous studies.
“This particular paper was written drawing on data gathered from a large-scale survey of students conducted in 2011,” Dr Sweetman says.
“In fact, the rich data covers lots of areas including beliefs, values and attitudes, of which religious and personal affect is just one facet.The overall study was a replication of a research study which was begun by John Greer in 1968 in Northern Ireland initially only involving Protestants.
“Over the years, the study was extended to include Catholics and then, in 2011, the Republic. After the death of John Greer, Prof. Leslie J. Francis continued the work and in collaboration with the Irish Centre for Religious Education, and more recently, the Mater Dei Centre for Catholic Education, we have been engaged in research in a number of different areas of religious education.”
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Overall, 3,015 Catholic students in the Republic attending 5th and 6th year classes and 1,624 Catholic students in Northern Ireland attending sixth-form classes participated, after taking into account individual differences in sex, age, and personality.
Dr Sweetman says: “One of the key findings of the research, as noted in the conclusion of the article, is the affirmation of earlier research, both in Christian and other religions, that those who are more positively disposed to religion are happier. The data in this study show that those young people who were positively disposed to religion were happier.”
The study also revealed that there were differences in the relationship students in the North had with religion compared to the south. It found the students in the North had a “significantly higher” religious affect.
Key questions
One of the key questions for future research, they state, is why students in the North and south both appear to have the same levels of happiness despite the large difference in religious affect.
The reasons for this, Dr Sweetman says, need more investigation.
However, the study states: “As is well documented, the Catholic–Protestant split in Northern Ireland has resulted in long-standing issues between the two communities, erupting in ‘the Troubles’ during the period from 1968 to 1998.
“People, there, have continued to be identified, and to identify themselves, strongly with their religious tradition. With older generations shunning violence and hoping for better times for their children and grandchildren, relations between the two communities in the North were subsequently dominated by ‘the Peace Process’ which has seen people from both traditions, generally, striving for a peaceful resolution of outstanding issues between them.”
Regarding this difference in relationship with religion, Dr Gareth Byrne, who was also involved in the research, says: “In the North we still have a closer connection and an identification perhaps because of the history of the North. Young Catholics went to Church and Catholic schools and the tradition there being a bedrock for them. It does seem therefore that there is a stronger affect for them, a stronger connection for them with Church in the North still.”
What I see is the opportunity for us to have an ongoing conversation with young people and the importance of having this conversation”
In the North, the study acknowledges that the desire of the minority community to retain faith-based schools is claimed by some as having contributed to division, while others see the Catholic schools’ commitment to justice, peace and reconciliation, as well as to educational excellence, as having been an essential ingredient in creating the possibility of dialogue.
This is contrasted with the Republic, where they note the “sharp” decline in the number of people who identify as Catholic, from 84.2% of the population in 2011 to 78.3% in 2016 according to the Central Statistics Office.
Using a large variety of sources throughout the study, the authors state that it “is clear that there has developed ‘a significant variation in religiosity and practices among the Catholic population’ in the Republic in recent decades, with attendance at Sunday Mass now in fast decline”.
“The defining issue in the South is not so much a Catholic–Protestant divide as an increasingly swift-moving debate about the contribution that traditional Christian values should make in shaping a society quickly embracing the globalised and secularised worldview dominant now in much of the Western world and beyond.”
It also states that the dominance of the Catholic school system has become a “bone of contention” for some in the Republic of Ireland.
“Many commentators in Ireland today argue that Catholics, as well as building up their own faith community, are called, precisely because of their Catholic faith and through Catholic schools, to contribute positively to the development of a more plural society by engaging enthusiastically in ecumenical outreach, inter-religious dialogue, and intercultural exchange.”
Commenting on the need for ongoing research in these topics, Dr Byrne says: “What I see is the opportunity for us to have an ongoing conversation with young people and the importance of having this conversation.
“Bringing material like this forward gives people real concrete stuff to talk about rather than going by anecdote.”
The reason they do the research, he says, is to “try and help people to break into the realities that are part of their lives, so for the young people themselves, for the parents and for people that are involved in Catholic schools, for example teachers, principals, trust boards and board of management”.
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In a study published in his book Religion and Education: The Voices of Young People in Ireland published last year, which he co-edited, of 3,000 students aged 13-15 who were asked about religious education 85% agreed that studying religion in school helped them understand people from other religions. Seventy-two percent said it helped them understand people from other racial backgrounds.
Despite this only 56% says religious education should be taught in schools.
Dr Byrne says he believes it’s “very important” for the Catholic Church to maintain its interest in Catholic education, although he adds not all schools have to be Catholic, which is “part of the conversation in society at the moment”.
“But from a Church perspective I think it’s really important for the Church to continue to maintain that interest in education and in having Catholic schools and contributing to the education of young people in such a way that these kind of questions that we’re talking about would be brought to the fore continually: would be given respect, would be given time in a timetable, because that’s one of the issues, that in other kinds of schools maybe religious education and liturgy mightn’t have the same status, while in Catholic school that would always continue to be the case.
“I think that would be a really significant contribution in the discussion of the next generation and for parents as well.”
Another study in the book, which examined the personal, social and spiritual correlations of atheism among 13-15-year-old boys by the comparing the views of 286 atheists with the views of 719 theists across several domains, found that those who believe in God where much more accepting of other religions.
You may be at home in your own space but you’re connected with all the other people in the parish who are at home in their space, we’re all connected around Jesus”
Responding to the statement ‘We must respect all religions’, 63% of atheists agreed while 81% of theists agreed. Only 66% of atheists agreed that all religious groups in Ireland should have equal rights compared 81% of theists.
The findings also appeared to point to atheists having a lower level of personal wellbeing, with 42% of atheists saying they felt their life had a sense of purpose compared to 72% of theists. Regarding whether they felt life was worth living, 61% of atheists agreed compared to 81% of theists.
“Those who are religious tend to be more open and reflective and understanding of the idea that people would have religion or different religions or no religion. They’ve reflected as religious people more on that, it would seem,” says Dr Byrne.
He says that sometimes “the impression you’re given by other groups is that Catholic young people would be very closed and inward looking, that’s not the case at all, that’s not the case for religious young people in general, they tend actually to be very open and respectful”.
Findings
Many of the findings, he continued, point to the need for RE in schools. “There’s a lot of chat at the moment about how well educated Irish people are, and I think that’s true and the media at the moment, through the Covid-19 experience, has educated us very positively, and so we’ve got good information and I think generally speaking people have taken up on that,” he says.
“And maybe you can compare that with other countries, and you wonder, so the point I’m making here is that I think it’s really important that we continue the idea of educating people in religion.
“I think we have some work to do on that, we’ve been kind of nervous of the religion question and the Catholic Church, it’s actually really important in this moment, and we’re learning this through the Covid-19 experience, or I’m reflecting on it again through the Covid experience, the importance of getting good information out there and giving people material to work with and to think about and talk about. That leads into the whole adult education thing.”
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The big questions of Faith, life and death have come to the fore during the coronavirus crisis, Dr Byrne points out, and this is an opportunity for many people to engage more fully in these discussions.
“My experience seems to be that while there are definitely people who have disconnected in this period there are also many people who have realised their hunger in this period and are looking for ways to be connected,” Dr Byrne says.
“The other thing I absolutely keep repeating here is, you may be at home in your own space but you’re connected with all the other people in the parish who are at home in their space, we’re all connected around Jesus. You’re not actually on your own, you’re with the Christian community.
“It’s hard to know where it will all end up, but I have a sense that in this moment at least people are being very reflective and it’s making them think about what is the essential in life and what is life about, even the fact that there are so many deaths, and there’s the Covid experience and people are finding ways to talk about that.
“I think it’s actually helping people to connect with the whole question of dying and care for those who are ill and care for the dying and the great work that people on the front line are doing, that’s a real conversation for people. In a way once you get into that conversation you can’t be just on the surface about it, these are big questions for people.”
Those interested in finding out more about the research being conducted at Mater Dei can follow this link: dcu.ie/mdcceNews