Courtney McGrailMany baptised Catholics are finding what they are looking for in other denominations, writes Ryan Connolly
Why is it that in spite of the growth of secularism in Ireland and the steep decline in Mass attendance, certain Christian denominations have grown enormously in membership in the last decade?
Not all of this is due to immigration. According to the census, the number of people in Ireland belonging to Pentecostal or Apostolic churches has grown from about 3,000 in 2002 to just over 14,000 in 2011. About 10.5% of this number is ethnic Irish.
Likewise, those who describe themselves merely as ‘Christian’ on the census have gone from roughly 29,000 in 2006 to just over 41,000 in 2011, of whom about 24,000 were native Irish. This number does not include those who identify as ‘Evangelical.’
So what draws those who were raised Catholic to other denominations?
Devout Catholics
Darren Mulligan (35), a recording artist who grew up in Ballinode, Co. Monaghan, recently moved to Tennessee with his wife and children, but before that they attended the Monaghan Elim Pentecostal church. “I was raised a Catholic and both of my parents were devout Roman Catholics,” he said.
As a child he “took the sacraments, attended church and prayed regularly” but he felt he had “no real understanding of who Jesus Christ really was and of the great depth of his love for me”. In his late twenties Darren started attending a local Pentecostal church where he said “Christ gloriously rescued me and completely transformed my heart”.
His experience of Catholicism in contrast was that “Mass appeared cold and disconnected from the Jesus I was hearing about and who had been revealing himself to me… The Catholicism I experienced was lifeless for the most part and appeared to focus on religious rites rather than on establishing a living relationship with the Jesus I read about in the Gospels.”
What attracts him about Evangelical churches in general is the “vibrancy in worship and a lifestyle that is joyful (and) hope filled”. Other important features of this style of worship include a strong focus “on a true and living relationship with Jesus Christ” as well as a “wonderful sense of community”. Although Darren feels that “Ireland can be a hostile place at times” for Christians, nonetheless “things are changing” and “there is a real hunger for truth and for a faith that is genuine”.
Curious to see one such an Evangelical church for myself, I paid a visit to Trinity Church, a non-denominational Evangelical church on Lower Gardiner Street in Dublin. According to the congregation’s website they are “a Christian community helping people rediscover their true identity and destiny … by a radical encounter with Jesus and his kingdom”.
Smiling ushers waited inside the door to welcome everyone into the foyer. The service itself took place upstairs. It began with lively praise and worship music complete with band and lyrics projected onto the wall, the hall gradually filling to capacity. Spontaneous prayers took place in between hymns whilst some people waved flags bearing biblical messages.
After the first hour a man named Declan spoke of his work helping disadvantaged children and evangelising in Dublin 7. Then another member of the church delivered a sermon on chapter six of Ephesians. Teenagers and children left about halfway through for talks aimed at their age groups in other parts of the building.
The whole service lasted for about two hours.
The congregation was incredibly diverse, featuring people of all ages, nationalities and socio-economic backgrounds. When it was finished, the leaders invited everyone to come back down to the foyer where a small kitchen opened up and people mingled as they ate and drank tea, coffee, biscuits, soup and sandwiches.
After the service I spoke with Paul Rothwell (53) from Drumcondra, one of the leaders of Trinity Church. According to Paul roughly half the congregation came from a Catholic background with the rest from other Protestant traditions.
Paul described his parents as “devout Catholics”. His father was a daily Massgoer who always prayed the rosary at home with the family. Paul made his First Holy Communion and Confirmation and at one stage even considered the priesthood. The factors that drew him out of Catholicism “moved from relational to doctrinal”.
As a youth, he encountered the Scripture Union Beach Mission through other Christian teenagers. He said that the personal contact and the group’s emphasis on outreach were important factors in his deciding to go along.
Before attending he “couldn’t really make sense of scripture” but then came to understand “what Calvary was all about”.
He spent a year of both attending Mass and Plymouth Brethren services but he said that “my experience of Mass was that I was having difficulty reconciling my experience of God with the theology of Mass”.
The key difficulties Paul had with the Catholic Church were “the issue of the priesthood of all believers and the lack of community… there wasn’t community in the Church but there was in the (local) community” especially amongst people his own age. Searching for community in a religious setting led him elsewhere. He eventually ended up in Fellowship Bible Church, which became Trinity Church.
Faith traditions
Áine Darling (49) has attended Trinity Church for almost 20 years. Originally from Wexford, she now lives in north County Dublin with her husband Keith and their four children.
Áine was “brought up in a very devout Catholic family” which meant she was “very grounded in faith in God coming from that background” and “identified strongly as a Catholic”. Her maternal grandmother as well as other members of her extended family were daily Massgoers. Her “initial point of searching” was when she met Keith, who grew up in the Church of Ireland.
Áine felt that their respective faith traditions presented “difficulties on emotional as well as practical levels” in relation to their marriage which “didn’t sit well” with her. After getting married they lived in several different countries, including Australia, New Zealand and Britain. They attended different churches looking for an “expression of church that wasn’t divisive between the two of us”.
Eventually, they met a Christian family in New Zealand whose energetic style of prayer at first made her “want to run” but as they spent more time together they began to impress her as their faith “wasn’t a display” but obviously more profound. Another key turning point for Áine was an Alpha course she attended in England. For the first time she felt she was somewhere that “allowed questions, it allowed for honesty, it allowed for doubts”.
There she “first saw who Jesus was. As a Catholic I certainly believed in God, I knew about Jesus… but didn’t know he was central”.
She realised that she “could have a personal relationship with Jesus… and the Word of God as a living thing”. In contrast the sermons at the Catholic parish where she grew up during the seventies “had not really helped me… to understand the Bible”.
Committed
I also spoke to Paul’s son, Gavin Rothwell (20), a law student in Trinity College Dublin and former President of the Christian Union (CU) there. While some Catholics have attended, Gavin says that “most of the people who are committed to CU are in families committed to Evangelical churches”.
Their goal as a Christian Union is to provide a place for Christian students to socialise with one another and to reach out to those seeking God on campus. Gavin says that “it is a secular campus, though people are seeking… if you engage in a loving, truthful manner you can reach out to them… the truth of Jesus is still the same as it was 2,000 years ago”. The key to reaching out to others is via building up good relationships with fellow students so that they can get to know Christians on campus.
Trinity’s CU is affiliated with the Irish branch of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) which is based in Belfast and has links to 30 Christian Unions in universities and ITs across the whole island of Ireland. IFES is a trans-denominational organisation with links to Evangelical students in 154 countries.
The Irish branch was set up in 1997. According to its website, the mission of IFES is “Inspiring and equipping students to become passionate lifelong followers of Jesus Christ”. Rev. David Montgomery, the director of IFES Ireland, was a Presbyterian minister until he took over the organisation in 2013. Speaking of IFES’ work with students, he said: “IFES is student-led… on a local level (through) campus CUs and national level through our Student Council… As an umbrella body, we offer resources, staff, training and fellowship. Our staff visit and train and encourage the CUs. Our annual conference (brings) together dozens, or even hundreds of students from different colleges to learn and share together, thus showing them that they are part of a wider national, and even world movement.
“This is particularly helpful for the smaller colleges where perhaps the CU may be in single figures. The bigger regional and national events are a lifeline for many of them.”
Asked if Irish students tend to be open to the Gospel message, Rev. Montgomery says he thinks “there are probably a few more barriers to be overcome (than) 20 years ago, but once good relationships have been established then there is indeed great openness… many people, and students are no different, have misconceptions about the message of Jesus”.
IFES encourages students “to look first and foremost at the Gospels” rather than to any particular church or religion. In order to be successful, Christian Unions need to have “a gracious and winsome confidence in what we believe… (and) desire to reach the campus with the Good News” as well as have “a heart for the university, to contribute to the life and culture of the university and desire to see it truly flourish”.
Developing this last point, Rev. Montgomery says that he is “thrilled when I see members of the CU captaining the sports teams, advocating on various issues, standing for election to the Student Councils, involved in poverty and justice issues, participating on the University Senate or other bodies”.
‘Faith neutrality’
This is not always easy. In recent years, he has seen “a type of anti-religious totalitarianism developing in some institutions”.
He says that “we have had some colleges, under the guise of ‘faith neutrality,’ making life difficult for CUs’ by preventing them from organising on campus.
“Part of our job is to advocate on behalf of these CUs and dialogue with the university authority, showing that a vibrant CU will add much to the culture of the campus and seeking to exclude religious groups or drive them off campus will impoverish the university… and completely undermine any university’s claim to be a place where there is freedom of thought, speech and assembly.”
When asked if many of the students he has worked with come from a Catholic background, Rev. Montgomery says: “In the past this would have been less the case, but there has been an interesting development, I think. IFES Ireland (has) a doctrinal basis: a statement of belief and core values that we believe can be signed up to by individuals from a very broad sweep of denominations…
“There are some, mainly some brands of Protestantism, who believe our doctrinal basis is too broad… Others, perhaps some Catholics, think it… is too narrow and would like it broadened. We believe our doctrinal basis has stood the test of time as a necessary maximum and a necessary minimum.
“We are able to avoid being too exclusivist while keeping our distinctiveness.
“With the increased secularisation of the culture, young students of faith are coming together around the things that truly matter. Also, chaplaincy provisions in some places are a little hit and miss…
“So, for example, a young Catholic student who wishes to pursue their faith in a self-consciously Catholic way would probably decide that the CU’s doctrine and practice is not for them.
“However, other young Catholic students who are interested in Bible study and persuasive evangelism… have found a home amongst us. In this case they do what any Protestant student does: they put their denominational loyalties to one side in favour of the larger goal of reaching the campus for Christ.
“At Freshers’ Week in one college a young Catholic student came up to me and said ‘I’ve looked at all the religious groups and all the chaplaincies and what they are offering, and this is the group whose activities are closest to what I am looking for, can I join?’ We said ‘Of course’.
“She is still Catholic. She may not agree with everything about us, but we are delighted to have her.”
Rev. Montgomery concludes by saying that any successful revolution “has always gained the ear and heart of the student population”. “We are praying for a revolution of love and truth in Christ to capture the hearts of this generation of students… A strong Christian student movement today means a strong Church tomorrow.”
It is clear from the growth of these churches that even when the Catholic Church has difficulty in getting the Gospel message across, people still feel drawn to it. Several common strands run through the experiences of former Catholics who have left for one of the new Protestant denominations around Ireland.
A love of scripture, a desire for community with other believers and for a personal relationship with Jesus all feature strongly.
Also of interest is the fact that those I spoke to who grew up in devout Catholic families were perhaps primed to seek out a church when they felt dissatisfied with Catholicism rather than simply lapsing as many other Irish tend to do.
The Church here in Ireland should take note of these factors in its outreach. Rather than simply managing its decline here, a proactive attempt to renew our focus on the person of Jesus and the Gospel message as well as creating strong Catholic communities might draw those who are open home to the Church.
In addition to this, the Church would do well to take note of Rev. Montgomery’s experiences working with Christian students.
As articles in previous editions of The Irish Catholic have noted, Catholic student societies face many difficulties on campus.
In the absence of broader support from the rest of the Church they may find themselves limited in their ability to provide a local community for Catholic students and reach out to those who have drifted away.