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VOICES

Keeping the Show on the Road – the future of the Irish Catholic Church

The Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin on how the Church is on the “brink of collapse” here – and how it should be addressed.

ARCHBISHOP DIARMUID MARTIN gave a speech to the Cambridge Croup for Irish Studies at Magdalene College on Tuesday, outlining where the Catholic Church in Ireland should go from this point on.

He admitted that the Church here is “on the brink of collapse”, saying:

“Ireland is today undergoing a further phase in a veritable revolution of its religious culture. Many outside of Ireland still believe that Ireland is a bastion of traditional Catholicism. They are surprised to discover that there are parishes in Dublin where the presence at Sunday Mass is some 5% of the Catholic population and, in some cases, even below 2%. On any particular Sunday about 18% of the Catholic population in the Archdiocese of Dublin attends Mass. That is considerably lower than in any other part of Ireland.”

Read Archbishop Martin’s full speech here>

Read Andrew Madden on why the Catholic Church should be removed from the classroom>

Author
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin