Catholic Church in Ireland: Dominance and Censorship - Dissertation Example

Power to impact social policy is considered mainly in the perspective of Irish self-government or ‘Home Rule as Rome Rule’. However, it is argued that “this ignores the reality of the power of the Catholic Church in Irish society and in relation to the body politic under previous British rule” (Moran, 2009). Thus, with the support of the 19th century British governments the Catholic church gained increasing control over the Catholic Irish in various areas of their lives including morals, education, health, welfare, media, and other fields.

Inglis (246) asserts that “the power of the Church meant that it structured not just the religious life of the Irish people, but their social, political and economic life as well”. As a result, living a good Catholic life was considered possible only through a struggle to attain cultural, social, political, and economic capital (Inglis 247). . Censorship was undertaken by the Catholic church to protect traditional moral values. Censorship of any kind is based on prejudices; it influences the shaping of people’s morals and manners and impacts perspectives on the entire concept of the rule of law.

“Censorship can be defined simply as the restriction, by proper authorities, of intellectual, literary, artistic materials in any format” (Hagstrom 147). Censorship by the Catholic church is best understood in the context of community. Those concepts, teachings, or behaviors which are inconsistent with the rule of faith are required to be censored in order to preserve the life of the community (Hagstrom 147). This dissertation will focus on social catholicism and the social question concerning censorship in post-independence Ireland from 1922 onwards when Ireland became an independent state.

It is suggested that censorship by the Catholic church was both official and unofficial in nature and indicates planned control as the root cause, rather than for ensuring high moral standards. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether dominance and the twin oppressions of official and unofficial censorship by the Catholic Church in Ireland suggested a contrived control rather than high moral standards. 2. Ireland: Domination by the Catholic Church Joe Moran states that by the time Ireland became an independent country in 1922 and was declared the Irish Free State, the Catholic Church held great power in the country.

The church used this power to influence political, social, and economic life for several future generations (Moran, 2009).