Irish Catholic Church - Essay Example

Irish Catholic Church Introduction: A close relationship between the Irish Catholic Church and the Irish Republic has existed for centuries, which led to the Irish Catholic Church exerting strong influence on society, politics, education, agriculture and industry in Ireland. Changes in the Catholic Church over the last few decades have influenced changes in industry and agriculture.Discussion: The waning influence of the Irish Catholic Church over the Irish Republic was reflected in the changes that were seen in the alterations that were brought about in Irish law in relation to the influence of the Roman Catholic doctrine that started in the 1980s.

The Church was the moral watch dog of Irish society, which was reflected in the Irish Law. This influence of the Catholic Church was diluted leading to the dilution of the strength of influence that the Catholic Church had over all spheres of life in Ireland (Social Changes). The present generation of Catholics in Ireland no longer demonstrated the same devotion that their parents demonstrated to the Catholic Church and in that show a detachment from the institutional church. These changes in Catholic belief and practice have resulted in the reduced attachment for the morals and values that emanate from the institution of the Catholic Church (Inglis, 2007).

This reduced attachment for Catholic morals and values as dictated by the Catholic Church has meant the diminished influence of the Catholic moral against excess of economic prosperity and the diminished concentration of the Irish people on an attempt to reunite Protestant dominated Northern Ireland with Ireland. This change in the morals and values of the people of Ireland have allowed for the people of Ireland to concentrate on agricultural and industrial growth and development (Shirlow, 2003).

The decline of the Irish Catholic Church in Ireland has seen the rise of new a religion in Ireland and that is the religion of economic growth that leads to prosperity in society. It is this embracing of the religion of economic growth that has influenced changes in the industrial and agricultural spheres of activity in Ireland and Ireland earning the name of the Celtic Tiger (Gormley, 2000). The result of removal of the narrowed concentration of the people of Ireland on Northern Ireland coupled with the embracing of the religion of economic growth and prosperity has resulted in the dramatic changes in the industry and agriculture in Ireland, leading to Ireland becoming wealthy from the mid-1990s.

This growth in prosperity, which has resulted from changes in agriculture and industry may be considered a phenomenon, the extent of it can be gauged from the factors of the Irish economy in the 1990s. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the 1990s doubled, which led to decreased unemployment rates, lower interest rates, and an increase in the standard of living. The Celtic Tiger has indeed arrived with the decline of the Catholic Church in Ireland (McCarthy, 2007). Conclusion: Evaluation of the changes that have occurred in the recent history of Ireland show that changes that have taken place in the Catholic Church in Ireland have had led the changes seen in the growth and development of industry and agriculture in Ireland.

Literary References Gormley, John. (2000). THE CELTIC TIGER. Retrieved March 14, 2008, from, Resurgence Web Site: http://www.resurgence.org/resurgence/issues/gormley200.htmInglis, Tom. (2007). Catholic Identity in Contemporary Ireland: Belief and Belonging to Tradition. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 22 (2), 205-220. McCarthy, Elise. (2007). Land of Saints and Tigers: The Transformation of Responsibility in Ireland? Journal of the Society for the Anthropology in of Europe. 7 (1), 3-7.Shirlow, Pete. (2003). Northern Ireland: a reminder from the present. In (Eds.) Colon Coulter & Steve Coleman, The End of Irish History?

Critical Reflections of the Celtic Tiger, pp. 192-207. Manchester University Press: Manchester. Social Changes. Ireland. Retrieved March 14, 2008, from, ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, Web Site: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-23002/Ireland