The International Lutheran-Episcopal Society

 

         Ireland Today: an Introduction to Irish History and Culture
                                                                                                                                                                                                                Gillian Kingston

By way of introduction…

‘I am of Ireland,

And the Holy Land of Ireland,

And time runs on,’ cried she.

‘Come out of charity,

Come dance with me in Ireland.’

 

So wrote the poet, William Butler Yeats.  Evocative and pertinent words with which to begin the proceedings of this Conference…

 

It is good that you, as a society of Anglicans and Lutherans, have chosen this year to come and dance with us in Ireland. This has been a Holy Land, ‘the land of saints and scholars’, but time does run on and things change. And, out of love, there is a need to re-vision where this land is at, so to speak.

 

Ireland Today: an Introduction to Irish History and Culture – it is impossible in the time allocated to do more than touch on themes and trust that at least some of you may be sufficiently intrigued to follow up with research of your own. It is a paradoxical title is some ways, for the opening phrase speaks of the present and the second phrase of the past. But, as with all nations, our past has made us what we are – and what we shall be depends to a large extent on how we live in the present.

 

So much for philosophising….

 

I understand that I may speak with the assumption that many of you are not familiar with Ireland except in the most general terms; if this is not the case, forgive me!

 

Last Saturday, at the wedding of my eldest son, and with this conference in mind, I asked a Scottish couple to say what images floated into their minds when Ireland was mentioned. He immediately said, ‘Guinness and rugby’ and she said, ‘Shamrocks and leprechauns’. Stereotypes die hard!  I am wondering how you might have replied…

 

You have come to one of the most western countries of Europe, placed, strategically perhaps, between the European mainland and North America. Indeed our national psyche has us delicately positioned between Boston and Berlin, the United States and the European Union. And, as Ambassador Seán O’Huigin has said, ‘In truth, both these two dimensions are hugely important to us and are complementary rather than contradictory’

 

We are a relatively young nation, having only eight heads of State since the foundation of the State. It may interest you to know that, of these, two have been Anglican and two women.

 

Despite earlier evidence to the contrary, we are a peace-loving nation; we have three Nobel Peace Prizes to our credit.  And while on the subject of Nobel Prizes, we can count four for Literature and one for Physics.

 

Above all, we are a rapidly changing nation; the Ireland of today would have been completely inconceivable fifteen or twenty years ago. The changes – socially, demographically, religiously – which some of you have experienced in your countries over a period of fifty years or so have taken place here within two decades.

 

But where to start on history and culture? 

What might be an organizing principle for what must inevitably be a partial and cursory glance?  Perhaps the notion of ‘invasion’ might help…we have been subject to invasion on a number of occasions.

 

The earliest people who arrived here, some 9,000 years ago, were, from what little we know of them, a cultured people, responsible for some of our most impressive monuments, such as those at Newgrange and Knowth. They were also workers in gold and silver and our national Museum in Kildare Street displays breath-taking examples of their handwork.

 

The Celts arrived about 2,500 years ago, a more bellicose people, whose name has become synonymous with features of this part of the world. The Celtic Fringe, so-called, includes Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Brittany and north western Spain. And there is, of course, the Celtic Tiger! More seriously, the Celts brought the language which has evolved into modern Irish.

 

Emerging from pre-history into more modern times, there have been further invasions of one kind or another which have affected both our culture and our history.

 

The Romans did not establish a colony on this island, though recent archaeological finds in the Waterford area indicate that they may have found landfall here occasionally. They were, however, instrumental in Christianity arriving on these shores. The earliest Christians are said to have come during the fourth century, with monks who settled in the south of the country. However, it was the mission of St Patrick in the fifth century which firmly established the faith here.

 

Much debate surrounds the person (or persons?) of St Patrick, but it is likely that he was of noble birth with Roman associations, a patrician indeed. Many stories are told of him, but the quintessential legend holds that, in defiance of the High King whose prerogative it was at the spring equinox to light a bonfire heralding the coming of spring, Patrick lit a bonfire to celebrate the Light of the World. His subsequent arrest gave him the opportunity to convert the king to Christianity, and the rest, as they say, is history!

 

The monastic tradition in Ireland which ensued has left us with gloriously illuminated manuscripts, such as the Books of Kells and Durrow in Trinity College, Dublin, and wonderful chalices and patens such as the Ardagh Chalice and the Derrynaflan Chalice and Paten, on view in the National Museum.

 

Our next visitors were the Vikings - this requires to be phrased sensitively! Arriving on our shores from Scandinavia, they rather fancied our artefacts; we were not given to sharing them; so we built those high towers which are a feature of the country, both so that we could see our visitors coming and in order to provide protection for ourselves. We also took to burying our manuscripts and gold- and silverware in bogs in order to avoid plunder. Ironically, this may have preserved them for our present admiration. Only last year, a man working in a bog near where I live uncovered a priceless vellum psalter which has been deemed second only to the Book of Kells in terms of significance. It is currently undergoing stabilization and preservation. There can be little doubt that there are more treasures out there. The Vikings are associated with the earliest settlements in Dublin and Wexford and other major towns in Ireland. As I understand it, Dublin has some of the finest archaeological remains of Norse settlements outside Scandinavia.

 

Last month, a replica Viking longboat arrived in Dublin Bay. The Danish minister for Culture, Brian Mikkelson, present for the occasion, expressed regret for pillaging by his ancestors, ‘We are not proud of the damages to the people of Ireland that followed in the footsteps of the Vikings,’ he said. But it is appropriate to point out that the positive effect of this particular invasion on the history and culture of our nation has been considerable. We eventually headed them off at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, when another Brian, Brian Boru, gained his reputation and lost his life while leading the Irish attack.

 

1066 brought the Normans to the neighbouring island and by 1069, one of their number, Strongbow, had been called over to help a deposed Irish king in a local feud. Thus began another invasion, that of the Normans. They left us a legacy of wonderful castles to add to those we had already built for ourselves and they, the Normans, ended up, as so many before and since, by becoming , as we put it, ‘more Irish than the Irish themselves.’

 

This, however, was not to everyone’s liking, and in 1155, Pope Adrian IV had been prevailed upon to issue the decree Laudabiliter, granting the English King, Henry II, dominion over Ireland.  Henry activated this in 1171 by invading Ireland and eventually declaring himself overlord of Ireland. Thus begins the long and troubled relationship between these two off-shore islands of Europe.

 

On September 14th this month, we commemorate the Flight of the Earls in1607. For some, though not all, historians, this is seen as something of a watershed in Irish history, marking the end of Gaelic Ireland and an accelerating in English political dominance. 

 

Whether the Earls of Ulster actually fled the country or left of their own volition is debatable. In either case, they certainly hoped to enlist continental help for Ireland in the aftermath of the Battle of Kinsale in 1603 at which the Irish armies had been soundly routed by the English army  This help was not forthcoming and, as none of the Earls returned, the country was left with a leadership deficit. 

 

The ensuing story is complex and well documented. Significant dates include…

1690: The Battle of the Boyne, celebrated every year in Northern Ireland on July 12^th.

Here the troops of William of Orange, King of England, defeated the troops of his father-in-law, James II, and ensured a Protestant monarchy in Britain.

1801: the Act of Union, whereby Ireland became part of Britain.

1829: the Catholic Emancipation Act, passed through the efforts of Daniel O’Connell.

1845-49: the Great Famine, during which Irish people in their thousands died or   emigrated. 

1916: the Easter Rising, and the subsequent execution of the leaders of the Rising.

1920-21: the War of Independence, after which the terms of the partition of Ireland were agreed: twenty six counties would become an independent state, six counties would remain within the United Kingdom.

1922-23: the Civil War, which provided the background for some of the current divisions in Irish party politics.

1969: Civil Rights marches, leading to the beginning of the ‘Troubles’, thirty years during which almost 4,000 people were killed on both sides of the political divide and in both jurisdictions.

1972: Ireland joined the European Union.

1998: the Good Friday Agreement, paving the way for the present happier state of affairs

2007: devolved government in Northern Ireland with a power-sharing agreement.

 

Yeats, in a strange and almost sinister poem, The Second Coming, writes

 

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

At the risk of being simplistic, the political situation in Northern Ireland was much like this until relatively recently. Things did appear to be falling apart; the political parties of the centre did not hold their position at the polls; there was sectarian violence and bloodshed, the innocent died and, whatever about the best lacking conviction, the worst were certainly full of passionate intensity.

 

But as Yeats says, in yet another poem, ‘All is changed, changed utterly’ and it has changed rapidly.  Decisions taken on March 26^th of this year have brought a new state of being to the political scene in Northern Ireland and it is one for which to be thankful.

 

Some may be cynical about the process which has brought it to pass, but consider this: in 1972, 500 people died as a result of the violence; in 2005, 5 died. There are, therefore, hundreds alive today as a result of the peace process.

 

Did we ever think we would see the day when a Sinn Fein politician is accompanied by a Democratic Unionist Party politician on a visit to Finland, along with two South Africans, to talk to Iraqis about strategies for peace-building?  And that is this week’s news – who knows what next week may bring?

So what of today?
 

The Ireland of 2007 is unrecognizably different from the Ireland I grew up in, indeed even from the Ireland into which my children were born. 

 

For me, this was encapsulated in the two headlines on the front page of the Irish Times on Monday July 30^th, just five weeks or so ago…

 

British Army role in North ends after 38 years and Lenihan highlights issues in integration.

 

We are moving on: new days, new issues. There are perhaps two main factors which, interacting with each other, have precipitated this country into such a totally new place that sometimes we ourselves wonder where we are. One has been the series of events within the majority Roman Catholic Church starting in the 199os and the other is the latest invasion, to continue the image.

 

The cataclysmic shaking of the Roman Catholic Church during the 1990’s with ever more horrifying revelations of sexual abuse of children and others by members of the clergy and religious has led almost inevitably to a crisis of faith and of practice among laity. Church attendance has fallen, most dramatically in urban areas. There is a major drop in vocations leading to the closure of many seminaries and drastic reductions in the staffing of parishes. The secularism which was starting to impact on Irish life has understandably accelerated. From being the bastion and guardian of the morals of the nation, the Roman Catholic Church has become a whipping boy for all manners of perceived evils. One extreme position has been followed by another with little time for a middle ground of reflection. This has impacted on us all.

 

But perhaps the second factor is that which has altered the picture irrevocably. Among us are the ‘new’ Irish. For decades Ireland exported her people round the world; now the world is coming to Ireland. That we now need a Minister of State with responsibility for integration speaks for itself.

 

The figures revealed by Census 2006 make fascinating reading. Let me indicate just some of what is emerging as the figures are analysed…

 

The population of this State has risen by 8.1% since the previous census in 2001, the largest population rate increase in the European Union. We are now 4.2 million people. Place this against a population in 1961 of 2.8 millions, it represents a 50% increase in 46 years. Nevertheless, we are still nowhere near the pre-Famine population of 6.5 million.

 

25% of us live in what is termed the Greater Dublin area – it often feels like more and certainly is if the wider metropolitan area is taken into account. Some would put the percentage nearer 40%.

 

A staggering 10% of us are non-national, with the largest groups being Polish and Nigerian. There are some 63,300 Poles among us, leading a prominent radio and TV personality, Pat Kenny, to refer to Dublin as ‘Warsaw West’. Portlaoise, one of the larger midlands towns, has a Nigerian mayor, Rotimi Adebari.  Other large groups come from eastern Europe, particularly from Romania, and from the Baltic countries, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. Every town of any size now boasts an Eastern European food shop!

 

It is interesting to reflect on what this is doing to the religious scene. The volume of analysis on religion will not be published until November, but some things are already emerging; for example

 

1        The Orthodox population has doubled since 2001, from 10,400 to 20,800;

2         Muslim population is up by 70% in the same period, from 19,100 to 32,500.

 

The church scene has, therefore, changed radically…

 

1        There is a sizable Orthodox presence, including Greek, Russian, Romanian, Coptic and Syrian Orthodox; there may well be others.

 

2        There are numbers of indigenous African Churches, particularly, though not exclusively’ in the Dublin area. These include the Rock of Ages Cherubim and Seraphim Church which is in membership of the Irish Council of Churches.

 

3        There are increasing numbers of para-church groups, ‘new’ churches as they are sometimes called. A contributory factor may be the disruption within the Roman Catholic Church to which reference has already been made.

 

Thus a situation which has been perceived historically as bi-polar - Roman Catholic and non-Roman Catholic - is now multi-dimensional.  The membership of the Irish Council of Churches has increased from seven to fifteen in the last ten years.

 

This, along with the presence among us of significant numbers of peoples of other faiths, presents a totally new scenario and one which challenges our traditional and insular ways of thinking. In response to this new place, the government has instituted a series of meetings with representatives of the churches and faith communities, ‘having regard for the important contribution of the churches and faith communities to the life of the country and to the importance of dialogue for the quality of the life of civil society’

 

Why do the ‘new’ Irish choose to join us, leaving their homes and families? The clear answer is, of course, our perceived and actual prosperity. Ireland is often referred to as the Celtic Tiger; ours has been a booming economy, we have benefited immensely from our membership of the European Union. We are immeasurably better off than we have ever been before – at least, some of us are.

 

There are, as there always are, downsides to an economic boom; the tide which lifts some ships sinks others.  Though the poor are not as poor as once they might have been, thanks to improvements in social benefits and services, the gap between the rich and the poor has widened considerably. There is a rising crime rate; people feel threatened in their homes and on the streets; substance abuse is an increasing problem and we have a very high suicide rate, particularly among young men in rural areas. There have been some 2,500 suicides in the last five years – tragically high for a population of just over four million.                   

 

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Seán Brady, links this ‘downside’ with a falling away from the practice of faith…

 

The truth is that many of those who claim to set Ireland free from the shackles of religious faith in recent years, are now silent in the face of the real captivities of the ‘new’ Ireland: the increase in alcohol and drug abuse; the pressure to work and consume; the pressure to look good and have the right image; the increase in suicide and violence; the constant worry about finance and future security. It is not religious faith which is leading people to stress and despair; it is those elements of the ‘new’ Ireland which are increasingly empty of meaning.

 

 There is much in what he says.

 

And a falling away from the practice of faith there certainly has been, with one survey indicating that, whereas in 1977, 90% of Roman Catholics attended mass at least once a week, by 2007, that was down to 50%, with a mere 5-10% in some Dublin suburbs. And, though there may not be figures, I suspect that the Roman Catholic Church is not unique in this respect.

 

This departure from the practice of faith would appear to be coupled with a significant fall in religious knowledge of even the kind which might normally be considered to be  ‘general knowledge’.

 

Another recent survey revealed that 32% of 15-24 year olds interviewed could not say where Jesus was born and 35% did not know what was celebrated at Easter. Only 5% could quote the first commandment. The survey found that only 52% could name the four Gospels and only 37% could name the persons of the Holy Trinity. Tellingly, Patsy McGarry, writing on this in the Irish Times, considered it necessary to supply the answers to the questions as a footnote to his report.

 

There are many reasons why this is alarming. Father Noel Treanor, speaking to the Irish Inter-Church Meeting in November 2006, alludes to this. Speaking of the relationship between Church and State in the European context, he says

 

Yet the State, and indeed Europe, in their pursuit of good governance and its prerequisite conditions presuppose a social capital of values and idealism which they cannot generate alone. Through its living tradition and transmission of faith the Christian community makes an irreplaceable contribution to the generation and renewal of this capital. The sources of this vital capital, its complexity, the contribution of the Churches and religions to its sustenance, are matters of determinative importance for public debate in the Ireland of today.

 

Following a visit to Pope Benedict in July 2005, the Taoiseach, Bertie Aherne, commented that

 

Our future can only be shaped with confidence when we are securely rooted in our culture and in our community. One pillar of that culture is the Christian tradition. It is a culture of community, but one with deep respect for the individual. It reminds us of our responsibility for our neighbour as well as of justice for ourselves. 

 

Ireland is an exciting and vibrant country in which to live – I would not live anywhere else. But it is at a critical point in its history, a ‘kairos’ moment. Will we be able to maintain the values which have shaped us for good as a nation while being open to what is good in the new?  Can our new-found peace become that shalom which seeks for and finds the best for all its citizens?  Watch this space!  As Yeats might have said…

 

‘We are of Ireland,

And the Holy Land of Ireland,

And time runs on,’ cry we.

‘Come out of charity,

Come dance with us in Ireland.’