Across the West, there
has been a resurgence of nationalism, with anti-immigrant, racist and
anti-multiculturalism rhetoric. Ireland has not experienced this phenomenon to
the same extent as the countries on its left or right, however, it is there. Not
only does it exist but I have observed it in Irish Catholicism. This is not
something I had recently noticed, but over the last few months I had the
opportunity to dedicate a lot of time considering it for the class “Religion,
Media and the Public Sphere.” For that class, I wrote about Irish Catholicism
and how it was constructing online an understanding of what it means to be
Irish and Catholic using the issue of immigration as a defining issue. While for
the class, I adopted the position of an impartial observer, I knew as soon as I
chose the topic that I wanted to write about what I observed and analysed in
that essay as a Catholic.
I originally intended to
publish online two pieces, the first part being the essay I wrote for the class
and the second piece being my response to my findings. However, having written
the essay, I have decided that I do not want to publish it online because while
I only used social media posts which were public and therefore, no one I cited
as an example should be uncomfortable with me using them, I have decided
against it as I do not want this article to be read as a personal attack
against any particular individual. After all, Ireland is a small country, it is
not inconceivable that what I wrote might be shared with someone I wrote about.
Let me give an overview of what I have observed over the last few months. I
have noticed that there is a group of Catholics who devote a lot of their
social media posts on the issues of nationalism, immigration, open-borders,
refugees, and multiculturalism. I use the term group but to be clear I do not
mean that they are in any way a formal, organised group and there are
differences, for example in how they view Pope Francis due to his stance on
immigration, from disagreeing with him theologically to implying that he is a
freemason. When Irish Catholics, for example, a bishop, make public comments
about how the Bible tells us to welcome the stranger or statements with a
similar intent, these are judged as an incorrect statement. The backlash that I
have seen when someone makes a statement of this kind includes arguments that
they are not interpreting the Bible correctly, that Catholic social teaching
allows for strong borders and that the individuals have been influenced by
anti-Catholic forces, the atheists and liberals. Catholics who advocate for the
support of refugees are treated as an other, with the suggestion that they are
pandering to liberals. I have noticed that there seems to be intense anxiety
around Irish culture being destroyed with multi-culturalism. It is argued that
those in Ireland should accept Irish law and culture if they are to stay. The
introduction of “alien” cultures, even if there are similarities, will not work.
There seem to be two fears connected to the introduction of other cultures, the
first is that it will result in violence as Islamic extremists will be let in
and secondly, that the Irish will be replaced. These Catholics want a largely
homogenous Ireland, which controls its borders and laws, which is why many advocate
for Ireland leaving the European Union, promote free speech and often have a
libertarian perspective.
First, I would like to address
what I might call the “trumpening” of Irish Catholicism (although I do
recognise that this phenomenon is not simply due to the influence of American
culture). One of the aspects I had originally planned on exploring was what was
causing this change in Irish Catholicism, however, in the end, I decided to
focus on other aspects. It appears to me that this is in part because of the
influence of conservative figures like Ben Shapiro, Milo Yiannopoulos, etc. and
I think a distrust of the “liberal” media which has led to people looking for
alternative sources also plays a role. It is also clear that these Catholics do
not feel represented in the new Irish identity. As Charles Taylor wrote when a
group does not feel that the identity does not include them, that they are not accommodated
and that they feel that are not full citizens that trouble will follow. As
mainstream culture does not represent them, they find conservative and
provocative figures as attractive due to their ability to “own the libs.” They may
have started supporting the figures because they agree with them on some issues
but over time it appears that they have granted them authority beyond those initial
issues. Let us take a figure like Donald Trump as an example. I do not support him;
I do not think that he is pro-life. But I could be I am wrong, however, in
other areas, for example, the treatment of children at borders really leaves me
unconvinced that he cares about the sanctity of life and therefore, it is
impossible for me to support him. From my perspective, it appears that these
Irish Catholics are not only supporting him on the issue of abortion but also
mirror his immigration rhetoric, for example, “Ireland first.” It is always
difficult to judge how much this is coming from the individual and to what extent
this is due to following right-wing media, which persuades them of the general
worldview, so I am not going to make a judgment on whether the Catholics sincerely
hold these views. From my perspective, they see themselves in opposition with
the liberal left and I fear that they are letting this impact their thinking.
Catholicism does not fit into the modern right left, Republican Democrat binary,
yet these Catholics appear to continuously, on almost every issue, identify with
the Republican Party. When other Catholics say anything that might be
understood as “left-wing,” like statements supporting refugees, one is
understood as anti-Catholic. Apart from the theological and biblical tradition
which often accompanies these views, they are ignoring natural law theory.
According to natural law, while we are all subject to original sin, we are all
orientated towards the good. As Paul says in Romans, while the Gentiles did not
receive the revelation of God’s Law, they already knew it as it is written on
their hearts. With the way that some Catholics write one might wonder whether
God was tired of writing and so skipped the hearts of the left. Natural law
does not mean that people are free from error, but it does mean that without God,
people are able to use reason to know of the good. Therefore, it is important to
recognise that the left in its support of the poor, refugees, for example, has
recognised the good. I think that it is crucial when one approaches any
thinker, whether they are religious or not, left or right, to consider what
they are saying critically and whether it corresponds with the truth.
To turn to the question
of culture, I think it is important to recognise that there are two ways in
which we can speak about multiculturalism. One way of speaking of multiculturalism
is that it is good to have a variety of cultures, for examples, if one
considers the US and the pride that some Americans have in seeing their country
as a melting pot. But multiculturalism also refers to the state of a country.
In looking at Ireland, it is a fact that Ireland is a multicultural society and it cannot be ignored. In
a given class, one might find students whose family have come from another
country, children with no religious identity and those with religious identities
which have not historically been the norm in Ireland. The Irish identity that
is put forward by these Catholics is on where everyone is proud of Ireland, of the
revolutionaries, saints and writers, etc., where people accept at the very least
that Catholicism is a part of Irish culture and speak Irish. I do not think
that anything is necessarily wrong with wanting to promote, for example, the
Irish language. My problem is with how Irish culture is seen by these Catholics,
where it is something that they possess, but that those who, for example,
support Ireland being part of the EU are viewed as having betrayed Ireland.
Culture is not static; it is something that by its very nature is constantly evolving
and being contested. Right now, Ireland has evolved so that it is more multicultural
than it was in the past and I do not think that even if Ireland closed its
borders would radically change that. In modern Ireland, there is no unified idea
of what constitutes the good life. We are living in a society with people of all sorts of views exist and we need to learn to accept that fact. I understand that the very nature of
conservatism wants to conserve aspects of society and culture, but it is
necessary to acknowledge that cultures will change for better or worse and not
to treat the change as a betrayal to a past vision of Ireland. We are all to
varying degrees choosing what of the past that we want to keep and what we wish
to reject. Rowan Williams describes culture as a process of trying to figure
things out, where we are constantly trying to alter society to make it better.
I
think it is important to recognise that culture is a negotiation between
people, there is no platonic ideal that is Irish culture, it is bound by time.
Let me be clear, however, what I am not saying, which is that I am not
supporting relativism, there are certainly versions of Irish culture which correspond
to moral truth more than others. When I look at some Irish Catholics, who might
quote an Irish revolutionary saying something along the lines of Ireland can
never be free while under the influence of a foreign power, it feels like Irish
culture has been decided rather than being historically contingent. But there
is no singular Irish culture and none of them are perfect. Like multiculturalism, it
is also necessary to recognise that the world for better and worse is very
interconnected. Even those who are ardent nationalists, whether they recognise
it or not, are influenced by outside cultures. Particularly with the invention
of the internet, I do not think it is possible for a culture to stay in its box.
I confess that observing
this group of Catholics that I have often felt frustrated with them. I think a
particular post really encapsulates why I felt upset with them, it stated that
the essence of Christianity was self-sufficiency. Christianity which at its
centre is about Jesus Christ who lived, died, and rose again for others, this
is really about self-sufficiency… okay… In my essay, I was focusing on the
issue of immigration and refugees, but this mentality is there on many other issues,
in how the welfare state is viewed and how some people are treating COVID-19,
as Gemma O’Doherty and John Waters’ court case shows. Solidarity is a part of Catholic
social teaching and yet it is being ignored by these Catholics, trading it for a
more libertarian view. Many of these Catholics are dismissive of Pope Francis
and therefore, if I quoted his calls for solidarity and quoted him saying that
self-sufficiency is a sin, I imagine would be unconvinced and would not feel
any urge to rethink their personal philosophy, even though Saint John Paul II also
said the same about self-sufficiency. The reality is that we are dependent on
God and dependent on each other. Their idea that what matters is freedom from others,
of negative rights, ignores the common good and how we have responsibilities to
one another. Solidarity, while an important them of Francis’s papacy, predates
him, it is a theme which is found in many papal documents, where it is stress
as part of our moral thinking. Solidarity, John Paul II wrote in Centesimus
Annus, is a principle that we are to use to judge both the national and
international order in how it treats the most vulnerable. This includes refugees
and it shows that our moral concern is not confined to our country. Solidarity
is often seen as a structure which is needed in our institutions, which should
determine how they are run, and it should help to combat structural sin. It is
both a communal and individual virtue. In the Pontifical Council Document Cor
Unum, which was written in 1988 on the treatment of refugees it says:
“Indifference constitutes
a sin of omission. Solidarity helps to reverse the tendency to see the world
solely from one’s own point of view. Acceptance of the global dimension of
problems emphasises the limits of every culture; it urges us towards a more
sober lifestyle with a view to contributing to the common good; it makes it
possible to provide an effective response to the just appeals of refugee and
opens paths of peace.”
From my perspective, the rhetoric
of Ireland first, where it is argued that we cannot take in anyone in due to
the housing crisis, appears to be a limited perspective, which overlooks the
plight of those beyond Ireland and the need for Ireland to recognise that the
common good, which is not limited to borders and to recognise what it can do to
help the refugee crisis. We cannot be indifferent to our neighbours who are
part of the same human family. As Pope Paul IV argued nationalism can jeopardise
our sense of common humanity and solidarity. Without love, nationalism can
threaten the welfare of humanity. We need to recognise that as richer countries
we have obligations to help poorer countries. As Catholics, it is necessary that
we practise the habit of solidarity. If we adopt a virtue ethics approach, we
need to consider what our end goal is, what kind of society do we want to
become. The end of the virtue of solidarity is to participate in the common
good. If one is to practice solidarity, I do not think it is possible to maintain
the attitude of Ireland first because at every level of society, from the individual
to the global, we are called to look beyond ourselves and reach out to others. Looking
at the accounts of this group of Catholics, from what they regularly post which
are posts arguing against immigration, it appears that the habit of solidarity
is absent. In accepting a global approach to problems, this does not mean that
the local is not to be respected, it is as part of solidarity is respecting each
other as equal agents. It also does not mean accepting the problematic elements
of globalism, it just means that recognising that we have a responsibility towards
others beyond our nations and the structures of the world can require an
international response.
I want to conclude by
saying that I am writing as a concerned Catholic, who feels that it is
important that I speak out about what I see as a worrying trend, particularly
as I see that some of these Catholics seem to be viewed as having some authority
by Catholics. I pray that we will all grow in the virtue of solidarity,
reaching outwards even when it is tough.
