"This is a Catholic Country"

An elder generation of Irish people would consider themselves Irish first and Roman Catholic second, and so to a young person who has grown up in a nation where the power of the church has weakened and the number of practising Catholics has fallen, the introduction of abortion, presumably, should be relatively easy. It's difficult to understand why the protection of the life the mother, avoiding the trauma of foetal abnormalities being carried to full term and the other valid arguments allowing for abortion failed to sway the vote decades ago.

Parents who have stopped going to mass, empty churches and broadening educational horizons have led to an awakened youth; aspiring to the independence and liberal freedoms of our European counterparts. While promising, it marks the stark contrast between young people and older generations in Ireland. For those who grew up in Ireland in the 1950's and 60's and even earlier, Ireland was an island of persecuted Catholics in the north, and subservient Catholics in the south. Comprehending such marked divisions along religious lines is challenging for the left-wing socially aware movement of today.

What highlighted this embodied faith was the prevalence of shrines to the Virgin Mary throughout the countryside. Travelling through the the townlands and countryside of Mayo, it was possible to see 9 Marian Year shrines positioned on the sides of roads, surveying junctions on country lanes and watching over communities. Built to celebrate the Marian Year of 1954, the various grottos and statues of the Virgin Mary were to strengthen "Marian values" at the behest of Pope Pious XII. Only in a country so indoctrinated in one faith could the Marian Shrine statues have been built, maintained and widely accepted. Their presence today reflects the underlying strength of the Roman Catholic Church that has remained within Irish culture.

The opposition to the introduction of legislation accommodating abortion has come as a surprise to many young people. The largely religious-based argumentation opposed to the introduction is as confusing as it is unpredictable. Faith-based groups have been deceptively silent in the psyche of young Irish people until the death of Savita Halappanavar and the now infamous quote "This is a Catholic country". For young Irish liberals, hoping for equality and the protection and upholding of bodily integrity for women, breaking free from the shackles of the imposition of religion in their lives is the challenge of their time. What must now be done, is to approach the opposition in a way which adequately challenges their way of thinking. The TD's carrying the voting responsibilities have the power to perpetuate religious dogma or enable and enrich the lives of Irish people

This idea, of enlightened parliamentarians is a challenge to entertain with the behaviour of TD Tom Barry, who during a break from voting on the introduction of abortion, pulled TD Aine Collins on to his lap in the Dáil Chamber. Such embarrassing misogyny from an elected representative is indicative of the difficulties faced by women in Ireland in breaking a male-centric culture and ensuring adequate protection for their freedom from harassment. Where the Irish medical profession and the government impliedly agree, is that women are unequal and undeserving the limited protection of their rights.

The full album of Marian Shrines is on the Skríobh Facebook page, available here.