Revelations Of Clericai Child Abuse Since The 1990s And Secularization In Ireland

As Irish Catholic Emancipation progressed in the 1830s,the Irish Roman Catholic Church began to establish itself on this island and consolidate its status and expand its influence in Irish society.Over more than one hundred years thereafter,the Catholic Church successfully built itself into a powerful institution exerting its dominance on various spheres of the nation.It was closely intertwined with both the Irish national identity and Irish people's personal identities.Nevertheless,since the middle period of the twentieth century,Irish society has undergone drastic changes in various aspects.Social interactions of the booming economy,media's growth,and a more independent and proactive government have characterized the Irish secularization.With the secularization process,the influence of the Church's authority on the government in decision-making and social management keeps declining.Meanwhile,traditional Catholic teachings,especially on morality,are often found at variance with the more open and inclusive values of Irish people.In the background of secularization,all of these changes in society,the State and the Church contributed to successive revelations of clerical child abuse by the media,the government and victims of abuse.Compared to the aforementioned social changes that constitute challenges from outside to the Church's status and power,the clerical child abuse scandals surfacing from within the Catholic Church since the 1990s have undoubtedly dealt an intensive blow to the Church.As revealed in the scandals,clerical child abuse has existed in the Irish Catholic Church since at least the 1930s;and the Church bishops bore huge responsibility for covering up the issue and shielding the involved priests.Because of the avalanche of the scandals,Irish people's trust in and identification with the Catholic Church have declined drastically.The authority and influence of the Church have been further undermined.Simultaneously,the State,as well as social institutions,starts to play a more proactive role in abuse prevention and child protection.All of these changes have profound implications for Irish secularization.However,few studies in relevant literature have examined and discussed the impact of revelations of clerical child abuse since the 1990s on Irish society and secularization in Ireland.In order to fill in this blank,this paper will in the first place examine the cover-up and revelation of clerical child abuse before and after the 1990s in Ireland,and discuss the responses within the country to the revelations since the 1990s,so as to present the changed relationship between the Church and the State,the Church and people.Furthermore,the paper will discuss the impact of revelations of clerical child abuse on the Irish public,the Church's authority and the State's role,so as to analyze their effects on Irish secularization.Through analysis and interpretation of the collected evidences,the paper finds out that successive revelations of clerical child abuse since the 1990s have shattered the public's faith in the Church and further undermined the Church's influence on public opinion and social matters.Meanwhile,revelations of clerical child abuse have led to a stronger role and proactive involvement of the State and society in the sphere of child protection and welfare by means of policy-making and legislation,thus accelerating the process of secularization in Ireland.This paper will primarily adopt historical methods of research for the analysis and interpretation of social phenomena.It will incorporate pertinent primary sources including Irish Constitution,Church files,and relevant policies,legislative documents in terms of child protection and welfare as well as Irish parliamentary debates.In addition,the paper also adopts theoretical literature on the concepts and features of secularization and other secondary sources and academic reviews concerning clerical child abuse in Ireland.