Transcript Trinity College Dublin

Faith & Community Relations
Perspectives on Diversity,
Reconciliation & Ecumenism
By Dr Gladys Ganiel
Trinity College Dublin
Visioning 21st Century Ecumenism
Funded by the Irish
Research Council for the
Humanities and Social
Sciences
Research Results & Survey
Reports available at:
www.ecumenics.ie
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The Surveys
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April – July 2009
Faith leaders & Laypeople
Island-wide
Tick box & open ended questions
Diversity, reconciliation & ecumenism
Most important issues facing faith
communities
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Faith Leaders Survey
• 4,005 direct requests
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Response rate 18%
Methodists 33%
Other Religions 24%
Church of Ireland 21%
Presbyterian 18%
Catholic 13%
Other Christians 13%
Lay Survey
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Exploratory
910 responses
Catholic 46%
Other Christians 16%
Atheist/No Religion 12%
Church of Ireland 12%
Presbyterian 8%
Other Religions 4%
Methodist 2%
Diversity & Immigration
A lot done, a lot more to do!
• 44% of faith leaders have
never done anything to
accommodate ethnic
minorities
• 54% have preached or
taught on immigration,
diversity, welcoming
strangers in last 12 months
• 15% have used native
languages of minorities in
last 12 months
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Reconciliation: It’s all about me!
• Individualistic forms of reconciliation
considered more important than
social/political forms (ethnic groups, religious
groups)
• 50% of leaders and 28% of laypeople have
accessed resources on reconciliation
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That would be an ecumenical matter!
I honestly don’t know. It
is likely related to the
word ‘ecumenical’ that
I remember once being
in a Father Ted
episode. Other than
that I do not know. –
Pentecostal man, Co.
Kerry
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Ecumenism is?
• Religious political correctness. – independent
evangelical man, Co. Down
• Seeing Jesus in those you meet of other
religions. – Catholic priest, Co. Donegal
• A pain in the arse. – Christian man, Galway
City
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Ecumenism
• Thought of mainly in terms of inter-church dialogue
• Laypeople more likely than leaders to prioritise
relationships with ‘Other Religions’
• Most (27%) laypeople think 11-25% of time should
be spent on ecumenism
• Most leaders (40%) think less than 10% of time
should be spent on ecumenism
• Leaders don’t spend as much time on ecumenism as
they would like
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The Protestantisation of Irish Catholic
Faith?
• Lay Catholics emphasise the
importance of personal
reflection even more so than
people from the COI, PCI, and
Methodist churches
• Lay Catholics see family &
friends as influencing their
faith more than clergy
• Catholics & atheists most
likely to rate leaders as ‘least
influential’
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A new brand of lay Catholicism?
John Brewer: There are stages on the way to secularisation that
are better descriptors of the position in Ireland – liberalisation
in belief & individualisation in practice are more the case here.
And it was remarkable to me to see the extent to which
Catholics in the lay person survey ground their religious
thinking not in community & tradition but the individual.
Sociologists of religion not only need to understand the process
of secularisation better they need on the basis of these
findings to change their characterisation of Catholicism.
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Evangelicals
• 68% of faith leaders in N.
Ireland, 45% in the Republic,
identified as evangelical
• In the North …
– 91% Presbyterian & Methodist
– 61% Other Christian
– 58% Church of Ireland
– 42% Catholic
Laypeople: 42% in NI, 20% in the
Republic
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Evangelical Differences …
• Non evangelical clergy are more likely to say
reconciliation is important than evangelical
clergy
• Female clergy think reconciliation is more
important than male clergy
• Just 20% of evangelical men have a ‘high’ view
of reconciliation (47% of evangelical women,
46% non evangelical women, 42% non
evangelical men)
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‘Dissenter’ Differences …
• Lay evangelical Dissenters are the most likely
to have a low view of reconciliation with other
religions
• Dissenters are more likely to have a negative
perception of ecumenism than evangelical
Anglicans and non-evangelicals
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The Marginalisation of Atheists?
This survey is absolutely, utterly
ridiculous. Have you even
considered hiring a professional
to develop it? Clearly not, or even
worse, you did not want to. The
survey ASSUMES that one IS a
religious person, and all questions
are developed accordingly. But
what about Atheists? You did NOT
specify that the survey did not
address them. – Female, Dublin
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So many questions …
• How can our faith communities better handle
diversity?
• Is it appropriate for conceptions of
reconciliation to be so focused on the
individual?
• Can ‘ecumenism’ be redeemed or should it be
abandoned?
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Still more questions …
• Can a new brand of (lay) Catholicism develop in
Ireland?
• Given that women think more highly of reconciliation
than men, has their perspective been adequately
reflected in our faith communities?
• Is our view of evangelicalism coloured by what male
evangelicals think about reconciliation?
• How can atheists and religious alike contribute
meaningfully to debate in a fully inclusive public
sphere?
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Ongoing Case Studies
• Fermanagh Churches
Forum
• Holy Cross Monastery
Rostrevor
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Alternative ways of ‘doing church’?
• Relationship with traditional denominational
structures
• Why does this appeal to people?
• Role in personal spirituality
• Wider social and political effects
• What messages can the Fermanagh Churches
Forum & Holy Cross Monastery give to the
wider church?
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