Religion
Central to their lives and culture to the Irish was their religious faith; institutional religion served as the pivot for a great deal of Irish life in Newfoundland. Several of the leading Irish merchants and propertied men were Protestants and brought the traditions of the Orange Order to their new home. However, the majority of the Irish were Roman Catholics and many sought to recreate in Newfoundland the institutional Roman Catholicism which they had known in Ireland. As a result, the institutional church which emerged over the next 50 years became the single most important ethnic, social and cultural institution for the Irish in Newfoundland, and its various clergy and leaders were the de facto leaders of the Irish community in Newfoundland.
Read more about this topic: Irish Newfoundlanders
Famous quotes containing the word religion:
“If therefore my work is negative, irreligious, atheistic, let it be remembered that atheism—at least in the sense of this work—is the secret of religion itself; that religion itself, not indeed on the surface, but fundamentally, not in intention or according to its own supposition, but in its heart, in its essence, believes in nothing else than the truth and divinity of human nature.”
—Ludwig Feuerbach (1804–1872)
“But is it not the fact that religion emanates from the nature, from the moral state of the individual? Is it not therefore true that unless the nature be completely exercised, the moral state harmonised, the religion cannot be healthy?”
—Harriet Martineau (1802–1876)
“They live together without king, without government, and each is his own master.... Beyond the fact that they have no church, no religion and are not idolaters, what more can I say? They live according to nature, and may be called Epicureans rather than Stoics.”
—Amerigo Vespucci (1454–1512)