Irish Catholicism
The Catholic Church in Ireland is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, the Christian Church with full communion with the Pope, currently Benedict XVI. The Catholic Church in Ireland, with its primatial seat in Armagh, ministers to Catholics in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, the Roman Curia, and the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference. 84.2% of the citizens of the Republic of Ireland and 43.8% of the estimated workforce of Northern Ireland are Catholic.
Christianity had come to Ireland by the early 5th century, and was spread through the works of early missionaries such as Palladius, and more famously Saint Patrick.
Read more about Irish Catholicism: History, Popular Traditions, Organisation, Influence in The Irish Free State and Republic (1922–present), Influence in Northern Ireland
Famous quotes containing the words irish and/or catholicism:
“The difference of the English and Irish character is nowhere more plainly discerned than in their respective kitchens. With the former, this apartment is probably the cleanest, and certainly the most orderly, in the house.... An Irish kitchen ... is usually a temple dedicated to the goddess of disorder; and, too often, joined with her, is the potent deity of dirt.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
“When Catholicism goes bad it becomes the world-old, world-wide religio of amulets and holy places and priestcraft. Protestantism, in its corresponding decay, becomes a vague mist of ethical platitudes. Catholicism is accused of being too much like all the other religions; Protestantism of being insufficiently like a religion at all. Hence Plato, with his transcendent Forms, is the doctor of Protestants; Aristotle, with his immanent Forms, the doctor of Catholics.”
—C.S. (Clive Staples)