After the yes vote, whose reality will the Irish bishops check?

The Catholic Church in Ireland needs “a reality check”, the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin, said immediately after the results of the country’s historic referendum, in which the country voted overwhelmingly in favour of same-sex marriage.

In particular he said the Church had to look at its relationship with young people and ask “have we completely drifted away?” from them. 

That may indeed be one challenge facing the Church (it’s not a new one) and there is no doubt that for the first time, young people in Ireland were motivated to vote in large numbers over an issue they clearly felt strongly about.

But the Church has other realities to face. In the run up to the referendum the Catholic bishops publicly made clear their support for a “No” vote and their letters were read at parish Masses. Yet over 1,200,000 people, grannies, grandfathers, parents, aunts and uncles – many of them practising Catholics – voted “Yes”.

They included former President Mary McAleese, a constitutional and canon lawyer and her husband, Martin, and some leading politicians, also practising Catholics, who told their personal stories, one politician as a gay man (who came out in the early days of the campaign) and the McAleeses as parents of a gay son. 

It would appear these high-profile lay people impacted on Catholic voters in this referendum in a way that church leaders did not. In the referendum of 1995 on whether to legalise divorce, which was only just passed after a recount, the Catholic Church played a strong and influential role. In 20 years “Catholic Ireland” has changed dramatically.

As Archbishop Martin said on Saturday, “It’s a social revolution that’s been going on, and perhaps in the Church people have not been as clear in understanding what that involved.”

As well as a “social revolution”, a social media revolution played a significant role. The #hometovote phenomenon saw hundreds of mostly young people returning from all across the world to vote, mostly if not entirely “yes”. One young man set up a web page, which went viral. Social media was harnessed and used by the younger blood of the “Yes” side with an ease the “No” campaign could not match. Archbishop Martin again said on Saturday that, “The Church has a huge task in front of it to find the language to be able to talk to and to get its message across to young people, not just on this issue, but in general.” Digital media is proving to be the most effective way of reaching people. How well equipped it the Church to meet the challenges of this digital age?

The aftermath of this referendum is less acrimonious than other ones such as the divorce referendum. Spokespersons for the “No” groups were most gracious in defeat, and many “No” voters were glad that gay citizens and their families were given public affirmation of their equality and dignity.

Yet campaigners on the “No” side are unhappy that all political parties were promoting a “Yes” vote. They point out that over 700,000 people voted “No”, and are asking if anyone in government is addressing their concerns. They fear the redefinition of marriage and the family may have a negative impact on the minefield that is surrogacy legislation, which has yet to be agreed upon.

The challenge is for Catholic church leaders. They say they need a “reality check”, but whose “reality”, and who will they check with? They will meet together no doubt, but what about dialogue with parishioners and priests, some of whom voted “yes”?

As a society and especially as a Church, the people of God, we have many difficult issues to discern arising out of this referendum. But talking is futile if no one is listening, and if those who speak truth to power have no power themselves. As the young protagonist of Brian Friel’s Philadelphia Here I Comerepeats, ‘It’s all over, and it’s all about to begin’.

Pat Coyle is a freelance journalist

Above: Yes voters in Dublin react to the referendum result. Photo: CNS/Reuters