A review of "The End of Irish Catholicism?" by D. Vincent Twomey

Abstract

This is a book which grew out of a paper presented by Twomey to a seminar organized by the Institute of Irish Studies, Fordham University, in 2001. The topic of that seminar was 'The Irish Catholic Church Today'. This may have been a better title for this book which is an inter esting and provocative catalogue of much that is problematic with the Catholic Church in the Republic of Ireland today (it does not address the state of the Catholic Church in Northern Ireland). The current title, while sounding a pessimistic note (even allowing for the question mark), is probably a good marketing stroke as there are many who would be tempted to believe that the end of Catholicism in Ireland is not far away and would like to see the road map in advance. If that is what they are looking for this will not be their guide. It reads more as an indictment of the past century, particularly since Vatican II, than as a prediction of the future.