May 28, 2015

The Irish vote is worse than perverse. It is blasphemous...

By Father George Rutler

The Constitution of Ireland begins: “In the name of the Most Holy Trinity, from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred, / We, the people of Éire, / Humbly acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, . . .”

The landslide vote in Eire for legalizing the fictitious form of marriage between persons of the same sex, in contradiction of all laws natural and divine, unearths the pulsating Druidism that Saint Patrick and his fellow saints defied. The estimated $17 million from pressure groups in the United States is no excuse, for people will only be pressured if they are willing to be pressured. The other dismal fact is that over 90% of the young people influenced to subscribe to this vote were formed in Catholic schools. The vote was less in favor of perversion and more in hostility to a Church whose Jansenism and clericalism had incubated corruption and lassitude. While most of Europe suffers from the deadly sin of indifference, or sloth, Ireland is in adolescent rebellion, virulent and irrational. This was exploited by political interests hostile to Christian civilization, and their propaganda combined legitimate accusations against ecclesial failings with a left-wing, secularist agenda.

Ireland helped to bring the Faith to America, and when the flourishing of that Faith degenerated here, that donation was returned in the form of a bacillus. Ireland today has one of the highest rates of suicide and mental illness in all Europe, and one-third of children there are born out of wedlock. Things are worse in the United States. Look at the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City to see what happens when the honor of a saint is dishonored, and when ambassadors for Christ become nothing more than goodwill ambassadors.

What happened in Ireland was not sudden. Like a dead elephant that remains standing for a sort while before collapsing, so the Flame that Patrick kindled on Tara had died long before Catholicism was mixed up with political causes, and ethnic drollery replaced dogma. In mordant irony, just a few weeks ago the Stormont in Northern Ireland rejected a motion favoring same–sex unions, a motion more indicting for having been introduced by the Sinn Fein, which had long persuaded naïve Americans that it was a Catholic cause.

The Archbishop of Dublin, hardly a firebrand, said: “Marriage is not simply about a wedding ceremony or about two people being in love with each other. Marriage, in the Constitution, is linked with the family and with a concept of family and to the mutuality of man and woman as the foundation for the family.”

In light of the fine invocation of the Irish Constitution, the Irish vote is worse than perverse: it is blasphemous. All the great saints of once-verdant Ireland would have used stronger language.

Father Rutler is pastor of the Church of Saint Michael in New York City.


  1. Father Rutler is quite right in his analysis of the Irish vote in favor of same-sex “marriage.” He is not alone, of course, among orthodox Catholics upset by the vote. Cardinal Burke has labeled the vote worse than “paganism.” As a person of Irish ancestry who interacts direectly and indirectly online with people in Ireland, and has relatives in that country, I was surprised by the vote until I thought about the factors contributing to it. They are too many to list here but the changes in the Church since Vatican II have led worldwide, in my opinion, to what I might term Catholicism Lite. Combine that with the fallout from alleged clerical abuse in Ireland and the alleged failure of bishops to do the right thing in response, and perhaps the Irish vote is not a surprise. The Presence of Christ in the tabernacle is not a big enough factor now to keep the Irish in line. But I would like to know what solutions Father Rutler and Cardinal Burke might have for the problem in Ireland. A man usually given to many words, I must remain silent because I see no short-term or long-term solution. I hope I am wrong. I suspect that only Poland and the Philippines today would vote down same-sex marriage in a national referendum. The gate to Heaven continues to grow narrower. Personally I hope to slip through and take my seat in the bleachers.

  2. Wow, talk about "the sky is falling". The father seems to think, or at least his letter seems to imply, that everyone will now go out and get "gay married" because that's the in thing. The number of gays in Ireland is probably around 2%. All this means is that those people will be able to marry civilly instead of not at all. The rest of the population will continue to marry normally because they aren't gay.

    The young in Ireland acknowledge everyone's right to the pursuit of happiness. Imposing religious beliefs through government law is no longer a western tennant. They make the point that religious principles they choose to follow for themselves should also not be imposed on others. The last stronghold of imposing religious law on civil law is where sharia law forms part of the legal structure, as in the Middle East, which we hope will also wane but unfortunately for the world, it will not do so soon.

  3. "Imposing religious beliefs through government law is no longer a western tennant."

    The irony is that this statement really should be rewritten to the following: "Imposing Catholic beliefs through government law is no longer a western tennant."

    Any law that is "imposed" will be written from the prespective of the governments religion whether it be Catholic, Protestant, Islam or atheist.

    Thought experiment. If everyone has a right to the pursuit of happiness then what about those who get happiness through the cruelty of others? What right do I have to stop someone of treating someone else though torture when they get a "kick" out of it. Do you think Charlie Manson got happiness from what he did? Disturbingly he did. What about drug addicts who want drugs? Do we just let them keep doing cocaine because it brings them happiness?

    Sex is equivalent to drugs. And the sexual revolution has proven that. Abortion, birth prevention pill and now the forcing of legalized same-sex faux marriage.

    "When sex stops being a servant, it becomes a tyrant" G.K. Chesterton

    There is forced religious laws. And the United States is slowly implementing atheistic religous laws and satanic laws. Allowing the killing of a child in the womb is purely satanic. Having abortion "day spas" is the ultimate death of conscience. Let's kill and have cucumbers put on our face.

    The one forced religious law that should not be done is how we worship God. Implementing moral law is justified because it hurts a person's soul. It's just sad that society doesn't even now what morals are anymore because society's conscience has itself been killed.

    You CANNOT write any law without imposing your religiuos beliefs. Everyone has a religious belief whether one admits it or not.

    Our Lady of Guadelupe, pray for us.

  4. Amen, Darren.

    Thank you, Father George.

  5. Well said Father Rutler. I'll say no more lest I be labelled by some indiscreet in my use of language that might have been used by St Patrick himself...