Priest rejects Bono's criticism of Church's influence
A priest today challenged Bono’s view of the role religion has played in Ireland.
Jesuit historian Fr Fergus O’Donoghue said the lead singer of U2 must realise religion has made the country.
Fr Odonoghue challenged remarks Bono made at the Annual National Prayer Breakfast at the Whitehouse in Washington DC earlier this year when he referred to the damage religion has done to Ireland.
“Bono is wrong. Religion has made Ireland,” Fr O’Donoghue said in an editorial in The Irish Jesuit Quarterly Studies.
“The remark sounds profound but it is facile if not meaningless, because religion has made Ireland.
"Irish civilisation is profoundly Christian, which means that Christian belief has been formative in every aspect of Irish political, economic and social development.”
Fr O’Donoghue said he admires the work the U2 singer does in combating Aids and highlighting the plight of poorer regions.
“But I said to myself: 'That is completely wrong. You can’t visualise Ireland without religion,'” he said, adding: “Most Irish people for 1,500 years have been committed Christians.”
The historian highlighted the role Christianity played in bringing learning to Ireland. He said talking about damage was biased and unfair.
Another article on African Pentecostals in 21st-century Ireland estimates around 30,000 members are taking part in Irish churches.
In The Irish Jesuit Quarterly Studies, Abel Ugba said many of them feel pity for what they see as the loose behaviour and religious illiteracy of young Irish people.
He said: “Indeed, some African Pentecostals are convinced that, far from resting content on the margins of Irish society, they actually have a ‘mission’ to bring modern-day Ireland back to its traditional sense of Christian belief and spirituality.”
