Is Ireland the only country in northern Europe with a large Catholic community?

[PaleoEuropean]

I don’t know if I would consider France part of Northern Europe. Maybe Normandy but southern french no.

Yea Normandy and the entire North Atlantic Coast of France is Northern Europe. The same goes for the other countries that are on the Doggerbanks

[Ouistreham]

This is a complicated question.

Ireland: in the 19 th century, the more they were loosing their language and switching to English, the more Catholic they became. As a substitute for national identity.
Poland and Lithuania: the Roman Church was their way to display their difference facing the Russian Orthodox Christians and the Lutheran Prussians.
Flanders: they became staunch Catholic as a way to identify themselves against the Calvinist Dutch ruling class and the highly secular Walloon French speakers.

And don't forget that in Germany, it's not a North vs. South question. Some of the main Catholic stronghold are in the North (Münsterland), whilst there us a considerable Protestant presence in the South-West.

Oh, and contrary to popular belief, Catholics are a majority in the Netherlands (the Doggerland theory is just horseshit, sorry)

[PaleoEuropean]

[Grace O'Malley]

I know that Christians in northern Europe are mostly made up of Protestants, the case of Ireland and the Catholics always seemed curious.

All of Europe was mostly Catholic before the Reformation. The Irish just refused to change their religion.

Why didn't the Reformation take hold in Ireland?
Mon, Aug 28, 2000, 01:00
PATRICK COMERFORD


AS in England, the Tudor Reformation was an act of state in Ireland, implemented by parliamentary legislation. The Reformation was accepted by most of the bishops in 1536 when Papal supremacy was replaced by the supremacy of the state. However, the bishops made no changes in doctrine, and many of the first Reforming bishops are counted in the diocesan lists of both the Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland.

The names of the early Reformers show they were drawn from the mainstream of Irish life - names such as Browne, Butler, Cullen, Devereux, Nugent, Purcell or Walsh - and the episcopal succession continued uninterrupted.

During the reign of Edward VI (1537-1553), a reformed liturgy was introduced from England and the Book of Common Prayer, first used in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on Easter Day, 1551, was the first book printed in Ireland. Under Mary (1553-1558), some Reforming bishops were deposed and married clergy punished, but the Reformation returned under Elizabeth (1558-1603), and was accepted by all but two of the bishops. In 1560, the Irish Parliament again repudiated the authority of the Pope and passed the Act of Uniformity, making Anglicanism the state religion in Ireland.

However, the dividing line between who was Protestant and who was Catholic was not clearly defined even a generation after the Reformation was first introduced. The case of the pluralist Miler Magrath is infamous: he managed to remain Roman Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor while he was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Cashel.

A more interesting, if less dramatic, example of the confused identities of the day is provided by Magrath's predecessor as Bishop of Achonry. Eugene O'Harte, the Dominican Prior of Sligo, who was appointed Bishop of Achonry on January 28th, 1563, by Pope Pius IV. O'Harte attended the final session of the Council of Trent, but when he returned to the west of Ireland, he was accepted as the bishop of his diocese by old Catholics and new Anglicans alike, and remained in office until he died in his 100th year in 1603.

Historians continue to debate why the Reformation never took hold at a popular level in Ireland. The church historian Canon Michael Burrowes points out in his study of the episcopacy in Ireland: "The reasons why the bulk of the Irish population did not . . . adopt Protestantism, but rather came to look to Rome for alternative structures and pastoral care, remain hotly contested".

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/w...land-1.1261262

Abstract
The Reformation failed comprehensively and absolutely in Ireland before the end of Elizabeth’s reign: contemporaries estimated the number of Irish Protestants at between forty and 120 individuals. The debate about that failure has been long running, yet inconclusive. After a short historiographical review, this paper considers a range of factors which may have been pertinent in shaping Irish responses to the Reformation policies of Henry VIII and his Protestant children. It shows that Elizabeth’s Reformation in Ireland was stymied by the absence of indigenous support, which meant that religious change was neither propagated by local clergymen nor enforced by the local elites in Irish parishes. It points to the strength and persistence of Catholic resistance to the Reformation in different forms from the very start of Elizabeth’s reign in Ireland, contradicting the unsubstantiated notion that passive ‘church papistry’ was general. Nonetheless, it argues that it was only from the 1580s, when the Catholic church in Ireland was reorganised as a disestablished ‘people’s church’, and infused with the confidence inspired by the Counter-Reformation, can it be stated that the Reformation had failed in Ireland definitively.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journ...3F/core-reader

[♥ Lily ♥]

What? Why are these things illegal in North Ireland?

They're governed by the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) who are currently in a joint UK coalition government with the Conservative party. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Unionist_Party

The abortion law in NI is tougher than Alabama: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...ma-campaigners

Same-sex marriage is not legal in Northern Ireland despite five attempts to introduce it in Northern Ireland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_r...rthern_Ireland

The DUP formed a coalition government with England's Conservative party (as no political party won enough seats to solely govern by themselves in the last UK General Election due to a very low turnout of UK voters.) The Conservatives and the DUP formed a coalition goverment to gain enough seats to govern the UK together.

The DUP made a UK victory speech on a Saturday night..... and they made sure not that their victory speech didn't go one minute past midnight into Sunday ... as the UK media observed it's considered a deadly sin to work on Sundays in their bible book and protestant religion. (Thousands of Americans work on Sundays and it helps their economy.)

The DUP ('Democratic Unionist Party' who want to be united with the United Kingdom,) are also against the educational teaching of evolution and science in schools.

Suddenly the DUP became the most google searched entry according to news reports, after a UK coalition government was formed, as most people in England, Wales, and Scotland hadn't heard of the DUP before it was announced they'd be governing the U.K. with the Conservatives and the EUSSR.

Former UK leader May gave Northen Ireland £1 billion of UK tax money to boost their party and country - and the DUP in turn helps to support the Conservative government in UK parliamentary votes to pass new legislation, etc, (who they sit alongside in the UK parliament in Westminster, England.)

(The DUP are a socially conservative party who are anti abortion, anti gay marriage, anti EU, anti mass immigration, and anti islamisation.)

Spoiler!

[♥ Lily ♥]

All of Europe was mostly Catholic before the Reformation. The Irish just refused to change their religion.

Europe was originally Pagan for thousands and thousands of years... and the Irish used to be Celtic Pagans and celebrated the original meanings of ancient Pagan nature festivals such as the Celtic New Year (Samhain/Halloween,) Yule, Beltane, Valentine's Day, Oestara, etc.

[PaleoEuropean]

All of Europe was mostly Catholic before the Reformation. The Irish just refused to change their religion.

Why didn't the Reformation take hold in Ireland?
Mon, Aug 28, 2000, 01:00
PATRICK COMERFORD


AS in England, the Tudor Reformation was an act of state in Ireland, implemented by parliamentary legislation. The Reformation was accepted by most of the bishops in 1536 when Papal supremacy was replaced by the supremacy of the state. However, the bishops made no changes in doctrine, and many of the first Reforming bishops are counted in the diocesan lists of both the Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland.

The names of the early Reformers show they were drawn from the mainstream of Irish life - names such as Browne, Butler, Cullen, Devereux, Nugent, Purcell or Walsh - and the episcopal succession continued uninterrupted.

During the reign of Edward VI (1537-1553), a reformed liturgy was introduced from England and the Book of Common Prayer, first used in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on Easter Day, 1551, was the first book printed in Ireland. Under Mary (1553-1558), some Reforming bishops were deposed and married clergy punished, but the Reformation returned under Elizabeth (1558-1603), and was accepted by all but two of the bishops. In 1560, the Irish Parliament again repudiated the authority of the Pope and passed the Act of Uniformity, making Anglicanism the state religion in Ireland.

However, the dividing line between who was Protestant and who was Catholic was not clearly defined even a generation after the Reformation was first introduced. The case of the pluralist Miler Magrath is infamous: he managed to remain Roman Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor while he was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Cashel.

A more interesting, if less dramatic, example of the confused identities of the day is provided by Magrath's predecessor as Bishop of Achonry. Eugene O'Harte, the Dominican Prior of Sligo, who was appointed Bishop of Achonry on January 28th, 1563, by Pope Pius IV. O'Harte attended the final session of the Council of Trent, but when he returned to the west of Ireland, he was accepted as the bishop of his diocese by old Catholics and new Anglicans alike, and remained in office until he died in his 100th year in 1603.

Historians continue to debate why the Reformation never took hold at a popular level in Ireland. The church historian Canon Michael Burrowes points out in his study of the episcopacy in Ireland: "The reasons why the bulk of the Irish population did not . . . adopt Protestantism, but rather came to look to Rome for alternative structures and pastoral care, remain hotly contested".

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/w...land-1.1261262

Abstract
The Reformation failed comprehensively and absolutely in Ireland before the end of Elizabeth’s reign: contemporaries estimated the number of Irish Protestants at between forty and 120 individuals. The debate about that failure has been long running, yet inconclusive. After a short historiographical review, this paper considers a range of factors which may have been pertinent in shaping Irish responses to the Reformation policies of Henry VIII and his Protestant children. It shows that Elizabeth’s Reformation in Ireland was stymied by the absence of indigenous support, which meant that religious change was neither propagated by local clergymen nor enforced by the local elites in Irish parishes. It points to the strength and persistence of Catholic resistance to the Reformation in different forms from the very start of Elizabeth’s reign in Ireland, contradicting the unsubstantiated notion that passive ‘church papistry’ was general. Nonetheless, it argues that it was only from the 1580s, when the Catholic church in Ireland was reorganised as a disestablished ‘people’s church’, and infused with the confidence inspired by the Counter-Reformation, can it be stated that the Reformation had failed in Ireland definitively.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journ...3F/core-reader

Most of Christianity in the U.K was spread by Irish Missionaries if I am not mistaken.

[Daco Celtic]

Ireland refused Protestantism the same way Romanians refused Slavic culture/language. They retained an older culture as their neighbors changed.

[Ruggery]

They're governed by the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) who are currently in a joint UK coalition government with the Conservative party. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Unionist_Party

The abortion law in NI is tougher than Alabama: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...ma-campaigners

Wooow, so that means conservatism is much stronger there.

That has nothing to do with whether Northern Ireland is Protestant, England, Wales and Scotland are also highly Protestant and are as liberal as continental Ireland.

[PaleoEuropean]

Europe was originally Pagan for thousands and thousands of years... and the Irish used to be Celtic Pagans and celebrated the original meanings of ancient Pagan nature festivals such as the Celtic New Year (Samhain/Halloween,) Yule, Beltane, Valentine's Day, Oestara, etc.

And like Catholicism just carried on Paganism. Look at Brigid the Goddess, they literally changed little and left her pagan symbol and turned it into Brigid's cross. Catholicism was smart at marketing and lax on orthodoxy. Every Irish women is confirmed under Brigid