Faith & Community Relations

1. Faith & Community Relations Perspectives on Diversity, Reconciliation & Ecumenism By Dr Gladys Ganiel

2. Visioning 21st Century Ecumenism Funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Results & Survey Reports available at: www.ecumenics.ie

3. The Surveys • April – July 2009 • Faith leaders & Laypeople • Island-wide • Tick box & open ended questions • Diversity, reconciliation & ecumenism • Most important issues facing faith communities

4. Faith Leaders Survey • 4,005 direct requests • Response rate 18% • Methodists 33% • Other Religions 24% • Church of Ireland 21% • Presbyterian 18% • Catholic 13% • Other Christians 13%

5. Lay Survey • Exploratory • 910 responses • Catholic 46% • Other Christians 16% • Atheist/No Religion 12% • Church of Ireland 12% • Presbyterian 8% • Other Religions 4% • Methodist 2%

6. Diversity & Immigration A lot done, a lot more to do! • 44% of faith leaders have never done anything to accommodate ethnic minorities • 54% have preached or taught on immigration, diversity, welcoming strangers in last 12 months • 15% have used native languages of minorities in last 12 months

7. Reconciliation: It’s all about me! • Individualistic forms of reconciliation considered more important than social/political forms (ethnic groups, religious groups) • 50% of leaders and 28% of laypeople have accessed resources on reconciliation

8. That would be an ecumenical matter! I honestly don’t know. It is likely related to the word ‘ecumenical’ that I remember once being in a Father Ted episode. Other than that I do not know. – Pentecostal man, Co. Kerry

9. Ecumenism is? • Religious political correctness. – independent evangelical man, Co. Down • Seeing Jesus in those you meet of other religions. – Catholic priest, Co. Donegal • A pain in the arse. – Christian man, Galway City

10. Ecumenism • Thought of mainly in terms of inter-church dialogue • Laypeople more likely than leaders to prioritise relationships with ‘Other Religions’ • Most (27%) laypeople think 11-25% of time should be spent on ecumenism • Most leaders (40%) think less than 10% of time should be spent on ecumenism • Leaders don’t spend as much time on ecumenism as they would like

11. The Protestantisation of Irish Catholic Faith? • Lay Catholics emphasise the importance of personal reflection even more so than people from the COI, PCI, and Methodist churches • Lay Catholics see family & friends as influencing their faith more than clergy • Catholics & atheists most likely to rate leaders as ‘least influential’

12. A new brand of lay Catholicism? John Brewer: There are stages on the way to secularisation that are better descriptors of the position in Ireland – liberalisation in belief & individualisation in practice are more the case here. And it was remarkable to me to see the extent to which Catholics in the lay person survey ground their religious thinking not in community & tradition but the individual. Sociologists of religion not only need to understand the process of secularisation better they need on the basis of these findings to change their characterisation of Catholicism.

13. Evangelicals • 68% of faith leaders in N. Ireland, 45% in the Republic, identified as evangelical • In the North … • 91% Presbyterian & Methodist • 61% Other Christian • 58% Church of Ireland • 42% Catholic Laypeople: 42% in NI, 20% in the Republic

14. Evangelical Differences … • Non evangelical clergy are more likely to say reconciliation is important than evangelical clergy • Female clergy think reconciliation is more important than male clergy • Just 20% of evangelical men have a ‘high’ view of reconciliation (47% of evangelical women, 46% non evangelical women, 42% non evangelical men)

15. ‘Dissenter’ Differences … • Lay evangelical Dissenters are the most likely to have a low view of reconciliation with other religions • Dissenters are more likely to have a negative perception of ecumenism than evangelical Anglicans and non-evangelicals

16. The Marginalisation of Atheists? This survey is absolutely, utterly ridiculous. Have you even considered hiring a professional to develop it? Clearly not, or even worse, you did not want to. The survey ASSUMES that one IS a religious person, and all questions are developed accordingly. But what about Atheists? You did NOT specify that the survey did not address them. – Female, Dublin

17. So many questions … • How can our faith communities better handle diversity? • Is it appropriate for conceptions of reconciliation to be so focused on the individual? • Can ‘ecumenism’ be redeemed or should it be abandoned?

18. Still more questions … • Can a new brand of (lay) Catholicism develop in Ireland? • Given that women think more highly of reconciliation than men, has their perspective been adequately reflected in our faith communities? • Is our view of evangelicalism coloured by what male evangelicals think about reconciliation? • How can atheists and religious alike contribute meaningfully to debate in a fully inclusive public sphere?

19. Ongoing Case Studies • Fermanagh Churches Forum • Holy Cross Monastery Rostrevor

20. Alternative ways of ‘doing church’? • Relationship with traditional denominational structures • Why does this appeal to people? • Role in personal spirituality • Wider social and political effects • What messages can the Fermanagh Churches Forum & Holy Cross Monastery give to the wider church?