Secular anti-Catholicism can fairly be described as the ruling ideology of the modern Republic of Ireland. In no other country do politicians and the media so openly, persistently, and savagely attack the Catholic Church. In no other country do leading politicians seek to score political points by launching virulent attacks on the Church and all she stands for. The Church is depicted as a monstrous institution that tyrannized the Irish people for decades, physically and sexually abusing Irish children and oppressing women. In 2011, in the first few months of his premiership, Ireland’s then prime minister Enda Kenny launched a withering attack on the Church to widespread public approval; more recently, in October 2016 at the height of his re-election campaign, President Michael D. Higgins seized the opportunity to attack the Church for her “absolutist . . . statements about women and about relationships between men and women,” among other things.

The Catholic Church has been transformed almost overnight from Ireland’s most deeply respected institution to her most despised. Ireland is today one of the world’s most liberal countries. No major newspaper, media outlet, or political party seriously questions the new orthodoxy. Additionally, a stream of movies has been released over the last 20 years purporting to show us what an evil and cruel nation Catholic Ireland...