The humiliation of the pope’s lackluster 2018 visit seems to have done little to wake many Catholics up to the reality of their demoted positions as pariahs within the new Ireland.
The evidence for this continued slumber can be found in the fact that many, even some bishops, are now cheering on a coordinated campaign to establish an anti Catholic public holiday, similar to the 12th of July events in Northern Ireland. ‘Brigid’s Day’ looks poised to become the demonic parody of ‘Saint Brigid’s Day’.
For the past two years, feminists have been bankrolled by the government and various NGOs into sending materials into schools, showcasing television shows on government television station RTE and even having their propaganda images projected onto government buildings. The end goal of this campaign has been to deChristianise Ireland by insinuating then repeating that there are no Catholic saints, merely Catholic retellings of pagan deities (despite the obvious historical reality of Saint Brigid’s existence).
By sending out information packs and organising competitions with students over the past couple of years, these campaigners have laid the groundwork for a public holiday where more than a select few children will be told that ‘Brigid’ (not a saint) was a lesbian, performed abortions and engaged in witchcraft.
The reason that they have had to do so is that they recognise that Saint Brigid is a stumbling block to their claims that the church is inherently anti woman. Brigid lived in the so called ‘Dark Ages’ and yet was allowed to become the Abbess of what was then the seat of ecclesiastical authority in Ireland, with power over both male and female religious.
There is a merit in honouring Ireland’s pre Christian history, but this proposal is not about honouring it. It is about manipulating it by means of using it as a weapon against the Catholic faith.
Everyone is well aware of the 12th of July’s anti Catholic antecedents, becoming a tradition of marches for the Orange Order in celebration of not just King William’s victory at the Battle of the Boyne, but coming to encompass resentment against the Catholic faith itself.
The establishment of a ‘Brigid’s Day’, conflating a holy and pious saint with some image of hippy witch of the kind found smoking weed in a tent at the foot of the Hill of Tara is an effort to codify anti Catholicism in the public sphere.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin infamously said after one referendum defeat ‘The church got a massive wake up call today’.
With prominent Catholics endorsing an anti Catholic public holiday, it is clear that that was not a big enough wake up call.