Christianity taught but not practised - Ireland in the 1950s

Below is the final paragraph in Dermot Ferriter’s opinion piece in The Irish Times yesterday:

The Burkes are usually described as “fundamentalist Christians”, prompting another reminder from history: in 1957, Irish trade unionist John Conroy, president of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, lamented how “nowhere in the world was there a country where so much Christianity was taught but so little practised ... the practical application of Christian teaching is put aside when selfish personal interests are involved.

It is always interesting to hear how people talk about the value of Catholic schools in Ireland, the ethos of Catholic schools.

What happened, what went so wrong?

When people talk about Ireland surrendering to secularisation, John Conroy back in 1957 saw how unchristian we were as a nation.