One of the best articles I read is this one: Caelum et Terra, Vol 5 no 2 Spring 1995,
Je Me Souviens: Remembering Quebec by Juli Loesch Wiley
https://www.caelumetterra.com/cet_backissues/article.cfm?ID=26 Unfortunately, the document is in .cfm format and I can't figure out how to open it (I have Linux). Believe you might have more luck if you use Windows . I read it shortly after it was published.
Anyway, there are a lot of commonalities between Ireland and Quebec.
Both have a tradition of sincere devotion since gone.
Both had primarily rural societies, normally a good thing as rural life connects you to reality in a way city life does not.
Both had high levels of practice and vocations.
Both had problems with some clerical sexual abuse that was swept under the carpet, with the sweeping part arguably causing a widespread loss of confidence.
Both were racial and linguistic minorities overshadowed and dominated by a larger British English society, for which Catholicism also doubled as a political protest movement as much as a religion...
Both secularized incredibly rapidly.
And in both cases it's next to impossible to get any analysis deeper than "well of course it collapsed; Catholicism is such a horrible backwards religion".
If anyone wants a good PhD thesis topic, there's a lot of material in there to explore if you want to take the angle that losing the faith is NOT a good thing for a society. The high level of suicide and depression that comes from that ought to be enough of an indicator!
You're most welcome! I am enjoying our discussion.
I see what you mean about Wiley! Thanks for that.
Funny that you mention Robert Waldrop: I read his website with great enthusiasm back in the 90s. I bought a copy of his piano music CD that he was selling at one point to raise money for his CW house. Found out he had died about 2 months after the fact....
Here's a couple of links for background:
One of the best articles I read is this one: Caelum et Terra, Vol 5 no 2 Spring 1995, Je Me Souviens: Remembering Quebec by Juli Loesch Wiley https://www.caelumetterra.com/cet_backissues/article.cfm?ID=26 Unfortunately, the document is in .cfm format and I can't figure out how to open it (I have Linux). Believe you might have more luck if you use Windows . I read it shortly after it was published.
The last couple of paragraphs of this article posit that the apparent devotion of the Quebeckers was a bit of a facade: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/fruits-of-the-quiet-revolution-catholic-church-quebec/ Not sure I buy that theory completely. Yes, social reinforcement certainly helps one's faith (or non-faith), but it's not the only factor.
Another theory was that the religious orders most common in Quebec were overwhelmingly of the devotional sort--Sulpicians in particular. The net result was a distinct lack of a Catholic intellectual tradition in Quebec. The people may have been devout, as well as many of the clergy (some incredibly devoted, even saintly, men). But on the whole, they had no "intellectual chops" to withstand or counteract the tremendous double-whammy wave of nonsense that came out of the socio-political révolution tranquille (quiet revolution) and the post-Vatican 2 religious-liturgical "out with the old; in with the new". Like hothouse plants, they had no ability to withstand the buffeting--intellectually, and therefore religiously.
Anyway, there are a lot of commonalities between Ireland and Quebec.
And in both cases it's next to impossible to get any analysis deeper than "well of course it collapsed; Catholicism is such a horrible backwards religion".
If anyone wants a good PhD thesis topic, there's a lot of material in there to explore if you want to take the angle that losing the faith is NOT a good thing for a society. The high level of suicide and depression that comes from that ought to be enough of an indicator!
You're most welcome! I am enjoying our discussion.
I see what you mean about Wiley! Thanks for that.
Funny that you mention Robert Waldrop: I read his website with great enthusiasm back in the 90s. I bought a copy of his piano music CD that he was selling at one point to raise money for his CW house. Found out he had died about 2 months after the fact....