Ireland’s loss of faith, folklore and identity – according to this doctor’s diagnosis

It’s quite an achievement for a book to become a best-seller without any mainstream book reviews, and with little visibility in the bookshops. But Eoin Lenihan’s Vandalising Ireland reached the top of the best-seller list in non-fiction last weekend, sold almost entirely through Amazon (and published by Western Front, which specialises in a Christian worldview).

The subtitle of Dr Lenihan’s work explains quite a lot: “How the Government, NGOs, Academia and the Media Are Engineering a New Globalist Ireland.”

Loss

It’s a significant book, and the reason it has gained readers is that it accords with a national ‘vibe’ about loss of identity and culture – or, at least, anxiety about that issue. It’s also full of facts and data (Lenihan trained as a professional archaeologist), as well as driven by a passion about a lost Ireland, and maybe an echo of Corkery’s “Hidden Ireland” theme.

Ireland, he maintains, has lost its faith, its folklore, its connection with history, its sense of itself – and he traces the various influences which have flattened an Irish sense of identity. He is robustly critical of immigration policies, so carelessly implemented by politicians – and the wholesale lack of consultation and communication with the grassroots around locating groups of incomers.

He excoriates the NGOs which have sought to replace authentic patriotism with globalism and indeed have directly engaged in gratuitous Ireland-bashing. Among the most egregious examples cited is the National Women’s Council, which behaved so disgracefully after the murder of Ashling Murphy – seeking to divert responsibility for this crime to the alleged “misogyny” of Irishmen, even when it became clear that the accused was a Slovak national, living on Ireland’s welfare benefits.

While the author believes too much immigration erodes Ireland’s homogeneity, I think immigration can be harmonious, if sensibly managed”

The NWC blamed “men in general”, and The Guardian newspaper actually blamed the murder of this young woman on “Irish misogyny” – a deplorable slur. Regrettably, much of the Irish mainstream media and RTÉ followed this line of ascribing this horrible crime to “Irish misogyny”, rather than to an individual’s wicked deed.

The drivel served up about “white privilege” – whereby it’s alleged that even the poorest Irish person possesses such “privilege” – and the nonsense about “intersectionality” (race, class and gender a factor in everything) in the education system are also worthy targets of Eoin Lenihan’s ire, with emphasis on Norma Foley’s role. As are his accusations that the Dublin political system has lacked real opposition.

It’s a book that informs, but also one you might argue with. I disagree with his critique of Cardinal Cullen, who, Lenihan thinks, turned a people’s heartfelt faith into an institutional power: but no movement can survive without organisational structure. And while the author believes too much immigration erodes Ireland’s homogeneity, I think immigration can be harmonious, if sensibly managed, and provided incomers are integrated into the host culture. And the host culture must have confidence in itself – which is, in fairness, very much what Lenihan is saying.

Culture, identity, society – yes, these subjects really do need discussion, and in open form. Catholic faith traditions and Irish folklore should be honoured and even renewed, he says. Eoin Lenihan’s is a necessary voice.

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I don’t think I’d ever heard the term “Cathenomics” until the Financial Times mentioned it last weekend. Being an organ focused on money (founded by the Irishman Brendan Bracken – see his biography by Charles Lysaght), anything linked with ‘economics’ is FT territory. And “Cathenomics” means applying the principles of Catholic social teaching – justice, human dignity, care for creation – to the workings of the economy. It was coined by the academic Anthony Annett in a book of the same title.

The FT reports that Catholic influence is rising in the US – that Catholics represent “an intellectual force and a crucial swing vote.” Catholic influence, writes Rana Forooker, global business expert, is about this “intellectual leadership”, as well has having strong roots in the trade unions. The famous encyclical Rerum Novarum has become a key text. Patrick Dineen’s manifesto Why Liberalism Failed also appealed to the American worker because it explained how “the global economy crushed the interests of the American voter.”

Mr Dineen is another influential Catholic, as are Marco Rubio, Steve Bannon, and, perhaps more controversially, J.D. Vance (“Cathenomics” is critical of Trumpism.)

Temporal power may be viewed with suspicion by Christians; but it is interesting to hear about intellectual leadership, ideas and influences blossoming within the American Catholic community.

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How inspiring that, with the cross being finally affixed to Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia, it’s now the tallest church in the world (162.91 metres.) It was within an ace of deliberate destruction during the Spanish Civil War.

Meanwhile, in Bucharest thousands queued for the opening of Romania’s newly built National Cathedral, which is now the tallest Orthodox church in the world at 127 metres, with a capacity for 5,000. There’s no competition for height, yet loftiness may show optimism.