music that doesn\u2019t completely suck<\/a>, and the Sacraments.<\/p>\nFor me, Ireland has always been a symbol more than a place. Sadly, the Ireland of land and buildings has succumbed, albeit to a lesser extent then the rest of Europe, to the powerful forces of secularism. Church attendance is low, they have a vocations crisis to match our own, and\u00a0their\u00a0status as a pro-life nation is\u00a0constantly\u00a0threatened, though they have been fighting heroically, resisting the EU. However, the Ireland of my heart \u2013 that is to say, Catholic Ireland \u2013 is an idea worth fighting for. It is this Ireland that lived the paradox \u2013 that suffering is redemptive. It is of this Ireland Chesterton spoke of when he wrote \u00a0 <\/p>\n
\u201cFor the great Gaels of Ireland \/ Are the men that God made mad, \/ For all their wars are merry, \/ And all their songs are sad.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\nIt is this Ireland that \u2013 in the face of the English Protestant oppression \u2013 did not waver in faith, but grew all the stronger, all the harder in their devotion to the Church. It is this Ireland that grows in my heart. It is this Ireland that lived out the Truth that our faith is meant to be joyful \u2013 not a yuppy sort of happiness \u2013 and saw no incongruence between solemn Masses and wild feast days, mournful processions and fiery dancing, the love of God and the love for our neighbor. This is Ireland alive, a streak of color amidst Post-Reformation grey.<\/p>\n
As an American in need of culture, I love to look to Ireland as a spirit, as that bone of rebellion in the body of a Catholic. It is the Irish within me that really bemoans the laws that force our hospitals to\u00a0administer\u00a0birth-control, make abortion legal, keep the drinking age so high, and take us to court for putting up manger scenes and the Ten Commandments. Oh, how I wish the faith in Ireland would flourish once again, and bring back to the world it\u2019s fighting spirit.
<\/span><\/p>\nAwake! St. Patrick, from your grave,<\/span><\/div>\nand with you the hearts of men.<\/span><\/div>\nFor the snakes that worm t\u2019wards Ireland\u2019s soul<\/span><\/div>\nneed casting out again! <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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