The Catholic Church`s Ne Temere Policy in Ireland

Prior to the Vaticans Ne Temere Decree it was tradition in Ireland among mixed Catholic / Protestant marriages to bring boys up in the same religion as the father and girls in the same religion as the mother. An honourable compromise by any accounts. after the Ne Temere decree all children of mixed religion marriages had to be brought up as Catholic by decree of the Catholic Church and was eforcable under the law of the Irish Republic which gives the Roman Catholic Church a special position in the Irish constitution. This law was enforced many times...children were even removed from their families to ensure that they were brought up as Catholics.

......................................Below is a message from an email list..................................................................

>Too True Frank.
>I always point out to people that Ulster Courts did not insist Catholic's
>children were raised as Protestants ...Whereas in The Republic Ne Temere was
>enforced in the Courts and Children were removed from their protestant
>family to be raised as RCs.

It was in Fethard on Sea where the entire Protestant community was boycotted and many were forced out or had their businesses ruined because one mixed marriage couple refused to have their daughter attend the local Roman Catholic primary school. Instead they sent her to the local Protestant school.
The Roman Catholic community boycotted the Prods at the behest of the local Roman Catholic Parish Priest, supported by his Bishop, despite the fact that BOTH parents, including their Roman Catholic father, initially wanted their children to attend the Protestant school.

The case went to the Republic's courts which determined that Ne Temere would be enforced by law. When the mother fled to Scotland where she hid she was hunted down as even the British courts would have returned her and her daughter to the bigoted Republic. The case went to the Republic's courts which determined that the Roman Catholic church's Ne Temere decree would be enforced as law in the Republic.

Never forget that the Republic's 1937 constitution gives a special status to the Roman Catholic religion.
Prior to the Vatican's Ne Temere decree it had been generally accepted in Europe that the children of a mixed marriage were to be raised in the religion of the spouse of that child's gender. In the case of the fethard on Sea couple the girls would have been raised Prods and the boys as catholics. The Roman Catholic church changed this working approach and unilaterally dictated that all children of a mixed marriage had to be raised as catholics or they would not recognise the marriage and the children would be bastards.

And the Republic's politicians have the effrontery to call Ulstermen bigotted !
Frank

In May 1957 the Roman Catholic Parish Priest in Fethard on Sea in the Republic ordered the Roman Catholic majority to boycott any contact with the local Protestant minority. These christian men felt that the boycott would force Shiela Cloney who had fled to Scotland with her daughters to return the children. The Roman Catholic church demanded that the children be returned and raised as Roman Catholics. The Roman Catholic Bishop either actually ordered the boycott or encouraged it.
In 1998 the Roman Catholic Bishop apologised. It must be nice when people realise they were wrong. In this case it only took 41 years. Maybe they didn't understand the issue as the Ne Temere decree is still enforced by the Roman Catholic church for mixed marriages to be recognised by them.
Frank
Ex Catholic(father Protestant, mother Roman Catholic)

The Ne Temere decree per se is no longer applied. However it is one of those things that is now strongly implied and recommended and may be insisted upon by the priest who is being asked to conduct the marriage. I know of someone in Donegal who is being rather shabbily treated by the PP as she is married "outside the church" when in another RC church the PP is far less upset. About five years ago a friend of mine who is not RC was getting married to an RC and it was requested that the RC girl give an verbal promise that the children, if any, would be raised RC. The priest then explained that the guy had to be present when the promise was made and effectively to agree to it. This was in the US. The priest explained that it was in the best interests of the children to raise them as "christians", meaning RC and if she could not make the promise then maybe they ought to consider their commitment. Although she made the promise, so as to keep her mother happy by marrying in the church, they do not intend to keep it. (Which might cause trouble with her mother).

Although formally it isn't applied, it was still a strongly insisted expectation in this case.

Frank