Irish Catholic

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Irish Catholic is a term used to describe people who are both Catholic and Irish (or of Irish descent).

Divisions between Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants (both those who would eventually be called the Protestant Ascendancy and those Protestants of more humble societal position) have played a major role in the history of Ireland from the Reformation to The Troubles.

Irish Catholics can be found in many countries around the world, the English speaking world especially. Emigration was often initiated by duress as was the case with the Great Irish Famine in the late 1840s, following which the population declined by over half in the following century (from approx. over 8 million to just over 4 million) due to the pattern of immigration begun then. The term has currency in the UK, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Some of these nations had, or have, a majority of Protestants; thus, both aspects – being Catholic, and being Irish – at times separated them from the mainstream culture. In the United States, hostility to both these aspects was expressed through the Know-Nothing movement and Nativism in general.

See also

• Anti-Catholicism
• Celtic Christianity
• Irish American
• Irish Australian
• Irish Canadian
• Irish diaspora
• Irish migration to Britain
• Irish Newfoundlander
• Irish People
• Irish Scots
• Know-Nothings
• Nativists
• Penal Laws
• Roman Catholicism in Ireland
• Saint Patrick's Day

External links

• Library of Congress
• The Irish Catholic Diaspora in America, describes the book ISBN 0-8132-0896-3
• On Irish Catholics of Australia

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