Rite and Reason: With all the scorn being poured on the Catholic Church right now, is it possible that we have overlooked something valuable, asks Ros Campbell.
The penal laws in Ireland and communism elsewhere probably did less damage to the church than the recent clerical child sex abuse scandals and the modern ethos have done today.
Father Gerard Maloney in Reality magazine talks about the drop in Mass attendance in Ireland as a result of the scandals.
"The trends of falling religious adherence would have emerged anyhow, as they have across the Western world in the last half century," he said.
Is it not ironic that in Ireland, where in the 17th century Oliver Plunkett was hanged for being a Catholic priest, the church today finds itself under so much attack and this time from its own members?
The Catholic faith was the ballast to which the Irish clung under colonial oppression.
In Latin America the church has so often been the champion of the poor and the oppressed against autocratic regimes.
Maybe in Ireland, where vocations to the priesthood have fallen dramatically in recent years, we can learn something from the Third World, where Africans and others are flocking in their droves to religious orders.
Perhaps all the invective and scorn poured on the church today owe something to the traditional authoritarian nature of the church here.
Perhaps had it not wielded such enormous power here we - as in other Western countries where the church is not as strong - would not be experiencing so strongly the effects of the scandals that we are witnessing.
The clerical scandals uncovered in the 1990s had a devastating effect on a population which possessed such a high degree of loyalty and reverence towards its hierarchy.
For a church which occupied this position of unquestioned moral authority, its plight was all the greater when fundamental flaws in its structure and among its hierarchy were so starkly revealed.
Writing in Reality, Éamon Maher talks about "the betrayal of a sacred trust by ministers of the gospel, and, to add insult to injury, the dereliction of duty by church leaders more concerned about the image of the institution then the protection of innocent children".
This position of the church in Ireland contrasts greatly with the humbler institution we find outside of the West.
Catholics in China cling to their church in the battle against a communist oppressor.
It was their faith in a church which preached about a personal God who loved each one of them and stood by them through all their troubles, that gave the oppressed in Ireland the will and the spirit to go on.
They looked to their God and their priests - who taught them from the Mass rocks and in the hedge schools - for hope in their bitter struggles against tyranny.
Now that we have achieved freedom this kind of church is no longer relevant.
We do not need to look to a God or a church in a fight against oppression or any threat to our freedoms.
We are free instead to punch holes in an institution which we had grown to look up to and expected so much from.
We busy ourselves with finding fault with it wherever we can.
Rather we should see the church for what it is, made up of humans and therefore subject to the normal weaknesses of humanity.
But it is also an institution that has survived the Roman empire, the barbarian invasions, Viking marauders, plantation, communism and fascism, and today faces probably the most challenging enemy of all, the modern materialist ethos.
In criticising the church we should not forget it was our Celtic ancestors who so warmly embraced Christianity because of the deep spirituality of the people here, despite the druids who also possessed great status among the people.
This points to a country where religion and faith traditionally have played a central role.
In the dark ages it was this island's saints and scholars and monks, who brought Christianity and civilisation back to Europe showing the strength of the faith here then.
It was this church, furthermore, which inspired the creation of the Book of Kells.
In more recent times Ireland again found itself at the centre of a worldwide missionary fervour, whose devotees spread the gospel to the four corners of the globe.
Today, surrounded by Hollywood and other icons of a consumer-driven culture, there is an urgent need to reflect more deeply on the unique spiritual tradition we have inherited.
Perhaps the recent clerical scandals were just part of the painful process in a transformation from a conservative, closed culture of secrecy to one of openness and healing.
"We may have a more humble church in the future", says Father Maloney, "where ordinary members will have a real say and have their voices heard."
The French priest-writer Jean Sulivan writes: "Like the storm-clouds of the Exodus, the church's face is more luminous today than when it seemed to rule. It has found glory in its humiliation."
Ros Campbell has written on social issues for the Word, Reality, Pioneer and other religious magazines.