The role of the catholic church in the preservation of traditional Irish culture in the first half of the twentieth century

Today, the Republic of Ireland, under the influence of globalization and integration into the EU, is undergoing a stage of serious changes in the field of culture and moral guidelines. How did one of the most religious countries with strong nationalist traditions find itself in such a situation? The article deals with the activities of the Catholic Church in the first half of the twentieth century to maintain the national culture and traditional Christian values in Ireland. From the end of the 19th century the Catholic Church became an important factor in Irish identity. After the creation of statehood in 1922, the role of the Church as a regulator of social and cultural public spheres was consolidated. The laws of the 1920-30s tactically solved the task of preserving traditional values, but they became unnecessarily reactionary in a strategic perspective. The created system turned out to be inflexible in the face of new challenges of the second half of the 20th century. The article is written on the basis of a report presented at the conference “Church Law and Culture: Facets of Interaction” (SPbTA, 21.10.2022).