The amendment was lost because of the position of expediency adopted by the Roman Catholic bishops, argues Oliver Rafferty, a church historian from Maynooth
Throughout human history, and therefore throughout the history of the church, some women have attempted, for whatever reason, to abort their unborn child. The deliberate destruction of an unborn human embryo either in the womb or outside of it is, according to current Roman Catholic teaching, a serious sin.
The Roman Catholic tradition has varied over the centuries as to when precisely a foetus might be declared a person. In the history of the church individual theologians, popes and bishops have offered varying interpretations as to when human life begins. For at least the last 200 years, however, a general consensus has emerged that any wilful attempt to destroy a foetus at any stage from conception involves the destruction of a person or a potential person and is a violation of the order appointed by God.
It is this thinking which led Dana Rosemary Scallon to oppose the recent abortion referendum. Her position gave rise to the surprising spectacle of an unlikely and unintended alliance between conservative Catholics and political liberals campaigning for a No vote, though each with an admittedly vastly different agenda.
The point of Dana's position, however, is that she has remained rigorously consistent so far as the strict teaching of the church is concerned. The bishops, by contrast, have adopted a position of expediency because the referendum offered by the Government was the best that could be hoped for.
The proposed amendment, now defeated, would have given protection to foetuses in the womb, not to those generated outside the womb, and only then after implantation. Dana has not forgotten the teaching she learned in religion class in her Catholic school in Derry, and because she chose to adhere to that teaching sanction by generations of Catholic bishops, she and those who thought like her were branded by at least one highly placed bishop as "misguided". So much for the respect church spokesmen assure us official Catholicism affords to those who differ from the official line.
Abortion, by the standards of Catholic morality cannot be justified under any circumstances. The rejection of the amendment will not change that principle. Neither would its acceptance have prevented Irish women from seeking terminations elsewhere. One cannot legislate sin away. At most, had the referendum been carried, it would have enabled those of us who adhere to Catholic teaching to declare, perhaps a bit smugly, that we do not have abortion in Ireland. That particular issue we export.
In the face of the referendum defeat a real problem is posed for the authority and credibility of institutional Catholicism in this country. Three times in eight years the Irish bishops have "advised" Catholics to vote in a specific way in referendums and three times their advice has been rejected at the polls. It is, surely, time for the hierarchy to ask itself why it appears to have so little influence over public life in an overwhelmingly Catholic country?
What precisely is the relationship between the Irish Catholic Church and Irish society? Why is the church moving to a position where, relatively speaking, it is losing the sympathy and respect of large sections of our people? Will the church in the future be reduced to a sectarian rump obses- sed with its lack of influence?
It is not enough for the church to blame a wicked and liberal agenda propagated by the media and the Irish liberal establishment for the fact that it no longer commands respect consonant with its position in Irish society. If what the church has to say resonated with the hearts and minds of our people then its message would prevail irrespective of the forces ranged against it.
The leadership of the Catholic Church must begin with humility and openness to ask why the message of Catholic Christianity no longer appeals to the Irish people to the same degree as in the past.
In the ecclesiastical post-mortem following the referendum the bishops must begin to reflect on how the message of the Gospel can again be made accessible to our people.
• Father Oliver Rafferty is professor of ecclesiastical history at St Patrick's College, Maynooth