Ah you're a Catholic!

[Appleday11]

I moved to England to work last year. I'm Irish.

When I arrived at my workplace, one of my colleagues said "Ah you are Irish, this is a nice city, there is a Catholic church down the road that you can go to".

I think she was trying to be helpful but I thought it was quite bizarre. I'm not Catholic and I told her so.

Second time - I was out in the pub with a mixed group of people. Some of them I had never met before. One man said "ah you're Irish, you're a Catholic!" I told him Im not.

Third time- I was at another group. A woman said to me "you are Irish. Ah so you like such and such. And you are a Catholic". I told her I am not.

I found it strange as I have never really thought about religiom. Do some people here think that all Irish people are Catholics? My family were not religious at all and I was never brought up any religion

For example when the lovely English woman I mentioned earlier who demonstrated her dishwasher to me because we wouldn't have them in Ireland I know what that is rooted in, I felt it in my bones. I know that it comes from the years of British rule and propaganda that we are simple, backwards folk. If I bite back at that and get annoyed at her lazy stereotypes am I going to be labelled as insolent and hot headed, 'throwing a paddy'? Am I just going to be further confirming what she already 'knows' about Irish people? This is just one example of a lifetime of examples.

Like it said even now the effects of British rule inform how we move through the world now, how we respond to certain situations, how we feel in certain situations. It's not so easy to just 'move on'. It's embedded in us.

I don't believe the same can be said for the average British person as a result of ww2.

Nevertheless you said it’s easier for a rich country to move on, and you are now a rich country, so move on? Or is it special rules for you and your suffering is somehow superior and meaningful in a way nobody else’s is..?

Yes, I think ww2 was worse. And I stand by that.

It's not distasteful if it's your heritage which it wouldn't be in Ireland as the point is there isn't a rich tapestry of diverse enthnicities. You being dismissive of the notion of Britishness not including Jewish Brits by stating the percentage suggests you just don't get it, the cultural memory and identity of many Brits is a mergence of many diverse cultures and ethnicities, not only this Brit the Oppressor that you believe all of us to be!

You referenced generational trauma of people and yes, I certainly think and know there was that from the second world war. Why would there not be?

No one is asserting that Irish history, the Brits colonising it and starving people, the violence that was inflicted on the Irish people can be erased but I think attributing blame on the British now is devisive like the perception of Brexit being a testament to the hate of the Irish. The reality is it was almost a 50/50 vote for and against. London and the South was the biggest Remain vote in the country. Oxford was about 70% Remain, Lambeth was 79% Remain, Cambridge Remain, Brighton Remain, Bristol Remain. London's population is not far off double the whole of Ireland's. If you throw in the Remain areas predominantly in the south east then your argument that this somehow represents the British pysche is fact averse bilge, certainly not recent evidence of the British arrogance around Ireland. Surely it's better to encourage social harmony than stick with the narrative of the right wing press which is firing up the hate at the moment.

This is bizarre, I'm sorry but where the heck do you live where this is happening in England? Explaining a dishwasher to you because you are Irish?

Ireland has a long history of Catholic ties.
Most people of a certain age, had grandparents who were religious Catholic.
There is a bit of revival amongst young people, it’s not that far fetched to think that if you were religious you might be Catholic.
Strange that someone would mention it or even give it any thought.

Yeah I suspect there’s a bit more to this story..

Yes, there must be as it is baffling that anyone would explain how a dishwasher works in 2026 unless they were very old so believe it to be modern tech but even then they'd have to be in their late 90s, maybe have Dementia, who knows.

Forced starvation on an entire population?

You should study and then study some more before making statements that make you look uneducated.

This is what I first commented on but the Reformation was brought up last night as evidence of my cultural prejudices (I think) which is hilarious as they know nothing of my cultural heritage!
Equally, I thought you could be culturally Catholic like some Jewish people refer to themselves as.

Honestly I can't with this thread. You are lying about your experiences, you should just move on, WW2 was worse for British people than British rule was for Irish people and we moved on just fine, what's wrong with you that you can't?

Great bunch of lads.

Maybe you’re the uneducated one. Believe it or not, worse things have happened in history than what Ireland went through.

’lads’ 😖

In Britain during the war worse happened than the forced starvation of a country that led to the loss of 25% of the population. Do you want to run us through that? I mean us Irish are but simple uneducated folk, you should really enlighten us.

Yes. I’m not even going to go into why, the facts and damage and recentness speak for themselves. Thankfully British people have zero interest in making a grudge their entire identity.

The country has gone through rapid change over the last thirty years but the perception of what it is like has not caught up.

And another thing a lot of people do not realise is that there are plenty of protestant and Church of Ireland (Anglican)folk in the ROI so you could have been Christian and non Catholic.

My degree is history and politics.

Trust me, you don’t know what you are talking about.

So? That doesn’t make your opinion the ultimate one.

Hardly uneducated, for a start you know about Irish History, I'm afraid many Brits don't have the first clue. Equally, double GDP per Capita doesn't suggest uneducated.

To quote Mark Twain

‘Don’t argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference’.

There is generational trauma in the uk from WW2. That’s why we had the silent generation. My step grandmother was traumatised from being abused and evacuated and she brought up my parent with trauma.

this fact doesn’t negate generational traumas the Irish experience though

It happens in Ireland. Im English living on the West Coast and everyone assumes Im Proddy. I'm not.😂
And one of our daughters has a boyfriend who has Indian desent but was brought up Catholic in Mayo. Everyone assumes he isn't Catholic, he is. And a work colleague is from Iraq and is here because the Catholic community was being persecuted. There are exclusive catholic schools in Iraq. Everyone assumes he is muslim despite his wife being Catholic from Tralee. So, as per anything, best not to make assumptions. The Irish Catholic thing is a common assumption. But flawed, as most assumptions can be.

Well we lost multiple family members, another committed suicide due to PTSD from the Japanese prisoner camps, my grandparents were separated from their parents for years as evacuees and returned as strangers, and their home cities were levelled, never to return in their original form again.

But yes, the English have ‘no idea what suffering and trauma is’ and should ‘educate themselves about Ireland but clearly the reverse isn’t necessary’ blah blah blah

These kind of comments, dripping with prejudice, make you sound like you are more at home with the calvacade of right wing tub thumpers than someone who is 'educated' with a degree in Politics! But I suspect you think it is ok for some to be prejudiced just not others towards the Irish- oh the hypocrisy!

I see a genuine question about perceptions between two cultures has evolved into a history leasson, as per usual when anything Irish and British is mentioned together on any social media.