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

My parents are Irish Catholic's OP. They moved to London and i was born and raised here as a Catholic. Primary and secondary schools, holy communion at age 7, confirmation. We had to go to mass in school twice a week, Sunday's with my parents. My Mother and Grandmother carried around rosary beads. Statue of Jesus with a little light underneath hanging up in the hallway of our home. It was intense at the time especially with going to church. My parents and especially my father's side of the family are very sociable and spend alot of time together.
When I around 17 I stopped going to church. I suppose I was sick of it all. I wanted to make my own choices. They were ok until I met my future DH and he isnt religious. My parents had their hearts set on me having this great big wedding and getting married in their Catholic church. I wanted to get marriage in our local registry office and then hired a lovely venue for a party to celebrate our wedding. My parents did not talk to me for 7 months but I stood my ground and I had an amazing day. Everyone did.
My dc's arent raised Catholic but I did have them christened church of England. My Dbro and Dsis are not practising Catholic's and none of us have sent our dc's to Catholic schools.

I assume no one would think it’d be ok if, on meeting someone from India they were to pipe up, oh, you’ll be a Hindu then.

Yes it's quite rude right!

It was also a bit shocking to me, as I am very non religious, I never think about religion, that the first thing my colleague said to me was: "there's a Catholic church down the road that you can go to"

All you have to say is no. And explain if need be. Most of my Irish friends are Catholic but one northern Irish one isn’t Catholic. No idea what religion actually.

That’s slightly different. Most people know Sikh, Muslim and Hindu are the main religions of India. Whereas most people would assume (yes they shouldn’t) that most Irish people (southern) are catholic.

Its the stereotyping that is annoying. Its also not anyone's place to assume anyone else's religion, especially at work.

The UK is still a Christian majority country. I have never gone up to any of my English colleagues and said "ah so you are a Christian!"

There are also a lot of Buddhists, Muslims and Christians in India

Surveys show that currently 69 percent of people identify as Catholic in Ireland. There are 31 percent that are not Catholic.

I was going to say is it an older generation thing - my old neighbour was Irish, and one of the first things she said to me was that she was a Protestant! But you’ve said it’s younger people who have commented? Very weird, I don’t ever wonder or comment on what religion someone is.

I’m from a Catholic family, grandparents were Irish. I’d (reasonably) assume a majority of Irish people had been baptised/confirmed as Catholics, but I find it really odd that so many people find it so notable that it’s the first thing they blurt out!

The same colleague who said to me that there was a Catholic church down the road, also said to me this.

My other French colleague said that her friend had just moved to Ireland.

My first colleague said "why would anyone move to Ireland" turned to me and said "no offense"!

Bizarre. Hasn't happened to me since 1990. Most recently others have assumed I am Protestant because I live in Northern Ireland. I have what is generally regarded as a Protestant first name. Not kidding.

Yes, when I left London for the midlands after fifteen years, I realised I’d never lived in England, really. And yes, encountered far more deeply peculiar entrenched ideas about Irishness than in London. A woman I’d just been introduced to leaned across to me and said, in an undertone, shuddering slightly ‘Ireland — such a backward place, isn’t it?’ As if she’d personally rescued me from a bog.

I am English but live in Ireland. Once in the staff room of the maternity ward I worked in we were talking about death/burial rituals. One of my colleagues asked me what ‘my lot’ did during a funeral. Oh how the obstetrician laughed when I explained I was raised catholic…

The same person often in the same breath congratulates themselves on getting an Irish passport via a grandparent, having voted for Brexit.

Very odd. Another lapsed Catholic, Irish parents. I'm often surprised in the opposite way at how little people in the UK understand about either Ireland or Catholicism.

Even if it shows a bit more cultural awareness, it is still a very odd assumption that anyone from anywhere would be part of any particular organised religion today when most people are not anything.

I live in Leicester and my kids are the only white British ones in their school of over 400 kids. My kids kept coming home asking me "are you sure we aren't Christians, kids at school say people like us are Christians" think the kids just thought all white people must be Christian. They look so surprised when I tell them we have no religion.

Ok so that person is just an anti-Irish prick making some kind of ‘point’, fuck ‘em. I don’t consider being called a Catholic to be an insult but they possibly do (I have certainly heard Catholicism spoken about with more disrespect and derision than many religions). The explanation is that the person is a cock. bangs gavel.

I had an English person explaining to me what a dishwasher was, I was in her home and she gave me a full on demonstration because she 'didn't suppose that we had them in Ireland'. This was around 2010

I've always thought of Ireland (the island) as religiously divided mainly between Catholics and Protestants, I would never assume one or the other. And of course not everyone is religious. Just unfortunate coincidences? The Irish sides of my family are both.

I remember Nadine Coyle, the Northern Irish member of girls aloud, said that her English band members thought that she grew up with absolutely nothing.

She said that she had to tell them that Northern Ireland had all the "mod cons", the same as England did.

I dont know. It was just a shock to me when someone said "ah theres a little church you can go to down the road there".

I have never thought of religion in my life! It would be like someone saying to me- Theres a nice little mosque you can go to

That's weird. I might assume but I wouldn't say anything. We were raised on Father Ted in the 90s though so that's probably my main window into Irish culture, and I'm sure things have moved on...

I worked in Pakistan for a while and everyone assumed I was a Christian because I'm white. I'm not a Christian but I was raised in a culturally Christian environment so I suppose it made sense.

To be fair, the vast majority of Irish from the republic identify as catholic in some shape or form. Not that strange really .

My family are Irish Catholics and you ought to see the disbelief on peoples faces when they find out I have 5 children, to two different fathers and wasn’t married to either of them.
Ive had people ask me if my parents mind me living in sin and having bas*d children. 😂
and here’s me thinking times had changed 🤦🏼‍♀️