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

I have zero interest in religion. My replies were to people who said when I was child in Ireland, that most people would have been Catholics.

I replied that my best friend in school in Ireland was non religious. I obviously knew this as we skipped religion class and had extra study together

I'm not suggesting that because of course the right wing press are whipping up hre division over people with perceived Muslim heritage but usually that is accompanied with a racism based upon skin colour. As you probably know it is pretty bad in Ireland for this kind of racism. The idea that kids would know enough about the history of Ireland, from hearing your accent but seeing you are white (?) and dish out a load of racism is truly surprising.

I don't think you understand just how differently religion is viewed in Ireland compared to England.

For example on paper I tick the 'Christian' box, reason being is my family had me baptised in order to help secure a school place as that's what was done back then and once you're written into the Catholic registry that's where you stay for life so I'm on record as a Christian despite never actually being one.
Many (if not a majority) of Irish are 'paper Christians'(Catholic/Protestant/other on paper only), which heavily skews statistics. I know very few people of any background who actually believe in a god/gods or religious doctrine.
Despite neither believing or practicing a religion many Irish still tick (Christian) on forms, census and have church weddings/funerals out of cultural habit/convenience/aesthetic etc.. rather than any genuine religious conviction.

We appear religious to people on the outside looking in who don't understand our cultural nuance but reality is for all the religious iconography and churches we have their attendance is very sparse and far less than UK, we're at the point foreign missionaries are coming here trying to convert people as a result and our priests are dying out with no replacements which few people seem to care about either.

Like your work colleague I could give you a detailed description of Irish funeral rites and customs, I could word for word recite the prayers and blessings in both Gaeilge, English and partial Latin, you'd also likely see and hear me make religious references/sayings day to day yet I don't believe in any of it. It would simply be out of habit and while Irish people would be able to tell I'm not religious an English person would likely mistake me for very religious.

The church my dad attended has a fair sized group of parishioners of Pakistani descent.

No one expects RC Pakistanis.

Most people affiliate with Catholicism in Ireland now not just in the past.

Not true. A rapidly declining percentage of people identify as Catholic in Ireland. Especially amongst younger people.
If i ever go back to visit ireland , not one person that I know ever mentions Catholicism, no one goes to Catholic church.

The only people that i know that go to church are some people in my town who are in their 70s.

You've also mentioned your Portuguese friend and a few others. I was thinking that being non-religious seems to be quite a strong feature of your personal identity - hence your annoyance at the incorrect assumption.

That in itself would be quite unusual in England, we don't care because we aren't pushing against anything.

The friend in school IS the Portuguese friend.

I think its just irritating for anyone - to be assumed to be something that has nothing to do with them.

What if I said to you Garlicbound. "Ah you are obviously a Muslim. There's a nice little Mosque down the road that you can go to"

Have you ever lived in Britain as church attendance is not high at all. Weddings and funerals are certainly not all in churches anymore.

The idea of Britain on his thread seems to be one from watching a drama set in the 50s like All Creatures Great and Small. My school and everyone I know was more like Grange Hill than Malory Towers and the area I lived in in West London was more like the comedy People Just Do Nothing with pirate radio and Garage music playing in most teenage rooms!

I disagree. I live near a lot of churches in England. On Sundays, there are always huge numbers of people going to them.

A lot of daycare, mother and baby groups and voluntary groups round here are also tied to the church of england

That's what the stats state. Fair enough they don't reflect your experiences but why do you and others on this thread have this really peculiar and totally unreal notion of England, it is just not reflective of most people's experiences in cities especially, people are not shocked by diversity, it just isn't uncommon at all. I only know one person who has English heritage going back through both families.

I'd just say "Thanks, but I'm not". I wouldn't be offended, flattered, or take it personally at all.

Actually, I may well ask 'em what led them to think so, given I have none of what might be standard markers for Islam. Loads of people have assumed I'm Jewish, though. I either say I'm not Jewish or say nothing. I don't care.

I think you've missed the point a PP made about the pervasiveness of Catholicism in Ireland. It's a feature of your identity, purely by virtue of having grown up surrounded by it. Therefore, perhaps, you care more about NOT being Catholic than we would.

I think its you who has an unreal notion of England.

Google "racist incidents in England". How many do you see?

Baby groups aren't tied to the church they are 9 times out of 10 due to having a church hall, that is completely disingenuous. You must live in a very traditional area then.

No. I have never once thought about Catholicism in my life. Its completely irrelevant to me.

Ive only thought about it when I moved to England and some people thought that I was Catholic. I was like ' huh. Why?!'

Google racist incidents in Ireland what does it come up with?

Racist incidents of Irish people or racist incidents that are about anti-semitism, islamaphobia and skin colour?

I grew up in early 90s Ireland as a child of an Irish mother and foreign father, I was treated better back then than recently in modern day diverse England.
Being diverse does not make your country welcoming, just look at USA, a melting pot of every culture you can think of with the majority of the population coming from immigrant backgrounds yet despite it all the racism and hatred is off the scale.

My time in England it was made clear to me that being anything other than white English was unwelcome, ironically for all your diversity you're far less accepting than many nations who are less diverse.

Ive never denied that racist incidents happen in Ireland.

You, on the other hand have denied that racist incidents happen in the UK

I'm not the OP, obv, but I am Irish, and I can say for myself that my own intense annoyance would.come from being stereotyped.

Oh you're Irish so you must be ... (fill in the blank).

Stereotyping is inherently racist.

Thats what I said! Thank you.

Im sorry that you experienced racism in England.

Why would you be so shocked, I don't get it, it's not that shocking that people relate Catholicism to Ireland like they do with Italy, Spain? People think of CofE with the UK as we have a constitutional monarchy

@Goldenbear

What is your purpose in posting on this thread?

I have my own ideas based on your posts, but I'd like to see yours.

Because its absolutely nothing to do with me. I also don't know anyone in Ireland that is a practicing Catholic. It never ever comes up in conversation in my social circles.

There are a lot of Muslims in England. What if I said to you "ah you are English so you are a muslim"