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Irish service offering defection from Catholic Church is suspended

MOLLY MULDOON,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Thursday, October 14, 2010, 7:52 AM

Updated Thursday, October 14, 2010, 8:17 AM

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Interior of St Mary's Pro Cathedral, Dublin

A service offering Irish Catholics assistance from renouncing their membership of the Catholic church has been suspended.

CountMeOut.ie had been offering Irish Catholics a “simple 3-step process” in defecting from the Catholic church. Since their website went live in July 2009 there have been over 12,000 downloads of the declaration of defection.

Earlier this year the Catholic Church modified Canon Law removing all references to the act of formal defection. In response to this CountMeOut.ie has been contacted in recent weeks by several people who were concerned about delays concerning their defection request. Most received notice from the Dublin Catholic Archdiocese stating that they are unable to process their application until the Archdiocese decides how to implement canon law changes.

Despite writing to the Catholic Church seeking clarification on the matter, CountMeOut said in a statement on Wednesday that “the Church have yet to reach a firm position on how or whether they will continue to accept requests for the annotation of the baptismal register.”

The Dublin Archdiocese have confirmed that at the end of August changes were introduced to Canon Law and as a result it will no longer be possible for individuals to formally defect from the Catholic Church. However it added that the Archdiocese will maintain a register of names for those who have expressed the desire to defect.

According to the Dublin Archdiocese last year 229 people formally defected through their diocese and over 300 have done so far this year.

In a statement CountMeOut.ie said that “The service will remain suspended until such time as the Church clarifies in full what changes will be introduced to defections.”

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Intercessor | Oct 24, 2010, 08:29 AM EDT

After reading this article I wondered, "Do the people of Ireland really have Freedom of Religion?" If so, shouldn't the Holy Roman Catholic Church be required to give anyone, who no longer wants to be identified as a Roman Catholic, the self-evident "Right" of being removed from the official Church roles?

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Portia777 | Oct 17, 2010, 09:58 AM EDT

By law anyone is free to leave the catholic cult, as they did not sign themselves into it in the first place. Their parents did, so no contract signed by the free sovereign human being means the adults are not bound to the contract. As free sovereign human being we are free to do as we please- the only Universal law being- do no harm to anyone else. Now why then have we all these canon laws made up by men in dresses to suit their own purpose, which the sheep are clueless to.?

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Ms.Gail | Oct 15, 2010, 07:55 PM EDT

Verbs, not berbs. Sorry.

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Ms.Gail | Oct 15, 2010, 07:55 PM EDT

"The Church" and "The Archdiocese" are singular and should have singular berbs.

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FatherVol | Oct 15, 2010, 04:07 PM EDT

@Canadian, The Canon Law of teh Church still maintains that all Fridays are days of abstinence from meat as a form of penance in thanksgiving for the gift of Jesus' life on the cross on a Friday. Catholics are permittd to eat meat on Fridays but when they do so they are to perform some other form of penance in thanksgiving that will unite them spiritually to the sacrifice of Christ. Unfortunately, most Catholics only heard "we can eat meat on Fridays" and never heard the rest.

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pflynn70 | Oct 15, 2010, 10:52 AM EDT

With all the problems going on in the worls, now we have a few simple dummies who have nothing better to do than take time "disavowing themselves from the Church, who cares? If all the Christain religions don't get together and start being one, the Muslims will be forcing their hatred and vile stuff down your throats and try re-nouncing these folks. Looking forward to seeing your head on display?

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Canadian | Oct 15, 2010, 10:30 AM EDT

Is this worldwide or just in Ireland? I remember in the 50s or 60s the Vatican said that Catholics need no longer abstain from meat on Fridays but the Irish Bishops said "No thanks, we will continue to make it a sin in Ireland."

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killowen | Oct 15, 2010, 10:25 AM EDT

who cares - not i

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Taraskryne | Oct 15, 2010, 10:02 AM EDT

This has to be unconstitutional and a serious infringement on religious freedom at best. Totally unacceptable!

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barneyjo | Oct 15, 2010, 07:50 AM EDT

"Shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted" maybe??

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kickstar | Oct 15, 2010, 12:28 AM EDT

I never asked to be counted in, So I certainly won't be asking anyone's permission to be counted out.

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murphy66 | Oct 14, 2010, 06:31 PM EDT

They just didn't want to go to Confession anymore. They'll be back, many at the eleventh hour.

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jacersagain | Oct 14, 2010, 03:59 PM EDT

So over 500 people have 'officially' defected from the Catholic Church in Dublin's Diocese over two years? In a city of some 1.5 million?? Yep, looks like Dublin's Catholics are heeding the warnings of fire and brimstone for defection...

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