Is there a difference between people who are "Irish Catholic" & the Italian Catholics? ?

Question

I hear a lot of people calling themselves "Irish" Catholic & while I'm not Catholic I do know a bit about Catholicism until now lol. Can some1 please clarify?

Answer 1

It's entirely cultural. The various ethnic groups have their own traditions and celebrate saints special to them, although these different traditions often die out by the 3rd generation (just an observation I've had). There is also a deeper history of animosity between Irish Catholics and Protestants, mainly due to the political warfare that has ravaged the nation. Italy, historically very Catholic, does not bring this cultural memory of sectarian violence with it.

You can mainly tell the difference in older communities whose churches reflect the names (St. Patrick, San Giusseppi) and decorations particular to the ethnic groups.

Answer 2

Actually No

"Irish" Catholics are "Roman" Catholics from Ireland.  Just as Italian Catholics are "Roman" Catholics from Italy and American Catholics are "Roman" Catholics from America.

The Catholic Church has consistently referred to itself as the “Catholic Church” at least since 107 AD, when the term appears in the writings of St. Ignatius of Antioch

The term "Roman" Catholic is rather recent.  The new Anglican Church in England started using the term “Roman” in the 1500s as one of many ways of demeaning and demonizing Catholics.  Catholics accepted this late coming adjective without too much protest. Today “Catholic” and “Roman Catholic” are interchangeable terms. Both terms are even used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Answer 3

I think the difference between the two was covered well in the Simpsons episode, "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star," from, I think, the 16th or 18th season of The Simpsons.

Funny episode.  Its when Bart gets in trouble in school and is sent to Catholic school, run by Father Sean, who shows Homer and Bart how great the Catholic Church is {Bingo Night and Pancake dinners, etc.} which convinces Homer and Bart to convert to Catholicism after hearing the words of the Catholic priest, voiced by Liam Neeson  

Marge, Rev. Lovejoy, and Flanders try to win them back.  Then Marge has a vision of Heaven.  Except she sees Protestant Heaven, full of yuppies playing badminton with sweaters around their necks, and then Marge sees Catholic Heaven, with the Latin American (Hispanic) Catholics dancing the Mexican Hat Dance, then the Italian Catholics eating, drinking, and carousing, and the Irish Catholics drinking pints of beer and rolling on the floor, fighting.  And then Marge asks  one of the Protestants in Protestant Heaven where Jesus was, to which he responds, "He's gone native."  And the next scene is Jesus being tossed in the air from a sheet, and then Michael Flatley of Riverdance fame leads all of Catholic Heaven in a Irish Step Dance.  Funny freakin' episode.

That episode explains it all.

But seriously, the difference results from identifying with the cultural traditions of a certain group, along with the traditions of the Catholic Church.  We celebrate our differences as well as our shared religious traditions.  Irish Catholics, like myself, celebrate the Irish cultural traditions and their influence on how we practice our faith.  I am sure that the same is true for Italian Catholics, Philipino Catholics, Polish Catholics, and any other cultural background.

God bless  

Answer 4

It's just someone who wishes to identify him/herself with their nationality as well as their religious affiliation.

Answer 5

Just their native allegiance. Many Americans call themselves such sub titles as African American, Irish American, Native American, Latin American, and so on and it follows such in the Catholic faith. Irish Catholic, Italian Catholic, Mexican Catholic, Polish Catholic, and French Catholic. Etc, etc.

Answer 6

I was raised Catholic, and the only differences I've ever seen is what they drink...the Irish go for whiskey, and the Italians have wine.

Answer 7

Potatoes or Pasta......

Answer 8

The irish catholics are irish.  The italian catholics are italian.

Answer 9

The difference among them is mainly in their respective way of practicing their religion, and this is probably a very particular case about peoples of different heritage but belonging to the same church denomination in which religion, rather than being a common ground, was instead a divisive issue.

I've recently read in a book how in the late 1800s and early 1900s many Irish parish priests (which were the majority in the US Catholic church) didn't like their Italian parishioners very much and kept a hostile attitude towards them, sometimes to the point of refusing to baptize their children or celebrate their weddings. That drove many Italian immigrants away from their religion, and some even switched to Evangelical or Presbyterian churches, who were much more welcoming to them.

Answer 10

If you would like more answers, consider asking around this site as well...

http://christianforums.com/forumdisplay....

Answer 11

Their religious beliefs are the same.

Their languages, culture, and history are a bit different.

The Catholic Church truly accepts all languages, cultures and ethnicities.

Here are Catholics by country:

Brazil = 145,446,000

México = 123,393,000

Philippines = 69,630,000

USA = 64,621,000

Italy = 57,665,000

France = 44,499,000

Colombia = 38,406,000

Spain = 37,165,000

Poland = 35,010,000

Argentina = 34,480,000

Congo (Dem. Rep.) = 29,500,000

Peru = 28,160,000

Germany = 26,297,000

Venezuela = 24,815,000

Nigeria = 17,906,000

India = 17,005,000

Canada = 13,070,000

Ecuador = 11,749,000

Uganda = 11,219,000

Chile = 11,021,000

Tanzania = 10,465,000

Guatemala = 10,304,000

Angola = 10,302,000

Portugal = 9,457,000

Bolivia = 8,253,000

Dominican Republic = 8,039,000

Kenya = 8,018,000

Belgium = 7,775,000

Haïti = 6,743,000

Indonesia = 6,439,000

Cuba = 6,330,000

Hungary = 6,056,000

Honduras = 5,790,000

Austria = 5,755,000

Viêt Nam = 5,658,000

El Salvador = 5,436,000

Australia = 5,239,000

Paraguay = 5,239,000

Nicaragua = 5,212,000

Netherlands = 5,042,000

Great Britain = 4,787,000

Ukraine = 4,766,000

Madagascar = 4,701,000

Burundi = 4,567,000

Korea (South) = 4,377,000

Mozambique = 4,314,000

Cameroon = 4,287,000

Ireland = 4,161,000

Rwanda = 4,133,000

Sudan = 4,019,000

Slovakia = 3,942,000

Croatia = 3,867,000

Costa Rica = 3,763,000

Czech Republic = 3,519,000

Zambia = 3,425,000

Malawi = 3,281,000

Switzerland = 3,186,000

South Africa = 3,101,000

China = 2,964,000

Côte d'Ivoire = 2,841,000

Puerto Rico = 2,799,000

Lithuania = 2,766,000

Ghana = 2,675,000

Uruguay = 2,315,000

Antilles = 2,233,000

Congo = 2,077,000

Lebanon = 1,883,000

Romania = 1,875,000

Panama = 1,799,000

Papua New Guinea = 1,688,000

Benin = 1,646,000

Slovenia = 1,623,000

Burkina Faso = 1,545,000

Togo = 1,483,000

Sri Lanka = 1,364,000

Yemen = 1,300,000

Zimbabwe = 1,282,000

Pakistan = 1,191,000

Belarus = 1,030,000

Lesotho = 971,000

Central African Republic = 793,000

Russian Federation = 789,000

Malaysia = 784,000

East Timor = 767,000

Chad = 720,000

Pacific (Oceania) = 703,000

Senegal = 673,000

Gabon = 615,000

Myanmar = 603,000

Réunion = 595,000

Equatorial Guinea = 548,000

Serbia and Montenegro = 541,000

Ethiopia = 533,000

Japan = 509,000

Bosnia and Herzegovina = 464,000

New Zealand = 459,000

Cape Verde = 432,000

Latvia = 430,000

Syria = 425,000

Iraq = 414,000

Luxembourg = 388,000

Namibia = 375,000

Malta = 368,000

Mauritius = 310,000

Taiwan = 303,000

Egypt = 299,000

Thailand = 292,000

Bangladesh = 283,000

Armenia = 270,000

Albania = 235,000

Mali = 227,000

Sierra Leone = 186,000

Kazakhstan = 182,000

Guinea = 171,000

Liberia = 165,000

Singapore = 162,000

Kuwait = 158,000

Eritrea = 148,000

Sweden = 144,000

Greece = 123,000

São Tomé and Príncipe = 121,000

Guinea-Bissau = 120,000

Solomon Islands = 91,000

Botswana = 83,000

Palestine = 83,000

Libya = 75,000

Bulgaria = 74,000

Israel = 74,000

Seychelles = 70,000

Norway = 55,000

Swaziland = 55,000

Laos = 39,000

Denmark = 35,000

Gambia = 35,000

Jordan = 31,000

Monaco = 29,000

Turkey = 28,000

Liechtenstein = 25,000

Iran = 24,000

Morocco = 23,000

Brunei Darussalam = 21,000

Gibraltar = 21,000

Cambodia = 21,000

Moldova = 20,000

Tunisia = 20,000

Niger = 16,000

Macedonia = 14,000

Cyprus = 10,000

Finland = 8,000

Djibouti = 7,000

Nepal = 7,000

Saint Pierre and Miquelon = 6,000

Estonia = 5,000

Iceland = 5,000

Comoros = 4,000

Mauritania = 4,000

Algeria = 3,000

Total  = 1,114,103,000

http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/countr...

With love in Christ.

Answer 12

Well, there are some things specific to the practice of Catholicism in Ireland (e.g. the pilgrimage up Croagh Patrick has some pretty deep roots in Irish pre-Christiam religious practices) but I'm not sure how many of them have carried over to Irish-American communities (or similar communities elsewhere). I also know there are some specific practices in Italian Catholic communities that I haven't heard of in other Catholic communities -- e.g. my Italian grandparents used to put on a HUGE St. Joseph's Day celebration. But the basics of Catholic belief and practice are pretty much the same no matter what community you're in.  

Answer 13

One is Irish and the other is Italian.