The Influence of Ther Catholic Church on Iriish Social Policy

Name: Aoife Dunne Student No: 112732149 Class: BSW I hereby declare that all the work is my own , when I have referred to the work and ideas of others, I have referenced it accordingly. Aoife Dunne Essay 2013 Title: Discuss the influence of the Catholic Church on Irish Social Policy This essay examines the influence of the Catholic Church on Irish Social Policy. This essay will focus on the Church’s role as a provider of charity. It seeks to address the following questions: How does one define social policy? Why did strong ties exist between The Catholic Church and the Irish State? Why did the Catholic Church endorse the principle of subsidiarity? What key policies are evident of Catholic influence? How does one define Social†¦show more content†¦The general attitude towards poverty was that it was self-inflicted. In 1845-47 one million people died as a result of the famine, yet the response of the Irish government to the famine was minimal. â€Å"The famine years witnessed the workhouses become overcrowded centres of disease and destitution – in March 1851, 250,611 people were paupers receiving poor relief in the workhouse† (Feriter,2004,p.52) .Voluntary groups such as the Quakers emerged nineteenth century and established soup kitchens. The Catholic Church took on a more significant role as a† provider of social services from the mid-nineteenth century†(Considine and Dukelow ,2009,p.15. The Church strongly endorsed the principle of Subsidiarity, supporting the belief that areas concerned with provision should be managed at local level, by various community based groups. The wording used in the papal encyclical Quadragesimo Anno in written by Pope Pius X1 in1931 as cited by (Ibid) illustrates this endorsement. The language used in the encyclical reflects the dominance and