Catholic Ireland Votes for the Same-Sex Marriage

A map of Ireland

Map courtesy: Magellan Geographix

Ireland, that claims to be about 84% Roman Catholic, on May 23, in a country-wide referendum, voted in majority for the gay marriage, reports the Guardian. A total of 1,201,607 (62.1%) votes were for 'yes' as against 734,300 votes (37.9%) votes for 'no' to the same-sex marriage. More than 60% of the country's population participated in the voting.

This is the first country in the world to officially vote for the change in the country's constitution to allow gay (man-to-man and woman-to-woman) marriage in addition to the traditional marriage between a man and a woman.

The Catholic Church of Ireland as always was against the gay marriage and had hoped that the Irish people would not go for the gay marriage. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin said after the vote that the Catholic Church needs to ask if it has drifted away from young people, who overwhelmingly vote in favour of the gay marriage, reports the Irish Times.

Archbishop also said: "I think really that the Church needs to do a reality check, a reality check right across the board, to look a the things it's doing well, to look at the areas where we really have to start and say, 'Look, have we drifted away completely from young people?"

He further said: "I think it's a social revolution...It's a social revolution that didn't begin today. It's a social revolution that's been going on, and perhaps in the Church people have not been as clear in understanding what that involved."

"It's very clear that if this referendum is an affirmation of the views of young people, then the church has a huge task in front of it to find the language to be able to talk to and to get its message across to young people, not just on this issue, but in general," the archbishop said.

For more on the issue, please read the following:

•  Huge Republic of Ireland vote for gay marriage
•  Ireland Votes to Approve Gay Marriage, Putting Country in Vanguard
• Irish Church approve referendum allowing same-sex marriage
•  [Irish] Churches react to gay marriage vote
• Same-sex marriage: Irish vote 'defeat for humanity' says Vatican official
• Cardinal Walter Kasper defends Ireland's gay 'marriage' decision
• Cardinal Raymond Burke: Ireland's Vote for Gay Marriage 'In Defiance of God,' Worse Than 'Pagans'
• Irish archbishop distances himself from Cardinal Burke's same-sex remarks 
• 'I don't care what they call it, I'm in favour of marriage equality' -- Father Gerard Moloney
• Priests are bucking Catholic Church leadership to support same-sex marriage in Ireland
• Ireland gay marriage: The Church's decision not to lead No campaign works a new reality
• Ireland Gay Marriage Vote: Irish Catholic Church Takes a Cue from Pope Francis, Charts New Course Amid Waning Influence
• Editorial: Ireland vote for same-sex marriage a watershed moment for Church teaching
• DignityUSA: 'Irish same-sex marriage vote splits hierarchy'
• The Consequences of Ireland's Vote for Equality
• Gay Marriage in Ireland Isn't a 'No' to Catholicism
• The Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI Poll (May, 2015)
• Is recognizing same-sex marriage Catholic? (If the people are the Church, then the Church is already reconsidering gay marriage)

(Updated on June 3, 2015)