Elphin diocese bucks national baptism trend
The Diocese of Elphin has seen a slight increase in the number of baptisms, bucking the national trend, which has seen Catholic baptisms drop 30% in a decade, according to research by The Iona Institute.
The Diocese of Elphin has seen a slight increase in the number of baptisms, bucking the national trend, which has seen Catholic baptisms drop 30% in a decade, according to research by The Iona Institute.
The Christian think tank based its research on data from almost every Catholic diocese on the island of Ireland.
“The research finds that the two big drivers of the decline are falling births, and rising secularism. Falling births account for about 60% of the decline with the rest accounted for by secularisation,” the institute said.
The only diocese to register an increase in baptisms was the Diocese of Elphin which covers most of the county of Roscommon. Between 2015 and 2025, the number of Catholic baptisms increased slightly from 903 to 911, equating to a 0.9% increase. The Diocese of Achonry, which includes Ballaghaderreen, saw a decrease over the timeframe, from 408 to 395. The Archdiocese of Tuam, which includes the parish of Moore and Clonfad in South Roscommon, saw a 21.1% decrease from 2,009 to 1,586. Nationally, the Dublin Archdiocese has seen a 40% fall in the last ten years.
Commenting on the figures, Dr Tom Finegan, chairman of The Iona Institute said: “In a way the figures are not a surprise given the rapidly falling number of births and growing secularisation. Given that births have fallen by almost a fifth in the last ten years, and more people are ticking the ‘No Religion’ box in the Census, we could expect nothing but a big drop in baptism figures.”
He continued: “However, the figures also show that ‘cultural Catholicism’ remains strong on the island. We see that as at Census 2022, 67.9pc of mothers with children aged 0-4 still identified as Catholic, even though a big majority of these would not be regular Mass-goers.”
Dr Finegan said: “It remains to be seen whether cultural Catholicism will remain a force in Irish life. It’s worth noting that in Britain in 2023, according to the Vatican yearbook, over 42,000 Catholic children were baptised, even though levels of Mass-attendance in Britain are low.”
He concluded: “The fall in baptisms must be seen not simply as the result of secularisation, but even more as a result of falling births. Ireland’s fertility rate is now just 1.5, well below the replacement level of 2.1. This should be of concern to everyone, regardless of religious belief.”
