Since late July, Emma Nolan from iWork has been working on a documentary about the role religion plays, if any, in the lives of Ireland's young people in 2018.
This journey has taken her from Leinster House to Knock Shrine, any many places across Ireland in between.
Emma was passionate about researching this topic as a twenty-five year old who has witnessed so much change when it comes to Church power in Ireland in her lifetime.
She, maybe like you, has memories of panicking about what to confess about at seven or eight years of age: will I go with the "I took an extra penny sweet", or the go with the "I had a row with my brother and said a bad word", this time?
According to the last census, some 3.7 million people identified as Catholic here.. that's over 132 thousand fewer than in 2011.
The Pope came and went in historic and monumental fashion this year, meaning a spotlight was further shone on the subject, and conversation was recurrent between Emma and her peers regarding their opinions, views and beliefs on the matter.
Over the last few months Emma has sat down with Samantha Long, a woman who was born in a Mother and Baby Home in Dublin with her twin sister Etta. Their birth mother, Margaret, had been living in State care since she was a young child. She became pregnant in State care, and breast fed her children twice daily as she continued her work in the laundry throughout the day. When the twins were seven weeks old, Margaret arrived to feed them they were gone. The next time they saw her, they were 23 years old.
She's spoken to a Sligo priest, who is now Rome based, about why he chose a life in the priesthood in his thirties and how he feels the Pope handled his historic Ireland trip this year... and, what does he feel the Church has to do to modernise with millennials?
Emma travelled to Knock, interviewed a Yoga instructor about it's growing popularity, met a psychotherapist to dicuss the link, (if any), between the apparent lack of religion in the lives of so many Irish youths and mental health, alongside hearing the story of a humanist and discovering why she chose that life at such a young age.
On top of this, she met and spoke with plenty of young people, and heard about their relationships with religion throughout their lives: where does it fit today, and what role do they feel it will play in Ireland's future?
All of these interviews, among many others, all with varying views and opinions on a very complex subject.
Listen back to 'Mass Exodus' below:
I can’t believe it’s about to be out there. It’s been a fascinating project, featuring some very personal stories and views from Irish people who have had diverse experiences with religion in their lives.
It finally airs tomorrow at 10pm.#MassExodus https://t.co/1gdsllXAtz
— Emma Nolan (@Emma___Nolan) December 18, 2018
