What do you think of when you hear the term “Irish Catholicism”?

Most people probably immediately jump to the image of St. Patrick gathering the Irish peasantry around him and gently explaining the Holy Trinity with the aid of a shamrock.

While this image of Ireland is one that prevails in the U.S., it is quite different from the findings of a group of Loras students.

During the spring semester, students did a comparative study of Catholicism in Ireland, examining how it has evolved over the years there. Over the summer, the group — accompanied by Drs. Andrew Auge, professor of English; John Waldmeir, associate professor of religious studies; and David Cochran, associate professor of politics — traveled to Ireland to take an inside look at the country and its residents. This past week, students presented their findings.

They began with an overview of Irish history, highlighting events that resulted in substantial changes in religious patterns and morality. Several topics were covered, ranging from the impact that the Irish economy has had on church-going in recent years to the effects of Ireland’s lack of separation between church and state.

For example, a whopping 94 percent of Irish citizens identify themselves as Catholic. In addition, 56 percent of the population attends weekly Mass. A sense of Catholic identity obviously is firmly rooted in Irish culture.

Since Ireland once was colonized by Great Britain, the Irish people struggled for generations to win their freedom. To be Protestant was to be one of the oppressors. The attitude that still pervades Ireland today is that it is better to lose all religious attachment than to embrace Protestantism.

Some of the mindsets differed according to age groups. In roundtable discussions, students spoke with a variety of people in Ireland, including priests, women religious, laity and youth groups. While these discussions were valuable, some said they found it equally beneficial to get away from the formal setting.

One example of this was the differing views on morality, particularly regarding extra-marital sex. The older Catholics assured the visitors that extramarital sex does not occur in Ireland. However, when the students ventured into a pub in a college district and spoke to some students, they heard a different story. For the most part, younger Catholics eschewed some of the traditional Catholic morals.

This sense of disillusionment for young adults in Ireland caught senior Carla Schmidt by surprise. But in the end, she believes her faith deepened as a result of her findings.

“It made me view the Church in a more realistic way,” Schmidt said.