Editing Irish diaspora (section)

==Religion==
[[Paul Cardinal Cullen]] set out to spread Irish dominance over the English-speaking Roman Catholic Church in the 19th century. The establishment of an 'Irish Episcopal Empire' involved three transnational entities – the British Empire, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Irish diaspora. Irish clergy, notably Cullen, made particular use of the reach of the British Empire to spread their influence. From the 1830s until his death in 1878, Cullen held several key positions near the top of the Irish hierarchy and influenced Rome's appointment of Irish bishops on four continents.<ref>Colin Barr, "'Imperium in Imperio': Irish Episcopal Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century", ''English Historical Review'' 2008 123(502): pp. 611–50.</ref>

Walker (2007) compares Irish immigrant communities in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Great Britain respecting issues of identity and 'Irishness.' Religion remained the major cause of differentiation in all Irish diaspora communities and had the greatest impact on identity, followed by the nature and difficulty of socio-economic conditions faced in each new country and the strength of continued social and political links of Irish immigrants and their descendants with Ireland.

In the United States specifically, Irish immigrants were persecuted because of their religion. The Know Nothing Movement sprung up during the time of the Irish's arrival.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Maha |first=Sorin-Stefan |date=December 2011 |title=The Migration of Europeans to the United States at the Middle of the 19th Century – the Irish and German Wave |journal=Centre for European Studies Working Papers |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=556–62 |url=http://www.ceswp.uaic.ro/articles/CESWP2011_III4_MAH.pdf |access-date=25 April 2018 |archive-date=23 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423021533/http://www.ceswp.uaic.ro/articles/CESWP2011_III4_MAH.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Know Nothing Party was formed by Protestants and was the first political party in American history to push against Catholic immigration to the United States, particularly targeting Irish and German immigrants. The Know Nothings fought to limit immigration from traditional Catholic countries, prohibit non-English language speaking on US territory, and create a policy where you must spend 21 years in the US before gaining citizenship.<ref name=":0" /> The party faded out of existence relatively quickly, but they are a reminder of the persecution Irish immigrants faced. During the third and fourth waves of immigration, new arrivals faced similar discrimination and the now settled Irish would take part in this persecution of other groups.

From the late 20th century onward, Irish identity abroad became increasingly cultural, non-denominational, and non-political, although many emigrants from Northern Ireland stood apart from this trend. However, Ireland as religious reference point is now increasingly significant in [[neopaganism|neopagan]] contexts.<ref>Catherine Maignant, "Irish base, global religion: the Fellowship of Isis". 262–80 in Olivia Cosgrove et al. (eds), ''Ireland's new religious movements''. Cambridge Scholars 2011, {{ISBN|978-1-4438-2588-7}}.</ref><ref>Carole Cusack, "'Celticity' in Australian alternative spiritualities". 281–99 in Olivia Cosgrove et al. (eds), ''Ireland's new religious movements''. Cambridge Scholars 2011, {{ISBN|978-1-4438-2588-7}}</ref>