Customer Reviews

And God Blessed the Irish: The Story of Patrick

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I have long been interested in the stories of Ireland and picked up this book for young people to hear another story about Saint Patrick and his ministry to the people of Ireland. In this book, while there are, on the one hand, some wonderful parts of Patrick's story as a child and young man which show his faith in God, there is, on the other hand, some disturbing imagery around the indigenous religions of Ireland and its adherents. On the second page of the story which introduces Patrick's kidnapping, the indigenous people of Ireland are described: "The wild people were fierce. They had their own religion which was not like Patrick's at all. They had magicians who did bad things. And they loved to fight and steal...they were very dangerous" In my opinion, that is very close to what has been said of Native Americans during the great missionary movements since the 1800s. Later on, in the fifth chapter, there are further desciptions of the Druids as a crafty, malicious, and conniving people who would like nothing better to do than kill Patrick so that they can continue to sacrifice children on the sacred mountains. While there are wonderful stories about Patrick, his great faith, his conversion to Christianity and his ministry to the people of Ireland, it is high time to teach children about Saint Patrick and his life without continuing the dark tradition of labeling all other indigenous and rival religions as bad, heretical, and dangerous.