The Irish and Catholics in The Damnation of Theron Ware

The Damnation of Theron Ware or Illumination as it was also called brings up a lot of interesting points, but the one that interested me the most was the idea of Catholicism. As a person who has grown up in the Catholic Church I found the depictions rather interesting, especially because I did not think they were too far fetched from what people who are not active members within the church tend to believe. Often the Catholic Church is seen as a lifetime membership that even if you are not there all the time you are still welcome. However, there are also many people within the church, much like other organized religions, that expect its members to be active within the congregation and follow the “laws.” I also found it interesting how much the story portrayed a Priest that took his place in the Church more as a job then a calling, and from what I learned growing up this was definitely frowned upon if ever it was revealed, so to have a book that points out that idea in somewhat hidden language is very interesting. But I also feel like this mentality fits the time period and the fact that people feared and did not approve of people from the Catholic Church. This was often, as we even talked about, because the members had to answer to the Pope and it forced people of the nation to question their loyalty.
What was more interesting to me about this book is that I am doing my report on anti-Catholic and anti-Irish prejudices which I think were definitely representative in this book. Theron was blatant in his prejudices towards not only the Catholic ways but also anyone who is Irish. He often assumed people were Irish and made decisions about who they are based on those prejudices. I cannot wait to learn more about what the Irish and Catholic presence meant to this nation and how the prejudices developed. I do wonder however if the author believed in some of the prejudices himself?