The Mormon Minority in Ireland (feat. Hazel O'Brien)

Global Mormonism is an ever-growing field of study for scholars as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints membership has exploded throughout the Global South, especially in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. But how has Mormonism fared in Europe, especially in historically Catholic nations? Sociologist Hazel O'Brien takes host Nicholas Shrum on a tour of two pseudonymous LDS wards in the Republic of Ireland, mining the deep ethnographic depths of her 2023 book, Irish Mormons: Reconciling Identity and Global Mormonism. Dr. O'Brien details the experiences of real Mormons in Ireland as they negotiate their Irish heritage with a faith other than the predominant Irish Catholicism, and as they relate to a Church still predominantly organized and ruled by Americans. Dr. O'Brien also examines the broader experiences of religious minorities in Ireland, the country's changing socio-religious landscape, and a way forward for Mormonism as it sets it sights more globally.To find out more about Dr. O'Brien and her upcoming work, click here.