You also forget that long before your "... fact that Catholics ha(d)ve an unreasonable prejudice against little rubbery things...", Child mortality rates in the island of Ireland, among the poverty-stricken and dis-advantaged (guess who they were?) necessitated the existence of large families.

The one's that had it easier, concentrated more on keeping it that way, than trying to propogate their progeny.

You don't THINK, Ooh-Aah.

That's your problem