The Church and the Emigrant

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Bishop William Philbin on Patriotism

Bishop William Philbin on Rural Ireland — its Problems and Possibilities

Photos from Inniscarra, Co. Cork:

Switch on at Inniscarra, 22 December 1947. (Note the prominent presence of the local priest – a testimony to times when clergy were expected to take on a leadership role in their communities extending beyond purely religious matters.)

Rollout of the Rural Electrification Scheme, 1947

Inniscarra Dam in 1957 — constructed as part of the Lee Valley Hydro-electric scheme

The following lecture was given by the Most Rev. William J. Philbin D.D., Bishop of Clonfert, to the Agricultural Science Association in University College Dublin on 25th September, 1959:

Emigration, with its roots in the lack of a livelihood at home for all our people, is the chief social and economic problem in Ireland. It is usually considered in association with the depopulation of country districts, not only because the exodus is mainly from the agricultural community — which might, perhaps, be regarded as a natural consequence of our being mostly a rural people — but also for the reason that the drift from the land, even within our own country, is matter for worry in itself. We are concerned, not merely to keep our people in Ireland, but also to keep them on the land. Our land needs more workers to develop its potentialities and, if progress is made in this way, it is capable of supporting a much larger number of people than at present — with consequential rises in output and in economy of production. Our agricultural rivals are making these truths more unpleasantly clear of late years. Although the development of agriculture alone may not meet all our needs, it is recognized by everyone as an essential part of any economic progress and as likely to remain indefinitely in that position. It is the starting-point in our industrial regeneration. The well-being of the majority of our people — and, therefore, that of our people as a whole — depends on the use we make of our soil. There is every reason, therefore, why we should consider critically every aspect of Irish farming and explore every possible approach to its betterment.

Irish Hierarchy’s Statement on the Founding of Telefís Éireann

The Irish hierarchy issued the following statement in 1961 at their October meeting in St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth:

The forthcoming inauguration of Telefís Éireann [Irish national television service – Shane] is an event of great importance in our national life and we wish to avail ourselves of this opportunity to invoke the blessing of God on the new undertaking.

Television is a wonderful achievement of modern science. It has been described as a gift to man from the God Who is the Creator both of the laws of science and of the human minds which discover them. It has already proved itself a very powerful influence in human society. It is difficult to exaggerate its potentialities as a medium of healthy education, in the dissemination of truth, in the diffusion and encouragement of true cultural values and in the formation of high standards of public taste.

The Catholic Bulletin versus William Butler Yeats

 

by Helen Hilton,
Irish Political Review; January, 2004

On 27th November 2003 I went to hear Roy Foster speak at the Royal Festival Hall to promote his new book on Yeats. The event took the form of a talk by Mr. Foster and an interview afterwards by Tom Paulin.

I must say that I never heard such trite remarks about Yeats as those made by Mr. Foster. He said that he had attempted what he seemed to think were unique and revolutionary approaches to biography in that he believed life and art were related and he aimed to get behind the other biographies and autobiographies of Yeats. He also sought to clarify his public life, including his para-fascism. Foster was ‘embedding’ Yeats’ poems in their context to show how he renegotiated his relationship with Ireland. Then we were told he was one of the founding fathers of the new State (which would, I believe, come as a big surprise to its actual founders). His political sense was keenly developed, we were told. Moreover, there was great entertainment to be had from ‘the vituperation’ of the Catholic Bulletin concerning Yeats. His stances were responses to the torrent of such vituperation.

Pope John XXIII on Muintir na Tíre

 TO OUR BELOVED SON
MAURICE MORRISSEY,
CHAIRMAN OF MUINTIR NA TÍRE

In 1954 Our Predecessor of happy memory, Pius XII, was pleased to address a Letter to John M. Hayes, founder of Muintir na Tíre, referring in particular to the fact that ‘in order to promote the practice of justice and charity in each one’s immediate surroundings, Muintir na Tíre fosters a spirit of neighbourliness and self-reliance, and it inspires individuals to devote themselves to the good of the community even at a cost of personal sacrifice.’ On the occasion of the Rural Week which marks the Silver Jubilee of your Movement, We Ourselves wish to send a message of encouragement to all who co-operate in this praiseworthy work.

Your beloved founder, with his inspiring leadership, had traced the path; and since his death, his steadfast followers, faithful to his ideals, have continued and consolidated the enterprise which his generous zeal had shaped. Local communities are stimulated to identify their particular needs, to strive for the economic, social and cultural advancements of their parishes and to make effective use of public services. Encouragement and guidance have been derived from the study of the use of community organization abroad for the promotion of development, and sociological research into the problem of emigration had been inaugurated.

Patrician Year (1961): Official Hand-Book of the Dublin Congress

click above to read in full (pdf)

Archbishop’s McQuaid’s Letter on Charitable Bodies

 
The following letter from the Most Rev. John Charles McQuaid, Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland, was read out in all the churches of the Diocese of Dublin on Sunday, 18th September, 1960:

In the Catholic Social Service Conference the financial year ends on June 30. The audited accounts for the past year reveal a wise administration of the charitable funds that the Faithful have generously put at the disposal of the Conference.

Of the £51,041 disbursed, only 2.27 per cent has been spent in administration.

This year, 21 Food Centres were maintained in which the poor, without any exception, could obtain each day a balanced meal. 2,379,979 meals were distributed.

The Glorious Revolution: Church and Class

 

by Peter Brooke
Labour & Trade Union Review; 1988

What did the Glorious Revolution of 1688-1689 achieve? Or, rather, what followed it and may have resulted from it? England is distinguished in Europe as the only country which achieved the transition from a peasant/craftsman economy to an industrial economy without a violent transformation of its political structures. The Glorious Revolution instituted political structures which were sufficiently flexible to accommodate economic change.

There are many aspects to this question, but the one on which I wish to concentrate is the elimination of the idea of government as a spiritual authority. This is not exactly the same thing as the elimination of the Church as a political power in the land. That had already been achieved; it was the principle work of the Reformation. The whole thrust of Lutheranism and Anglicanism was the subjection of the Church to the national government. Calvinism attempted to reverse the process and reassert the independent authority of the Church but everywhere it was defeated. It came closest to success in Scotland after the Glorious Revolution, but the defeat of the Church of Scotland was a major consequence—and purpose—of the Act of Union with England in 1707. This was shortly followed by patronage acts which asserted the authority of the British parliament over the Church.

Statement of the Northern Bishops on Conscription

The following statement was issued by all the Irish bishops with dioceses partially or wholly in the territory of the Six Counties on 30th April, 1939:

In view of the anxiety that exists at present among our people on account of the rumours of conscription, we deem it a solemn duty to make our considered judgement on the situation that confronts us in the Six Counties.

We are convinced that any attempt to impose conscription here would be disastrous.

A Glimpse Back into 1930’s Ireland

Bishop Con Lucey on the Common Good

The following is an extract of a sermon given by Dr. Cornelius Lucey, Bishop of Cork and Ross, to a Confirmation ceremony at St. Mary’s Church, Innishannon, Co. Cork, on the 22nd May, 1966:

The country is in a rather bad way at the moment. Industrial unrest is widespread. There is a stirring among the small farmers who find themselves being liquidated at the rate of 10,000 a year. More and more of the country, its land and its businesses, are falling into the hands of aliens — indeed, absentee aliens — and, with a public debt of over £700,000,000, we are coming to the end of living by loans.

All in all there is a feeling of national frustration and national crisis, such as there has not been since the ‘thirties. It is a dangerous feeling and this is a dangerous moment. Changes there will have to be right away, calculated to ensure security and prosperity for all in the country and not just for the few.

It is the duty of the state to promote the common good of all in the country. That duty rests primarily on the Government and the various Governmental departments. But it does not rest solely on them. We all have our responsibilities towards the common good. That means in effect that in pursuing our own interests we should give consideration to the interest of the public when they are affected by what we are doing or what we are demanding.

It is our duty not only to work for the common good of the country, but also to pray for that common good. ‘God save Ireland’ is on too few Irish lips at present.

Irish Society and Catholicism in the 1940s and ’50s: An Austrian Perspective

Despite the prevailing (and extremely inaccurate) conception of Irish society in the 1940s and ’50s as closed and insular, the Irish Catholic press in that era always kept up an intense interest in their foreign counterparts. In The Furrow’s regular roundup of the continental Catholic reviews, Fr. Seán O’Riordan C.Ss.R. made note (February, 1950) of two articles about Ireland published in its Austrian namesake. The following is an extract:

Actually, Die Furche published two articles about Ireland in the early months of 1948 by two Austrians who had been here on a visit independently of each other. What then did they say about us? Nice things? Alas, much too nice!

Frida Hajek began her article (“Erin,” April 10, 1948) almost as if she were going to write a fairy-tale. “On the edge of Europe, on the edge of our world, beyond England, lies an island: Ireland. There are many people who know a good deal about England; there are a good many people who know next to nothing about Ireland. Except perhaps that she has again sent tons of foodstuffs to Austria or some other famine-sticken region in Central Europe.”

Those tons of foodstuffs were obviously good propaganda. Miss Hajek needed no propaganda to make her conscious of Ireland; she had been there.

“I do not believe that any European has ever visited Ireland and been able to forget her. I do not believe that any European has ever lived in Ireland and not learned to love her with his whole heart. And yet Ireland is a poor, a very poor country, if we measure wealth by raw materials; oil, coal, iron, cotton, grain. The wonderful thing about Ireland, her riches, the source of all her giving, is the spirit of her people, their nature, their outlook. It is something that has grown out of this gentle land beside the Gulf Stream, blossomed out of St. Patrick’s teaching, been nurtured by the mystical power of an age-old indigenous Catholic way of life.”

Miss Hajek, who describes herself as “a busy, bothered Central European,” was at first puzzled and then fascinated by certain qualities of Irish life: our refusal to be hurried, our refusal to take things too seriously, and of course our hospitality. She thinks she can put her finger on the mainspring of the Irish way of life: its “sense of eternity.” Der Begriff der Ewigkeit: the quality which, in its theological and prophetical expression, fascinates the Germans in Newman.

She concludes: “Since the days when St. Patrick lodged the Christian sense of eternity in the hearts of the Irish people as in a living shrine, Ireland and the Irish constitute an unchanging unity. The Patrician age is still near, still living for the people of to-day. Nearer and more living than our present age of wars and conferences.”

Fr. Franz König saw Ireland from the point of view of an Austrian priest during the autumn of 1947. The unforgettable experience for him was a big game at Croke Park [named after the GAA’s first patron, Archbishop Thomas Croke of Cashel – shane] during which he was less interested in the match than in the close fellowship between priests and people all round him. “I saw priests everywhere,” he wrote (Die Furche, February 28, 1948): “there were priests young and old in front of me and behind me, mixing and talking with the crowd. The young chaplain in front of me and the two older men behind me knew all the names of the players; they were just as well up as the two Dublin clerks on my right and the road worker on my left.” The ball was thrown in by a bishop; two other bishops and an archbishop were among the spectators. Fr König points out for his Austrian readers:

“The Irish clergy live in the closest contact with their people. During the centuries of subjection to England they were the leaders of the people for economic, national and religious freedom. To-day it is still the glory of every Irish family to have a son ordained to the priesthood…

I could not help feeling rather sorry for ‘Catholic Austria’.”

‘Back to the Land’ (1881) by Dr. Thomas Nulty, Bishop of Meath

[NB — For background to this post see:

Images from the Irish Land War

Images of the Evictions of Irish Tenants

An Introduction to the Irish Land War 1879-1882

Dr. Nulty’s Obituary in the New York Times, December 25th, 1898

An Appraisal of this Essay by the highly popular and influential American economist Henry George]

DEDICATION

To the Clergy and Laity of the Diocese of Meath:

Dearly Beloved Brethren,-

I venture to take the liberty of dedicating the following Essay to you, as a mark of my respect and affection. In this Essay I do not, of course, address myself to you as your Bishop, for I have no divine commission to enlighten you on your civil rights, or to instruct you in the principles of Land Tenure or Political Economy. I feel, however, a deep concern even in your temporal interests — deeper, indeed, than in my own; for what temporal interests can I have save those I must always feel in your welfare? It is, then, because the Land Question is one not merely of vital importance, but one of life and death to you, as well as to the majority of my countrymen, that I have ventured to write on it at all.

Irish Hierarchy’s Statement on World Refugee Year

Stamp of the Holy Family issued by the Irish state postal service to mark World Refugee Year

The following statement was issued in 1959 by the Irish hierarchy at their October meeting in St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth:

The Holy Father has recently appealed to the whole Catholic world for support for the World Refugee Year.

At the present time, fourteen years after the cessation of hostilities, there are still vast multitudes of men and women and children, herded together in refugee camps, for whom even a humble home is only a memory or a dream. They are without adequate food, clothing or warmth, and are far away from their native lands. Their condition is humiliating to their very dignity as human beings. As the years go by there is growing in their hearts a sense of hopelessness and despair. Their hardest cross is the feeling that the world has forgotten them.

Irish Society Before the Sixties: Insular or Outward Looking?

De Valera returning from the League of Nations. He served as president of the League’s congress in 1932 and of its assembly in 1938.

Editorial Statement,
Irish Foreign Affairs; April-June, 2008

“Every nation, if it is to survive as a nation, must study its own history and have a foreign policy” — C.J. O’Donnell, The Lordship of the World, 1924, p. 145

This is the first issue of Irish Foreign Affairs, a quarterly journal established to comment on foreign policy and on global affairs from an independent Irish perspective.

The Irish State was founded with a core foreign policy idea – the notion of the right of the Irish nation to have an independent state of its own and through that state to make a distinct mark in the world. The limits of this independence were necessarily first and foremost the ability of the state to develop and act free of British constraints.

Until the 1960s, Irish citizens took for granted that this was what the state was about. People knew the Proclamation of 1916 with its foreign policy position, and there was in general a remarkably high level of knowledge about foreign affairs. This knowledge of the world was not derivative of the British liberal media and was informed by commentaries from a uniquely Irish perspective in newspapers such as the Irish Press, various journals, and even in early RTE television.

Frank Duff’s Social Principles Still Very Relevant

Frank Duff (far right) with President Éamon de Valera, Cardinal John D’Alton, Archbishop John Charles McQuaid and Cardinal Michael Browne

From the Irish Times, March 15th, 2011:

Legion founder’s principles still very relevant

by FINOLA KENNEDY

RITE AND REASON : The mover behind the Legion of Mary offered hope, saying Ireland had immense possibilities

FRANK DUFF is best known as the founder of the Legion of Mary, but it is generally forgotten that he spent 26 years as a civil servant.

In the 1940s, a small group consisting of Duff, León Ó Broin, Joe Walshe, later Irish ambassador to the Vatican, Paddy Little, a founder member of Fianna Fáil and then minister for posts and telegraphs, and Seán Ryan, editor of the Irish Catholic, would spend time discussing the general betterment of Ireland.

Wings to Germany, 1950s

Irish Hierarchy’s Statement on the Dangers to Faith and Morals Faced by Irish Emigrants in Britain

The following statement was issued in 1941 by the Irish Hierarchy at their October meeting in St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth:

More than two years have elapsed since the war, still raging so fiercely, began. From the outset it was evident that agencies of destruction, more fearful than anything hitherto known to history, would be loosed upon the world, and would be used with utter ruthlessness and a complete disregard for moral right. The worst anticipations of disaster are being exceeded by the event.

Appalling as are the material losses caused by the war, the spiritual evils resulting from it are of even greater consequence. War usually brings with it a decay of morals, and the present one is no exception to the rule. The Church, too, has been attacked in many places, and has suffered terribly. Our Holy Father Pope Pius XII, speaking on this matter has said: ‘We tremble to think of what the true story of human suffering will disclose. What we know these days is enough to crush the heart. These days are rivalling some of the blackest days in the history of mankind, and the Pope knows it.’

Ireland, although its position, comparatively speaking, is a privileged one, has not come off unscathed. The scars which disfigure Dublin and Belfast bear testimony of this. But, perhaps, the war’s most disastrous effect for us is the great increase in unemployment, with all its attendant evils, spiritual and temporal, including, especially, the exodus from our shores to Great Britain of such large numbers of our adult population. Evidently to find a remedy for unemployment is one of our most urgent problems; and in this connection the Hierarchy desire to place on record their appreciation of bodies such as the Catholic Social Service Conference, which are devoting much time and energy to its solution. This problem, indeed, has a deep interest for every citizen, and especially, indeed, for every Catholic citizen. All should co-operate whole-heartedly with those who are specially engaged in its solution; all should realise that they have in greater or less degree a personal responsibility in the matter.

A Catholic Catechism of Social Principles

Hungary’s New Constitution

This is a draft of the new Hungarian constitution, which has outraged Europe’s progressive establishment. For comparative purposes, here is the text of the original 1937 Irish Constitution.

1932 International Eucharistic Congress Hymn Book

click above to read in full (pdf)

I’m very grateful to Jaykay (whose mother attended the childrens’ Mass in the Pheonix Park) for sending me this Hymn Book from the 1932 International Eucharistic Congress, Dublin. Jaykay notes that:

My mother would have been 12-13 at the time of the Congress. She had just started secondary in a convent school where they had a very good choir. They used to take part in Gregorian chant competitions for children and regularly won (now who says that there was no “participatio actuosa” prior to the new springtime in 1965??). Anyway, they had been prepared for months beforehand to take part in the children’s Mass in the Phoenix Park where the “Missa de Angelis” was sung, which was easy peasy to them – she told me they had about 4 other of the chant settings of the Mass which they sang regularly as well as the Te Deum and of course all the well-known ones such as Adoro Te and Veni Creator Spiritus etc. – not to mention the Dies Irae for the requiem.

So they went to Dublin on the train, in their confirmation dresses, and processed solemnly out to the Park for the Mass. Just imagine, thousands of kids – all immaculately disciplined – singing the Missa de Angelis!

I’m sure next year’s event will have something similar… NOT!!! We’ve definitely sung a new church into being 😦

Online photographs:

UCC Gallery (takes a minute to load; click on the photo subtitles to enlarge)

NLI Gallery (click on the photos on the right to enlarge)

Newsreel:

THE PAPAL LEGATE’S GREAT WELCOME!

A MILLION PEOPLE KNEEL IN WORSHIP

FOR IRELAND’S GREAT EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS

See also:

Festival of Faith – Fr Matthew Record

De Valera’s speech to the Papal Legate, Cardinal Lauri (extract)

Cardinal Lauri’s address to the welcoming crowd (extract)

Religion: In Dublin – Time

Rory O’Dwyer, a young historian at UCC, recently wrote a very good book on the Congress — which you can purchase here. He has an interesting overview of the Congress in History Ireland here.

Pastoral Letter of the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland to the Clergy on Emigrant Problems

4th April, 1967

Dear Reverend Father,

At a recent meeting in Maynooth the bishops decided to send this letter to the clergy. The issue of such a joint letter, addressed by the Bishops to the priests only, is a rare event, which serves to underline the immense importance we attach to one particular branch of the sacred ministry. While we wish to express our appreciation and gratitude for the work you have done and are doing so zealously for all our faithful people, our chief object in writing this letter is to remind you of the special problems of our emigrants and to encourage you to continue and, if possible, to extend your pastoral ministry to those — especially the young — who are likely to leave this country to live or work in other lands.

The number of our people emigrating each year is now much less than it was some years ago and we all hope and pray that the number will continue to decline. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to assume that for some years to come many thousands of our young people will leave our shores every year to seek their livelihood abroad, particularly in Great Britain. Their going will leave us so much the poorer.

Yet these tens of thousands of men and women can be an enormous force for good in the lands they go to, if they have the right ideals and motives, and abilities properly developed. Without these the alien environment in which they find themselves may present serious dangers to the spiritual and moral welfare of the weaker ones.

Irish Hierarchy’s Statement on the Outbreak of the Second World War

The following statement was issued in 1939 by the Irish hierarchy at their October meeting in St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth:

Twenty-one years ago the most widespread and destructive war in history was brought to an end by a solemn pact. But, though war had ceased, true peace, that real and fruitful tranquility desired by all, had not yet been attained.

The terms of the solemn pact were registered in official instruments, but the conditions for true and lasting peace were not stamped on the hearts of men. True peace is the fruit of the two great Christian virtues of justice and charity; but peoples and individuals, to an extent previously unheard of, not only ignored the dictates of the Christian virtues, but even set aside the Founder of Christianity Himself.

Priests and People in Ireland

The following lecture was given to the annual Maynooth Union Summer School in 1957 by Rev. Kevin Smyth, S.J., Professor of Fundamental Theology at Milltown Park, Dublin.

Dr. Samuel Johnson said that the Irish were a very fair-minded people: he never heard one Irishman speaking well of another. The same sentiment was echoed unconsciously by an Irish priest when he was asked was there any prospect of the beatification of Father Willie Doyle: “No….you’ll never get one Irishman to swear to the sanctity of another.” This attitude causes a grave difficulty to anyone taking a Gallup poll about how people regard their priests in Ireland: the first thing that the subject thinks of is criticism. “The bitther word” rises only too readily to the lips of the Irishman, and if you were fool enough to ask a straight question of a layman, he would probably begin by translating your question into: “What have I got against the priests?”

On the other hand, just as the first reaction is one-sided, it is also often superficial, and the Irishman is as insincere in his blame as he is extravagant with it. Loose talk does not represent the permanent and deep-seated attitude of people towards priests, and most people are incapable of valid generalisations, and inarticulate about their most vital and fundamental loyalties. Our difficulty is therefore to assess the real relationship on its merits, apart from conventions and habits, and to distinguish glib criticism, which people do not really stand over, from the real discontent which may be as potentially explosive as it is silent and unformulated.

My own effort to get some facts, to relate particulars to the universal, to interpret such generalisations as I dared to form, has been haunted by misgivings. Ever since I accepted the invitation to read this paper I have been saying to myself: who am I to draw up the indictment of a nation? How does one take the pulse and the temperature of a people? My only excuse and encouragement is that each of you in the audience is better informed than myself, and therefore that each of you is even more keenly conscious of the difficulty of describing “the present position of Catholics in Ireland” than I am, so that I can count on your sympathy. The best I hope to do is to spark off discussion or contradiction on some points, so that you yourselves may complete and balance the picture, out of your better judgement and wider experience. At any rate, we shall be dwelling on matters about which we all care deeply: our own purposes are involved, as well as the great issues of Ireland’s Catholic future and her almost indispensable contribution to the Church in England and overseas.

Archbishop McQuaid and the CIE Strike

The Most Rev. John Charles McQuaid, Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland, combined an unimpeachable orthodoxy with an active interest in the social question (and seemingly boundless personal charity), founding the Catholic Social Welfare Bureau (which gave extensive material and spiritual support to Irish emigrants and their families), the Dublin Institute of Catholic Sociology, the Magnificat Family Guild (which helped people to buy their own homes) and the Catholic Social Service Conference, which very soon after its coming into operation was providing over 250,000 meals per month and of which Professor Patrick Corish concluded “transformed the quality of welfare work that still had too much degradation of the Poor Law System attached to it”. Throughout his tenure as archbishop, his Grace took a keen interest in industrial disputes and supported the Teachers’ Strike of 1946 – which privately incensed the DeValera government.

The following instance concerns a strike of over 1,600 men employed in the rail-operative grades of Córas Iompair Éireann (the Irish state transport company) which began on the 16th December, 1950, after members of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union (ITGWU) rejected the proposed wage increases for the railways offered by the Joint Industrial Council. The Joint Industrial Council proposed that employees be granted wage increases varying from 4 shillings to 11 shillings weekly, whereas the ITGWU demanded a general increase of 22 shillings for all grades. The intervention of the Archbishop was warmly welcomed by all sides.

Irish Hierarchy’s Statement on the Intoxicating Liquor Laws

The following statement was issued in 1959 by the Irish hierarchy at their June meeting in St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth:

The Irish hierarchy has had under consideration the reports of the Commission of Inquiry into the operation of the laws relating to the sale and supply of intoxicating liquor.

The proposal of the majority of the commission to alter these laws has very grave moral, religious and economic implications.

The hierarchy is chiefly concerned with the moral and religious aspects of the proposed legislation.

It is a matter of deep regret that the Report should have confined its attention so largely to drunkenness — a relatively rare occurrence nowadays — rather than to drinking habits or addiction to alcohol.

The Catholic Bulletin; July, 1928

click above to read in full (pdf)

The Irish Rosary; July-August, 1955

click above to read in full (pdf)

The Anti-God Front of Bolshevism

Catholics in the World

“The age in which we live may be an ignorant age, an age of hero worshippers and autograph hunters, in which no man is of value unless he is brilliant or glamorous or featuring the headlines. But it is the age into which we have been born and it is the duty of Catholics not to despise the age but to leaven it with Catholic principles and with love. To fight the block ideals of the abortionists, and the birth controllers, and the sterilisers of the unfit, and the murderers of the old and infirm. And then to add what is missing to this Welfare State, a respect and a love for men. Have you ever when walking at night passed a warm lighted window and caught a glimpse of a family seated within? You have immediately a wistful feeling of exclusion. All this is what you can supply to a modern world, a window of light and love. The State will build you marvellous factories, and hospitals and schools, all built in cool cold steel, and marble and stone. It will be for you with your warm hands and heart to turn to your neighbour and light the fires in these ice boxes and turn them into homes. The State will give men security, but only you can give them love.”

– Most Rev. John Aloysius Murphy, Bishop of Shrewsbury, Advent Pastoral Letter, 1955.

Will the Irish Stay Christian?

by Desmond Fennell,
Doctrine and Life; May, 1962.

There is no reason to suppose that the Irish Catholic people will continue indefinitely to be believing Christians. In Europe during the last one hundred and fifty years the majority of people have abandoned Christian belief and practice; there is no reason why the same should not happen here.

Sweden is often cited as an extreme example of modern paganism. But eighty years ago it was the scene of impassioned public controversies about the nature of Christ’s Redemption and the proper ordering of the Communion service; wide sections of the people believed these matters to be of urgent concern.

The Treatment of Immigrants

The following statement was issued by the Catholic hierarchy of England and Wales during their Low Week meeting, 1954.

In accordance with the wishes of the Holy See we desire to draw attention to the situation arising in England and Wales from the presence here of a large number of refugees and of emigrants who have left their own countries in search of better conditions.

From the Continent, and especially from countries enslaved by Communists, there have come to this country some 200,000 Catholics. One hundred thousand of these are Poles and 25,000 Ukrainians, and there are considerable numbers of Latvians, Estonians, Lithuanians, Hungarians, Yugoslavs and Rumanians. Nor do we overlook several thousand Italians, Germans and Austrians.

Pope Pius XII on Muintir na Tíre

The following message was sent by Pope Pius XII to Canon John Hayes on the occasion of the Muintir na Tíre Rural Week at Roscrea, August, 1954.

We have learned with pleasure of the praiseworthy work being accomplished by the organisation which your apostolic zeal prompted you to found 17 years ago.

Every effort to put Christian social teaching into practice is deserving of commendation and encouragement, not merely because the children of light, as Our predecessor of happy memory Pius XI pointed out, must not allow themselves to be surpassed in zeal by the children of darkness, but also because of the very real benefits that accrue to the community from the application of the Church’s social doctrine.

The organisation of which you are chairman rightly looks upon the parish as the basic unit of a Christian social order and We have noted with satisfaction that this is the subject chosen for discussion at your forthcoming rural week.

The Irish Monthly; May, 1953

click above to read in full (pdf)

Rev. Con Lucey [later Bishop of Cork and Ross] on A Christian Alternative to Communism and Fascism

Communism – A Will O’ The Wisp

Bishop Michael Browne on the Worship of the State

Bishop Michael Browne (right) with Cardinal Paolo Marella

The following is the Lenten pastoral letter of the Most Rev. Michael Browne, Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh, from 1939. The first part was read out in all churches of the diocese on Sunday, 19th February and the second part on Sunday, 26th February.

All Christians are familiar with the story of the conversion of St. Paul. He had been a bitter enemy of the disciples of Christ: he had even approved of putting them to death and assisted at the stoning of Stephen the first martyr. Now, breathing out threats and slaughter, he was on his way to Damascus with authority from the High Priest to arrest any Christians he might find there. As he was nearing the city, suddenly a bright light shone around him and falling to the ground he heard a voice saying: “Saul! Saul! Why persecutest thou Me?” He answered: “Who art thou, Lord?” and the reply came: “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.”

These words of Christ carry a deep and important meaning. He did not say to Saul: “Why persecutest thou My disciples — or My Church?” He said: “Why persecutest thou Me?” He identified himself completely and entirely with His Church on this the first occasion when she had to suffer violence. He knew that the hatred and injury done to her would be done because she represents Him; because she preaches His doctrine and does His work.

It often seems strange — even to Catholics — that the Church, whose doctrine is so holy and whose work is so entirely devoted to the moral and religious welfare of men, should be constantly the object of hatred and victimization. What is really strange and tragic in human history is how men could have put the Christ Himself to death. When they ignored His doctrine and His miracles and crucified Him, we need not be astonished or pretend to be horrified that men misrepresent and ignore the doctrine and work of the Catholic Church. We should be prepared for it, for did He Himself not promise it? “If they persecuted Me they will persecute you.” “The disciple is not greater than the Master.” The fact that the Catholic Church suffers violence is a sign that she is the true Church, the body of Christ.

In this world men must be prepared to suffer in defence of truth and justice. John the Baptist, the precursor of Christ, was a holy man who offered injury to no one. Yet he was put to death, because he told a truth which was unpalatable to a wicked woman and a tyrant.

Modern Communism

The Theory and Objective of Bolshevism

Pope Pius XI and Social Reconstruction

The Reformation and Capitalism

A Code of International Ethics

Pope Pius XII on the Irish Constitution

The following was an address given by Pope Pius XII to the Taoiseach, Mr. Éamon de Valera, at Castelgandolfo, 4th October, 1957.

With the special affection Our paternal heart has reserved these many years, as you well know, for your Emerald Isle, We welcome you this morning, Taoiseach, along with the official party, come to bear you such distinguished and gracious company.

Let the warmth and depth of its sincerity afford you, one and all, the best token of Our interest in the festive mission which brings you once more ‘home to Rome’; let it be a pledge renewed of abiding confidence in Our venerable brothers of the Irish Hierarchy, in priests and people, and a further mark of high esteem for your illustrious President, and for the Government, that has now, for the third time, entrusted to your practised and competent hand, the responsible post of Prime Minister.

The eventful years of grace which have passed since an Irish Government came into being have provided a confused and sorely stricken world with the heartening evidence of the capacity of a staunch, militantly Catholic people to govern itself wisely and efficiently, while respecting its fraternal obligations to the other nations of the human family.

Your Constitution (Bunreacht na hÉireann) is intended to be an instrument of ‘prudence, justice and charity’ at the service of a community which has never, through its long Christian history, had any doubt about the eternal, as well as the temporal implications, of that common good, which it professes to seek through the conjoined prayer, toil and oftentimes heroic sacrifice of its children.

Archbishop McQuaid’s Lenten Regulations, 1953

Most Rev. John Charles McQuaid, D.D. Archbishop of Dublin, Primate of Ireland

Dublin, 12th February, 1953.

I. The Season of Lent is set aside by the Church as a time of special prayer and penance. Usually, the Church prescribes the penance of fasting. If it is not possible to fast, other penances and works of charity ought with prudence to be undertaken by young and old alike. The general behaviour of a Catholic during Lent should be that of a person, who, at this season, keeps constantly in mind the Passion and Death of Our Divine Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

II. This year the general law of the Church concerning Lenten Fast and Abstinence is to be observed in this Diocese.

III. The following regulations are to be regarded as stating the law of the Church for those who are able to fast, without danger to their health, or without undue strain upon their source of income.

Pastoral Address of the Archbishops and Bishops to the Clergy and People of the Catholic Church in Ireland, 1832

Dearly Beloved Brethren in Christ:

The same holy zeal that influences the Church in the decreeing of her laws of discipline, “for the perfecting of the Saints, unto the edification of the Body of Christ,” urges her to mitigate their severity, and to dispense in their observance, as the circumstances of times and countries may render conducive to the interests of the Faithful. Like a tender mother she watches over her children with unceasing solicitude, to know their wants, and to minister to them out of the abundance of her charity, according to the dispensation God has confided to her.

Her precepts of abstinence on particular days, by which “we chastise the body and bring it into subjection” (1) have been subject to the changes incident to disciplinary laws, and have been modified by her as expediency might require. In the primitive days of Christianity, adapted to the circumstances of the happy times for which they were enacted, they were austere in proportion to the fervor of the Faithful. But as piety waxed cold, we observe her accommodating her discipline to the weakness of her children, and gradually lessening their burden according to the diminution of their strength. You, dearest Brethren, a cherished portion of her obedient children, have yourselves, from time to time, experienced the same tender indulgence relative to the observance of Lent. However venerable for its Apostolic origin, sacred in the ends for which it was instituted, and at all times sanctified by your cheerful observance of its austerities in the spirit of Christian mortification by which the Elect of God are made comformable to the image of His Son, it has not always been enforced in your regard according to its rigour, but has been mitigated in seasons of great distress, by a dispensation in the law of abstinence, out of compassionate consideration for the miseries of the poor. We have now to announce to you, beloved Brethren, an Indult of our Holy Father Pope Gregory XVI by a Rescript bearing date the 17th day of December, 1831, extending to Ireland a change in the law of abstinence, similar to that already granted to England and Scotland. His Holiness, having taken into consideration the peculiar circumstances of this country, and compassionating as a Father the weakness of his children, as well as the increasing poverty and the extreme destitution of many, has granted to us the power of dispensing in our respective dioceses, in the law of abstinence on Saturdays throughout the year, except those on which the precept of fasting obliges, as we might deem most expedient in the Lord.

Dublin Institute of Catholic Sociology: Manual of Social Ethics; 1956

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The Dublin Institute of Catholic Sociology was founded in 1950 by the Most Rev. John Charles McQuaid, Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland. The Institute was established to equip Catholics with a greater knowledge of Catholic Social Teaching and gave courses to the general public, of both genders and all social backgrounds, on political science, Irish culture, economics, theology, the philosophy of Marxism, Irish and Church history, industrial relations, social and general ethics, sacred scripture, rural life and its problems, modern science, literature, drama, film appreciation, the Irish Constitution, public speaking and the social encyclicals. The courses rapidly became so popular that the Institute was forced to transfer its premises from 14 Gardiner Place to 66 Eccles Street. The Institute boasted an extensive library and a vibrant debating society, to which all third level students were invited to join. Discussions in classes were lively and questions were invited after each lecture. Enrolling students were given the option of undertaking a three-year comprehensive Diploma or a one-year course in a particular subject. The Institute also organized special lectures throughout the island and arranged courses to train priests in the use of the media, under the auspices of the Irish bishops’ Catholic Television Interim Committee. The annual Social Study Congress always hosted a wide-ranging assortment of speakers; for example, in 1959, discussing the theme “A World To Win”, students heard from, inter alia, Douglas A. Hyde, ex-CPGB activist and former news editor of the Daily Worker (now Morning Star), the Most Rev. Dr. Heenan, Archbishop of Liverpool and subsequently Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Baroness Bosch van Drakestein, president of the Grail Movement, and the black Rhodesian Bernard Chidzero, later to become chair of the IMF/World Bank Development Committee, Zimbabwe’s first finance minister and candidate for UN Secretary General in 1991. Following the Second Vatican Council, the Institute was reconstituted into the Dublin Institute of Adult Education in 1966.

A Catholic Social Catechism

See also: A Catechism of the Social Question

Hibernian Journal; December, 1927

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Rev. William Conway on The Church and State-Control

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The following biography of Cardinal Conway is from Florida International University Library: