Nevertheless, the Irish Bishops do not go so far as
to ex- communicate Catholics who do not repudiate Mr. Parnell's leadership. And it is clear that Roman Catholic principles would not sustain them in any course so extreme. Yet the Liberal Unionist of this month has republished, from the Freeman's Journal of June 20th, the details of a very curious case, in which Mr. Patrick McKenna complains that, though a practical Catholic and a regular communicant, he has been refused both absolution and communion, nay, even a hearing in the confessional, on the ground that his name still stands on the committee which advocates Mr. Parnell's leadership. But if Mr. McKenna appeals to Rome, it is pretty certain that Rome will censure the high-handed course taken with him. Roman Catholics are not bound to accept the judgment of their Bishops on political issues, and cannot be excom- municated for refusing to do so. We only wish that Mr. McKenna had shown his independence in a better cause.
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