THE ROMAN CHURCH AND HOME RULE.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1
notice on page 1109 of your issue of June 28th, 1913, a letter by which it is rather ingeniously sought to convince your readers that the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland does not want Home Rule. I should like to say that I have received a similar document several times this year, in some cases printed and in some cases typewritten. The reference to Mr. Healy made me conclude, rightly or wrongly, that its inspiration came from some Independent Nationalist source. I treated the article in the way that I treat everything that does not bear the name of the persons concerned and a mention of the place and time at which the occurrence is supposed to have taken place. I would advise your readers to treat this article in exactly the same way. And in entire contradiction to the statements contained in this supposed dialogue, allow me to quote a few authoritative statements from authentic sources.
In 1905, when the Home Rule propaganda was being strenuously worked up, Pope Pius wrote to Mr. John Redmond—and I quote from " The Life of John Redmond " by his nephew, Redmond Howard—" I recognize the Irish Party a defender of the Roman Catholic religion ; they hare my deep sympathy and blessing." Again, in the Irish Woad, November 20th, 1909, the following reply of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cloyne to a New York correspondent is published :—
" You have only to read from day to day our Irish newspapers to see how earnestly the priests of Ireland advocate and demand Home Rule, and how persistently they subscribe to the mainten- ance of the Irish Parliamentary Party, the first and chief point in whose propaganda is Home Rule."
But in order to prove to you that the position taken up by the Roman Catholic Church in 1905 and in 1909 is the same to-day, I would remind your readers of the fact that the Church accepted the Home Rule Bill of to-day in the National Convention which met on the introduction of the measure. Also I would remind your readers of a very strong pronouncement made by Father Gerald Nolan of Maynooth, in an address which he gave to the Roman Catholic students of Queen's University of Belfast on December 1st, 1912, in St. Malacby's College, Belfast. He said :—
"Humanly speaking, we are on the eve of Home Rule. We shalt have a free hand in the future. Let us use it well. This is a Catholic country, and if we do not govern it on Catholic lines, according to Catholic ideals, and to safeguard Catholic interests, it will be all the worse for the country and all the worse for us. We have now a momentous opportunity of changing the whole course of Irish history."
I consider that these statements, in the absence of any later authoritative statement from the Irish Bishops, prove that the Irish Roman Catholic Church is in favour of Home Rule.— Thornhill Gardens, Belfast.
[Our correspondent has surely heard of the body of unemployed who sought everywhere for work, praying fervently all the time to Heaven that they wouldn't find it.
There are plenty of Irish Roman Catholics who pray that the cause of their Church shall triumph through Home Rule, but
discreetly and sincerely add, "but not in our day, 0 Lord." It is most important that the earnest Liberals who imagine that all non-Protestant opinion is solid for Home Rule should
be made to realize this fact.—ED. Spectator.]
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