Over the past year we covered many Civil War commemorations through the county. The majority of these were organised by local communities and the families of those killed. Their only aim was one of remembrance.
It was repeatedly stated by speakers at these commemorations that remembrance was the greatest honour that communities could bestow on those who had died in the conflict.
To anybody who had attended such gatherings, it was obvious that the bitterness of the Civil War divisions has long passed.
Unhealed Wound Remained
However, one unhealed wound remained and this was referenced repeatedly by relatives of the men killed in the conflict and this was the role of the Catholic hierarchy during the Civil War.
The partisan attitude of the Bishops and consequently many of the parish priests during the 1922/23 period has been well documented.
The refusal of the Church to grant the sacraments to those on the Republican side and the excommunication of anti-treaty fighters and prisoners was a humiliation and injustice that was passed down through the generations to this day.
Words of Particular Interest
Following an academic conference organised by the Catholic History Society on Saturday last, September 23rd, Archbishop Eamon Martin, Primate of All Ireland issued a statement addressing the Church’s role in the conflict.
His words will be of particular interest to many and welcomed by the people of Kerry who lost relatives in that bitter period of Irish history.
Regret at Church’s Role in Civil War
Archbishop Martin’s statement expresses regret at the Church’s role in the Civil War. It acknowledges the hurt felt by succeeding generations by the attitude of the Church and it is this which is of relevance to many Kerry families who would have been offended and humiliated by the excommunication of their family members.
Good News Story for the Church
This historic statement, which is of particular relevance to Kerry, may have passed unnoticed, not being circulated by the national media but it will be welcomed by many people in Kerry for whom the Church’s role in the Civil War, both locally and nationally, was a source of hurt which had persisted even to this day. It is also a good news story for the Church.
We will have seen that, at local commemorations, priests were invited, and attended, and were an integral part of each event with the blessing of graves and the recitation of prayers during the various commemorations.
The statement should be of interest to the people of Kerry and should help in healing what was shown to be the final wound of the Civil War.
Archbishop Eamon Martin’s Remarks
The following are the epilogue remarks at the Catholic Historical Society of Ireland Annual Conference at the Seamus Heaney Lecture Theatre of Dublin City University on Saturday, September 23rd by Archbishop Eamon Martin:
“I wish to acknowledge, today, that the pastoral letter of Irish Bishops’ Conference of October 1922, and the way it was interpreted, clearly provoked much hurt and anguish among families which has permeated down the generations.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Bishops’ letter was exploited and distorted to excuse and provide moral justification for un-christian, sinful and criminal behaviour. And the bishops failed to publicly respond to that.
The bishops’ failure to name and shame the atrocities being committed by the pro-Treaty side fed the narrative that they spoke with two voices: that the Free State government could act with impunity, whilst those continuing the armed struggle for an all-Ireland solution could do no good.
Experience tells us that those who understand the past more deeply and honestly will be more likely to be open to engage in the work of reconciliation.
We are very grateful to the Catholic Historical Society of Ireland, and to today’s speakers, for helping us to bring to the light the interaction between the Catholic Church and the civil war.
The Church has not been immune from the tendency to try to ‘move on’ from our Civil War past. Like most others, we have often preferred to ‘leave well enough alone.’
It is clear from today’s papers and subsequent discussions that the pastoral letter of the Irish bishops in October 1922 represented the Church’s most controversial intervention during the Civil War period.
Their pastoral letter, approved unanimously, and following what they saw as the overwhelming will of the people in favour of the Treaty, began with these words: ‘The present state of Ireland, is a sorrow and humiliation to its friends all over the world.’
As we have heard, the bishops criticised those who were refusing to acknowledge the legitimate government as wrecking Ireland ‘from end to end’. They had no doubt that the anti-Treaty struggle was leading to what was called ‘social disintegration’, was morally unjust and, as the bishops said, was poisoning the minds of the young with ‘false principles’.
They unanimously pronounced that the ‘guerilla war is without moral sanction’; ‘it is murder before God’; ‘it is un-Catholic and immoral.’
The full text of Archbishop Martin’s epilogue can be read with a click on the link here: https://www.catholicbishops.ie/2023/09/23/the-catholic-church-and-the-irish-civil-war-a-reflection-by-archbishop-eamon-martin/
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