Pulpit condemnations were part of a conversation with the flock rather than simply authoritative monologues. Priests did not operate in isolation from lay Catholics and weighed their words carefully depending on their audience. This chapter examines clerical interaction with republicans. Often the republican response to condemnation took the form of verbal criticism. The interaction included theological arguments about the legitimacy or otherwise of IRA killings. Some priests intervened actively to prevent the carrying out of IRA operations. By way of response, Volunteers sometimes resorted to intimidation of clerics. This chapter looks at instances of clerical obstruction of the IRA and its consequences, and at republican criticism of clerical condemnation. It also analyses the different theological arguments about the moral status of the guerrilla war. Finally, it looks at another important question concerning the clergy’s response: it asks whether clergy furthered or countered the allegedly sectarian nature of the guerrilla campaign.
The guerrilla war waged between the IRA and the crown forces from 1919 to 1921 was a pivotal episode in the modern history of Ireland. This book addresses the War of Independence from a new perspective by focusing on the attitude of a powerful social elite: the Catholic clergy. The close relationship between Irish nationalism and Catholicism was put to the test when a pugnacious new republicanism emerged after the 1916 Easter rising. When the IRA and the crown forces became involved in a guerrilla war from 1919 onwards, priests had to define their position anew. Using a wealth of source material, much of it new, this book assesses the clergy’s response to political violence. It describes how the image of shared victimhood at the hands of the British helped to contain tensions between the clergy and the republican movement, and shows how the links between Catholicism and Irish nationalism were sustained.