부산대학교 도서관

A majority of the clergy simply tried to avoid becoming involved in the conflict at all. This was an unremarkable course of action in areas of the country where violence was rare. But even in violent counties such as Cork it was a common attitude. The most pressing concern for most priests most of the time was how to avoid bloodshed in their parishes, and, if blood had already been shed, how to relieve the suffering of their parishioners. This relief work was ostensibly non-partisan, but its emphasis on shared victimhood at the hands of a foreign power was intended to reinforce the message of Irish Catholic unity. The current chapter examines a number of humanitarian clerical responses to political violence and assesses their meaning. It also looks at the wider context. Priestly involvement did not happen in a vacuum. There were other political issues at play, related only indirectly to the struggle for independence, but which were of crucial importance to the clergy.
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.