Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-11-14 00:00:00

A JEWEL OF AI( IRISH PABSON.

The Church as well as the world has its causes c'elgy e 9.
•Even in the Ecclesiastical Courta we sometimes find revealed
eons of astounding iniquity,. deeds of 'fraud and crime,
eissaeit of sacrilegious impostures, which exhibit the
depravity of human nature in the most stardiug light.
Happiiy, such Cases are very rare in Ireland. Not
more than three or four times in half a century have
•
our prelitee been called upon to degrade men who
-had disgraeed the sacred date. In the present age,
the painful task is less likely than ever to be imposed
upon them. The Protestant laity will not tolerate
immorality in their ministers. The Irish clergy are
now remarkable for their piety and putity of life. The
bishops are vigilant and- active, zealous for the Church's
honour, each "feeling a stain upon it like a wound." And
if, with all their vigilanee and zeal, " a wolf Ito sheep's
clothing" should, by means o! extraordinary cunning and
consummate hypocrisy, find hie wayinto thefold, he will
be sure to be detected one day or another, and brought to
condign punishtnent. Of this we have a strik regillustrae
tion in the case of Moore O' one or the late rector of Cul-
daff, for whose persecution and degradation the-Church is:
deeply indebted to the present Bishop ot Derry.
When, his lordship first assoned \the government of that
diocese, he was startled by memories; freirethe parishioners
,of Culdaff: They brought geave charges• against their
rector, the Rev. Moore O'Connor, and preyecUaa investi-
gation.. The bishop enderavoureato pine a° reconciliation-
between the parties without a F.:blink exposure. With the •
parishioners he succeeted Mr.OsConmer re/tie-randy agreed'
to give an apology for the acts conteletined of;' yet aft 'r le-
lingetrreapondence, the bishop had' to proceed personally
to Culdaff and enforce compliance- with his award. By
and by, however, charges of veribuse kinds, embracing.
different degrees of levity or gee, end froze numerous ,
quartere, poured in agairst O'Coneer. . A local journal.
the SerzMzel, at length embodied tho-facts in 1:1-e leading
article, and published them to the world: O'Connor now
obeyed the bishop's summons, and,' attended to give
explanations, such as he eonld. These. peeved SO' unsatis-
fatory-to his diocesan that he offered tod O'Connor the
option of withdrawing from the pariah, foe two years,
or abidihg the issue of any; steps which' it migdit be-
advisahle to tile. At once O'Connor threw off all
obedience to his bishop, defied him openy, and braved
him to the utmost. He was solemnly and publicly
censured 'and admonished in the presence- of the clergy
assembled' in visitation. Smarting under *the rebuke, and
yeatningfor revenge, O'Connor brought areat:tion against
the proprietor of the Sentinel, who pleaded le justification, •
and at great expense procured evidence to establish the
truth of the charges. To this plea O'Connor demurred.
Issue was joined upon one charge telly, and on this he,
most unfortunately for himself, cbtained a verdict with.
damages. Subsequently, however, his demurrer was over-
ruled by the unanimous decision of the Common Plow +,
and a new trial was granted The verdict was reversed,
and one given, with costs, in favour of the Sent'inel.
It happened that on the first trial agentlercan from the
Bishop of London's office was pubpcenced. He brought
with him a nue:thee of documents, and amccgst them
certain letters recommendatory, purporting to he signed
by Fellows of. rinity College, Dublin. On reference to
these parties it was found all were forgeriees and this
astounding-fact led to the discovery of others. It was dis-
covered that O'Connor obtained an ad eundem degree from
Cambridge, on the ground of being a graduate of Dublin,
though he never was a student in the Irish University. He •
obtained -deacon's orders from the Bishop of London, under
a special Act which allows the Metropolitan to ordain for
the ministry in the colonies Ho made a covenant with.
the Society for the Propogation of the Gospel to set out
for his distant scene of lsbour at the moment he was •
ordained. He was made a deacon on the 19th December,
and at once practised on the society an unmitigated fraud.
He left London, and on the 10:h of January appeared
as assistant curate in St. Andrew's Church, within a
stone's throw of the Universi y, he falsely claimed to
belong:to. He filled toe sacred office there until June.
When the society required him to fulfil his
engagement, he informed them that be was con-
stantly 'spitting forth blood from his lungs. At. the same .
time he not only officiated in St. Andrew's, but volunteered
to do so in St. Mark's ; and, wanting to borrow .money, he •
sent to an insurance office a medical certificate, ticlaring
that he never had a spitting of blood or any bodily ailment
in his life. The facts came to the knowledge of the present.
Archbishop of Dublin. He at once saw througe all this,
trickery, and inhibited him from officiating in his diocese.
The Bishop of London we- te to the Primate a statement of '
the case. The Primate informed all his suffragan bishops; :
yet somehow, O'Connor managed to obtain a curacy under
the late Bishop of Derry. How he obtained priest's orders
is a mystery, but obtain them he did, and for four years this
cheat and forger administered the sacraments in the Ohurch
of,Christ. We lose sight of him for some time, but in
June, 1846 he purchased with
,borrowed money, never
repaid, the living of Drumaul, -but wag foiled in his
attempts to possess it. In consequence of the, cautionary
letter of the Primate, the Bishop refused to induct him.
(Quietly, however, he resolved to bide his time, and, fertile
in expedients, by a regular deed he perpetrated one of the
foulest acts of palpable simony ever: hated of.
He give Ja4so borrowed and still unpaid money.
to the Rev. John Shea'. who therefore resigned
to him the living of Culdaff, worth we believe about
£450 a year, and then the Rev. Moore O'Connor,
having so far succeeded in boiling the, authorities.
of his Church, proceeded to perpetrate the acts for which
1 his parishioners were compelled to appeal t ) their Bisoop:
The case, a few days since closed at Armagh, excited
great interest, both amongst clergy and ilaity. The
certainty that O'Connor had gout back, in the.hour of his .
deg edation and despair, to the Church of Rome, which .
long ago had owned him, and whose practices he had
carried on while professing a purer creed, mademen curious .
to know the decision. It was well to let all know, bees..
public example, that no lapse of time can protect a man .
front exposure and deprivation, with respect to a profession ,
in which all should be pure. The poonts on which the.
question was finally decided are —First, that O'Connor
had obtained ordination by fraud, micrepresentation, and
forgery. Tha decision on this head was, simply to depoFe
him from the orders ha had obtained so fraudulently. The
second point was simony. Of this there could be no
question. The documents—even the very cheque—were.
all before the court. This deprived] him of the living: the
benefice was pronounced void. No cavil can be raised
hereafter. If he was not the lawful holder 'of it, he is.
deprived of it by Act of Parliament already. If he ma&
the legal holder, the court has deprived him of a benefice.,
to which he never had a right.
It is surely, no wonder that the present Bishop of,Derryt
felt it to be his incumbent duty .to institute proceedings,
against thiseunhappy and dariag.man. .Ta have surh nes
character la the Church was an outrage on Christianity.
To rid his diocese of a perjurer, forger, andereckless awe
latan was the least among the duties of a Obits inn bishop.
It is a striking instance of the inefficiency of our Ecclesi-
astical Courts, that this man was for seventeen years
an officiating minister in the Established Church. All
this time, though a cloud of sospicion hung around him.
and at last proof was given of his real character, the bishop),
attempt to remove him, would have been .hopeless, had
not accident discovered;, during 'he peorress of the libel
case, that he had boon ordsined on forged . certificates.
True,. that the instant,this was di,coeered the Bishop of
Derry institutzd the sail., in which he has 6 nallysuceeeded,
at hie own personal:enpense, in degrading O'Connor from
orders. But it is re less true that such a state of things
reqnires immediato.reform. While waiting. for a bill rev-
dating Church discipline, an immediate actiun.could easily
be secured. Were a list of cinditlates for ()adulation, their
;nomination, and testimonials nommunicated to every bishop
and their titles.to degrees tested by an ;weal to Univer-
sity records, such scandals co dd not. occ'as. At present,
indeed, the name of each caralidate for ordination is read
out during divine seivice is the Ember weeks, and the
I congregation asked if they know: any just cause or impedi-
ment to his ordination. 'dint in crowded parishes many
may bear the same name, and-men will not expose them-
selves town action ter libel by standing forth to denounce,
delitiqueocy. A h'gher twt than this should be appointed:
for theenan who enters upon the most sacred of all sacred
offices. A little more care on the part of our bishop.,
soineecloser intercentaunication amongst them, corn* more
public announcement of the names of candidates, would
effectually prevent opprobrium to the Church, and prevent
the introduction of such characters as Moore O'Connor.-
4 Daily .Express.

GREkT NORTH CV' SCOTLAND RAILWAY.—The &rectors of
this railway propose to declare a dividend of 5 per cent.
on their preference stock, and a dividend of 44.1 per cent.
on the original shares. The revenue of the compsny
shows this year an incroaso on net resipts of £10,0013
over those of the previous year.
A. Pima:can's PLOT —A rather cunling eavice, on the
part of a prisoner, was frustrated at the Aifisileshro' lock-up
the other 4.y. A piece of 'bread,. taro.ight to a prisoner,
who bad been committed for receiving stolen money, was
found by the officer on drty to eant3in a ncti,,revealing a
plan for effecting the pri3olorN '1 he plot was,
that the party who trAl onamitted the robb)ry was to plead
sntdoleu.
the
guilty, and say that the storey was secreted in a cellar,
where, in order to carry. out the deceptiJr, the friends of
the prisoner had placed the same
aullirithe egrethfaottt
The officer proceeded to the cellar,
and
.money referred to in the inttrieetgd note,--2 ewoagif
Coume,