The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-09 00:00:00

The Irish Church Establishment.

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(From the Westminster Gazette.)
The Right Rev. Dr. Moriarty, Bishop of Kerry,
has addressed an important and very elaborate
letter to his clergy on the subject of the disendow-

ment of the Established Church in Ireland. The
document in its entirety far exceeds the limits of

the space at our disposal, and we can do no more
than quote a few passages as instances of the lucid
and eloquent style in which his lordship deals with

the subject:—
" VENERABLE BRETHREN, - You aro aware how
anxiously wo have at all times desired that our clergy
should abstain from interference in those things which

are purely secular or political. This is the spirit of the
Church ; it is the spirit of the Gospel. Our kingdom is
not of this world. When we descend from the heights
on which God has placed us, to take part iu temporal

affairs, our authority does not descend with us. We can
no longer claim that reverence and obedience which are
due to us while we act within the sphere of our spiritual
functions. In the pursuit of its political interests scciety
is split up into factions, diviied by contending opinions.
We have no mission to judge of such controversies.
When we take part in them we earn the enmity of those
who are opposed to our views. The world, which, in
the management of its own affairs, is wiser than we are,
undervalues our counsel and our help, and we return
into the sanctuary lessened in the esteem even of those
whom we sought to aid and serve. On the other hand, we
must remember that all human action is subject to the
moral law, which we are bound to explain and enforce.
We must remember, too, that political action very fre-
quently interferes, for good or for evil, with the rights
and well-being of the Church, and, with what should
be no less dear to us, the rights and well-being of the
poor. At the present time, when our Legislature is
occupied with its yearly task of making new laws
and repealing old ones, it may be advisable to have
the views and wishes of our people concerning the
grievances to which they may deem themselves sub-
ject, embodied in the usual constitutional form of
petitions to Parliament. The mind of the country,"
continues his lordship, " seems to be occupied chiefly
with three great questions—the disendowment of the
I Established Church, the vindication of the just rights of
the Catholic Church in the work of education, and the
' protection of the poor and dependent peasantry by some
improvement in the laws which regulate their relations
with the proprietors of the soil. Upon the last of these
questions we must confess ourselves incapable of offering
lany sure advice. There can be no difference of opinion
amongst us as to the end we should seek. Next to the
moral and religious improvement of our people, nothing
can be dearer to us than their temporal welfare, and our
people are chiefly the peasantry of the land, for we can
say, what the Apostle said of the Church of Corinth, that
there are not many mighty, not many noble amongst us.
But when we ask whether such or such a measure will
better their condition, we are met by difficult and doubt-
ful problems of political economy and social science.
Upon the question of Catholic education the voice of the
Church is very explicit, and our duty very clear. Some

few ;years ago we gave you our thoughts on this subject.
But you do not need our guidance when a higher voice
has spoken—Rona locuta est. The first question now
occupies iu a very prominent manner every thoughtful
mind. The urgent necessity of putting an end to religious
ascendancy in this country is admitted by many who
were once its most zealous supporters. The disendow-
ment of the Protestant Church by law established is a
measure which we cannot view with indifference. It

affects interests and principles, and involves speculations
and projects which intimately concern us."

We shall not attempt to follow the gifted pre
late in his profound and philosophical remarks
on the position of the Established Church in Ire-
land, in the course of which he quotes with high
praise Mr. Aubrey De Vere's recent pamphlet,
styled Hibernia Pacanda, but come at once to the
following passages in which the gist of his lord-
ship's argument will be found :
" Before answering the objections which we stated at
the outset, we must bear in mind that the Catholic Church
is the rightful owner of all ecclesiastical property in
this country, with the exception of what the Protestant
Church may have acquired since its separation. There
has been no concordat ceding this property to the
British Crown or sanctioning its secularization. We
acknowledge no prescription in this case. The Church
does not allow a state of limitation to bar our claim.
right
yalhaataaiinrnenoddli
The title of the Protestant Church has not even a
colour of validity. Our right is in abeyance, but it
is unimpaired. We must also bear in mind that while
the Catholic Church, as a spiritual corporation, is the
rightful owner of the ecclesiastical property, we, the
bishops and priests, could be only possessors of it for the
time being, with right of use or usufruct, according as
the property might be personal or real. We have,
therefore, no power to alienate it, or- to demand its
secularization, unless with the sanction of the Pope, who
is, by Christ's appointment, the supreme ruler of our
great spiritual commonwealth. This much being pre-
mised, when it is objected that the secularization of the
Church property involves injustice, we may answer, in
the first place, that if the episcopate of Ireland, with the
leave of the Holy See, consents to transfer, there
will be no violation of commutative justice. Scienti et
volenti non fit injuria. If we consulted only political expe-
diency we might recommen d this arrangement. We
might say, let the State withdraw all religious endow-
ments which the nation originally bestowed. Let the
tithe rent-charge, the regium donum, the Maynooth grant,
be used for other national purposes. Let every man,
Catholic, Protestant, or Dissenter, who wishes to save his
soul, provide for himself the ministrations or the helps
he may deem needful or useful. Let the State make
provision only for those on whose liberty it places re-
straint, such as soldiers, sailors, prisoners, paupers, &c.
This is one way in which we might obtain perfect reli-
gious equality, and harmonize our civil state. it seems
to us, however, that such an arrangement would still fur-
nish a precedent and a sanction for unjust and sacrilegi-
ous spoliation. The cessio juris on the part of the Ca-
tholic
Church would go for nought in the deliberations
of the Legislature ; and the disendowment would be
effected by the high hand of the State, without refer-
ence to the claims of any Church. We are of opinion
that religious equality and the destruction of ascendancy
may be obtained in a manner more comformable to justice,
and more in accordance with that high moral sense which
is a nation's true dignity. There is not one man in the
British Legislature, no matter to what party he belongs,
or how small his intelligence, who must not see that it
is manifestly unjust to hand over to a small section of the
originally given, which was then .the
community those revenues 'which were set apart to supply
the wants of the nation. We do not ask the Legislature
sole Church of the whole people. We hold our own
opinionsis notf
formed
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ours.sub j ec.
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tteh e recognizer
e v n u revenues s thew e
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in itself, but what is right to be done by a body consti-
tuted as our Legislature is. And as that body has no
mission or authority to decide on the apostolical succes-
sion of the Churches, nor on their rival claims to ortho-
doxy, the only thing it can consistently do is to apply the
ecclesiastical revenues to the service of all the Churches
that minister to the Irish people, and in the proportion in
which the Irish people accept their ministrations. An
assembly composed of men of every Christian sect, and of
d
igsimennneocreov
serviceable
income
cwyeee
ohaanborwdl
are to
were
rheteoenbgoete
paiduntheirseerused
general
souls.Christiansfointo
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Imperiall
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tmhcannot,
s Church
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their
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outlod btheerealizdiffeedreniftthebowdi hesolereciCuihurrinchg
and in whatever manner the Irish people may deem most
ot
thence thisenc e
Church ministers or ministrations, and
s, in proportion to
their numerical strength, as ascertained by the decennial
census. This proposal meets the objection raised against
the justice and expediency of the transfer of property ;
and, inasmuch as it is a partial restitution to the Catholic
Church, we could, with subjection to superior authority,
not only assent to it, but demand it. But, will the
Catholic body in this
country accept their share of the
Church revenue 2"

To answer this question his lordship points to
the vast stuns so generously expended by Irish
Catholics of late years in building churches, and
founding religious houses and schools, and in
other works of charity, and continues :
"Now, we ask, why should the Irish Catholic submit to
this, when there exist ample funds which could be used
for the purpose ? The rust of the old chains must still
cling round him, if he can patiently bear to see churches
built for a small number of persons who are in no
way his betters, and built from funds for which he is
equally taxed as they are. The independence of the
Church does not require such a sacrifice. The laity do
not grudge to be charged with the support of the clergy:
for many reasons they approve that mode of support, and
they would be the first to protest against a departure
from the present system ; but there is no reason why they
should not gladly receive a grant for the building of their
church or the maintenance of a diocesan school, not from
the common taxes of the country, but from funds which
their forefathers set apart for these purposes. It would
seem very absurd on our part to say to our people, You
must. build your churches ; you shall not do so with the
money you have paid in tithe-rent; all that you must
leave to the Protestant Church, or for secular uses ; you
must find money over and above for the needs of your
own worship. The allocation we propose, besides exempt-
ing the Catholic laity from the burden of a double taxa-
tion, would make the Catholic feel that he attained social
and religious equality by giving splendour and dignity
to his Church. The dignity which graces a Church does
not come from the wealth of its clergy. On the contrary,
the poorer they are the more they are revered. The
Church is clothed with that majesty which makes her
venerable when her ministers are poor, and learned,