The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-09-13
STATE PAPERS ON THE IRISH CHURCH.

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STATE PAPERS ON THE IRISH CHURCH.
There are thousands of candid persons
people who would not take it kindly if they
were not thought to be well informed and
of some research, particularly in so import
ant a matter as their religious belief-who,
nevertheless, are sadly deficient in that
enlarged and critical knowledge which
should be the basis of all effort to arrive at
fundamental truth. Whatever excuse might
be plead in the past for this ignorance,
it will not avail to shield from censure,
when light is thrown upon controverted
points with the effulgcnce of MONDAY
splendor.
Anglican authors have labored with great
ingenuity and seeming learning to maintain
that the orders in tho Establishment -
were not interrupted or affected by the
rupture with the Catholic Church. What
at first was advanced as a plausible theory
is now brought forward as irrefrigable
testimony that the British Church had an
autonomy Independent of and unconnected
with the Roman See. At first it was gently
Patrick was Protestant. The next phase,
according to this self asserting authority,
will be that he was the first Orangeman
and the author of "Croppy Lie Down.
But light from unexpected sources
sources the orthodoxy of which cannot be
called in question-is at hand which
places this matter beyond controversy
The Rev. w. NJ. Brady has recently pub
lished a work entitled " State Papers Con-
corning the Irish Church in the Time of
Queen Elizabeth" The author had access
to the original documents in the govern
ment archives and State paper offices,
thus affording every guarantee of anthem
ITCHY. Moreover, he is dignitary in the
Church and Chaplain to the Lord Lieuten-
ant of Ireland. z4
Our readers must be aware of the anti
Catholic tendencies of the Saturday Rerie,c.
We give entire its criticism on DR.. Brady's
publication. Maugre its antipathies to
Romanism," the critic must sometimes be
just, if from no other motive than to gain
credit for impartiality. In the present in
stance, no alternative would seem to offer,
if homage or Difference was to be paid to
truth.
Not long ago we had occasion to notice
DR.. Brady's work on the Irish Reformation,
devoted to exposing the fallacy of long
standing and very general belief as to the
unbroken continuity of the Established
Church before and since that event. DR..
Brady did not, indeed, dispute the episco-~
pal succession Of his Church, nor is there,
that we are aware of, any ground for doing
SO. But he disposed conclusively of the
common notion that the Irish Episcopate
conformed en- masse to the new opinions,
and that, accordingly, the Protestant bish-
ops of our own day are their llneal success
ors in their respective sees. = On the
contrary, it appears that only one or two
conformed, and that the succession of
Roman Catholic bishops was never inter-
rupted at all, as the Pope continued to
appoint nominees OF his own to all the
ancient sees as they became vacant. We
shall find evidence, indeed, in the volume
now before us, that the Papal nominee was
often the only occupant. But DIR. Brady's
present argument, if we may apply the
expression to what is bare record of facts,
is more directly practical and less technical
or ecclesiastical than in his earlier work.
From a moral and political point of view,
it does not greatly matter whether or not
the Irish Protestant Episcopate can trace
its lineal descent from the Church of ST.
Patrick. Such defense for it would be SUI
Peffiuous if the Reformed Church had con-
ciliated the allegiance of the people, and it is
an inadequate apology for three centuries of
conspicuous failure. No technical right can
cover moral wrong. Still it was quite
worth while to point out that the supposed
claim is fiction. The object of DIR. Brady's
new work is to exhibit, and that exclusively
on the testimony of the highest Protestant
officials in Church and State, the real his
tory of the introduction of Professionalism
into Ireland. We have a series of letters