Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1918-12-21

Cardinal O'Connell, OF Boston,
delivered the following address at
Madison Square Garden, New York
City, last week, presenting strong
and able plea for justice and free
dom for Ireland and paid glowing
tribute to lreland's loyalty to Mother
Church. His Eminence spoke as
follows:
"In finally yielding to the re-
peated urgent invitations Of your
committee to be present here at
this significant meeting tonight, l
have listened to the advice of duty
alone. AS the case was presented
to me 1t Became clear to my mind
that to stay away would be tanta-
mount to the evasion of a grave
obligation to my faith, my country
and my race. When the voice of
that sacred trinity of motives calls.
no man with a Christian conscience
can refuse to rise and follow 1t, no
matter what the cost or the sacri-
flee. ] had to choose between con-
venience, conventionality and duty.
l have made my choice, and here
stand.
"The Irish people through all the
painful vicissitudes of their history
have been faithful, as no other
people in all the world, to the
Christian faith. The most Christian
country in the world today, accord
ing to the testimony, even of her
enemies, is Ireland. When her chill
dren, fleeing from an intolerable
condition of servitude under for
eign domination of all freemen,
4, came in pitiable exile to these
shores of free America. they
brought with them the noblest vir-.
tues of Christian souls. Where
even today would the church In
America be--for that matter in the
whole English-speaking world-but
for the fidelity, the great-hearted-
ness, the unquenchable devotion of
the children of Erin? Is it pos
sible that any of us Bishops or
priests of America could ever be
guilty of forgetting that to the
heroic generosity of the Irish we
owe such glorious monuments TO
faith as the superbly beautiful
Cathedral of this wonderful city.
dedicated to Ireland's patron saint
and erected by the sacrifices of his
faithful sons and daughters? What
is true of this noblest Christian
shrine in Americas greatest city
is equally true of thousands and
thousands of humber fanes in
humber communities all over the
land. Can any of us among the
church's leaders ever remain silent
and inactive when there is at stake
the welfare of the people to whom
we owe our very daily bread and
the roof that shelters us?
There is no legitimate length, no
limit within Christian law, to
which / and every prelate and
priest of America should not be
glad and happy to go when the cry
of the long-suffering children of
the Gael comes to us, and when
as now, before the tribunal OF the
whole world. the sacred cause OF
justice to every nation and every
people is to be given a public hear
ing. 1t Is because the people of
Ireland have solemnly kept their
sacred word. given to their great
apostle, to be faithful to Peters sue
cessor as they would be faithful to
Christ, that they have felt the heel
of a foreign despot mercilessly
lUOI uOWn AulO Iu0 N6Iy
dust of humiliation. Yes, let us
say 1t frankly and openly, for 1t is
the truth--it is the fidelity of Ire
land to all she holds most sacred
which has been the chief cause OF
her offending.
"Are we whose lives are dedl-
Gated to the eternal principle of
which Ireland has become a
martyr among the nations. so bitten
by mere worldly interests as to be
mute in this day when all the
world of brutal might is summoned
into court? God forbid! In Gods
name let us now speak out fear
lessly for Gods cause, for the
cause of justice to all weak and
strong, small and great, or let us
be forever silent. If we look back
upon what has happened during the
last four years we shall see that
conditions. hitherto accepted as
permanent and absolutely I'M
changeable, have been so COM
pletely and entirely transformed
that almost nothing remains of
them to remind us OF what once
stood as firm as Gibraltar. 1t Is as
If the elemental forces had sud-
denly asserted themselves and had
completely overun the earth. The
kaleidoscope of the world has been
shaken and the bits of colored
glass in the chlld's toy have rushed
into new combinations which puzzle
the eyes of our brain. One after
another thrones have been over
turned and empires have fallen.
Disorder has broken loose upon the
earth, and unless some power
greater than the forces OF anarchy
prevails all Europe-all the world
will be shaken to the foundations
of civilization.
| 1.-THE great war Is over now. but