FROM THE ARCHIVES:In a sermon in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, which made the front page of The Irish Times, Dean George Seaver of Ossory discussed the status and role of the Church of Ireland in independent Ireland. – Joe Joyce
‘WE REPRESENT now only a very small minority in Church and State,” he stated. “We have left to us now no more than the shreds and tokens of the political and social privileges that once were ours. It may be that our forefathers did not value their privileges, and we, their children, stand forfeited of our inheritance.
“They did much good for Ireland, much good as well as ill. The good they did is all forgotten or deliberately disregarded; only the ill is remembered. And now in truth the wheel has turned full circle.
“And yet, small remnant though we be, we are not intruders. We are of no foreign growth. Though we cannot any longer make our voices heard in the councils of the nation, hardly above a whisper; though we cannot shape its policy directly, and though much is said and done of which we disapprove, we still can make our influence felt.”
The preacher said that influence should be of a quality leavened with the potency of spiritual values. “If that power be among us, if that influence be ours, what need have we to look elsewhere for our credentials to represent the true Church of Ireland?
“There are others who dispute with us the right to that title, and from them we enjoy a toleration, a consideration, and, I will add, a respect, such as our forefathers were very far from according to their forefathers.
“In this respect, thank God, the sins of the fathers have not been visited on their children. Our fellow-countrymen of the Roman Communion have shown themselves to be charitable and forgiving when they might have been vindictive. Gone are the days of religious prosecution and ostracism; we are free to conduct our worship in our own churches and in our own way. Let us never forget that, let us never cease to be grateful for that toleration, and let us strive to prove ourselves more and more worthy of that regard.”
“Ireland is a small country, and it has had a tortured and unhappy history. And it has fed its patriotism for centuries by brooding over its grievances, many of them genuine, but many more grossly exaggerated, or even imaginary. Someone has said of it, and I fear with some truth, that it has produced many patriots, but not much real patriotism.
“You do not find in it nowadays that deeply-rooted love of the soil, that husbandry and industry, that you find in England or France or Germany. On the contrary, every year hundreds of its young people emigrate, to find better employment in the very land which they have been taught, by acrimonious propaganda, to hate.
“One cannot blame them, if they get better wages there and are given more encouragement. But what a pity, because they are, for the most part, the cream of our youth.”
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