Plea for Peace in Ireland

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIX, Issue 39, 5 October 1922, Page 31

Plea for Peace in Ireland

ARCHBISHOP’S MOVING APPEAL. : • In the course of his sermon at last Mass in Tuam Cathedral on a recent Sunday, his Grace the Archbishop of in am said : * i / most deeply with the young men of Ireland in the tragic situation in which they now find themselves. Cruel and barbarous reprisals by the British forces helped to concentrate the attention of the world on Ireland struggle for freedom. In response to the prayers (>l ,LP eo P e ’ tlere . came a truce; next came a treaty. I here was a tide in the affairs of our nation which, taken at the flood might have led to a new stable Government, but the great men failed the masses of the people and most of the young men were in favor of the compromise. there was a constitutional way of settling the difficulty, but it was rejected. While the great majority wanted peace, sinister influences prevailed, and here we are now, he said, in the throes of a disastrous domestic war I he noble, responsive young men of Ireland who allowed themselves, to bo drawn easily into a kind of war against v hat vas called a British Government, are "now ranged in serried columns pouring deadly fire into their own ranks. I anneal to them to ground arms, and insist on the constitutional way of ending this conflict. There is already enough of Irish blood shed. There is enough of destruction done in the country. Irish property is being dai v destroyed by Irishmen. Railways are cut, bridges broken, property commandeered, women and children are living in terror. Work is abandoned, and the grim spectres of famine and disease are standing at our doors. Ihe moral law, is violated; consciences are tortured ; hearts are torn, although by the use of common sense and moderation our country, could now be smiling as it never smiled •'-elore. in its freedom from .outside control. / “In the name of God and in. the name of Ireland I anneal to the young men to save the old land Horn destruction. Let them insist on a Truce of God, with a view to the restoration of ordered conditions in ’the country During the Truce let Parliament meet and let Parliament rule Let us _ have one Government, namely, that accepted by the majority of the people’s representatives. Let us have one army, one police force, and one Ireland. Is this a fair solution? Is it a just solution? Is it, not the only way to political salvation? Is it not moralitv. patriotism and common smise? The alternatives are too terrible to contemplate. There can be no elorv in'this war Its continuance to the bloody end wilkleave Ireland a Vnlfid skeleton, awaiting death, with no pitving eves town for disasters brought upon , ns. not bv our foes hutvbv ourselves. Let us then proclaim a Truce of God let ns all mm in prayer while'our Parliament is laying the basis of a constitutional Pence, as we cannot expect God’s blessings _unless wt , keen His Commandments Let, these concerned-set about making restitution and renovation for damage, as fay as they can do so, May God. through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, St: Joseph and. tlm Irish saints .‘give the young men of Irtland the mo r a ] courage to do. what conscience proclaims to be right ”