Bishop Philbin Blames It All on the People

Her ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— James Connolly, in his pamphlet “Labour, Nationality and Religion”’ -outlines the long history of calculated, despicable betrayal of the Irish struggle for freedom by_the Catholic Hierarchy in this country. In every period of our history, when Irishmen and women have endeavoured to free themselves from the slavery of British domination, the voice of the church has too often been raised in betrayal.

The infamous former Bishop of Kerry Moriorty who denounced the Fenian Brotherhood with the words “Hell is not hot enough nor eternity long enough to punish such has by no means played a unique role in Irish history. From as far back as 1169, with the first Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, right up until the present day, many Priests, Bishops Cardinals and Popes have poured out their wrath on those who have opposed Britain’s interests in Ireland.

The greatest irony is that William of Orange at the battle of the Boyne was financed by the Pope of the day!

The recent utterances of the Bishop of Down and Connor, William Philbin have earned him a place in the same dishonourable side of history. Indeed the history of this man, who dined at tea parties in Buckingham Palace while Irish people were being murdered by Britain’s hirelings, who rushed to Hastings Street Barracks in Belfast to weep over British soldiers killed while engaged in terrorising the people of the Lower Falls, and who has made innumerable statements condemning the anti-Imperialist struggle — will ensure that he is reserved a place in the forefront of the whole sordid bunch of traitors to the Irish liberation struggle.

His latest speech, calling for support for the R.U.C. and British Army is completely in character. The ‘reasoning’ (for wnat of a better word) that he uses to support this calls is that such a course of action “would help stop the sectarian murders”. It is convenient for Philbin to ignore the fact that both the R.U.C. and British Army have been responsible for the murder of Catholics at any time that it suited Britain’s interests. It is generally convenient for him to forget that the murderers of the UDA and UVF have now been invited force — for the sole purpose of of the anti-Unionist people.

to do so, is ridiculous. On the used. by Merlyn Rees to join the RUC ensuring the continued oppression For Philbin to suggest that either of these bodies will try to stop the assassination of Catholics, other than when it suits their political ends contrary, the only way to completely stop these murders, is to destroy what has started them — Imperialist manipulation and control in Ireland, in defence of which the murders, the RUC and the British Army are all But another aspect of Philbin’s overall attitudes is revealed in the speech — he says: “If alignment with murder gans is being assumed against us indiscriminately, statistics show that it is a thousand times more likely that any Catholic taken at random has no such alignment — and this likelihood is all the greater if there is question of someone in regular employment or on his way * to work’’. In other words Philbin is saying that he does not like the indiscriminate assassination campaign because not enough people who “align” themselves withe the anti-imperialist struggle have been killed, but that the situation might be improved if more unemployed That statement must put Philbin in the same league as William Craig, with his ideas on eliminating “‘the enemy’’. To extend the logic of Dr. Philbin’s remarks, it should not be long before he is calling for the machine-gunning of Long Kesh — or the dole queue — and possibly advocating the bombing of Andersonstown — all as more efficient methods of removing those who “align” themselves with people of whom he disapproves.

Finally, in condemning the attitude of Dr. Philbin we are not writing off those clergy who have uncompromisingly supported the struggle of the last six years. :

In the past the church has had to ‘eat her words’ on many occasions — when those whom she had originally opposed have achieved power. This time Dr. Philbin would appear to be burning all his boats — he seems to have mor faith than even the British themselves have in their own solution.

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