The Catholic Church in Ireland, 1914-1918: War and Politics

Almost nothing of any value has been written about the Catholic church during the First World War, and yet as the church of the great majority of Irish people it occupied a central position at a time of considerable social and political turmoil. This work, for the very first time, and using some archives never before properly examined, explores the church's response to the changing circumstances, at a high political and ecclesiastical level. It reassesses some of the leading ecclesiastical figures of the time, such as Cardinal Logue, Archbishop Walsh and Bishop O'Dwyer of Limerick, and discusses the political interest of belligerent foreign powers in Ireland and its church.

Part 1 The church and the war, August 1914-April 1916: Ireland's reaction to the war; the importance of the Catholic church; the belligerent bishops; priests and the war effort; the church, Belgium, Poland and the war economy. Part 2 The rogue bishops: Cardinal Logue - for the empire, against the government!; Archbishop Walsh's deafening political silence; Bishop O'Dwyer's anti-war crusade. Part 3 The summer of 1916 - rising, conscription and partition: Count Plunkett's secret mission to the Vatican; Archbishop Walsh, the clergy and the rising; the hierarchy's reaction to the Easter rising; Bishop O'Dwyer's rise in the nationalist opposition; the conscription and partition crises of 1916. Part 4 The first French mission: Ireland's importance in the war; the French worry about Ireland; Andre Geraud tours the country; the first French mission to Ireland; the results of the French mission. Part 5 The church, the war and radicalism, 1916-1918: the search for nationalist unity; a solution in sight?; exit O'Dwyer, enter de Valera; from convention to conscription. Part 6 The conscription crisis of 1918: the cabinet's decision; Mgr Curran's decisive intervention; the Episcopal meeting of 18 April 1918; opposition to conscription; the hierarchy under attack; the Irish clergy in the United States; crisis down under. Part 7 The Irish college in Rome, 1914-1918: a tradition of Roman intrigues; the college, the mission and the Vatican, 1914-April 1916; a duel between the Irish college and Cardinal Casquet; correspondence between Mgr O'Riordan and Bishop O'Dwyer; the red book; Cardinal Bourne and Sir Roger Casement's execution; rapprochement between nationalist Ireland and the Vatican; the end of the war in Rome. Part 8 The second French mission, the "Hay plan": Ireland's importance in the war in 1918; French hesitations; the "Hay plan"; the "Hay plan" - recruitment effort or plot?; aftermath.