Dear Editor: In response to George Weigel’s article (Feb. 20) “Isis, Genocide…”
If one should ever go across the sea to Ireland and stand on the shore of Galway Bay, on a clear day one can see more than the sun going down. In the distance are the Aran Islands where the British imprisoned hundreds of priests prior to execution or transportation with thousands of other Catholics, to Australia or the brutal sugar cane plantations of Barbados.
A short trip into the city, one can visit St. Nicholas Pro Cathedral (now Protestant) where horses were stabled – the marks on the stone floor still visible from the effects of their steel-shod hoofs. Further outside, one can visit the beautiful new Cathedral built on the site of a former prison where many an Irishman was incarcerated.
Take a walk along Father Griffin Road named in memory of a priest who was brought out of his house at night, shot dead and his body dumped in a bog.
Travel then a few miles from the city to the fields of Athenry and see the ruins of St. Mary’s Priory sacked by the British in their constant effort to destroy every vestige of Truth.
All of that in a very small area is simply reflective of what took place throughout the country, especially during the time of Oliver Cromwell, who upon massacring the entire population of one town – Drogheda – said, “It was a good day for the Lord.”
How anyone of any faith can justify killing, looting and abuse of their fellow man in God’s name can only be attributed to something being seriously wrong with that belief. Whether in the Middle East or Ireland, the residue of such atrocities remain long in memories that continue into the future.
If one is hoping for a resolution on China annexing Tibet, or Russia, part of Ukraine, learn from the British method used in Ireland for over 800 years as the answer to hope, justice and democracy – for they are still in Ireland. That in spite of an election/referendum (1918) in all of Ireland resulting in a four-to-one result in favor of independence – but denied and the country divided. Proclaiming freedom while denying it to others is apparently not something new.
Perhaps the answer, for some, may lie in the attitude of an English woman to whom I mentioned some of the mayhem, death, destruction and misery they created in Ireland: “I don’t think about it,” she replied.
“Faith of our fathers living still in spite of dungeon, fire and sword.”
A happy St. Patrick’s Day to all.
THOMAS C. CULLINANE
Bayside