A new book by Mayo priest and author Fr Brendan Hoban reveals that a
dispute between two bishops in the nineteenth century almost led to a
split in the Catholic Church in Ireland and resulted in a fully-fledged
investigation from Rome.
Turbulent Diocese: The Killala Troubles, 1798-1848 recounts
the remarkable story that split clergy in the Killala diocese into
opposing factions.
The row followed the unexpected appointment of
Bishop Francis O’Finan, a Dominican who had worked in Rome and taught in
Waterford before becoming bishop of Killala in 1835.
O’Finan rowed with a neighbouring bishop - one of the major figures in the Irish church, Archbishop John McHale of Tuam.
McHale was a formidable and highly political prelate and campaigned
against both tithes to Protestant churches and the co-education of
Catholics and Protestants, and opposed the appointment of Cardinal
Newman as head of the National University of Ireland.
The clash between
the two neighbouring clerics occurred against the backdrop of a
notorious libel trial.
In 1836, one of Bishop O’Finan’s PPs, Fr Patrick Flannelly of Easkey, wrote letters to the Castlebar Telegraph,
castigating him publicly and demanding his resignation.
This led to a
case at Sligo Assizes a year later, when O’Finan brought a case against
the proprietor of the newspaper.
Fr Hoban said he stumbled across the story while researching a
history of the diocese and was fascinated by the, “extraordinary gallery
of characters involved” in the turbulent period.
He said his book is not “a social, cultural and political history” of
the period but sheds light on the role of the Catholic Church in rural
Mayo at that time, especially in its efforts to provide chapels and
schools.
It also offers a new insight into Archbishop McHale, who was a
towering figure in Irish Catholicism.
Fr Hoban’s other books include A Melancholy Truth, The Travels and Travails of Fr Charles Bourke, which also deals with aspects of the history of his diocese.