The preoccupations of the Irish Catholic
hierarchy in the early years of the State were the twin and related
evils of company-keeping and dancing and the subversion of the morality
of the Irish people caused by the importation of indecent and obscene
literature, notably English Sunday newspapers (company-keeping was the
practice whereby unmarried couples would spend time with each other
alone).
In 1926 the then archbishop of Tuam, Thomas Gilmartin,
warned: “In recent years the dangerous locations of sin have been
multiplied. The old Irish dances have been discarded for foreign
importations which, according to all accounts, lend themselves not so
much to rhythm as to low sensuality . . . Company-keeping under the
stars of night has succeeded, in too many places, the good old Irish
custom of visiting, chatting and storytelling from one house to another,
with the rosary to bring all home in due time.” This prelate also
advised fathers: “If your girls do not obey you, if they are not in at
the hours appointed, lay the lash upon their backs.”
‘Destruction of virtue’
‘Destruction of virtue’
The Catholic bishops as a whole had issued a statement in 1925 which read: “The surroundings of the dancing hall, withdrawal from the hall for intervals, and the back ways home have been the destruction of virtue in every part of Ireland.”
The agitation of the bishops prompted the
Cumann na nGaedheal government to arrange for the enactment of the
Censorship of Publications Act 1927 which gave to the five members of
the censorship of publications board the power to prohibit the sale and
distribution of a book which was considered “in its general tendency,
indecent or obscene” and of any periodical (including newspapers) that
were considered to have “unusually or frequently been indecent or
obscene”.
It also made the publishing, selling or distribution of
literature advocating birth control an offence. Later on, a special tax
was placed on imported newspapers.
Later still the Public Dance Halls Act was
passed, which sought to regulate the circumstances in which dancing in
public could take place either in the open air or otherwise.
On taking
office in 1932 Éamon de Valera sent a message on behalf of his
government of “respectful homage and good wishes” to pope Pius XI and
assured him of “our intention to maintain with the Holy See that
intimate and cordial relationship which has become tradition of the
Irish people”.
A few weeks later at the commencement of the Eucharistic
Congress, de Valera told the papal legate that the Irish people were
“ever firm in their allegiance to our ancestral faith”.
The 1937 Constitution had a very distinctive
Catholic flavour although the Vatican was displeased that the Catholic
flavour was inadequately pronounced.
On coming into office in 1948 the first inter-party government, led by John Costello,
sent a message to the then pontiff stating: “On the occasion of our
assumption of office and of the first Cabinet meeting, my colleagues and
myself desire to repose at the feet of your Holiness the assurance of
our filial and of our devotion to your August Person, as well as our
firm resolve to be guided in all our work by the teaching of Christ, and
to strive for the attainment of the social order in Ireland based on
Christian principles.”
Bishops object
Bishops object
In 1950 the then minister for health, Noel Browne, sought to introduce a mother-and-child scheme which had the following features: a free, non means-tested medical scheme for all mothers in respect of motherhood and children (children up to the age of 16); this to be provided in the main by dispensary doctors; the doctors would keep records of the illnesses of their patients; and the doctors would give health guidance to the mothers and children.
The bishops objected in
principle to the free-for-all scheme and to the proposal that doctors
would provide health guidance on the grounds that this might result in
doctors giving guidance on birth control and abortion.
The government
capitulated.
Costello, in the ensuing Dáil debate, said:
“I, as a Catholic, obey my church authorities and will continue to do so
. . . There will be no flouting of the authority of the bishops in the
matter of Catholic social or moral teaching.”
The minister for external
affairs, leader of one of the coalition parties and former leader of the
IRA, Seán McBride, said: “Those of us in this House who are Catholics,
and all of us in the government who are Catholics, are, as such of
course, bound to give obedience to the rulings of our church and our
hierarchy”.
Noel Browne said: “I, as a Catholic, accept unequivocally
and unreservedly the view of the hierarchy on this matter.”
Enda Kenny,
on being challenged by the Catholic hierarchy on legislation for
abortion in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling in the X case said
on May 6th, 2013: “My book is the Constitution . . . That’s the
people’s book and we live in a republic and I have a duty and
responsibility, as head of government, to legislate in respect of what
the people’s wishes are”.
In response to the threat of excommunication
from the Catholic Church, he said: “I have my own way of speaking to my God.”