Sufferings, concerns and hopes of Protestant minority highlighted at Synod meetings

Tipperary, 6 July 1923 - The Protestant minority in the Irish Free State ask for no special privileges, but seeks only to receive the treatment they had been promised by the Government, a Church of Ireland bishop has said.

Addressing the annual synod of the diocese of Cashel and Emly in Cashel yesterday, the Right Reverend Dr. Robert Miller acknowledged the ‘brighter political outlook’ and asserted that his co-religionists desired only to pursue their ‘ordinary work free from anxiety as to ourselves and our property.’

This was a clear reference to the experiences of some Protestants in recent times for while Dr. Miller noted that none of his congregation has lost their lives some had been forced to leave the diocese against their wishes, among them a Mr. Clarke of Holycross who, he claimed, had been driven from the country and his home reduced to ashes. If such senseless and brutal acts had led them almost to a point of despair, Dr. Miller nevertheless believes that brighter days are ahead and he trusted that the Government would do all they could to entice people like Mr. Clark to come back to the country.

The improving political climate was also observed at a synod meeting in Boyle where the Right Reverend Dr. Moore, protestant Bishop of Kilmore, expressed thanks to God - and to the National Army of the Free State - that a state of rebellion had been quelled. However, Dr. Moore, pointed out that force alone would not make people moral and that there was no stability in a state of armed peace.

Dr. Moore said that he and his fellow churchmen strongly condemned the means by which political change had been brought about in Ireland, but now that it had been enacted by the King and British parliament and it was therefore their duty as loyal citizens not only to submit to but assist those in  ‘authority.’

‘I am still of the opinion’, he continued, ‘...that the partition of our country is very unfortunate, but as long as it remains divided, it is the duty of the citizens of each State to be loyal to their own Government in all that is consistent with the Divine Law.’

Dr. Moore noted that the Church of Ireland had suffered severely in recent times and that many parishes in the south and west were ‘derelict because of the numbers which have been driven from their homes.’

Looking to the future, the Bishop of Cashel and Emly, Dr. Miller told his synod that the Government of the Free State now had an opportunity to ‘sweep away the old sectarian barriers’ and to govern upon principles of absolute justice and fair play to everyone.

It was in this context that Dr. Miller raised concerns over the actions of the Free State authorities in relation to National and Intermediate education. He stated that there was no indication that the qualifications of members of the minority were considered.
Dr. Miller’s concerns have been echoed in the current issue of the Church of Ireland Gazette, which can be read in full at this link.

[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]