‘To Remind Catholics that Support for the IRA and SF was not Compatible with Membership of the Catholic Church’, 1982–1990

Abstract

The Irish Catholic Church hierarchy became divided during this period marked by the installation of Bishop Cahal Daly, a conservative theologian, as the new Bishop of Down and Connor in 1982. Personality clashes between Daly and the staunchly nationalist head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich, created tension within the Church. As Sinn Féin gained an electoral mandate, the Church struggled to condemn violence without isolating those who voted for the party. Analysis focuses on the institutional Church and grassroots clergy who were more united in the long-standing efforts to free the Birmingham Six, Maguire Seven, and Guildford Four. Bishop Edward Daly’s banning of republican paramilitary funerals in Derry constituted another challenge to republicanism from the institutional Church. By the mid-1980s, however, increased communication between Irish and English bishops resulted in greater Church-lead peace initiatives.