On This Day / September 13, 1971

Summary: On This Day – 13th September 1971, Cardinal Conway and the Northern Catholic bishops strongly condemned violence while also criticising internment and calling for radical reform of democratic institutions. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.

Hierarchy on Violence | On This Day – 13th September 1971

THERE is a small group of people in NI at the present time who are trying to secure a united Ireland by the use of force, said Cardinal Conway and the Northern Catholic bishops in a statement issued in Armagh last night.

The violence, they said, was bringing shame and disgrace on noble and just causes… intensifying sectarian bitterness and pushing further away a union of minds and hearts between Irish people.

‘In the present dangerous situation in NI it is important that people should see facts clearly… Who in their sane senses wants to bomb a million Protestants into a united Ireland?

At times the people behind this campaign will talk about “defence” but anyone who looks at the facts knows that it is not just defence.

They themselves have admitted openly that they are engaged in offensive operations. Moreover, their bombs have killed and maimed and terrorised innocent people…

We are well aware that this campaign of violence is not the sole cause of the present terrible situation.

We know the very real depression which the minority feels at the thought of having to live forever under a government of the same political party as has ruled here for fifty years, the deep indignation which the recent internment swoops cause, the humiliation of innocent men, the allegations of brutality and worse, many of which we are convinced are well-founded.

‘Many Protestants in NI – good Christian people – will not like our mentioning these things. But we ask them to realise that these facts are part of the total situation.

What we want to emphasise is that we are painfully aware of these facts and nevertheless we condemn the violence… .We appeal also to Catholics to realise the genuine fears and deep frustrations of the Protestant community….

‘The problems of this divided community will never be solved until the radical reform of the institutions of democracy here is introduced. Mathematical “majority rule” simply does not work …’

Massive Internment Rally

MORE than 15,000 people, most of them from Belfast but many from provincial centres, gathered in Casement Park yesterday to hear a representative list of speakers condemn internment at a rally organised by the NI Civil Rights Association and GAA.

(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: IT WOULD seem that it was Cardinal Conway and the Catholic Hierarchy who, in a strong attack on IRA violence, first asked:

‘Who in their right mind wants to bomb a million Protestants into a united Ireland’. The Northern bishops coupled this unequivocal condemnation with a trenchant attack on internment and the continuation of one-party unionist rule.)

On This Day – 13th September 1971

Further Reading on Irish History:

List of other On This Day columns

Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive

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