Charles, I realize priests did not create the starvation in Ireland during the Potato Famine. And I am well aware that there was plenty of food to eat for everyone except the Irish peasants, who depended upon their potato crop to survive. However, the fact that the priests did not cause the famine does not mean that they made heroic efforts to feed the poor--they did not. What I said in the post you responded to is that no Catholic priests died in the Famine, and that this caused a lot of resentment. Here is some documentation for my statement, from the Irish Examiner:
Famine took heavy toll on caring Protestant ministers
by Vivion Kilfeather
NO priests died in the famine, an embittered Bull McCabe tells the parish priest in the film version of John B Keane’s The Field.
The immortal but bitter line could not be applied to the Protestant clergy, according to a new book.
Famine fever claimed the lives of 40 ministers in 1847 alone, President Mary McAleese heard yesterday as she launched Mapping the Great Irish Famine.
The President said the Church of Ireland was deeply involved in the relief effort.
When the Rev Patrick Pounden, Rector of Westport, died of famine fever contracted in relief work, it was revealed he was giving more than half his stipend to the local relief committee.
He and many others choose to mortgage their lives for their fellow human beings, President McAleese said.
This demonstrated how decency crossed all barriers of class, faith and position.
The authors of the book are Liam Kennedy, Paul Ell, EM Crawford and Leslie Clarkson — all former colleagues of the President at Queens College, Belfast.
The database they dealt with tells many stories, and the facts and statistics compiled were truly shocking, ac
cording to the President. The devastating impact of the catastrophe is shown through maps, diagrams and commentary, and the impact of the famine on each county is also illustrated.
The President said the magnificent response of the Society of Friends should never be forgotten.
Both Protestant and Catholic clergy established soup kitchens where the poor could obtain a daily meal.
This kind of selfless effort was continued today by the work of Irish non governmental organisations in places like East Timor, Somalia, Honduras and Mozambique.
In the 1840s, individual members of the clergy were sadly unable to do more than scratch the surface of the problem. The numbers who died were beyond counting, President McAleese said.
It is still too soon now to fully analyse the shadows cast over future generations by the famine, she added.
The social impact of the Great Famine was immediate, with the population falling by about 20% between 1841 and 1851.
Poor cottiers and labourers were the main casualties.
As they disappeared, so did their hovels and their garden plots along with a sharp decline in the use of the Irish language.
Published by Four Courts Press, the paperback edition is selling at £19.95p.
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