his
friends urged him to give way, and let the police get their 'prog'
from a distance, but O'Mara, who was an easy-going man, and who had
never obtruded his politics on anyone, showed an unexpected obstinacy,
and said he would do as he chose, spite of all the priests on earth.
They denounced him from the altar, but, although they tried hard, they
failed to ruin him. In other cases, clerical influence has dragged men
from positions of competency and caused them to end their days in the
workhouse. Then, again, the priests never denounced outrage. They
might have stopped the fiendish deeds of the murderous blackguards
whose evil propensities were fostered and utilised by the Land League,
but they said no word of disapproval. On the contrary they tacitly
favoured, or seemed to favour, the most awful assassinations. When the
Phoenix Park murders took place, a Galway priest whom I will not
name said that he had been requested to ask for the prayers of the
faithful in favour of Mr. Burke, one of the murdered men, who belonged
to an old Galway family. And what was the remark made by that follower
of Jesus Christ? He said, 'I have mentioned the request. You can pray
for his soul--_if you like_.' What he meant was plain enough."

"Let me tell you of something even worse," said the Dublin lawyer. "In
a certain Catholic church which I regularly attend, and on a Sunday
when were present two or three eminent Judges, with a considerable
number of the Dublin aristocracy, a certain dignitary, whom I also
will not name before our Sassenach friend, actually coupled the names
of honest people who had died in their beds with the names of Curley
and the other assassins who were hanged for the Phoenix Park murders.
We were invited to pray for their souls _en bloc_! And this, mind you,
not at the time of the execution, but a year afterwards, on the
anniversary of the day, and when the thing might well have been
allowed to drop. Did you ever hear of anything more outrageous than
the conduct of this priest, who took upon himself to mention these
brutal murderers in the same breath with the blessed departed, whose
friends and relations were kneeling around? The fact that this cleric
could so act shows the immunity of the Irish priesthood, and their
confidence in their influence over the people. Don't forget that this
was in the capital of Ireland, and that the congregation was
aristocratic. How great must be priestly influence over the unlettere