Protestant leaders must denounce anti-Catholic bigotry that has blighted country for too long

SINCE 1920, whenever it appeared that Catholics in Northern Ireland might be making a little progress (or being seen as getting uppity), right-wing fundamentalists were magically produced to preach odious anti-Catholic bigotry.

It, of course, had nothing to do with true religion, but, rather, all about keeping Catholics in their place.

Of course, straightforward political methods were also used. For example, in the recently published book on the modern UVF, UVF: Behind the Mask, author Aaron Edwards states: “Its (UVF) founding members claimed at the time that it had originally been formed to oppose the perceived threat posed by the IRA, though they later admitted that the UVF was really a tool of political intrigue utilised by a handful of faceless right-wing unionist politicians.”

The ‘two-wings’ approach was thus always used: the religious anti-Catholic one and the political-paramilitary anti-Irish one.

The latest example of the appalling and deeply offensive anti-Catholic strategy appears in an article, The Protestant at Mass, in the April-June edition of Ulster Bulwark, a right-wing, fundamentalist magazine. The article appallingly describes the Mass as “evil”.

Protestant leaders in Northern Ireland — especially the DUP — must denounce this depraved bigotry.

And I don’t want to hear those, who otherwise say they are for the human rights of all in the north, try to downplay this odious religious hatred, as if attacks on Catholicism are somehow not all that important. Anti-Catholicism, anti-Semitism, anti-black racism and anti-Muslim must all be unequivocally — and publicly — condemned.

FR SEAN McMANUS President, Irish National Caucus, Washington DC, USA