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The Franciscan Institute - Brian Cudahy

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201 pages

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On December 30th, 1820, a 34-year-old Irishman set foot on American soil for the very first time. His name was John England and the post he would occupy over the next 22 years in what quickly became his adopted homeland was that of Roman Catholic bishop of Charleston, South Carolina. England brought to the new world a startling passion for democratic institutions and while he was unsuccessful in convincing his fellow bishops that such governance could become a hallmark of American Catholicism nationwide, he drafted a formal constitution for his own diocese that saw unprecedented participation in ecclesiastical affairs by clergy of all ranks, religious women and men, along with lay people, all elected to representational roles by the people they served. This book explores an oft-mentioned but little understood aspect of John England's ecclesiology, namely the role played in his intellectual development by the writings of an earlier Irish cleric, a Capuchin Franciscan friar by the name of Arthur O'Leary. It was O'Leary who delivered a call for religious toleration and freedom of conscience, and while he wrote in an Ireland still chaffing under the strictures of British Penal Laws that imposed severe restrictions on the civil rights of any but members of the Established Church, O'Leary was equally forceful in condemning suppression of toleration in earlier years by members of his own religion. Catholicism itself, both in America and worldwide, did not heed the calls of either Arthur O'Leary or John England. After England's death in 1842, successive bishops of Charleston dismantled the constitutional mechanisms he had created and the governance structures Roman Catholicism chose to retain and utilize as the 19th century evolved into the 20th, were characterized more by a top-down style of management than anything resembling the democratic ideals England espoused or the concepts of toleration promoted by O'Leary. A fundamental question this study raises, then, is this: might the post-Vatican II church of today have something valuable to learn in the theoretical concepts advanced by Arthur O'Leary and their later practical application by John England?

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Philosophie et théologie

Catholic Church

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Publié par	The Franciscan Institute
Date de parution	15 décembre 2019
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781576594407
Langue	English

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F ROM B LACKMOOR L ANE TO C APITOL H ILL: A N I RISH C APUCHIN’S I NFLUENCE ON B ISHOP J OHN E NGLAND OF C HARLESTON , SC.
B RIAN J. C UDAHY
F RANCISCAN I NSTITUTE P UBLICATIONS S T. B ONAVENTURE U NIVERSITY
All rights reserved.
No part of the book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the publisher.
© 2019 Franciscan Institute Publications, St. Bonaventure University
Cover Design by Jill M. Smith
Cover Image: National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa
ISBN 978-1-57659-439-1 E-ISBN 978-1-57659-440-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Cudahy, Brian J, author.
Title: From Blackmoor to Capitol Hill : an Irish Capuchin’s influence on Bishop John England of Charleston, SC / Brian J Cudahy.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019037900 (print) | LCCN 2019037901 (ebook) | ISBN 9781576594391 (paperback) | ISBN 9781576594407 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Religious tolerance. | Freedom of religion. | Freedom of speech--Religious aspects. | O’Leary, Arthur, 1729-1802--Influence. | England, John, 1786-1842. | Catholic Church--Doctrines. | Catholic Church--United States--History--19th Century. | England, John, 1786-1842. Address to the U.S. House of Representatives. | O’Leary, Arthur, 1729-1802. Essay on toleration. | Catholic Church--Clergy--18th century.
Classification: LCC BV741 .C83 2019 (print) | LCC BV741 (ebook) | DDC 261.7/2--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019037900
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019037901
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
Franciscan Institute Publications makes every effort to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials in the publishing of its books. This book is printed on acid free, recycled paper that is FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified. It is printed with soy-based ink.
T ABLE OF C ONTENTS
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter One: The Life and Times of Arthur O’Leary, OFM Cap.
Chapter Two: O’Leary’s “An Essay on Toleration”
Chapter Three: Beyond O’Leary’s “An Essay on Toleration”
Chapter Four: Bishop Francis Moylan and the Church in Munster
Chapter Five: Archbishop John Carroll and the Church in America
Chapter Six: John England’s Years in Ireland
Chapter Seven: Across the Western Ocean to Charleston
Chapter Eight: John England’s “Address to the U.S. House of Representatives”
Chapter Nine: Ultramontanism and the Eclipse of a Vision
Conclusion
APPENDIX A: Arthur O’Leary, “An Essay on Toleration”
APPENDIX B: John England, “Address to the U.S. House of Representatives”
Bibliography
Index
D EDICATION
This book deals with a number of Catholic priests who were born in County Cork, Ireland, in the 18 th century, one of whom, John England, became a bishop in the Southland of the United States in the 19 th century. It is respectfully dedicated to a priest who was born in County Cork in the 20 th century and, in the footsteps of John England, served as the 13 th bishop of Savannah, Georgia .
Most Reverend J. Kevin Boland
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
While a single name appears as the author of this book, many individuals and institutions contributed to its completion. Insights and creative explanations are often their contribution; faults and misinterpretations are the author’s alone.
First mention must go to Brian Kirby, director of the Capuchin Archives on Church Street, in Dublin, followed by Brian Fahey who directs the Archives of the Diocese of Charleston. Noelle Dowling of the Archives of the Archdiocese of Dublin and Shane MacDonald at the Archives of the Catholic University of America were also very helpful. Other archives whose holdings were consulted include those of the Sisters of Mercy in Dublin, the Diocese of Cork and Ross, the Embassy of Spain in London, the French Province of the Capuchin Franciscan Friars, the Archives of the Irish College in Rome and the National Library of Ireland. The librarians at the University of South Carolina/Beaufort were helpful beyond words in tracking down elusive materials.
Other individuals who offered timely advice and guidance include Patrick Carey, Gabriel Doherty, Martin Henry, James Kelly, Ambrose Macaulay, Eamon O’Ciosain, Thomas O’Connor, Oliver Rafferty, André Saubolle, and D. Vincent Twomey, eminent scholars all. James Murphy provided important information from the files of St. Mary’s Church in Passage West, County Cork, while Micheál Ó Niatháin was gracious in searching the records of St. Finbarr’s Church on Dunbar Street in Cork City, the home parish of Bishop John England.
A word of thanks must also be extended to David Couturier, OFM Cap., Director of the Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University, for permission to utilize elements of an article about Arthur O’Leary the author previously published in the Institute’s journal, Franciscan Connections . Thanks must also be extended to the editors of Irish Studies South for permission to utilize portions of an article about Bishop John England the author published in 2017.
The author also wishes to express appreciation for the helpful patience shown by friends and family while this work was “under construction.” At the very top of that list must be his spouse, Mary Lou Cudahy.
I NTRODUCTION
Ideas, if a rather unusual metaphor be permitted, have something in common with rivers. Both arise, modestly enough, some distance from where they will register their major impact, one temporally, the other geographically. They grow in size and exhibit different characteristics as their respective journeys progress, sometimes being turbulent and violent, then placid and peaceful. Often they are conjoined by others and assume new and expanded characteristics until finally, having reached maximum potential, they lose their identity and flow into a much larger entity, the open sea in the case of rivers, conventional culture in the case of ideas.
The ideas that will be explored in the chapters that follow will be seen as having their proximate origin in the life and writings of a relatively little known Capuchin Franciscan friar by the name of Arthur O’Leary. Born in rural County Cork in Ireland in the year 1729, he established a small chapel on a narrow street called Blackmoor Lane close by the River Lee in Cork City in 1771. The distinctive message of O’Leary that emanated from this tiny chapel later became integral to the world view of another Cork-born Roman Catholic clergyman 57 years O’Leary’s junior, John England. England, in 1820, was named the first bishop of the newly established Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina, and six years later he became the first Catholic clergyman of episcopal rank to deliver an address before the United States House of Representatives in Washington.
The substance of the ideas that were generated by O’Leary and later carried across the western ocean by England deal with issues of toleration, freedom of conscience, the relationship of one religious communion with another, and the roles that churchmen and statesmen can, do, and perhaps even must play with respect to one another. While the chapters that follow will endeavor to lay out reasonably complete pictures of the life and ministry of each of the two clergymen, a single written work of each will serve as the primary vehicle for understanding the odyssey of ideas that began in the eighteenth century in Cork City and were later carried to Capitol Hill in the nineteenth. In the case of O’Leary, it will be his 1781 treatise, “An Essay on Toleration; Mr. O’Leary’s Plea for Liberty of Conscience.” The parallel work of John England that will be examined in some detail will be his “Address to the United States House of Representatives,” delivered on January 8 th , 1826.
O’Leary’s essay is reproduced in full in Appendix A , while England’s address is to be found in Appendix B .
It will not be suggested that John England simply repeated in unexpurgated fashion ideas originally put forth by Arthur O’Leary. Each man lived in a world characterized by points of reference different from the other, and the issues each faced were themselves unique and singular. Each man, of necessity, had to address problems removed, to one degree or another, from those of the other, and the role of a mendicant friar in late eighteenth century Ireland was necessarily different from that of the ordinary of a Catholic diocese in the United States 50 years later. It will be argued, however, that there are clear and distinct strains of thought that flow from the work of the one man and find expression in that of the other.
The first three chapters explore the life of Arthur O’Leary, along with the intellectual patrimony he created through his writings, emphasizing his “An Essay on Toleration” and showing its relationship to ideas developed a century earlier by such British philosophers as John Locke. Before going on to explore John England, a chapter will examine a man who must be seen as an important link between O’Leary and England, Bishop Francis Moylan of Cork. Moylan was a friend and colleague of O’Leary early in his life and later became both mentor and guide to John England. A following chapter will attempt to sketch out certain difficulties the Catholic Church in America was facing in the years before John England became the first bishop of Charleston in 1820, and this will be followed by three chapters that focus on England, his 1826 “Address to the United States House of Representatives,” and how he sought to adapt the vision of Arthur O’Leary to what he saw as the direction the church in America should seek to follow.
The final chapter endeavors to look at factors and personages that served to thwart, in large measure, the lofty goals both O’Leary and England attempted to realize. Two important churchmen will be seen as representative of such direction. In Ireland it will be Cardinal Paul Cullen an