Irish Apostolate Notes

By Fr. Brendan Duggan

Tony Kenny Show at St. Mary’s

On Sunday, November 29th, St. Mary's Church, 7031 48 Ave, Woodside, will have The Tony Kenny Christmas Show at 4pm. This is a wonderful entertaining family show with music, dancing and a great comedian. Tickets are only $25. All profits will go to help the St. Mary's Church Renovation Fund. Tickets can be ordered from the Rectory at 718-672-4848 or from my good self at 917-226-8237. Please book soon as tickets are going fast.

Irish immigration history

Since I write for the Irish Immigration Apostolate, I am going to write this week on some aspects of Irish immigration to America.

The Battle of the Boyne on July 1, 1689 is a key event in Irish history. Two kings, the Catholic James II, and the Protestant William of Orange fought for the throne of England. James, who had become king in 1685, lost and so Protestants would rule Ireland for the next hundred years. The Battle was one day but the war continued for another year until October 1691, leaving a trail of death and destruction. This Protestant victory led to the emigration of many thousands of Irish people to North America.

The first great wave of emigration occurred during the 18th century, before the American Revolution when as many as 250,000 people, mostly from Ulster, immigrated to North America. Ulster had long been a cradle of Gaelic culture but the English government changed all that by establishing plantations in the province, and by bringing in loyal Protestants from Scotland and England to settle on lands confiscated from the native Irish Catholics. From 1609 to about 1640, up to 100,000 Scotch Presbyterians settled in Ulster and they continued to arrive throughout the 17th century, settling mainly in the Eastern half of Ulster. (The Irish Post Office issued two stamps this year for the Ulster Plantation.) By 1720, 600,000 people lived in Ulster, of which 50% were Catholic, 33% Presbyterians, and the rest were Anglicans plus other denominations.

The Church of Ireland (Anglican) was the established church with the rich landowners, and it ruled the province. All Irish, Catholics and Protestants had to pay taxes to support the Anglican Church. To curb the growth and power of both Presbyterians and Catholics, the English government passed a series of laws, known as The Penal Laws, that victimized Catholics and non-Anglicans. The Sacramental Test Act of 1704 required all government officials to receive Communion in the Church of Ireland. This barred all Protestant dissenters and Catholics from civil and military offices, thus excluding them from public life. To curb the Presbyterians, their churches and schools were closed, and their clergy were barred from doing weddings or funerals. One result was that many Presbyterians decided to leave for America.

Catholics were treated even worse. Priests and Bishops were banned from Ireland, schools were closed, marriages were prohibited between Catholics and Protestants, Catholics were excluded from the professions, and they could not vote. Catholics could no longer buy land, and landowners were obliged to divide their land on their death between all their sons. Despite these repressive laws the Catholic Church survived.

Even though religious oppression was a factor in people emigrating from Ireland the main factor was economic. The first sizeable exodus from Ireland was from 1718-1729, due to major crop failures in 1717-19 and 1726-28. Hard winters killed many cattle also. Frequent famines occurred, especially in 1740-41, "The Year of the Slaughter," when over 400,000 people or about 20% of the total population died from starvation. Handel's oratorio The Messiah was first performed in the new Dublin Concert Hall in April 1741 as a fundraiser for the famine victims, and over 700 concert patrons, at a half guinea each, contributed 400 pounds to the Famine Fund. (There were no 50/50's in those days, apparently.)

Increasing land rents made farming difficult. The linen industry in Ulster was based on rented land, and increased rents led to the decline of this major industry. In 1729, due to the linen trade slump and a poor harvest, up to 7,000 people, mainly Presbyterians, headed for America. Between 1730 and 1755 another 50,000 may have emigrated, also. Another mass exodus took place in the 1770s with the final collapse of the linen industry. In the 18th century, America was known to the Ulster Irish through a lively transatlantic trade with the American Colonies. Derry became a vibrant port through the trading of flaxseed from America for Ulster linen. Religious ties between Ulster and America were promoted by Presbyterian missionaries who traveled back and forth. They promoted the idea of emigration from a land of tyranny to a land of liberty where people (Protestants at least), could worship freely. Also we must remember that the Colonies actively promoted and encouraged Protestants to come to the "New Land."

Even though Irish emigration in the 18th century was largely Protestant, a good number of Catholics also immigrated to America. There was a Catholic Irish exodus to British Colonies in the Caribbean that began in the 17th century. About 20% of the population of Barbados by 1666 was Irish. However as a slave-based econom