Religion: Church v. I. R. A.

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In recent months the Irish Republican Army has terrorized England with many a bombing. Last week the Roman Catholic hierarchy of England and Wales unlimbered its biggest gun against the I.R. A.—threat of excommunication. In a statement read in all Catholic churches in Britain, the hierarchy declared: "Among the causes of the present unrest are workings of certain secret societies. The church sternly condemns all societies which plot against the church or state. They are guilty of crime against human society. Members of such secret societies incur excommunication."

Ireland's own Catholic bishops have taken no official stand on the I.R.A. While deploring its anti-British tactics, they, like other Irishmen, publicly approve its ideal of a free, united Ireland. The bishops' position in Eire is so satisfactory, however, that many of them would gladly let well enough alone, despite the plight of the unhappy Catholic minority in Northern Ireland. The most ardent partisans of Irish rebellion are to be found in the U. S., where a great many of the Catholic clergy are of Irish origin. In Manhattan last month, I.R.A. clubs joined other Irish groups in a "monster commemoration" of Ireland's Easter Week Rebellion of 1916. As noted by the Brooklyn Tablet (Catholic), the meeting's agenda included a vote in "support of the present campaign of the I.R.A. in England." None at the meeting feared excommunication.