Father Michael Sweetman SJ [2] His Story

Dublin Housing Action Committee Vs Gardai c 1968

This is a follow up to my article "Father Michael Sweetman SJ - declining to Baptise the Spirit of the Age"

Father Sweetman, Dad and the Dublin Housing Action Committee

During the early 1960s my father was a Garda Sergeant and Inspector based in Store Street Garda Station near Dublin City Centre. It was a period of agitation and protests and my father told me about a couple of baton charges that he led to clear the streets. At some stage he also mentioned the Dublin Housing Action Committee   - probably in connection with its links to Sinn Fein. At some stage I also realised that Fr Michael Sweetman had been a prominent member of the DHAC. After both had died (my father in 1994 and Fr Sweetman 2 years later) I put two and two together and jokingly told people (including  a local historian) that my father might have baton-charged Father Sweetman. I never actually believed that, because I understood that it would have made the headlines. BUT I certainly thought that my father had baton-charged the DHAC! In fact I see from the Wikipedia article that the group was set up by Sinn Fein in May 1967 - by which time Dad had been promoted to Garda Superintendent and transferred to County Clare. A nice illustration of the fallibility of human memory and the way we construct stories in order to make sense of our lives - or just to make events appear more dramatic than they actually were! 

[ Dad also told me about a struggle with a Sinn Fein member when he was Garda Inspector and policing a meeting outside the GPO c1964. The SF guy grabbed Dad's cane and tried to break it over his knee BUT it was a presentation stick made of walnut and wouldn't break! This may have contributed to my false memory regarding the DHAC ] 

According to a file made public by the National Archives in 2000,  Department of Justice mandarins viewed the Dublin Housing Action Committee as "an IRA offshoot"  Judging by the list of prominent members given in the Wikipedia article on DHAC, this judgement seems to be more or less correct. Secretary Dennis Dennehy was a member of the Irish Communist Organisation; Sean Mac Stiofain joined "Provisional" Sinn Fein after its 1970 split; Sean O'Cionnaith, Mairin de Burca and Prionsias de Rossa joined the Official Sinn Fein faction and the latter later broke away to form Democratic Left; Michael O'Riordan was founder of the Communist Party of Ireland - one of the smallest and also one of the most Stalinist in Europe! However much these people disagreed among themselves, their  bigotry and extremism remained constant. (Members of the relatively "moderate" Democratic Left brought down the Irish Government in 1994 by peddling fantasies about a supposed conspiracy between a Cardinal and a Catholic Attorney General to protect a paedophile priest.)

The decency and desire for social justice exhibited by Fr Sweetman and his Dominican colleague Fr Austin Flannery were exploited by people whose hatred of the existing social order far exceeded their concern for human rights.  To the accusation of being a communist, [Fr Flannery] would retort that sitting down with Michael O'Riordan no more made him a communist than sitting down with Michael Sweetman made him a Jesuit. I think they were both wrong on this issue, but I honour their memory in any event!

THE LIFE OF FATHER MICHAEL J SWEETMAN SJ

The main part of what follows is an article by Father Sweetman on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the launching of the Jesuit Quarterly Review Studies in 1912. Fr Sweetman himself was born in 1914 and so observes "I am almost the same age as Studies and so should be in a good position to write of our three-quarter century.". I preface his article with the Irish Times obituary dated 24 October 1996. Fr Sweetman was born the year the Great War broke out, joined the Jesuits in 1931, two years before Hitler came to power in Germany and was ordained a priest in 1945 the year World War 2 ended. He died in 1996 a few months after my mother and two years after my father so I lost a lot around that time, but I was 46 myself. 

I have highlighted in blue some striking passages from Fr Sweetman's article and undoubtedly the most relevant to this Blog is the following where he compares his own educational experiences with those of boys who were committed to Industrial Schools:
As a boy I experienced boarding school in Mount St. Benedict's, Gorey, and Clongowes Wood College. Later, as a priest, I had many contacts with boys who were in Daingean Reformatory or one of the Industrial Schools. When I described some of my experiences, and they turned out to be quite similar to theirs, I remember the astonishment with which they would say: 'And you paid to go there!' 

Another passage seems more innocuous but it bears comparison with former President Mary McAleese's thuggish comments on Catholic traditionalists - and her latest diatribe against Pope John Paul II:
Conservative people, and I do not use this term in a belittling sense, tended in the last couple of generations to lose creativity and seemed to think it enough to pass on the faith and its practice in exactly the same form as they had received it.

Father Sweetman was a bridge - between various social classes, generations and religious traditions. He has few successors in today's world!

(A) Irish Times Obituary of Fr Michael Sweetman (24 October 1996)

Social reformer Father Michael Sweetman dies at 82
  
The death has occurred of the Rev Michael Joseph Sweetman S.J.

Father Sweetman, who was 82, was prominently associated with social reform and the concept of a "just society". He was a member of the Dublin Housing Aid Society and CARE and wrote many articles on social and moral problems. His main ambition, he once said, was to see bad housing conditions eliminated.

He was born in Dublin on March 20th, 1914, and was the seventh child of Roger M. Sweetman , a member of the first Dail, and Katherine Sweetman. He was educated at Mount St. Benedict's, Gorey, Co Wexford, at Clongowes Wood College, Co Kildare, and at University College, Dublin. He studied philosophy and theology at Milltown Park, Dublin.

He joined the Jesuits in 1931 and was ordained a priest in 1945.

Father Sweetman did pastoral and social work up to 1972 and was the prime mover behind the establishment of the Los Angeles Homes, which were set up to house homeless boys. He also gave readily of his time to delinquent boys, often giving them legal advice and helping them with their financial problems.

He lived for a number of years in Dublin's inner city, where he operated an "open house" policy for anybody who needed help, and he also worked in Ballymun's Centre for Faith and Justice.

Father Sweetman was identified with the liberal wing of the Catholic Church and made many pronouncements on controversial issues of the day. He consistently rejected the hierarchical view that the use of contraception was against natural law.

He also argued that many of the problems affecting the disadvantaged were economic as well as religious or moral. He was, on more than one occasion, described as a priest who was "ahead of his time".

(B) A Personal Experience of Christianity: 1912-1987 Michael Sweetman, S.J. 

Michael Sweetman works in a deprived area of Dublin 
Source: Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, Vol. 75, No. 300 (Winter, 1986)

I am almost the same age as Studies, and so should be in a good position to write of our three-quarter century. But it must be admitted that for the first' twenty years of its existence we were not aware of each other. After that I have been a fairly consistent reader. I certainly have changed a great deal during that period of rapid change. Usually I have zigzaged along merrily with the trends of the time, occasionally anticipating them, usually lagging far behind. A few times I have gone into sharp reverse, now and again I seem to have come full circle, and I have taken, also, an odd excursion down unapproved roads, where, I must say the view of the surrounding country was quite exciting. It is, I suppose, inevitable that in old age one discovers the truth of the cliche that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

Religion 

Yet some of the changes I have experienced are substantial, most of all in the area where I should be competent-  religion. I have been a Jesuit for fifty-five years and a priest for forty-one. The main purpose of religion is to guide and change life - one's own and other people's, in accordance with what you believe God to want. The full and perfect life is to find and do the will of God. The drive of religion, then, is to produce whole or holy people. It is precisely in the concept or image of the holy person, and specifically the Christian holy person or saint, that some of the greatest changes have taken place. The ideal most common among Christians when I was young was of a loving and totally unselfish person. This, I take it, remains the ultimate desideratum. But the qualities that implied and the methods by which it is to be attained have changed quite radically. While courage, sincerity and service were always held in high esteem, in the beginning of the century they were conceived of rather negatively: the perfect man, the saint, did not enjoy himself much, denied himself totally, was detached and passionless. He acted from supernatural motives and was hard on, if not contemptuous of, the flesh. This was true of her as well as him! Physical asceticism was much admired, and practised. Even when it was not fully achieved and only spasmodically acknowledged, the ascetic ideal at least produced its own peculiar brand of all-pervasive guilt. Conformity to a pre-conceived model was important, and dumb obedience to Ecclesiastical Authority advisable. The will of God was handed down along clear and rigid lines; adherence to this will was the essence of perfection. Some great-hearted and original men and women reached effective Christian perfection within these confines, or burst out of them with such unmistakable Spirit that no one could catch them; but lesser spirits were cramped and even warped by restriction and narrowness. 

The effort in the earlier years was to find God through strictly religious ways; later people seem to need to find Him in all things, everywhere. Staunch efforts were made to break through into the supernatural world; we extended ourselves, pushed ourselves, drove ourselves onward. The present tendency relies much more on being discovered by God, on starting from where we are, in our bodies, and looking inward rather than upward for direction.

Conservative people, and I do not use this term in a belittling sense, tended in the last couple of generations to lose creativity and seemed to think it enough to pass on the faith and its practice in exactly the same form as they had received it. There was a danger of dead formalism. This was inclined to put the next generation completely off. So they rejected everything, without giving consideration to the possibility of putting fresh life into the old substance. At worst the old forms were imposed in an authoritarian way, or worse still, perhaps, presented in an unconvinced and diffident way. 

Clergy 

There has been a deep and remarkable change in clerical style. It was an avowed'aim in former times to mould and produce a clerical type. Suitability for the vocation to priestly or religious life was essentially dependent on ability to conform, or at least to appear to conform, to a pre-ordained model. There is now much more respect for the freedom of the Spirit to blow where it wills. Within limits, there is tolerance for the unexpected, and room is allowed for making mistakes. Of course even in the old days genius did break out, and eccentricity established itself, but the hope remained that it would be eliminated in the next generation. This hope still holds; but the criteria of eccentricity have changed. 

Clergy felt bound to conform to certain standards of speech decorum, dress etc... and were expected by most of the laity to conform. This naturally led to a vein of hypocrisy on the one hand, and the elevating of people on to pedestals on the other. All this has largely gone, together with the top hats and frock coats. The humanity of the clergy is readily, admitted now; the wish to be superior, or even different, has been abandoned by many clergy. 

The only disadvantage I see in this change is that clergy may appear now to have nothing special to offer, because they demand nothing exceptional of themselves. Formerly priests and religious of both sexes were easily considered extraordinary, because they led such different lives. They got up at 5.30 a.m., meditated, observed silence, fasted and undertook ascetic exercises. They were witnesses to an ideal for which they were seen to be willing to sacrifice much else. Jean Genet admired St. Vincent de Paul for identifying himself with the galley slaves, the scum of that time: but he pushed it a bit far by saying: 'if he wanted really to be one of us, he should have committed our crimes. The modern religious person is more ready to admit that he or she does commit the crimes as well. But then where are we? All in the same boat? Who is to do the saving? A mystic might answer to that: well, Christ truly identified himself with sinners, and may still be willing to enter into the sleazy lives and the perverted sufferings of the down-trodden, more so than we give him credit for. Modern holy men and women are ready to risk getting muddied and having' their fingers burned, and yet hope that Christ will be with them through it all. 

Certainly it is no longer considered acceptable to edify people by putting on, or keeping up, a show. Personally I have a far deeper understanding now than I had in my more conventional phase, of what Christ really meant when he said that the harlots and sinners would go into the Kingdom of Heaven before the Pharisees and approved people of his time. I have, I think, recognized in some of them the special qualities that always merited His warmest commendation: impulsive generosity and humility. Religious persons are, necessarily, often in a dilemma, caught between the desire not to think themselves better, or be thought better than others, and yet to fulfil the injunction to be a light to the world, and salt to the earth. They may have to set a standard which puts people on edge. They are a challenge in non-Christian places. Perhaps they have become afraid of being an affront to the style accepted as normal in much of the Western world, and so they become counter signs to people who do not worship at the shrines of the idols of that world. With a bit of a groan we may have to admit to the wisdom of St. Thomas More in Utopia when he said 'Priests shall be of exceeding holiness, and therefore very few'. 

Missions

 I came to manhood in the papacy of Pius XI, the pope of the Missions, and was affected very much by the missionary urge. This was-to spread the faith, essential to the eternal salvation of souls. There was unquestioned confidence that this preaching would confer undiluted benefits on the converted people. Given a wise evangelization I still have no doubt about those benefits. Even in the days of more naive faith there was always a caring, healing aspect to the ideals of the missionaries. What we have gained now is a vastly increased respect for the cultures, customs and beliefs of other peoples and a more realistic skepticism about the advantages of bringing European civilization to 'primitive' cultures. The motivation involved in the belief that you would be removing the danger, or indeed the certainty, of eternal damnation from the people who were unbaptized, has gone. This has lessened the urgency, and so vocations have decieased. But I see now an equally urgent love taking shape in the mute demand that we save people from starvation, exile, exploitation and degradation or rather help them to save themselves. In this respect hell has shifted its base in time and space; vocations will perhaps begin to increase again. 

Readiness. to lay down one's life in the cause is undoubtedly at the heart of our faith. But readiness to lay down one's life so that `our side' may be victorious, because we are right and everyone else is wrong may too easily slip into readiness to kill for the cause, to repress, censor and persecute. The logic is that error has no rights. But we all surely know by now that totally logical people are always mad and usually dangerous. 

Morality, Sexuality

 In the cognate area of morality there have been two shifts of emphasis which I think have been towards the truth, but with attendant snags. In the first half of this century, and for several previous ones, it was commonly taught in seminaries, and so became the accepted doctrine in the Church, that every slightest indulgence in sexual activity, even in thought or phantasy, outside of a married relationship, was gravely wrong, and needed to be confessed before receiving the Eucharist. In the early sixties, conviction as to the tenability of this doctrine weakened,. was undermined and collapsed.

Looking back on it, it seems to me now that the fatal flaw in the teaching was the emphasis on pleasure as being the criterion of evil. The question 'did you take pleasure in it?' was seen as vital. It was a false criterion and infected the whole teaching. A period ensued which showed a great reluctance on the part of many counsellors and advisers to give any direction at all and so, it seems to me, there is too little guidance given now as to the harm that can be done to others by casually selfish, violent, deceptive and cynical exploitation of the sexual urge. The baby went out with the bath water. Pleasure became the sole criterion in many cases as to the desirability of any performance. A not altogether desirable volte-face. In literature, it might be noted, with the absence of ultimates in belief and sanctions, a good deal of the tension went out of the Catholic novel. I wonder to what extent Mauriac and Graham Greene are capable of being appreciated by the modern youth. 

Social Justice 

In matters of justice the older tradition spent almost all its time and expertise in teasing out the ways in which the Haves might be wronged, mostly by the Have Nots, and how they could succeed in getting restitution. It was acknowledged, in small print, that in extreme necessity everyone had a right to take what was required. When this principle was invoked and acted upon in the housing agitation of the late sixties some astonishment was expressed. Now justice is seen largely as the right of everyone to a decent human life. It takes no great perspicacity to see that the great idol worshipped as alternative to God is Mammon. 

The Church in its official documents has sharply and scientifically criticized and analysed this worship; but the one teaching that 'got across' universally in our country was that communism was the great enemy of the Christian ideal of social justice. Similarly in the area of sexual morality the one teaching that was universally known, even if not always accepted, was the 'evil' of contraception. Why some teachings are so successfully put across and others so ineffectively, is a mystery worth investigating. I have been impressed recently with the conviction expressed by some Catholics involved in the world of business and high finance, that their world is, as far as the influence of Christian principles goes, missionary territory. It is untouched, virginal in the worst sense of the word. 

Sacred Scripture 

A vital change in Christian understanding of its sources, and therefore of its ideal, came from the abandonment of a literal, fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible. It was really no fault of anyone that I grew up in an era which taught that the world was created about 4,000 years before Christ or at least that Adam and Eve lived and committed their happy fault around that period. In the atmosphere of the time one could take that. But I remember as a university student setting out to read the Bible through. When I came to some of the so-called historical books and read the stories which, then, one was expected to accept literally, I closed the book and said to myself ;This is too much for me, and decided to wait until I did theology to make up my mind what to do. Fortunately by that time a wiser and deeper attitude prevailed, after the publication of the encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu in 1949. 

While the strain on one's credulity was eased, the rapid development in Scriptural scholarship did not always help toward a convinced practice; everything seemed open to various interpretations. Of course crude instinct told one to be wary of following every latest theory as if it were the last word. Also one came to realise that no belief could be so eccentric and disastrous that it could not find some semblance of backing in Scripture. So that even in being guided by the Holy Book one needed large draughts of the Holy Spirit (St. Paul does speak somewhere of drinking the Holy Spirit). 

One influence seems to have disappeared as a result of biblical scholarship and that is the great lives of Jesus Christ. They had a huge influence on me and I'm sure on many thousands of others: Grandmaison, Prat, Lebreton, Lagrange, Guardini, Goodier, etc. I read them all; and without ever claiming expertise in scripture, I'm sure they gave me a great basic understanding of the Gospels, and helped life to become Christ-centred. Devotion to the Sacred Heart also helped in that. 

The Laity 

In recent orgies of self-criticism clerics are inclined to blame themselves for their supposed domination of the laity in the past. This coming era is foretold as the era of the Laity, so this is a serious self-accusation. There is one important area where they did not dominate, that was in the literary field. Here the men and women of influence were, if not predominantly lay, certainly noticeably so. The present laity are not so prominent here. Think of Chesterton and Belloc, Sheed and Ward, O'Rahilly, Maritain, Guitton, Mauriac, D. Day; also C.S. Lewis, Allison-Peers, and Chambers who were not Roman Catholics, S. Undset and the Russian novelists. The list could be endless. These were all hugely effective apologists and exposers of the Christian thing (as Belloc might have described it). 

Bishops were externally deferred to, but, with exceptions they did not make a notable contribution to the witness of living faith. Their frequent denunciations and deploring of modern trends was often seen as ridiculous and impotent. Skirts rose and fell in length, quite impervious to annual comments in Lenten Pastorals. Rome itself often seemed finicky and petty, concerned with the rubrics in liturgy and life rather than with the substance. The obligation of clerical celibacy was child's play compared to the obligation of saying the Divine Office and performing the liturgy without serious fault The professional anti-clericals developed their own rigid dogmas, their own predictable cliches and conventions, and produced, surely by artificial insemination, their own smug and closed establishment. 

Sociology 

One of the social changes that I have noticed through contact with many admirable social workers and theorists is the presumption that the care of the deprived, the sick, the old, and all the disadvantaged, should be undertaken on ,principle, and by preference, by the State, rather than by individuals and groups of inspired people. The defects of this latter system, which largely held until the coming of the Welfare State, are seen to be that the poor receive benefits out of charity from those who think themselves superior, and not out of justice and of right. This was rightly seen as humiliating to the recipient, and ego-inflationary to the donor. 

That is a good reason for the shift. But it should be noted that the system more in vogue now has its own glaring defects. Recipients of their rights from the State have usually to find their way through a bewildering entanglement of red tape, and are quite often the victims of arbitrary prejudices and caprice on the part of minor officials in the bureaucracy. There is no clear reason why individual kindness and care should degenerate into condescending `charity'; nor that the dispensing of civil and human rights to people by the State should invariably involve prolonged investigation and circular passing of the buck. Here in Ireland, where no ideology is completely dominant, there remains the hope that a fair balance between voluntary and statutory aid could be maintained; and the arrogance of the professional expert and the smugness of the voluntary do-gooder could both be kept in check.

New Classes 

It was pointed out to me for the first time, by Garret FitzGerald at the Kilkenny Conference on Poverty in 1972, that when the poor cease to be the majority in a democratic society by that very fact they lose political clout. That has happened during the life time of Studies. The fundamental class division is no longer between workers and bosses, the former being usually poorly paid and more or less exploited, but still a majority in the nation, but between all who have a secure, earned income, and those who are unemployed and dependent on welfare. These are now a minority, though unfortunately a large one, and so lack clout in our society. 

Education 

Here inequality, or variety, remains. As a boy I experienced boarding school in Mount St. Benedict's, Gorey, and Clongowes Wood College. Later, as a priest, I had many contacts with boys who were in Daingean Reformatory or one of the Industrial Schools. When I described some of my experiences, and they turned out to be quite similar to theirs, I remember the astonishment with which they would say: 'And you paid to go there!' Schools of all kinds were places, largely, of authoritarian attempts to impose, or even beat, knowledge into unwilling heads, and to teach manners to wayward or resistant bodies and hearts. Now schools seem to be predominantly places of co-operation and a good deal of happiness, where, if a child is badly treated, it is usually by his or her peers and not by the teachers. This seems to me to be a development along the lines of truly Christ like respect for children and away from the Biblical, Old Testament, theory of 'spare the rod and spoil the child'. 

Hopes for the Future 

When asked would I not write reminiscences, I have said that I would entitle them 'Between Two Stools'. I feel very conscious of not being single-minded, yet not exactly indecisive. I waver constantly between desiring to be fully where I am, and hankering for another seat. If I am slightly schizophrenic that, I flatter myself, keeps me more or less sane. In this present context I sometimes hanker after the certainties and fears of the 30s, relishing the drama of the absolutes, but I am in fact far more happy with the vaguer ideals of the 80s and the wider liberties. 

What then are the peculiar hopes that I would have for Ireland in the 90s Certainly I would like to see a vast increase of the influence of the Green People. Not, obviously, in the sense of super-nationalism but in respect for nature and the environment of all our people. That way lies health and happiness and an atmosphere favourable to belief in God, in ourselves and in everything beautiful. This would. require a curb to be put on the worship of money, for it is violent greed that is nearly always responsible for the threats to the environment and even to the very existence of mankind. The people I would like to see in charge of the preservation and development of the natural beauty of our country would be the Parks Department of the Dublin Corporation I have waited all these years to pay tribute to their consistent good taste, imagination and organized hard work. 

Two groups I think need special care. I would be happy to see our authorities and residents' associations listening to and co-operating with the Travellers, to see that they are given a chance of a decent human life. Equally important is the treatment of deprived and disturbed young people. Faith might well be shown in the wisdom of two reports: The Task Force Report on Child Welfare, and the Whitaker Report on Prisons. 

Finally I would be glad to see an increase in respect for and confidence in people in public life of proven integrity and compassion and less readiness to be impressed by the chancer and the glib manipulator. 

BUT FATHER SWEETMAN THE SNOB? (1949)

This is the beginning of an article in the Jesuit publication "The Irish Monthly" March 1949. Fr Sweetman is somewhat annoyed with the less than spiritual behavior of visitors to the monastic ruins of Glendalough in the Wicklow mountains south of Dublin. It was founded by St Kevin in the 6th century and its Abbot at the time of the Norman Conquest (1169) was St Laurence O'Toole who was also the first Irish Archbishop of Dublin. His predecessors had been Norseman or English and St Laurence was a somewhat premature symbol of the union of Irish, Norman and indeed European culture. In 1949 Fr Sweetman was a very highly educated young Jesuit and perhaps a bit snobbish about the religious practices of the laity. He was to become a symbol of union - between different social classes - himself but his hopes for the future proved to be vain. Perhaps like St Laurence O'Toole, his hopes will bear fruit at some time in the future!


 Why Go To Glendalough? by Michael Sweetman, SJ. (March 1949)

THIS valley must surely be a place of pilgrimage; it is the spiritual home of Dublin's Patrons, Saints Kevin and Laurence, receptacle of their sacrifices, engraved with the seven symbols  of their love. Certainly the crowds are here, see them streaming  down the road this Sunday, Feast of Kevin, in June, a long progression of buses, cars and cyclists. Then they take to the boats, cross the lake and climb precariously to the little hole in the cliff?  St. Kevin's Bed. Is this an ancient ritual to honour the Saint? Do  they pray there? Well, perhaps under cover of the " three wishes "  you are told to have while crouching in the narrow smooth-rocked  cave, some romantic boy or girl may ask for victory or vocation, to  be a Saint like Kevin or to die a martyr for Ireland and the Faith. Maybe. All that appears is vulgarity, very close to mockery. No,  even to-day no one is thinking of Kevin; even on this one day you  will not hear the solemn intonation of the Rosary wafted from the  boats gliding quietly across the lake in the evening; nor will you find  any of the Seven Churches filled with worshippers to honour his  work or seeking inspiration in his memory.


To-day, like every other day of the tourist season, there is a kind  of dance-hall happiness in the air, restless and self-centred; this crowd  would be more at home in Bray, with concrete esplanade and  saxophone blaring nonsense from the hill. This fastidious valley  really adds nothing to their self-conscious merriment, their joy is not  in it but in themselves, so it seems to withdraw its secrets from  their unsympathetic approach, to frown resentfully on their unconscious insults and to rebuff their well-meant but undiscerning heartiness. They could enjoy themselves as well elsewhere. I wish they would.....

I recall from my days in De La Salle Novitiate that ,at Christmas 1966, the novices attended Mass in the local Church in Castletown and we - budding experts in post Vatican II liturgy - were mildly shocked to see the local farmers praying their rosary beads during Mass! Our novitiate lasted 15 months. Fr Sweetman joined the Jesuits in 1931, aged 17 and was ordained priest in 1945 after a 14 YEAR period of spiritual and intellectual formation. He can be forgiven a little snobbery vs a vs the laity in 1949!

Brother Maurice and I [Part 2]

Brother Maurice c 1970 greeting Superior General Charles Henry Buttimer

This is a followup up to my original post The Reason Why: Brother Maurice Kirk and I [Part 1] This article is turning into a mini-history of the De La Salle Brothers in Ireland and especially Dublin, my birth-place. I see that Brother Maurice was something of a historical figure. In the early 1970s he was the main Catholic church spokesman on education matters in dealings with the government. In a way he was a counterpart to my other mentor Father Michael Sweetman who was concerned with children in Ballymun who were in danger of falling out of education and of all society's safety-nets. (Father Sweetman also makes an appearance in history books and biographies). My headmaster (and teacher of French)  in Beneavin College, Brother Bernard Doyle was once Vocations Director for the Irish Province and also headmaster of other secondary schools - so would have played his role in the De La Salle "Conquest of Dublin" (see below).

Note on Role of Religious in Education

  The "Working Party on the on the Future Involvement of Religious in Education" under the chairmanship of Rev. Paul Andrews, S.J. named the F.I.R.E. Report was in February 1973, handed to the Major Religious Superiors and the Hierarchy, of whose Education Commissions Brother Maurice Kirk was then Chairman.... The F.I.R.E. Report was confidential but large sections of it were published in the press. In the light of the decline in the numbers and proportion of religious in the schools the report considered a number of strategies and recommended that religious should begin, in a carefully phased way, to concentrate their forces into a small number of schools which would generally be of the order of 400 pupils. The report suggested favourable consideration of co-educational schools as a result of such mergers. The F.I.R.E. Report made it abundantly clear that the Catholic school system in Ireland had been based on sacrifice - on the utter sacrifice of a comparatively small number of priests, nuns and brothers. They led Spartan lives of self-denial and provided education without cost to multitudes. The history of their primal devotion shows that originally they fulfilled needs that were not taken care of by any other agency. They stepped in and took over. They are not any longer needed in many of these field. But they are necessary for special apostolates.  [Brother John Towey F.S.C. 1980]

De La Salle Monastery, Castletown, Co. Leix

Irish De La Salle Brothers in 1968 (when Br Maurice became Provincial)

Brother Maurice predecessor as head of the Irish Province (which included South Africa and Mauritius)  was Brother Aloysius O'Brien (1900-1978) whose tenure began in 1947 and was the longest of any Irish Provincial. It was an era that witnessed many changes. In 1967 the General Chapter of the De La Salle Brothers in Rome elected Brother Charles Henry Buttimer of the United States as Superior General - the first non-Frenchman to hold that post. The new Assistant Superior General with responsibility for provinces including Ireland, was Brother Richard Allen, born in London. Brother John Towey comments:

"Brother Richard Allen took office at a time of profound change and even disarray, and for a number of reasons the period since the end of the Second Vatican Council has been one of almost catastrophic decline in religious Congregations throughout the world. The De La Salle Brothers in Ireland did not escape and the last years of the long and fruitful administration of Brother Aloysius O'Brien witnessed a distressing decline in the number of brothers in the Province. One effect of the upheaval was that the brothers were encouraged  to solve their own problems at provincial level in accordance with the principal of subsidiarity. Brother Aloysius, in office for twenty-one years resigned in April 1968. He lived through the changes outlined at  the beginning of this chapter - changes in the political, social economic, educational and religious spheres that affected the educational work of the brothers. He saw the scholarship system disappear from primary schools and the primary certificate examinations as well - valuable incentives to pupils and indeed to teachers also. As outlined in Chapter 11 he made new foundations in Mauritius and South Africa. Chapter 15 tells of his practical concern for deprived and problem children in Belfast and Kircubbin and in the last years of his administration he was planning the foundation of St Laurence School, Finglas West, Dublin, which will be discussed in the next chapter. His channeling of De La Salle College, Waterford into use as a secondary school was no less an achievement than his 'conquest of Dublin' at the invitation of Archbishop McQuaid - developments that pointed to an irreversible commitment to secondary education."

Note re "Conquest of Dublin":

Prior to John Charles McQuaid becoming Archbishop of Dublin in 1940 the De La Salle Brothers had no schools in Dublin city or county or in any of the major cities.As per Brother John Towey "It was especially disheartening for them to have no school in Dublin. The chief reason for this of course was that that all these cities were already well provided with brothers' schools. There seemed even to have been some prejudice against the brothers on the part of archdiocesan authorities since no De La Salle trained teacher could get employment in a school controlled by the archdiocese."

However the new Archbishop had belonged to a religious Order and received part of his early training as a Holy Ghost Father in France where he had met and admired the De La Salle Brothers and had made a study of their founder. According to Br John "soon after his coming to the See of Dublin he began to multiply Catholic secondary schools as the best means of preparing the Catholic laity to meet the perils of proliferating materialism." After conversations with then Provincial  Brother Philip Healy, Archbishop McQuaid wrote on 12 July 1945:
Today I proposed to the Council of my Diocese to ask you to make two foundations, a secondary school in the Skerries-Balbriggan area, and  a primary school in the new Ballyfermot (Inchcore) area. The Council unanimously agreed and gladly agreed. Accordingly I formally request you to be good enough to consider the proposal.
I foresee that a secondary school in the Ballyfermot area will also be required at no distant date, and I should wish to keep in mind this desirable development.
It is for me, who am acquainted with your Founder and his work abroad, a very great pleasure to be able to ask you to make these foundations. I hope your religious will be a source of great grace to the youth for whom I am responsible.

Skerries, Co. Dublin 1948:  Archbishop McQuaid was anxious to have a school for boys in the Skerries area, some twenty miles north of Dublin, so that boys wanting a secondary education would not have to go either to Dublin or Drogheda. The school was opened on 1st September 1948 in the premises of the former Grand Hotel, Skerries with 60 boys and with four classes - two for preparatory and two for secondary students with Br Arnold Dullard as director and headmaster. Among the four other brothers was Bernard Doyle who was also Vocational Director for the Irish Province (and was to be my headmaster in Beneavin College 1961-66).  A new school building was erected at the rear of the original building at an estimated cost of £20,000 and the small but functional De La Salle College was blessed and officially opened by Archbishop McQuaid on 31 May 1955. 

Ballyfemot, Dublin 1952 (Primary Schools): In Dublin in the post-war years, people in the inner city began to be moved to new suburban housing estates, one of the first and certainly the biggest of which was in Ballyfermot. The De La Salle foundation at Ballyfermot was a gigantic undertaking dwarfing anything the brothers had brothers had undertaken in Ireland with the exception of the Training College in Waterford. Both a primary and a secondary school were envisaged to cater for the boys of this vast housing estate with a projected population of about 35,000.  Brother Aloysius O'Brien wrote to the Secretary of the Department of Education saying it had been decided to provide accommodation for about 1,350 boys and he had been asked to assume responsibility for the erection of schools containing 30 classrooms. 30 brothers were need to be trained as teachers and the schools would need to be planned so as to provide for three Principals "as no Principal could efficiently direct more than 500 pupils". 

The monastery Mount La Salle was blessed and officially opened by Archbishop McQuaid in December 1951. On 7 January 1952 Scoil Iosagain was opened to 380 boys - the brothers first school in the city of Dublin, Scoil Sheosaimh opened in October 1952 and Scoil Mhuire  in July 1953. On 26 October 1953 the three schools and the common assembly hall were blessed by Archbishop McQuaid and officially opened by the Minister for Education Mr Sean Moylan. Among the distinguished gathering were Rev Brother O'Hanlon, provincial of the Irish Christian Brothers.

As per Brother John Towey "By 1954 the enrollment in the three schools had reached 1,400 boys among whom were not a few with learning problems. For these, special classes were formed, as also for the partially deaf for whom a well-equipped unit was furnished. Brothers and their lay assistants who taught in those schools were very conscious of the problems of the area: the difficulties children had in doing homework, the lack of a tradition in education in families in a new developing working-class suburban area. It is nevertheless, a welcome sign to see very many families taking a pride in and buying out rather than renting their homes from the Dublin Corporation and being anxious to give their children an education which they themselves did not have. One may see a community spirit, a civil sense, in the process of gradual development, and perhaps detect the gentle influence of the schools in that process."


Churchtown 1952 Meanwhile the invitation to open schools in the Churchtown area which abuts on Rathfarnham, came from Archbishop McQuaid who was anxious to provide educational facilities for the large juvenile population of the new housing complex embracing Rathfarnham-Landscape-Churchtown-Dundrum. A preparatory school was opened in the former Inishmore House on 3 September 1952 with 44 boys under the charge of Brother Patrick McCann director and principal. ....The school-going clientele in Rathfarnham was very different from that in Ballyfermot consisting mainly of the children of upper-middle class families, including the grandson of President De Valera. The building of a new secondary school went on apace ...This was blessed and officially opened by Archbishop McQuaid on 5 December 1957. 

De La Salle National School, Churchtown was opened on 1 July 1957 to 220 pupils with Brother Aldric Creedon principal. In 1963 the numbers so increased that a temporary school in pre-fabricated classrooms became a necessity with principal Brother Edmund Helion. After extensive improvements to both schools they were amalgamated in 1977 with Brother Finbarr O'Keefe as principal. Thus in Churchtown, there developed three schools separated from each other by a short distance: a preparatory school, a secondary school and a primary school, and in the records of those early years one notes the frequent mention of the selfless help given the brothers, their pupils and parents by the parish pariest Rev Canon O'Donnell, and his senior curate Rev Father Hyland and by the Jesuit Fathers of Rathfarnham Castle; their availability and concern were very much appreciated by all associated with the schools. 

As per Brother John Towey: "Perhaps the greatest single factor (it might be referred to as a socio-economic factor) which acts as a refining influence in the college at Churchtown is the fact that pupils hold education in such high esteem. This influences their respect for property, cleanliness, studies, sexual morality and general behaviour, and there is generally an absence of that value conflict in which the working-class student is often caught: tugged in opposite directions, one way by the teacher and the school and in the opposite direction by the family and the peer group."

St John's College, Ballyfermot 1955:  As mentioned earlier Archbishop McQuaid foresaw that "at no distant date" a secondary school would be required in the Ballyfermot area, and so in September 1955 a secondary school named Colaiste De La Salle - called St Johns College since 1970 - opened its doors to 70 boys at Johnstown House at a property of ten acres on Le Fanu Road. The pioneer staff consisted of Brothers Cyril Healy, Joseph O'Sullivan and Benignus Griffin who continued however to reside at Mount La Salle, half a mile away. A new school building overlooking the valley of the Liffey and Phoenix Park was opened by the Minister for Education Mr. Jack Lynch on 19 November 1957 and blessed by Archbishop McQuaid who in appreciation donated the sum of £1,000 towards building costs. 

Johnstown House, an old Georgian building, then unoccupied was adapted for use as a community residence which was blessed by Charles Canon Troy on 8 September 1962. On the occasion of the opening, the provincial Brother Aloysius O'Brien made two points clear when he said that "the purpose of the college is to provide facilities for secondary education for boys in Ballyfermot who could profit by such education, and lack of means will not prevent any boy from entering the school". The majority of pupils at St John's College are from the Brother's own primary schools: Scoil Iosagain, Scoil Mhuire and Scoil Sheosaimh, on Ballyfermot Road.

East Finglas, Dublin 1956 (Primary School) and 1960 (Beneavin College):  
On the occasion of the blessing of Mount La Salle, Ballyfermot, Archbishop McQuaid formally invited Brother Aloysius O'Brien to establish a foundation in Finglas where much additional building was in progress and and where, by 1955, it was estimated the population would be about 25,000. Because of additional commitments in men and money the provincial was reluctant to contemplate an additional opening in East Finglas where both primary and secondary schools would be required. However with these projects in view Brother Aloysius purchased  Beneavin House and lands of approximately 11 acres in East Finglas Dublin for £9,000. At the same time a property a short distance away, of about 10 acres, was bought from Dublin Corporation as a site for a primary school, and on this a building at a cost of about £80,000 was started in August 1954 to house about 500 boys. Classes commenced on 3 September 1956 under the charge of Brothers Brendan Fleming, director and principal, Ferdinand Lynch, Leo McAuliffe, Fridolin Nagle, Brendan O'Donoghue and Gabriel Whyte. On 6 November Archbishop McQuaid performed the blessing while the Minister for Education, General Richard Mulcahy, officially opened the magnificent school building in the presence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Mr Robert Briscoe.  [I was one of the first pupils. Brother Leo McAuliffe was my main teacher until 6th class when  Brother Brendan O'Donoghue took over.] 

Secondary classes commenced in September 1960 under Brother Bernard Doyle headmaster, and Brother Eugene Donegan, in rooms in the primary school, until the secondary school which was begun on the Beneavin House property was in readiness. Beneavin College was blessed by Archbishop McQuaid on 21 April 1963. The official opening was performed by Dr Leo Close, chief inspector representing the Minister for Education, Dr Patrick Hillery, in the presence of Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, Mr Michael Hilliard. The Archbishop expressed himself greatly pleased with the modern lines, accommodation, layout and amenities of the college with its spacious foyer, well appointed staff-room, auditorium, oratory and classrooms. In the beginning entrance was by examination, for which far more presented themselves than gained places, and already in September 1963 there were 332 pupils on the rolls.

A feature of the technique of school's career headmaster, the versatile Brother Bernard Doyle, was the playing of recorded light classical music to greet pupils and staff as they arrived at college in the mornings. Well known also as the capable headmaster of Skerries and Churchtown, Brother Bernard Doyle who spent some years in the Principality of Monaco is a raconteur, musician and water-colour artist of no mean order. He is perhaps better known as a vocations director in the best tradition.

The population of Finglas ranges from very poor to lower middle class and while the national school catered for most there was a demand from parents in the North Finglas-Ballymun-Glasnevin area and also from the Archbishop for a private preparatory school. This was started in September 1964 with Brother Michael Murphy as principal and despite the changes in educational policy and practice in later years it continues to answer a local need.

Kilmacud, Dublin 1962    It was at the invitation of Archbishop McQuaid that the brothers made a foundation at Kilmacud, a southern suburb of Dublin. Hazelwood house, a compact cut granite building, and property were acquired in August 1956 from a Mrs Shiels and placed in the care of an interim community consisting of Brothers Ailbe Gleeson, director Joseph Davis and Elias Golden. The Parish priest, Monsignor Deery, blessed this residence as soon as the boys moved in. Work on a private preparatory school for boys of from ten to twelve years of age was begun in November 1961. Benildus Preparatory College opened its doors on 4 September 1962 to 22 boys in the charge of Brother Benedict Vaughan, director and principal and Brother Albert Meaney. The official opening and blessing was performed by Archbishop McQuaid on 22 May following. An adjoining property consisting of 41 acres was purchased a Mr Lambert for £10,250. Each year an extra class of boys was added until by 1965 the need to commence building a secondary school and brothers' residence became imperative. When classes commenced on 12 September 1966 there were 212 boys in the preparatory college and 25 in the high school which was temporarily housed in a prefabricated building. 

The brothers occupied their new monastery in Kilmacud in October 1966. The following September they moved into the new St Benildus College where Brother Oswin Walsh - director of the Novitiate 1950-1965 was headmaster. On the college rolls were 120 pupils. Principal of the Saint Benildus Preparatory College was Brother Aengus McCormilla. 

The pupils attending Saint Benildus College come mainly from upper middle-class families  in the Stillorgan-Dundrum-Kilmacud-Sandyford-Goatstown area. Few leave before completing the course and taking the Leaving Cert examination and this indicates an appreciation of the college's efforts by parents. Newcomers adjust quickly to the pattern of hard work, obedience and competition, and direct their activities towards examinations that would give them access to good jobs. The college already has an impressive academic record. Of the 160 pupils who passed the Leaving Cert examination in 1978 about 100 went on for third-level education. Pupils attending the preparatory school are assured of a place in the college: all others have to take their chance. Present enrollment in the college [1980] is 915 where Brother Philbert Cronin is headmaster. Principal in the preparatory school is Brother Nicholas Morgan.

Ard Scoil La Salle, Raheny, Dublin, 1968 Ard Scoil La Salle in Raheny, Dublin opened on 5 September 1968 with 84 boys in three classes in pre-fabricated classrooms. The pioneer staff consisted of Brothers Cajetan Fergus, director and headmaster, and Cyril Quinlan, Messrs Michael Cody and James McHugh. They were there at the invitation of Archbishop McQuaid, and Monsignor Fitzpatrick, parish priest of Raheny and chairman of the Council of Administration for primary schools in the archdiocese of Dublin. It was proposed to build in two stages a secondary school to accommodate 810 pupils on a property which the brothers bought, part from McInerney and part from Dublin Corporation, for £20,000. The brothers' residence adjacent to the school property was purchased from Mr McInerney for £10,500 and here the Capuchin Fathers celebrate Mass for the community.

The school functions in a deprived, vandal-free working class area where the parents are co-operative, concerned and appreciative, but unable to make any contribution to the huge financial outlay on buildings and equipment. It is a serious drawback but unavoidable because of the very high costs of land in the area, that the school has no playing fields of its own, but in conjunction with the Residents Association, the brothers pressed the Corporation to leave some play areas available in the new housing estate adjacent to the school. The pupils now use Streamville  and Edenmore Parks owned by the Corporation while all competitive games are played at St Anne's Park which the Raheny Gaelic Athletic Association have rented from the Dublin Corporation. ...... 

Brother Maurice Kirk, Provincial, 1968-1974

In 1968 Brother Aloysius O'Brien, after 21 years in office, handed over the administration of the [Irish] Province to Brother Maurice Kirk. The previous career of the new provincial had followed a pattern common to many brothers in Ireland. After attending the brothers' school in Dundalk until the age of fourteen, he had entered the juniorate at Castletown [Co. Laois] in 1942. There followed in the usual course the novitiate in Castletown and the conclusion of his studies up to the Leaving Certificate in Faithlegg [Co. Waterford]. He then went to the training college in Waterford, and on the conclusion of his course there, was sent to teach in Skerries. Two years later he was sent to Ely Place to study for a Degree at the National University, specialising in Irish, Latin and history. Having gained his Bachelor's degree he followed the Thirty-days Retreat in Mallow and made his final religious profession. His next assignment was the recently opened school in Churchtown, Rathfarnham, where in addition to teaching full-time, he followed evening lectures in preparation for the Higher Diploma in Education. Having spent three years in Churchtown he was sent on the missions for which he had volunteered. And so in 1956, he arrived at St. Joseph's College, Curepipe, in the island of Mauritius, and remained there for six years. In 1962 he was summoned to Rome to make the second novitiate of nine months duration, after which he was appointed sub-director of novices at Castletown. Two years later he succeeded Brother Oswin Walsh as novice master, and it was from this position of peacefulness and solicitude that he was chosen by the District Chapter to shoulder the responsibilities of provincial. 

The massive upheaval following Vatican II, which had so seriously affected the last years of his predecessor, was still having its effect, resulting in numerous defections and the drying up of vocations to the religious life. Traditionally accepted truths and practices were being called into question and abandoned, while in the world at large, permissiveness and moral laxity were deeply affecting the rising generation. Brother Maurice Kirk's six years in office, ending in tragic circumstances, were thus inevitably a period of profound change and even disarray.

To assist him in his arduous task he could rely on the wisdom and experience of his auxiliary, Brother Oliver Rice. Not for long however, for on 4 October 1969 Brother Oliver died. He was succeeded by Brother Finbarr O'Shea, a native of Lombardstown, Mallow Co. Cork, who for six years had been Professor of Education at the training college in Waterford before becoming director and headmaster of Colaiste Iosagain, Ballyvourney, in 1964. There were at this time 340 finally professed brothers in the Province of Ireland, 86 with temporary profession and 17 novices, while some twenty brothers were full time students at the university. With this personnel Brother Maurice had to staff 29 primary schools, 23 secondary schools,  two boarding colleges and five preparatory schools. In addition the mission in South Africa and Mauritius had to be staffed by Irish Brothers.

In the first years of Brother Maurice Kirk's administration some rearrangements were made at Castletown which for ninety years had been the administrative and formative centre of the Province. In 1947 a section of the juniorate had been moved to Mallow and the provincialate had been moved to Kilmacud in Dublin in 1968. Now it was decided to move the novitiate, and this was done in 1970. Since the residence at Mount Pleasant, Loughrea Co. Galway, which was to be the site of the novitiate was not ready, the novices went first to Faithlegg where they remained one year. Meanwhile, in Castletown a welcome addition was made in 1971 with the construction of Miguel House for retired and infirm brothers.

Miguel House, Castletown, 1971

At a meeting of the District Council in February 1970 the decision was taken to build a residence in Castletown where those brothers who had laboured for many years in schools in Ireland or in the missions in South Africa, Mauritius or Australia, could spend their last years in congenial surroundings, in peace and quiet, with all the care and facilities they needed. On 15 May 1971 Miguel House was blessed and officially opened by Bishop Peter Birch of Ossory in the presence of Mother M. Genevieve, provincial, Sisters of the Christian Schools, the Minister for Industry and Commerce, Mr. P.J. Lawlor, the parish priest of Castletown, Reverend J. O'Rourke, and many friends of the Order. Brother Maurice Kirk welcomed the Sisters of the Christian Schools who would nurse and care for the brothers and Bishop Birch praised the work of the community in providing Miguel House for elderly members of the Irish Province and expressed the wish that something similar would be undertaken on behalf of elderly people in all areas.............

Time of Great Concern

In 1971 Brother Maurice Kirk was re-elected provincial for another three years. In a letter convoking a meeting of directors and headmasters in Finglas, Dublin, he wrote in light of his experience of the previous three years: "Difficulties like the decision in regard to Community Schools, difficulties in regard to vocations, recruitment and perseverance, are all causing great concern, but in the last analysis it is the way we live as religious that is all important".
 Besides, he was increasingly hampered by the amount of attention he was called upon to give, as the representative of the other religious orders and of his own, to the educational problems of the time and with regard to which he wrote to the communities on 18 March 1972:
Our days are filled with meetings in the Department, in dialogue with Church leaders, in coping with increasing pressure from Brothers and particularly headmasters; documents, memoranda, in depth studies, plans, cover our desks and await our attention. Presure groups in the Government, mass media and teacher organistions refus eto be pacified or silenced. We have arrived at a crossroads where choices ahead demand serious examination. We have reached a critical moment in the history of the Irish District where study, creative thinking, courage and decision will be demanded of ALL.

As a result of the schools' population explosion the Brothers are too thinly spread to be effective, to give a Lasallian education Our resources are limited so we must seek to employ them to the best advantage.....To be scattered in ever-decreasing numbers in a multiplicity of schools is to become less effective, with an ever-increasing loss of identity and purpose. What then are we to do?

Having taken note of the opinions of the brothers he made three decisions: to withdraw from some small isolated primary schools; to withdraw from some of the secondary schools; to maintain the boarding schools in Waterford and Ballyvourney. Accordingly but not without considerable regret, the brothers were withdrawn from Bruff, Cavan, Manorhamilton and Ballyshannon. On the subject of Community Schools Brother Maurice Kirk, in May 1972, explained his position thus to the brothers: "It is my opinion that the imposition of the Community Schools, as envisaged by the Department, and for general application right across the country, is inherently undemocratic and dangerous and this I have made known to the Department officials". On the subject of Community Schools, however, he was soon to change his mind.

High on the list of places where it seemed to the Department desirable to establish a Community School was Ardee, Co Louth, which was within the parliamentary constituency of the then Minister for Education, Mr. Patrick Faulkner. The situation there offered an obvious opportunity and to initiate the project in Ardee appeared to Mr Faulkner to be the natural thing to do. The manager of the secondary school in Ardee at this moment was Brother Imar Brosnan, but he was soon to be succeeded by Brother Ultan Sherlock.

Ardee and the Community Schools Question

For some considerable time discussions had been taking place regarding the inadequate facilities in the secondary schools of the brothers and nuns in Ardee, and as a result of discussions in 1968-69 a form of amalgamation had been agreed upon to improve the conditions. For a more permanent solution to the problem of accommodation assistance had been sought from the Department. The Department however had other plans in mind as can be seen from the following extract from a letter, dated 14 September 1970, written by Mr. Faulkner to Cardinal Conway:

Ardee has a post primary enrollment of 450 pupils. I am convinced that from the educational as well as from the social and economic points of view a single post-primary school would provide a better service for the area and all the children in it. If we were to look further to the idea of a community school, serving many community interests and with community involvement, further advantages could accrue from a single unit. ...........

[A letter from the Minister for Education Patrick Faulkner to Sister Aquinas of the Convent of Mercy dated 12 October 1971] contained a strong plea for co-operation on the part of the Religious in particular in the implementation of the Community School concept:

... My request to you, to your community and to all other communities is to involve yourself in a way in which you have never been involved before. In this way I am convinced that the role of the religious in education will be increased rather than diminished. If any evidence of this is required it is there in the cases where Brothers and Nuns have become involved in the work of Vocational Schools and Comprehensive Schools.

At a meeting on 9 February 1973 Brother Maurice Kirk and his District Council decided to participate in the proposed Community School in Ardee "provided satisfactory arrangements are worked out with regard to compensation, the appointing of the Headmaster and Secretary to the Board of Management and the guaranteed number of places, five for Brothers on the teaching staff. The Cardinal and the Education Committee of the Major Superiors were in agreement with that decision of the District Council. The minutes of that same meeting further record that the District Council  was of the opinion that the brothers of the Province should go into one Community School in some strength, apply for the principalship, fill up the five guaranteed places if possible and test the system. Ardee was chosen for that experiment. In a letter dated 14 February 1973 to the parish priest of Ardee, Canon McDonnell, Brother Maurice mentioned the decision to have the Brothers participate in the proposed Community School, adding that "I conveyed this decision to the officials of the Department of Education early this week and pointed out that our participation was contingent on several conditions and proposals being accepted by the Department. Among these was the question of adequate compensation for our existing Secondary School. It is quite possible that the Department would acquire the building with a view to having it as an extension to the Primary School..."


Although the question of the Community School in Ardee appeared settled there remained the question of representation on the board of management. On 20 February 1973 Cardinal Conway wrote to Brother Maurice Kirk: "Mother Aquinas of Ardee has written to me about the request from the Department to nominate a member of the Board of Management. She is also worried about the Convent's local contribution. I have told her to do nothing for the moment as I think that the Nuns and Brothers should act in concert." Brother Maurice informed the Cardinal on 28 February 1973 that "As yet we have had no communication from the Department of Education about nominations to the Management Board nor have we received the Deed of Trust. I agree that the nuns and Brothers should act in concert and I will keep you posted on all developments".

The question now revolved around the matter of appointments to the trusteeship, the board of management and the school staff. Discussions were still at this stage when Brother Maurice Kirk met his death in an accident on 10 April 1974....


[My Note: The question of the De La Salle Brothers participating in the new Ardee Community School appeared to have been settled, but the death of Brother Maurice seems to have thrown a major spanner in the works. In the event the Ministry for Education went ahead with its own plans for a Community School in Ardee and later in 1974 the brothers withdrew altogether after labouring for eighty-six years in the town.]

A Tragic Accident

Brother Maurice Kirk met his death in a car accident on 10 April 1974. He was travelling from the provincialate in Dublin to Belfast where a number of brothers were gathered at St Clement's, the Redemptorist retreat centre. With him were provincial secretary Brother Bernard O'Donovan, and a young brother, Patrick Black. The Irish Independent the following day related what happened:

The accident occurred at a wide stretch of the main Dublin-Belfast road at Piltown, a mile outside Drogheda. Witnesses said that the Brothers's car had apparently gone out of control as it passed a lorry. It struck the lorry and then veered across the road to become embedded beneath the trailer of an Irish Bottle Glass Company lorry travelling in the opposite direction. The car was almost flattened in the accident and there was very little that passing motorists could do to help.

The funeral in Castletown on Holy Saturday was the occasion of a great demonstration of the high esteem in which Brother Maurice Kirk was held by both the brothers and the general public, and of the deep sympathy for the Order that his tragic death inspired. At the inquest a doctor gave as his verdict that Brothers Maurice and Bernard had died instantly. Brother Peter, who did not regain consciousness, died on 13th. The following day Brother Oswin Walsh, [his predecessor as Novice Master] "who must have been profoundly affected by the frightening cutting off of such promising lives", died suddenly. His passing "seemed to fill to the top the bitter chalice presented to our lips in Holy Week, 1974".

One would refer briefly to a few of the tributes paid to Brother Maurice Kirk. The Minister for Education, Mr. Richard Burke, paid him this tribute:

As Provincial of the De La Salle Order and as Chairman of the Education Committee of the Conference of Major Religious Superiors, Brother Maurice was in constant touch with my Department. He participated in long and complex negotiations in many important issues, particularly in regard to the development of community schools and in relation to the comprehensive idea generally.

Brother Maurice was an ardent devotee of the voluntary secondary school. He was totally convinced of the value of the ethos created in schools controlled by Catholic Religious Orders.He was, nevertheless, prepared to consider educational involvement by Religious in other ways, such as would be required in a community school context. His agreement to the development of community schools in Ardee and Muine Bheag (Bagenalstown) was greatly valued because it was not lightly given. The same dedication and the same sincerity of purpose was apparent in Brother Maurice's every undertaking.

The Finglas Child Centre was of special concern to him and his contribution to its development was substantial. Shortly before his death he had asked for a discussion of the terms of a permanent agreement between the Order and my Department in the management of the Centre, the opening of which has marked the opening of a new era in the care and treatment of young offenders. The contribution which Brother Maurice would have made to these important discussions would undoubtedly have demonstrated once again his capacity for clear and objective thought and his passionate concern to ensure that his Order's exceptional expertise in this area was used to the best possible advantage. 

Because of his own splendid spirit of dedication and self-sacrifice in the service of his Order and because of his specialist knowledge, perseverance and understanding, the loss of Brother Maurice to Irish education is immense. His life and work are a shining example to us all.

A tribute to Brother Maurice Kirk with a totally different emphasis came from the Assistant General of the Jesuits, Very Rev. Cecil McGarry, who had been provincial of the Irish Province of the society:

I first met Brother Maurice in late 1968. We had each just begun our terms of office as provincials in our respective orders. There seemed to be from the beginning a natural affinity between us, an easy meeting of minds, a similarity of outlook, a shared sense of how much more the Religious of Ireland could achieve if they knew each other better and worked together more harmoniously. It wasn't that we began to work together; a real friendship began to grow. I found in him wonderful personal qualities of charm, gentleness, patience warmth and understanding. But he was not soft. On matters of principle and even of practice when he considered them very important, he could be firm almost to inflexibility. Yet he always took up positions with an openness to another point of view, but he was intellectually decisive.....

Brother Maurice was truly a man for others. He was at everyone's service - frequently taking two telephone calls simultaneously! The extent to which people turned to him for help and relied on him is a sure indication of the spirit of service and self-forgetfulness which animated his entire life. He worked from morning to night but he was never harassed. This quality of serenity and peace in the midst of almost frenetic activity never ceased to amaze me. I believe he could live like this because of his deep faith and trust in God, his closeness to him in prayer even in the midst of very demanding activities. When watching him responding to unceasing calls on his time and energies, I often thought that he had made his own the conviction of St. Paul that to those that love God all things work together unto good. He accepted quite simply that he could meet God in his life of action and service to others  as he could in prayer. And I believe he did...

A paper The School and the Transmission of Values read by Brother Maurice Kirk at a seminar organised by the Convent Conference of Catholic Secondary Schools in October 1973 was published by the Secretariat of Secondary Schools (Dublin, 1975) as a dedication to his memory and as a tribute to his immense work on behalf of Catholic schools as chairman of the Education Commission of the Conference of Major Religious Superiors.

Finally, as a mark of esteem for the great work done by Brother Maurice Kirk on behalf of all the Religious Congregation engaged in education the Executive of the Conference of Major Religious Superiors decided to establish a burse to provide educational opportunity for pupils of the De La Salle schools. At the District Council held on 12 October 1974 various suggestions were made as to the best way to use this fund.

In the event it was decided to invest the capital in the bank, and to award the annual interest to one or other of the brothers' schools to be used as the staff thought best. In this way the memory of Brother Maurice Kirk would be perpetuated.



WORK IN PROGRESS!