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New Zealand Tablet, 8 May 1919, Page 20

"RATER FOR IRELAND. The most Rev. Dr. Gil marl in, Archbishop of Tuam, says in his Lenten Pastoral: We have to congratulate you all on the peace and good order that under provoking circumstances exist in the community. As you know, we have, acting on the Pope’s instructions, ordered public prayers for a just and speedy peace. In these and other fervent prayers let the needs of our own dear country not be forgotten. Though we may differ in the details of politics we are all united in the prayer that the wrongs of Ireland will soon be righted. We rejoice that to-day she stands knocking at the gates of liberty, not as a beggar, but as a nation, old in centuries, young in her manhood, strong in the justice of her claims, and calm in the hope that truth must prevail in the end. The Most Rev. Dr. O’Sullivan, Bishop of Kerry, .says: Throughout her chequered history there has perhaps been no more critical hour in the public affairs of our country than the present. On every side we hear expressions of anxiety, and of hope, alternating with fear as to what the immediate future will bring. In this momentous crisis, with its tremendous possibilities, it is our duty to raise our voices in humble supplication to God, invoking the protection of His Divine Providence for our country ' in earnest fervent prayer, always praying through her, who in the darkest hours of trial and persecution was ever the protectress of our forefathers. The Bishop, who addresses the faithful of the diocese for the first time,‘concludes by requesting prayers for himself.