Letter from Bishop Fogarty

New Zealand Tablet, 16 February 1922, Page 37

Letter from Bishop Fogarty

The following letter, under date Ennis, December 11„ has just been received from Most Rev. Dr. Fogarty, Bishop of Killaloe, Ireland: I have your letter with bank draft for £4O for Belfast victims, which I will send to-day to the Bishop of Belfast. There are 30,000 Catholics on that fund since last July, costing us £SOOO a week. It is a miracle how the country kept going. The exiles did wonderfully well. But now the victory is won. Every English soldier and policeman will be out of Ireland on January 14, and not a shred of the Union Jack left. As I write, there is a breeze over the ratification. President de Valera has declined to recommend it. He could not do otherwise in the circumstances. But it will be all right; the unpleasant feature is Belfast. But the treaty solves that in a hopeful way. If we had a regular recognised formal republic we were confronted with the same difficulty to be solved in the same way. As it is we are on precisely the same status as Canada, New Zealand, etc.; with our oath to the saor stat of Ireland and no more. Who would have hoped four years ago for such a triumphant victory so soon. Never was such heroism, never so grand a reward. Glory to God and the immortal dead! Will you give my sincere thanks to all those who helped to make this £4O. The country is, of course, a heap of ruins after the dreadful conflict. But 10 years hence it will be the grandest in the world, please God.