The Catholic Church and the Northern Ireland Crisis 1968-86

This study examines the response of institutional Catholicism to the political violence in Northern Ireland since 1968. The book is part contemporary history, part study of the attitudes and opinions of Catholic clergy in Northern Ireland and part examination of the Northern Irish Catholic ethos. Both in its breadth of reference and attention to detail, Dr McElroy's study helps to illuminate a hitherto unexplored but vital aspect of the Northern Ireland Crisis. The first section of the book analyzes the Church's contribution over the years to the search for a political solution to the "Troubles". The second section provides a multi-variate analysis of an attitude survey questionnaire which was circulated to every priest in Northern Ireland in April/May 1986. The book also analyzes the various clerical protests at different aspects of state policy in Northern Ireland and also explores relations between the Catholic Church and militant republicanism. The author also offers a concluding chapter in which he considers the wider implications of his study.