Still Divided

Back in the bleak days of 1957, when Ireland was an isolated backwater, Sheila Cloney decided that the parish priest wasn't going to tell her what to do. She was a Protestant, married to a Catholic, in a country that was all but ruled by the Catholic Church.

The result was a boycott of all Protestants living in Fethard-on-Sea, a small town in County Wexford.

The incident was made into a movie some years back. A Love Divided presented the entire wretched affair, a tale of abusive power and bully tactics that demonstrated ethnic cleansing by fear and intimidation.

Sheila Cloney has passed away, to rest in peace after witnessing a tremendous change in the southern part of the island.

Because she refused to allow a priest to coerce her into sending her children to one particular school, the Protestants of Fethard-on-Sea were harassed until they packed up and left.

In the modern era, post-Celtic Tiger, Ireland's population includes Protestants, Muslims, atheists, Buddhists, and just about any other religious persuasion. All are allowed to worship freely. There's even talk of the Catholic Church getting out of the school patronage business, leaving education to the secular authorities.

The prejudice against religions and ethnicity continues to divide one small part of the island, however. Catholics in the six counties to the north are still attacked. A group of Romanian immigrants recently fled for their lives from Belfast after coming under assault. Within the past year, a Catholic man married to a Protestant woman was beaten to death because of his faith.

The corner of Ireland that was gerrymandered into a colony continues to exist as a backwater, trapped in the past, where Protestant and Catholic are kept separate with violence and fear. Sheila Cloney didn't live long enough to see that part of Ireland develop into a mature country, moving ahead into the 21st Century.