THE CHURCH
OR THE BIBLE?
By Fr Arnold Damen, S.J. (1815-1890.)
CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY
of Ireland No. Apol061a (1961).
(First published in the USA in 1890.)
Introduction.
The following sermon is as relevant today as it was over 80 years ago when it
was first preached by Father Arnold Damen, S.J., the great missionary and
founder of Chicago’s Loyola University. That Father Damen’s message was and
still is a challenge to the many who pride themselves “Bible-and-Bible-alone
Christians” is evident from the title, “The Church or the Bible.” “One
cannot have God for his Father, who will not have the Church for his Mother,” (the
saying of Saint Cyprian in his Epistle number 73) and likewise one cannot have
the Word of God for his faith who will not have the Church for his teacher. It
is the infallible teaching authority of the Church, as promised by Christ,
which alone preserves God’s Word from erroneous interpretation. This is the
essence of the zealous priest’s doctrine. It is also the essence of true
Christianity, as Father Damen amply proves from Scripture itself and from just
plain common sense. Every sincere Bible reader deserves to know the true
relation God has established between His Church and Holy Scripture. We,
therefore, invite all who love the Bible to read Father Damen’s exposition with
an open mind, lest while reading the Scriptures “they wrest them to their own
destruction.” (2 Peter 3:16)
THE CHURCH OR THE BIBLE?
I.
Dearly Beloved Christians: —
When our Divine Saviour sent His Apostles and His Disciples throughout the
whole universe to preach the Gospel to every creature, He laid down the
conditions of salvation thus: “He that believes and is baptised,” said the Son
of the Living God, “shall be saved, but he that believes not shall be
condemned” (Mark 16:16). Here, then, Our Blessed Lord laid down the two
conditions of salvation: Faith and Baptism. He that believes and is baptised
shall be saved, but he that believes not shall be condemned — or is damned.
Hence, then, two conditions of salvation: Faith and Baptism. I will speak this
evening on the condition of Faith. We must have Faith in order to be saved, and
we must have Divine Faith, not human faith. Human faith will not save a man,
but only Divine Faith. What is Divine Faith? It is to believe, upon the
authority of God, the truths that God has revealed; that is Divine Faith. To
believe all that God has taught upon the authority of God, and to believe
without doubting, without hesitation; for the moment you commence to doubt or
hesitate, that moment you commence to mistrust the authority of God, and,
therefore, insult God by doubting His word. Divine Faith, therefore, is to
believe without doubting, without hesitating. Human faith is when we believe a
thing upon the authority of men — on human authority. That is human faith. But
Divine Faith is to believe without doubting, without hesitating, whatsoever God
has revealed upon the authority of God, upon the word of God.
Therefore, my dear people, it
is not a matter of indifference what religion a man professes, providing he be
a good man. You hear it said nowadays, in this Nineteenth Century of little
faith, that it matter not what religion a man professes, providing he be a good
man. That is heresy, my dear people, and I will prove it to you to be such. If
it be a matter of indifference what a man believes, providing he be a good man,
why then it is useless for God to make any revelation whatever. If a man is at
liberty to reject what God reveals, what use for Christ to send out His
Apostles and disciples to teach all nations, if those nations are at liberty to
believe or reject the teachings of the Apostles or disciples? You see at once
that this would be insulting God. If God reveals a thing or teaches a thing, He
means to be believed. He wants to be believed whenever He teaches or reveals a
thing. Man is bound to believe whatsoever God has revealed, for, my dear
people, we are bound to worship God, both with our reason and intellect, as
well as with our heart and will. God is master of the whole man. He claims his
will, his heart, his reason, and his intellect. Where is the man in his reason,
no matter what denomination, church, or religion he belongs to, that will deny
that we are bound to believe what God has taught? I am sure there is not a
Christian who will deny that we are bound to believe whatsoever God has
revealed.
Therefore, it is not a matter
of indifference what religion a man professes. He must profess that true
religion if he would be saved. But what is the true religion? To believe all
that God has taught. I am sure that even my Protestant friends will admit this
is right; for, if they do not, I would say they are no Christians at all.
“But what is the true Faith?”
“The true Faith,” say Protestant friends, “is to believe in the Lord Jesus.”
Agreed, Catholics believe in that.
“Tell me what you mean by believing in the Lord Jesus?”
“Why,” says my Protestant friend, “you must believe that He is the Son of the Living
God.”
Agreed again. Thanks be to God, we can agree on something. We believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God, that He is God. To this, we all
agree, excepting the Unitarians and Socinians, but we will leave them alone
tonight. If Christ be God, then we must believe all He teaches. Is this not so,
my dearly beloved Protestant brethren and sisters?
“And that’s the right Faith, isn’t it?”
“Well, yes,” says my Protestant friend, “I guess that is the right Faith. To
believe that Jesus is the Son of the Living God we must believe all that Christ
has taught.”
We Catholics say the same, and here we agree again. Christ, then, we must
believe, and that is the true Faith. We must believe all that Christ has taught
— that God has revealed — and, without that Faith there is no salvation;
without that Faith there is no hope of Heaven; without that Faith there is
eternal damnation! We have the words of Christ for it: “He that believes not
shall be condemned,” says Christ.
II.
But if Christ, my dearly beloved people, commands me under pain of eternal
damnation to believe all that He has taught, He must give me the means to know
what He has taught. If, therefore, Christ commands me upon pain of eternal
damnation, He is bound to give me the means of knowing what He has taught. And
the means Christ gives us of knowing this must have been at all times within
the reach of all people. Secondly, the means that God gives us to know what He
has taught must be a means adapted to the capacities of all intellects — even
the dullest. For even those of the dullest of understandings have a right to
salvation, and consequently they have a right to the means whereby they shall
learn the truths that God has taught, that they may believe them and be saved.
The means that God gives us to
know what he has taught must be an infallible means. For if it be a means that
can lead us astray, it can be no means at all. It must be an infallible means,
so that if a man makes use of that means, he will infallibly, without fear of
mistake or error, be brought to a knowledge of all the truths that God has
taught. I don’t think there can be anyone present here — I care not what he is,
a Christian or an unbeliever — who can object to my premises. And these
premises are the groundwork of my discourse and of all my reasoning, and, therefore,
I want you to bear them in mind. I will repeat them, for on these premises
rests all the strength of my discourse and reasoning.
If God commands me under pain of eternal damnation to believe all that He has
taught, He is bound to give my the means to know what He has taught. And the
means that God gives me must have been at all times within the reach of all
people — must be adapted to the capacities of all intellects, must be an
infallible means to us, so that if a man makes use of it he will be brought to
a knowledge of all the truths that God has taught.
III.
Has God given us such means?
“Yes,” say my Protestant friends, “He has.”
And so says the Catholic: “God has given us such means. What is the means God
has given us whereby we shall learn the truth that God has revealed?”
“The Bible,” say my Protestant friends, “the Bible, the whole of the Bible, and
nothing but the Bible.”
But we Catholics say, “No; not the Bible and its private interpretation, but
the Church of the Living God.”
I will prove the facts, and I defy all my separated brethren — and all the
preachers in the bargain — to disprove what I will say tonight.
I say, then, it is not the
private interpretation of the Bible that has been appointed by God to be the
teacher of man, but the Church of the Living God. For, my dear people, if God
has intended that man should learn His religion from a book — the Bible — surely
God would have given that book to man; Christ would have given that book to
man. Did He do it? He did not. Christ sent His Apostles throughout the whole
universe and said: “Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”
Christ did not say, “Sit down and write Bibles and scatter them over the earth,
and let every man read his Bible and judge for himself.” If Christ had said
that, there would never have been a Christianity on the earth at all, but a
Babylon and confusion instead, and never one Church, the union of one body.
Hence, Christ never said to His Apostles, “Go and write Bibles and distribute
them, and let everyone judge for himself.” That injunction was reserved for the
Sixteenth Century, and we have seen the result of it. Ever since the Sixteenth
Century there have been springing up religion upon religion, and churches upon
churches, all fighting and quarreling with one another. And all because of the
private interpretation of the Bible.
Christ sent His Apostles with authority to teach all nations, and never gave
them any command of writing the Bible. And the Apostles went forth and preached
everywhere, and planted the Church of God throughout the earth, but never
thought of writing. The first word written was by Saint Matthew, and he wrote for
the benefit of a few individuals. He wrote the Gospel about seven years after
Christ left this earth, so that the Church of God, established by Christ,
existed seven years before a line was written of the New Testament. Saint Mark
wrote about ten years after Christ left this earth; Saint Luke about
twenty-five years, and Saint John about sixty-three years after Christ had
established the Church of God. Saint John wrote the last portion of the Bible —
the Book of Revelation — about sixty-five years after Christ had left this
earth and the Church of God had been established. The Catholic religion had
existed sixty-five years before the Bible was completed, before it was written.
Now, I ask you, my dearly beloved separated brethren, were these Christian
people, who lived during the period between the establishment of the Church of
Jesus and the finishing of the Bible, were they really Christians, good
Christians, enlightened Christians? Did they know the religion of Jesus? Where
is the man that will dare to say that those who lived from the time that Christ
went up to Heaven to the time that the Bible was completed were not Christians?
It is admitted on all sides, by all denominations, that they were the very best
of Christians, the first fruit of the Blood of Jesus Christ. But how did they
know what they had to do to save their souls? Was it from the Bible that they
learned it? No, because the Bible was not written. And would our Divine Saviour
have left His Church for sixty-five years without a teacher, if the Bible is
the teacher of man? Most assuredly not.
Were the Apostles Christians,
I ask you, my dear Protestant friends? You say, “Yes, sir; they were the very
founders of Christianity.” Now, my dear friends, none of the Apostles ever read
the Bible; not one of them except perhaps, Saint John. For all of then had died
martyrs for the Faith of Jesus Christ and never saw the cover of a Bible. Every
one of them died martyrs and heroes for the Church of Jesus before the Bible
was completed. How, then, did those Christians that lived in the first
sixty-five years after Christ ascended — how did they know what they had to do
to save their souls? They knew it precisely in the same way that you know it,
my dear Catholic friends. You know it from the teachings of the Church of God,
and so did the primitive Christians know it.
IV.
Not only sixty-five years did Christ leave the Church He had established
without a Bible, but over three hundred years. The Church of God was
established and went on spreading itself over the whole globe without the Bible
for more than three hundred years. In all that time, the people did not know
what constituted the Bible. In the days of the Apostles, there were many false
gospels. There was the Gospel of Simon (allegedly written by Peter), the Gospel
of Nicodemus, of Mary, of Barnabas, and the Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus
allegedly written by Thomas. All of these gospels were spread among the people,
and the people did not know which of these were inspired and which were false
and spurious. Even the learned themselves were disputing whether preference
should be given to the Gospel of Simon or that of Matthew — to the Gospel of
Nicodemus or the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Mary or that of Luke, the Gospel
of the Infancy of Jesus or the Gospel of Saint John the Evangelist. And so it
was in regard to the epistles: Many spurious epistles were written, and the
people were at a loss for over three hundred years to know which was false or
spurious, or which inspired. And, therefore, they did not know what constituted
the books of the Bible.
It was not until the Fourth Century that the
Pope of Rome, the Head of the Church, the successor of Saint Peter, assembled
together the Bishops of the world in a council (Council of Rome, 382 A.D.). And
there in that council it was decided that the Bible, as we Catholics have it
now, is the Word of God, and that the Gospels of Simon, Nicodemus, Mary, the
Infancy of Jesus, and Barnabas, and all those other epistles were spurious or,
at least, unauthentic; at least, that there was no evidence of their
inspiration, and that the Gospels of Saints Luke, Matthew, Mark and John, and
the Book of Revelation, were inspired by the Holy Ghost. Up to that time the
whole world for three hundred years did not know what the Bible was; hence,
they could not take the Bible for their guide, for they did not know what
constituted the Bible. Would our Divine Saviour, if He intended man to learn
his religion from a book, have left the Christian world for three hundred years
without that book? Most assuredly not.
From the second century, lists were being compiled and much was being written
on the canon of Scripture. Great Catholic saints and scholars made it their
study, among them Saint Justin Martyr, Saint Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Saint
Jerome and Saint Augustine, bishop of Hippo. The most complete list after the
382 Roman list was drawn up at the council of Hippo in the year 393 and
reaffirmed at the third and fourth councils of Carthage in 397 and 418. To this
list was appended a request that it should be sent to Rome for approval and
confirmation, preferably, it said, "to holy Boniface, bishop of
Rome." On such an important matter, it was felt that authority, in the
person of the Pope, must speak.
At about the same time, we find that Saint Exuperius, the bishop of Toulouse had written also to the Pope (Saint Innocent I) asking formally for a list of the true books of Scripture. In 405 Innocent replied, and the list he sent was the same as that of the councils of Hippo and Carthage.
V.
Not only for three hundred years was the world left without the Bible, but for
one thousand four hundred years, the Christian world was left without the
Sacred Book, at least in any significant numbers to allow any Christian to
easily have his own copy. Before the art of printing was invented, Bibles were
rare things; Bibles were costly things. Now, you must all be aware, if you have
read history at all, that the art of printing was invented only a little more
than four hundred years ago — about the middle of the Fifteenth Century — and
about one hundred years before there was a Protestant in the world. As I have
said, before printing was invented books were rare and costly things.
Historians tell us that in the
Eleventh Century — eight hundred years ago — Bibles were so rare and costly
that it took a fortune, a considerable fortune, to buy oneself a copy of the
Bible! Before the art of printing, everything had to be done with the pen upon
parchment or sheepskin. It was, therefore, a tedious and slow operation — a
costly operation. Now, in order to arrive at the probable cost of a Bible at
that time, let us suppose that a man should work ten years to make a copy of
the Bible and earn a dollar a day. Well, then, the cost of that Bible would be
$3,650. Now, let us suppose that a man should work at the copying of the Bible
for twenty years, as historians say it would have taken him at that time, not
having the conveniences and improvements to aid him that we have now. Then, at
a dollar a day, for twenty years, the cost of a Bible would be nearly $8,000! {Dear
reader, recall that this sum is recorded with 1880 prices in mind!]
Suppose I came and said to
you, “My dear people, save your soul, for if you lose your soul all is lost.”
You would ask, “What are we to do to save our souls?”
The Protestant preacher would say to you, “You must get a Bible; you can get
one at such-and-such a shop.”
You would ask the cost and be told it was $8,000.
You would exclaim: “The Lord save us! And can we not go to Heaven without that
book?”
The answer would be: “No; you must have the Bible and read it.”
You murmur at the price, but are asked, “Is not your soul worth $8,000?”
Yes, of course it is, but you say you do not have the money, and if you cannot
get a Bible, and your salvation depends upon it, evidently you would have to
remain outside the Kingdom of Heaven. This would be a hopeless condition,
indeed. For fourteen hundred years, the world was left without a Bible — not
one in ten thousand, not one in twenty thousand, before the art of printing was
invented, had the Bible. And would our Divine Lord have left the world without
that book if it was necessary to man’s salvation? Most assuredly not.
VI.
But let us suppose for a moment that all had Bibles, that Bibles were written
from the beginning, and that every man, woman, and child had a copy. What good
would that book be to people who did not know how to read it? It is a blind
thing to such persons. Even now one-half the inhabitants of the earth cannot
read. Moreover, as the Bible was written in Greek and Hebrew, it would be
necessary to know these languages in order to be able to read it. But it is
said that we have it translated now in French, English, and other languages of
the day. Yes, but are you sure you have a faithful translation? If not, you
have not the Word of God. If you have a false translation, it is the work of
man. How shall you ascertain that?
How shall you find out if you have a faithful translation from the Greek and
Hebrew?
“I do not know Greek or Hebrew,” says my separated friend; “for my translation
I must depend upon the opinion of the learned.”
Well, then, my dear friends, suppose the learned should be divided in their
opinions, and some of them should say it is good, and some false? Then your
faith is gone; you must commence doubting and hesitating, because you do not
know if the translation is good. Now with regard to the Protestant translation
of the Bible, allow me to tell you that the most learned among Protestants tell
you that your translation — the King James edition — is a very faulty
translation and is full of errors. Your own learned divines, preachers, and
bishops have written whole volumes to point out all the errors that are there
in the King James translation, and Protestants of various denominations
acknowledge it.
Some years ago, when I lived
in Saint Louis, there was held in that city a convention of ministers. All
denominations were invited, the object being to arrange for a new translation
of the Bible, and give it to the world. The proceedings of the convention were
published daily in the Missouri Republican. A very learned Presbyterian,
I think it was, stood up, and, urging the necessity of giving a new translation
of the Bible, said that in the present Protestant translation of the Bible
there were no less than thirty thousand errors. And you say, my dear Protestant
friends, that the Bible is your guide and teacher. What a teacher, with thirty
thousand errors! The Lord save us from such a teacher! One error is bad enough,
but thirty thousand is a little too much. Another preacher stood up in the
convention — I think he was a Baptist — and, urging the necessity of giving a
new translation of the Bible, said for thirty years past the world was without
the Word of God, for the Bible we have is not the Word of God at all. Here are
your own preachers for you. You all read the newspapers, no doubt, my friends,
and must know what happened in England a few years ago. A petition was sent to
Parliament for an allowance of a few thousand pounds sterling for the purpose
of getting up a new translation of the Bible. And that movement was headed and
carried on by Protestant bishops and clergymen.
VII.
But, my dear people, how can you be sure of your faith? You say the Bible is
your guide, but you do not know if you have it. Let us suppose for a moment
that all should have a Bible. Should all read it and have a faithful
translation, even then it cannot be the guide of man, because the private
interpretation of the Bible is not infallible, but, on the contrary, most
fallible. It is the source and fountain of all kinds of errors and heresies,
and all kinds of blasphemous doctrines. Do not be shocked, my dear friends;
just be calm and listen to my arguments. There are now throughout the world
three hundred and fifty different denominations or churches, and all of them
say the Bible is their guide and teacher. And I suppose they are all sincere.
Are all of them true churches? This is an impossibility.
Truth is one as God is one,
and there can be no contradiction. Every man in his senses sees that every one
of them cannot be true, for they differ and contradict one another, and cannot,
therefore, be all true. The Protestants say the man that reads the Bible
rightly and prayerfully has truth, and they all say that they read it right.
Let us suppose that here is an
Episcopal (or Anglican) minister. He is a sincere, an honest, a well-meaning
and prayerful man. He reads his Bible in a prayerful spirit, and from the word
of the Bible, he says it is clear that there must be bishops. For without
bishops there can be no priests, without priests no Sacraments, and without
Sacraments, no Church.
The Presbyterian is a sincere and well-meaning man. He reads the Bible also,
and deduces that there should be no bishops, but only presbyters.
“Here is the Bible,” says the Episcopalian; and “here is the Bible to give you
the lie,” says the Presbyterian. Yet both of them are prayerful and
well-meaning men.
Then the Baptist comes in. He is a well-meaning, honest man, and prayerful
also. “Well,” says the Baptist, “have you ever been baptised?”
“I was,” says the Episcopalian, “when I was a baby.”
“And so was I,” says the Presbyterian, “when I was a baby.”
“But,” says the Baptist, “you are going to Hell as sure as you live.”
Next comes the Unitarian,
well-meaning, honest, and sincere.
“Well,” says the Unitarian, “allow me to tell you that you are a pack of
idolaters. You worship a man for a God who is no God at all.” And he gives
several texts from the Bible to prove it, while the others are stopping their
ears that they may not hear the blasphemies of the Unitarian. And they all
contend that they have the true meaning of the Bible.
Next comes the Methodist, and he says, “My friends, have you got any religion
at all?”
“Of course we have,” they say.
“Did you ever feel religion,” says the Methodist, “the spirit of God, moving
within you?”
“Nonsense,” says the Presbyterian, “we are guided by our reason and judgment.”
“
Well,” says the Methodist, “if you never felt religion, you never had it, and
will go to Hell for eternity.”
The Universalist next comes in, and hears them threatening one another with
eternal hellfire. “Why,” says he, “you are a strange set of people. Do you not understand
the Word of God? There is no Hell at all. That idea is good enough to scare old
women and children,” and he proves it from the Bible.
Now comes in the Quaker. He urges them not to quarrel, and advises that they do
not baptise at all. He is the sincerest of men, and gives the Bible for his
faith.
Another comes in and says:
“Baptise the men and let the women alone. For the Bible says, unless a man be
born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
“So,” says he, “the women are all right, but baptise the men.”
Next comes in the Shaker, and says he: “You are a presumptuous people. Do you
not know that the Bible tells you that you must work out your salvation in fear
and trembling, and you do not tremble at all. My brethren, if you want to go to
Heaven shake, my brethren, shake!”
VIII.
I have here brought together seven or eight denominations, differing one from
another, or understanding the Bible in different ways, illustrative of the
fruits of private interpretation. What, then, if I brought together the three
hundred and fifty different denominations, all taking the Bible for their guide
and teaching, and all differing from one another? Are they all right?
One says there is a Hell, and another says there is not Hell. Are both right?
One says Christ is God; another says He is not. One says they are unessential.
One says Baptism is a requisite, and another says it is not. Are both true?
This is an impossibility, my friends; all cannot be true.
Who, then, is true? He that has the true meaning of the Bible, you say. But the
Bible does not tell us who that is — the Bible never settles the quarrel. It is
not the teacher.
The Bible, my dear people, is
a good book. We Catholics allow that the Bible is the Word of God, the language
of inspiration, and every Catholic is exhorted to read the Bible. But good as
it is, the Bible, my dear friends, does not explain itself. It is a good book,
the Word of God, the language of inspiration, but your explanation of the Bible
is not the language of inspiration. Your understanding of the Bible is not
inspired — for surely you do not pretend to be inspired!
It is with the Bible as it is
with the Constitution of the United States. When Washington and his associates
established the Constitution and the Supreme Law of the United States, they did
not say to the people of the States: “Let every man read the Constitution and
make a government unto himself; let every man make his own explanation of the
Constitution.” If Washington had done that, there never would have been a
United States. The people would all have been divided among themselves, and the
country would have been cut up into a thousand different divisions or
governments. What did Washington do? He gave the people the Constitution and
the Supreme Law, and appointed his Supreme Court and Supreme Judge of the
Constitution. And these are to give the true explanation of the Constitution to
all the American citizens — all without exception, from the President to the
beggar. All are bound to go by the decisions of the Supreme Court, and it is
this and this alone that can keep the people together and preserve the Union of
the United States. The moment the people take the interpretation of the
Constitution into their own hands, that moment there is an end of union. And so
it is in every government — so it is here and everywhere. There is a
Constitution, a Supreme Court or Law, a Supreme Judge of that Constitution, and
that Supreme Court is to give us the meaning of the Constitution and the Law.
In every well-ruled country there must be such a thing as this — a Supreme Law,
Supreme Court, Supreme Judge, that all the people abide by.
There is in every country a
Supreme Law, Supreme Court, Supreme Judge; and all are bound by decisions, and
without that no government could stand. Even among the Indian tribes, such a
condition of affairs exists. How are they kept together? By their chief, who is
their dictator. So our Divine Saviour also has established His Supreme Court — His
Supreme Judge — to give us the true meaning of the Scriptures, and to give us
the true revelation and doctrines of the Word of Jesus. The Son of the Living
God has pledged His Word that this Supreme Court is infallible, and therefore,
the true Catholic never doubts. “I believe,” says the Catholic, “because the
Church teaches me so. I believe the Church because God has commanded me to
believer her. He said: ‘Hear the Church, and he that does not hear the Church
let him be to you as a heathen and a publican.’ (Matthew 18:17) ‘He that
believes you believes Me.’ said Christ, ‘and he that despises you despises Me.’
(Luke 10:16) Therefore, the Catholic believes ‘because God has spoken’, and
upon the authority of God.
But our Protestant friends say, “We believe in the Bible.”
Very well; how do you understand the Bible?
“Well,” says the Protestant, “to the best of my opinion and judgment this is
the meaning of the text.” He is not sure of it, but to the best of his opinion
and judgment.
This, my friends, is only the testimony of a man — it is only human faith, not
Divine Faith.
It is Divine Faith alone by which we give honour and glory to God, by which we
adore His infinite wisdom and veracity, and that adoration and worship is
necessary for salvation. I have now proved to you that private interpretation
of the Scripture cannot be the guide or teacher of man.
In another lecture, I shall prove that the Catholic Church is the only true
Church of God, and that there is no other.
[This excellent sermon alluded to is available as:
CTSI/ctsiapol060a - The One True Church - The only
Church that Christ established is the Catholic Church
and it is on the Internet at:
http://www.pamphlets.org.au/ireland/ctsiapol060a.html
It is a
thoroughly worthwhile read!]
*****