‘Prize for the most magnificent act of hypocrisy’

Patrick Comerford

It is still impossible to beat An Phoblacht, the propaganda mouthpiece for Sinn Fein and the IRA, for sheer hypocrisy and sick comment.

In an anonymously-penned article headed “Dublin 4 darlings, the poppy – and Lisbon 2,” an anonymous commentator managed to attack all his or her usual victims, and included these two paragraphs of bile:

“A deluge of newsprint and air-time has been devoted to the poppy celebrations in the last few weeks, coupled with sermons about our great shame in ignoring the fallen Irish servicemen who fought for the British Army over the decades. Prize for the most magnificent act of hypocrisy in trying to have it both ways at once must go to long-time Irish Times journalist and man of the cloth, Canon Patrick Comerford, director of spiritual formation at the Church of Ireland Theological College.

”Comerford described last week how his Dublin grandfather joined the British Army the year before the Rising and returned home just afterwards with three British Army medals for service rendered, dying shortly after from illness incurred in that service.Deploying all his theological skills, Comerford described his happiness in wearing the poppy and in the same sentence claimed to be ‘a pacifist’. It is likely that Comerford learned such theological, double-jointed dexterity in The Irish Times newsroom rather than any theological college.”

It will take many decades before I allow anyone who supports Sinn Fein and the IRA to question or challenge my pacifism, and many more decades before people who stooped to sectarian violence in advancing their irredentism should dare to question my theological credentials. While they were bombing indiscriminately, I was marching against all bombs. And all the writer had to do was to check out my blog or my Facebook page to discover that I received my theological education at the Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin, Kimmage Manor, Maynooth and the Church of Ireland Theological College.

But then, those people were never the sort to allow facts to get in the way of a good story.

My grandfather was a real hero. I don’t need to express my disdain for those people who stooped to carnage as they hijacked the name of my country.

I am reminded of the former Greek Foreign Minister, Theodoros Pangalos, who once accused an EU colleague of trailing his coat-tails through the blood of European minorities who had been the victims of ethnic cleansing. People who do that should stay silent when the guns are silent.

An Phoblacht has long scooped up all the available prizes for the most magnificent acts of hypocrisy. When I upset people like that, I should just smile benignly.