Some Ethical Questions of Peace and War: With Special Reference to Ireland (1919)

Originally published in 1919 and out of print for decades, this book provides a fascinating insight into the political thought of early twentieth-century Ireland. Father Walter McDonald attacked the Irish Catholic Church’s shift in political allegiance from the British state to supporting the Sinn Fein agenda for revolutionary independence, and he feared that its hostility to freedom of thought, free speech, and intellectual inquiry would endanger its future. He pointed out that British rule had been regarded as legitimate by most people and that Ireland had never been a united, independent nation. His views were often expressed in private, but rarely in public, so his book is a valuable resource to understanding the history of Ireland at this time.