The Gazette 1967/71

LAW STUDENTS DEBATING SOCIETY INAUGURAL The Inaugural Meeting of the Law Students Debating Society was held at the King's Inns, Dublin, on 18th February 1971. The President of the Society, The Chief Justice presided. The Record Secretary did not read the minutes of the last Inaugural Meeting but departed from pre cedent when he gave a humourous account of an imaginary law students revolt in the Inns in which baseless and unwarranted attacks on solicitors were made. The auditor, Mr. Conor Maguire then delivered his inaugural address on the subject of "Religion and the Modern Irish State". He emphasised that since the 18th century the Catholic Church in Ireland was very conservative and that it tended at all times to support the status quo. Maynooth College was established to counter the revolution ary sentiments of the French Revolution. This conservative tendancy of the Church continued even after the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922 and the hierarchy consistently con demned extremist movements. He thought that in the 1937 Constitution, Article 44 dealing with the special position of the Catholic Church should be deleted as it was mere verbiage, and conferred in fact no special rights. Reverend Father Hurley, Director of the School of Oecumenics said it was incredible that Ireland had not yet ratified the United Nations Convention of 1966 against discrimination and racialism. The remedy was an authentic oecumenism between the Churches. Many persons appeared to be in revolt against formalistic Christianity and against religiosity. There appeared too little genuine religious and charity and yet there were many churches, each of which was defending its own interest by so- called orthodox formalism and doctrine; this tended to lead to intolerance. The only remedy was oecumenism, which specified that there is one Christian faith, and that the separate churches are embodiments of it. As no one had put forward a satisfactory oecumenical alternative he was not disposed to get rid of Articles 44(2) and 44(3) of the Constitution but these Articles should be read in an oecumenical spirit. It was doubtful whether

any benefit would be derived from the introduction of divorce as it was opposed by all Christian churches but efforts would have to be made to place mixed marriages on a more normal footing. Senator John Horgan said that for historical reasons, at a time when the Vatican was preaching that the separation of Church and State was heresy, the Irish Hierarchy was in fact putting it into practice. In Britain and the United States, the Hierarchy favoured separation, because Catholics were in a minority. The result of this was that Catholic social thinking in Ireland was completely out of date as compared with the Continent. There had been few confrontations nowadays between Church and State in Ireland save as regards the Mother and Child Health Scheme. A formal Concordat was not necessary, as politicians tried to implement Catholic social teaching, and any private bills introduced in opposition to it were unlikely to pass. The first Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland in 1929 had in fact been appointed with out informing the Hierarchy. There had been an unfortunate tendency by some politicians to identfy Ireland as a Catholic nation, and this had inevitably led to stiff reactions in Northern Ireland. The preamble to the Constitution, in men tioning "God who sustained our father through centuries of trial," appeared to be denominational. He did not see why divorce should not be granted to those who desired it subject to suitable guar antees as to its limited application. As to Article 44, he was of opinion that it should be drafted in broad general terms and that no specific denom inations should be named. NON-LEGAL EXAMINATION RESULTS At the Preliminary Examination for intending apprentices to Solicitors held from the 2nd to the 6th March, 1971 the following candidates passed: James Joseph Binchy; Peter J. Boyle; Marian N. Brazil; Eithne M. I. Breathnach; Nicholas Butler; Jenifer Cantillon; Margaret M. Carter; Frances Kathleen Cooke; Michael St. John Donovan; Patrick Joseph Farrell; John R. Fetherstonhaugh; Sean Gallagher; Robert E. Halley; Fergal J. Hardiman; Alan G. Harrison; Caroline M. T. Keane; Niall Keller; Ann Kennedy; Owen Ken- 261