It was the
ultimate irony that a
Kinawley priest moved to
America in the early 1970s
to keep him quiet ended up
walking the most powerful
corridors of the world to
see laws passed there as a
result of his work.
The Kinawley-born priest
Father Sean McManus was sent
to the States in 1972 and
within years the Irish
National Caucus, the lobby
group he founded, was based
at the heart of the American
administration on
Washington's Capitol Hill.
His name is synonymous with
the fair employment code the
MacBride Principles which
have become enshrined in
American legislation.
His record in getting the US
to take notice of what is
happening this side of the
Atlantic has seen him
organise for Congressional
Hearings for the both
Catholic and Protestant
families seeking justice.
Born in 1944, he was one of
a family of 12 of Celia and
Patrick McManus. It was at
16 that he moved to a Junior
Seminary in England to train
for the priesthood. "Most
people in their life
receives that call, not
necessarily to the ministry
but a call to dedicate one's
life to a cause greater than
their own immediate
concern," he said. His move
to Shropshire in 1960 came
just two years after his
29-year-old brother Patrick,
a leading member of the IRA,
was killed when a bomb he
was transporting exploded
prematurely on July 15,
1958.
"Obviously it had a huge
effect on the family.
Clearly everybody responded
differently to it. By itself
it would not necessarily
explain the call. A lot of
people have gotten that call
without a traumatic
experience. But it certainly
meant I had to serve a cause
greater than myself. I think
that was the essence of a
calling. You put your own
interest second, third or
fourth," he recalled.
Sean was 14 years old when
Patrick died. Tender years
for such an experience. "Oh
yes. Now when I talk to
other folk at home,
Protestant and Catholic who
have experienced traumatic
events in their life, it
does not really matter what
age they were at. It was
still a profound experience.
You speak to any victim of
the Troubles in Northern
Ireland Protestant or
Catholic they all tell you
that you never really
recover, you learn to deal
with it and keep on going.
You never really recover
fully on one level. It
always haunts you. Having
said that as one who
believes in everlasting
eternal life, I do not see
death as the ultimate
disaster. I do not have any
great fear or hang-up about
death itself," he said.
It was in England that he
trained and worked before
going to the United States
in 1972. "That explains my
perfect English accent," he
laughed. The move across the
Atlantic was not entirely of
his own volition. "I was
removed in a nice
combination of Church and
State action. I was speaking
out about the situation back
home," he said. "That was an
absolute taboo in those
days. In England you could
not do that as an Irish
priest. I could have gone
into Hyde Park [to Speaker's
Corner] and talked about
anything and everything but
one thing you could not talk
about was the North. That
was a long tradition that an
Irish priest will not say
anything about the
Government," he said.
He got courage to say the
unsayable was due to a
"commitment to justice". "I
wasn't concerned about my
ecclesiastical career. In my
mind I never wanted to be a
Bishop or a Cardinal. I was
free because I had no
shackles," he said. But
looking back 40 years ago,
he admits as a young member
of a religious order there
was a "huge pressure to toe
the line and not rock the
boat".
The move to America was
"absolutely, exclusively and
specifically" to keep him
quiet.
"In trying to shut me up
they sent me to the one
place on the planet where I
would never be silent or
could be silenced," he said.
His interest was not so much
politics, but "justice and
peace". "Doing justice is an
absolute Biblical
imperative:
'This is what Yahweh asks of
you: only this, to do
justice, to love tenderly,
and to walk humbly with your
God'," he said quoting Micah
6:8. "I have always based my
work on the fundamental
premise that justice and
peace are Gospel issues. One
cannot be truly Catholic or
Protestant unless she or he
is committed to social
justice," he said.
He is modest about his
success in knocking on and
getting through the doors of
the great and the good in
American politics. "It was
the song and not the singer;
the song being the message,"
he said. In his forthcoming
book "My American Struggle
for Justice in Northern
Ireland", the photo section
captures him speaking to a
range of influential figures
including Bill Clinton.
Two years after he arrived
in the States he had set up
the lobby group the Irish
National Caucus. By 1978,
the Caucus had set up its
headquarters on Washington's
Capitol Hill.
"Every exile feels a bit
guilty in leaving his
homeland, especially if it
is a very turbulent time.
Then he feels strongly
committed to do something. I
felt a compulsion to do
something," he said.
He was not without his
critics. "At one stage every
political interest in
America and everyone in
Northern Ireland and
southern Ireland, every
political party and every
group practically opposed
me".
"The US government position
was hands off Northern
Ireland because it is under
the British sphere of
influence. The Irish
government of those times
had no policy," he said. "I
knew what was going to
happen. You cannot take on
the British government
without expecting to be
whacked on the head many,
many times" he said.
And how he took them on was
through the initiation of
the MacBride Principles, a
fair employment code of
conduct for companies doing
business in Northern Ireland
named after Sean MacBride.
The success of his Caucus
with the Principles, which
became enshrined in US Law,
he admits has been his
greatest achievement. "The
US must not subsidise
discrimination and injustice
in Northern Ireland. That is
what the MacBride Principles
are all about," he said.
"The MacBride campaign
really started to come into
its own when the British
government ceased using the
phrase 'mind your own
business'. Even Maggie
Thatcher stopped using that.
When Americans mind what
their own money is doing,
they are minding their own
business".
He recalls stormy meetings
at companies like Shortts in
Belfast. The link between
the States and Northern
Ireland was the billions of
US dollars invested in
companies in Northern
Ireland. "Their business was
coming from America. This
was America's business," he
says.
Doors are still opening for
Father McManus. He has
facilitated a Congressional
Hearing for the Ballymurphy
group representing the
families of 11 people killed
by the British Army in 1971.
He has also arranged for
Raymond McCord to tell his
story. His son, Raymond
McCord junior, was murdered
by the UVF in 1997. His
father has lead a campaign
to expose police collusion
between the British
government and police
informers.
He talks about the impact
Raymond McCord's story had
in Washington. "I walked
into the Chairman's office
Bill Delahunt [Chairman of
the House Subcommittee on
International Organizations,
Human Rights and Oversight],
and said I have been going
on and annoying you guys
about Catholics are
mistreated by the British
government. This morning I
am bringing you a Protestant
from Belfast who has had
much the same experience.
That makes a powerful impact
on Capitol Hill".
Raymond McCord's Relatives
for Justice group is
sponsoring his book launch
in Belfast. "I think he is
one of the bravest men I
have met in my life. There
is not a sectarian bone in
his body. That impresses me
greatly. We would disagree
totally on the Union but on
the issues that he and his
family have been treated
badly and there is a need
for justice to be done, he
has my 100 per cent
support," he said.
Looking back over his
decades of work, he noted:
"The people who have helped
me most are non Catholic and
non Irish. The biggest
example of all is Bill
Clinton, a Southern Baptist
from the Bible belt. Go
figure. In that there is the
important message of
religious groups helping
each other. When people of
different faiths come
together to work for justice
that is when ecumenism
becomes its most meaningful
self".
There was no "grand design"
in writing his book. "I
always knew that if I didn't
get it down a lot of the
stuff would be lost. No-one
has done the stuff I have
done, whether you believe I
have done it well or poorly,
nobody has been at it as
long as I have and done this
work of Capitol Hill. I felt
an obligation to get it out
there," he said.
His work he now does with a
"lighter heart" than in the
past. "Thank God the
horrible violence to a great
degree has stopped. I hope
to God it will never come
back," he said.
The St. Patrick's Day
celebrations in Washington
mark the changes. "It is
nice to see here on St.
Patrick's Day all the people
out from home. There was one
time the entire Unionist
tradition and all Unionist
leaders in effect boycotted
America. Now I have met them
all. I met Tom Elliott on
St. Patrick's Day. As you
would say in Kinawley, he is
a fine Protestant man. I had
a nice chat with him. There
is nobody on the Unionist
side I haven't met. I have
always had a friendly
relationship with Rev. Ian
Paisley," he said.
His sister is also in
America, two other siblings
live in Britain and two
remain in Fermanagh
including his brother, the
Lisnaskea solicitor Frank,
who was Unity MP for
Fermanagh/south Tyrone from
1970 to 1974. Six of the
McManus siblings have passed
away. "Death has been
creeping up on the family
over the last few years," he
said.
Due to "brave men and women"
like Tony Blair, Mo Mowlam,
the Clintons, for the first
time in years there is a
sense of "contentment and
hope" about home,
Because of his work, he
feels very connected with
the place, taking all the
daily and weekly local
papers.
Indeed the accent he jokes
about still sounds very
local. "I am still a
Kinawley man. I hope, please
God, my bones will rest in
Kinawley when the time
comes," he said.
Father Sean McManus' book
"My American Struggle for
Justice in Northern Ireland"
(Collins Press) is to be
given its Fermanagh launch
on April 14 at Enniskillen
Library.
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