A DUBLIN Diocesan archivist has criticised the London based magazine, The Tablet, for blaming the Irish Catholic Church for its role during the Famine. The magazine editorial earlier this month stated that the Catholic Church "took advantage of the prevailing destitution to increase its land holdings".
Mr David Sheehy said the claim was "gratuitous and incongruous" adding that it was wrong to paint the Catholic Church as "a corporate vulture, ruthlessly indifferent to the plight of its members.
"In fact the Irish bishops drew up a memorial for government in 1847 in which they asserted the primacy of the right to life over the rights of property.
He said Catholic clergy and religious had operated soup kitchens, served on local relief committees and helped the sick and dying. The letter ends by accusing the magazine of being "not readily familiar with either Ireland or its more recent history".