‘They Are Murderers’: The English Catholic Church and Provisional IRA Attacks on London

Abstract

This article examines the English and Welsh Catholic Church's reaction to the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) attacks on London during the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’. English Catholic bishops vociferously condemned these attacks yet regularly faced criticism for their perceived inaction. Letters published in secular and religious newspapers, and also sent directly to English Catholic bishops, reveal a dismayed public who called for religious retribution in the form of excommunication. I argue IRA attacks on English soil fell into a ‘grey area’ of Church condemnation: a Catholic bishop would not comment on events outside his own nation. No Irish Catholic bishop had excommunicated an IRA member, so for an English bishop to do so would have been setting a precedent. However, the IRA’s shift to a bombing campaign in England had allowed English bishops to comment on the conflict in Northern Ireland. Subsequently, statements and actions by English bishops would directly impact on how Irish bishops could mediate the conflict in Northern Ireland. Provisional IRA attacks on London specifically garnered international press attention and greater focus on the reactions of the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, amplifying the English Catholic Church’s response more broadly. This article highlights the evolving relationship between Irish and English bishops, from one of mutual anger to one of mutual understanding, through an examination of three attacks: the Old Bailey bombing (1973); the Harrods Bombing (1983); and the London Docklands Bombing (1996). Drawing on seldom discussed archival material, religious papers, and correspondence, this article elucidates the entangled relationship between English and Irish Churches, suggesting that such a complicated relationship, at times, hindered the Irish Catholic Church’s ability to mediate the conflict and aide the peace process.