Usury in Christendom: The Mortal Sin that Was and Now is Not by Michael Hoffman

Author:Michael Hoffman [Hoffman, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: -
Publisher: Independent History and Research
Published: 2016-09-08T04:00:00+00:00

6

A Faithful Irishman

Persecuted for holding usury to be mortal sin

Rags Make Paper. Paper Makes Money. Money Makes Banks. Banks Make Loans. Loans Make Beggars. Beggars Make Rags.

What would the appropriately named Rev. Fr. Jeremiah O’Callaghan think of today’s “conservative Christian” Republican party boosters? This Irish priest was suspended in south Cork in 1819 and banished by Catholic Bishop William Coppinger for his refusal of absolution to an unrepentant Roscarberry “gombeenman” (money-lender, in this case a merchant who charged interest on purchases made on credit). 221 The gombeenman would not make restitution.222 O’Callaghan’s persistent insistence on the implementation of Biblical and traditional Catholic law on usury and mammon led him to write his book, Usury: Proof that it is Repugnant to Divine and Ecclesiastical Law and Destructive to Civil Society.223 This work was a favorite of the renowned Protestant historian William Cobbett, who wrote, “The Rev. Mr. O’Callaghan, in his excellent little work, which I had the honor to republish last winter, and which ought to be read by every man, and especially every young man, in the kingdom, has shown, that the ancient philosophers, the Fathers of the Church, both Testaments, the Canons of the Church, the decision of Popes and Councils, all agree, all declare, that to take money for the use of money is sinful.” O’Callaghan served for a time as tutor to Cobbett’s children and contributed to Cobbett’s classic work, History of the Protestant Reformation in England and Ireland.

O’Callaghan traveled to Rome to appeal his suspension, but the “Vatican people were tired of him. His insistence on upholding the orthodox doctrine, after the Church had tacitly dropped it, was causing embarrassment in high places. They cut off his allowance and he had to leave Rome…Reconciliation with the Bishop was now out of the question. Coppinger had taken great offense at the complaints about himself published in Usury, and he would not even consider O’Callaghan’s request to be restored to his priestly duties until he had published a full retraction and apology. Since this required the suppression and denial of facts, O’Callaghan would not do so. The Bishop’s new stipulation, he said, was merely an attempt to conceal the truth of the matter, that he had been sacked for teaching the words of Christ, clearly stated in St. Luke’s Gospel (6:35): ‘Lend, hoping for nothing again.’ But the rights and wrongs of the affair counted for nothing. Coppinger had power over his former priest and used it crushingly. True to his promise, he prevented O’Callaghan from obtaining a post in his or any other diocese…” 224

Fr. O’Callaghan was forced into exile in faraway Vermont, USA, where it was supposed he would have few opportunities to clash with the monied elite, and where he was largely unsupervised. But O’Callaghan possessed ideals similar to those of another liberty-loving Irish-American, Matthew Lyon, a former white slave who served in Congress and bucked the Sedition Act. Fr. O’Callaghan was critical of the contrived patriotism and state worship beginning to emerge in New England.

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