My American Struggle for Justice in Northern Ireland

Synopsis

For almost forty years, Fermanagh native Fr Sean McManus has been at the heart of the Irish American campaign against injustice in Northern Ireland. This is his personal account of how he mainstreamed Northern Ireland on Capitol Hill, after Church and State exiled him from Britain in 1972 to silence him on the issue. He founded the Irish National Caucus in 1974, 'the driving force that would diminish Britain's influence with the US government'. He forced through Congressional action to stop the sale of US weapons to the RUC and made the MacBride Principles on fair employment a powerful force. And all this time he was opposed not only by the London and Dublin governments but also - and ironically and inexplicably - by elements in the Republican Movement. Fr McManus also chronicles the events and social context that influenced him, growing up in Kinawley, a parish divided by the Border, in a large patriotic family. He gives thoughtful insights into seminary life in the 1960s, and how his faith, theology and philosophy of non-violence developed.