Denis Fahey,
C.S.Sp. (3 July 1883 – 21 January 1954) was an Irish
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
priest. Fahey promoted the
Catholic social teaching
Catholic social teaching (CST) is an area of Catholic doctrine which is concerned with human dignity and the common good in society. It addresses oppression, the role of the state, subsidiarity, social organization, social justice, and w ...
of
Christ the King
Christ the King is a title of Jesus in Christianity referring to the idea of the Kingdom of God where Christ is described as being seated at the right hand of God.
Many Christian denominations consider the kingly office of Christ to be one o ...
, and was involved in Irish politics through his organisation
Maria Duce
Maria Duce (Latin for ''With Mary as our Leader'') was a small Catholic Integrist group active in Ireland, founded in 1942 by Fr Denis Fahey. History
Like its founder, Maria Duce was avowedly anti-communist. Through their front organisation, 'Ca ...
. Fahey believed that "the world must conform to Our Divine Lord, not He to it", defending the theological concept of the
Mystical Body of Christ
In Christian theology, the term Body of Christ () has two main but separate meanings: it may refer to Jesus Christ's words over the bread at the celebration of the Jewish feast of Passover that "This is my body" in (see Last Supper), or it may ...
. This often saw Fahey in conflict with systems which he viewed as promoting "
naturalism" against Catholic order – particularly
communism
Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
,
freemasonry
Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
and
rabbinic Judaism
Rabbinic Judaism (), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, Rabbanite Judaism, or Talmudic Judaism, is rooted in the many forms of Judaism that coexisted and together formed Second Temple Judaism in the land of Israel, giving birth to classical rabb ...
. His writings were deeply
anti-Semitic
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
, Fahey stating that "we must combat Jewish efforts to permeate the world with naturalism. In that sense, as there is only one divine plan for order in the world, every sane thinker must be an anti-Semite".
Early life and studies
Born in
Golden, County Tipperary
Golden () is a village in County Tipperary in Ireland. The village is situated on the River Suir. It is located between the towns of Cashel and Tipperary on the N74 road. In older times the village was known as Goldenbridge. It is also a parish ...
he was educated at
Rockwell College
Rockwell College (), founded in 1864, is a voluntary day and boarding Catholic secondary school near Cashel, County Tipperary in Ireland.
The school has a rugby tradition and has won the Munster Schools Senior Cup 26 times and the Munster ...
and at 17 entered the Holy Ghost Congregation to train to become one of the
Holy Ghost Fathers
The Congregation of the Holy Spirit (officially the Congregation of the Holy Spirit under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary; ) is a religious congregation for men in the Catholic Church. Members are often known as Holy ...
. He was sent by the order to
Orly
Orly () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the center of Paris.
The name of Orly came from Latin ''Aureliacum'', "the villa of Aurelius".
Orly Airport partially lies on the territory of the c ...
in 1900 as a novice, not long after the government of
René Waldeck-Rousseau
Pierre Marie René Ernest Waldeck-Rousseau (; 2 December 184610 August 1904) was a French Republicanism, Republican politician who served for three years as the Prime Minister of France.
Early life
Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau was born in Nantes, ...
had begun an
anti-clerical
Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historically, anti-clericalism in Christian traditions has been opposed to the influence of Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, ...
drive in the aftermath of the
Dreyfus Affair. Although illness prevented him from completing his time in France, the episode was to influence his later ideas on relations between Church and State. As a youth Fahey had excelled at
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
and he had played on the same team as
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera (; ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was an American-born Irish statesman and political leader. He served as the 3rd President of Ire ...
for a time, cementing a lifelong association between the two.
After working at
St. Mary's College, Dublin, Fahey returned to studies at the
Royal University of Ireland
The Royal University of Ireland was a university in Ireland that existed from 1879 to 1909. It was founded in accordance with the University Education (Ireland) Act 1879 as an examining and degree-awarding university based on the model of the ...
in 1904, achieving a first class honours degree, later studying at the
Pontifical Gregorian University
Pontifical Gregorian University (; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana), is a private university, private pontifical university in Rome, Italy.
The Gregorian originated as a part of the Roman College, founded in 1551 by Ignatius of Loyo ...
in Rome before finally being ordained a priest in 1910. Returning to Ireland, he was appointed to the senior scholasticate of the Irish Province of the Holy Ghost Fathers at
Kimmage
Kimmage ( or ''Camaigh uisce'', meaning "crooked water-meadow", possibly referring to the meandering course of the River Poddle), is a suburb on the south side of the city of Dublin, Ireland.
Location
Kimmage is to the south of Dublin city ce ...
in 1912.
Early writings
Fahey began to turn his attention to writing in the early 1920s, submitting articles for a number of Catholic journals, including the ''Irish Ecclesiastical Record'', most of which were philosophical in nature. Coming from a position of
neo-Scholasticism, his early theological works included ''Kingship of Christ According to the Principles of St. Thomas Aquinas'', with its foreword written by Father
John Charles McQuaid
John Charles McQuaid, C.S.Sp. (28 July 1895 – 7 April 1973), was the Catholic Primate of Ireland and Archbishop of Dublin between December 1940 and January 1972. He was known for the unusual amount of influence he had over successive gover ...
, the head of
Blackrock College
Blackrock College () is a voluntary day and boarding Catholic secondary school for boys aged 13–18, in Williamstown, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. It was founded by French missionary Jules Leman in 1860 as a school and later became al ...
.
[Curtis, ''A Challenge to Democracy'', p. 120] At this early stage Fahey had little involvement in political issues, beyond being a strong supporter of
Catholic Action
Catholic Action is a movement of Catholic laity, lay people within the Catholic Church which advocates for increased Catholic influence on society. Catholic Action groups were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic cou ...
as a bulwark against secularisation.
In this respect Fahey was one of a number of prominent clergymen, including McQuaid,
Edward Cahill and
Alfred O'Rahilly
Alfred O'Rahilly, KSG (1 October 1884 – 1 August 1969) was an academic with controversial views on both electromagnetism and religion. He briefly served in politics, as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Cork Borough, and was later the president of Un ...
, who praised what they saw as the value of Catholic Action in this respect.
It was in his books, most notably ''The Kingship of Christ and Organised Naturalism'' (1943) and ''The Mystical Body of Christ and the Reorganisation of Society'' (1945), that Fahey began to turn his attention to more political matters. Much of Fahey's anti-Judaic stance influenced other members of the church, such as Father
Charles Coughlin
Charles Edward Coughlin ( ; October 25, 1891 – October 27, 1979), commonly known as Father Coughlin, was a Canadian-American Catholic Church, Catholic priest based near Detroit. He was the founding priest of the National Shrine of the Lit ...
, a Canadian priest who regularly used references on his radio programs from Fahey's work. The Coughlinite
National Union of Social Justice distributed 350,000 copies of Fahey's book ''The Rulers of Russia'' in the United States during the 1930s, serving to greatly amplify Fahey's ideas.
View of history
At the heart of much of Fahey's work was his belief in the divine programme which was proclaimed by Jesus but rejected by the
Jews
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
. In Fahey's doctrine, history was to be understood as the "account for the acceptance or rejection of Our Lord's programme for order". He argued that the
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
guild
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...
system had come closest to reaching the programme, and that since then society had gone into decay as it moved away from the ideal. The three main events in this process of decay had been the Protestant
Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
, the
French Revolution and the
October Revolution
The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...
, the last being initiated by
Satan
Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...
. Fahey believed that the gradual
Sovietization
Sovietization ( ) is the adoption of a political system based on the model of soviets (workers' councils) or the adoption of a way of life, mentality, and culture modeled after the Soviet Union.
A notable wave of Sovietization (in the second me ...
of the
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
and the United States had begun through the founding of the
Fabianism
The Fabian Society () is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. T ...
movement.
Fahey felt that the contemporary Catholic Church faced its greatest challenge from the forces of
naturalism, be they invisible (Satan and other
demon
A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including
f ...
s) or visible (Jews and
Freemasons
Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
). Tapping into contemporary campaigns by parties such as
Cumann na nGaedheal
Cumann na nGaedheal (; ) was a political party in the Irish Free State, which formed the government from 1923 to 1932. It was named after the original Cumann na nGaedheal organisation which merged with the Dungannon Clubs and the National Co ...
, Fahey wrote a series of articles for
John J. O'Kelly's ''Catholic Bulletin'' attacking Freemasonry in particular and secret societies in general, referring frequently to the work of Edward Cahill. Fahey regularly corresponded with anti-Semitic theorists outside Ireland, such as the British conspiracy theorist
Nesta Webster
Nesta Helen Webster (née Bevan, 24 August 1876 – 16 May 1960) was an English author who revived conspiracy theories about the Illuminati.Who are the Illuminati? ''Independent on Sunday'' (London) 6 November 2005. She claimed that the sec ...
, an important influence. His works appeared in the French language in Canada, having been translated by
Adrien Arcand
Adrien Arcand (October 3, 1899 – August 1, 1967) was a Canadian fascist politician, writer, and journalist. He founded and led the far-right National Unity Party of Canada from 1934 until his death in 1967. During his political career, he procl ...
.
He felt that there was a
Judeo-Masonic conspiracy against the programme of Christ, and among other statements asserted that Jews had a hand in the propagation of communism. As a result, Fahey opposed the
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...
, which he believed was a communist organisation.
Monetary reform
In his 1944 book ''Money, Manipulation and Social Order'', Fahey turned towards the subject of economic reform. In this book he attacked
gold standard
A gold standard is a backed currency, monetary system in which the standard economics, economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the ...
economies, which he felt were debt-driven. Drawing on the ideas of
Frederick Soddy
Frederick Soddy FRS (2 September 1877 – 22 September 1956) was an English radiochemist who explained, with Ernest Rutherford, that radioactivity is due to the transmutation of elements, now known to involve nuclear reactions. He also pr ...
, with whom he was in regular correspondence, Fahey wanted banks to be forced to balance all loans with holdings of currency. Although he was not directly linked to such contemporary movements as
Social Credit
Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed in the 1920s and 1930s by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made t ...
or
Guild socialism
Guild socialism is an ideology and a political movement advocating workers' control of industry through the medium of trade-related guilds "in an implied contractual relationship with the public". It originated in the United Kingdom and was at ...
, Fahey certainly shared elements of their economic ideas. He had previously written in support of the views of ''
An Ríoghacht
An Ríoghacht (, Irish for "The Kingdom"), also called the League of the Kingship of Christ, was a conservative Catholic group in Ireland, founded in 1926 by Fr Edward Cahill, Professor of Church History and Lecturer in Sociology at the Milltown ...
'' – which advocated an Irish monetary system completely independent of the United Kingdom – in an article for the journal ''Hibernia'' in 1938.
Maria Duce
Fahey had been closely involved with Edward Cahill's ''An Ríoghacht'' study group, although following Cahill's death in 1941 this organisation became more mainstream and less concerned with
conspiracy theories
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
*
...
. As a result, Fahey began to organise his own group,
Maria Duce
Maria Duce (Latin for ''With Mary as our Leader'') was a small Catholic Integrist group active in Ireland, founded in 1942 by Fr Denis Fahey. History
Like its founder, Maria Duce was avowedly anti-communist. Through their front organisation, 'Ca ...
, the following year to continue this work. With a membership drawn from various facets of society and with a programme largely the same as Fahey's, Maria Duce came to prominence in 1949 by launching a campaign to amend Article 44 of the
Constitution of Ireland
The Constitution of Ireland (, ) is the constitution, fundamental law of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It asserts the national sovereignty of the Irish people. It guarantees certain fundamental rights, along with a popularly elected non-executi ...
. This article had recognised the "special position" of the Catholic Church in Ireland although it also recognised various
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
creeds, as well as
Judaism
Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
. Ireland became the first country to recognise the rights of minority faiths such as Judaism as equal with the majority faith in its constitution.
Fahey argued that this was insufficient and that the Constitution should recognise the Catholic Church as being divinely ordained and separate from 'man-made' religions. Fahey called into question the loyalty of
Irish Jews
The history of the Jews in Ireland extends for more than a millennium. The Jewish community in Ireland has always been small in numbers in modern history, not exceeding 5,500 since at least 1891.
Middle Ages through 16th century
The earliest ...
to the Irish State. The campaign succeeded in securing a resolution of support from
Westmeath County Council
Westmeath County Council () is the local authority of County Westmeath, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation, urban planni ...
in 1950, but no further progress towards the goal of a constitutional amendment was made.
Archbishop McQuaid
Fahey's writings have been a source of controversy, both in his lifetime and since. Writing to
Joseph MacRory in 1942, Archbishop
John Charles McQuaid
John Charles McQuaid, C.S.Sp. (28 July 1895 – 7 April 1973), was the Catholic Primate of Ireland and Archbishop of Dublin between December 1940 and January 1972. He was known for the unusual amount of influence he had over successive gover ...
of Dublin stated that
Dr Fahey will certainly not err in doctrine, but he is capable of making statements and suggestions that are not capable of proof by any evidence available to the censors... I have been obliged to watch carefully his remarks upon the Jews. ewill frequently err in good judgement, and this error will take the shape of excerpts from newspapers as proof of serious statements, unwise generalisations and, where Jews are concerned, remarks capable of rousing the ignorant or malevolent. In his own Congregation, Fr Fahey is not regarded as a man of balanced judgement. He is a wretched Professor, obscure and laborious.[John Cooney, ''John Charles McQuaid: Ruler of Catholic Ireland'' (Dublin: The O'Brien Press, 2000), 162.]
Although Fahey's Maria Duce organisation was initially left to its own devices, Archbishop McQuaid grew less sympathetic to it in the latter half of the 1950s. He condemned the group for their heavy-handed reaction to requests for an interview from the
anti-Catholic
Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics and opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and its adherents. Scholars have identified four categories of anti-Catholicism: constitutional-national, theological, popular and socio-cul ...
American writer
Paul Blanshard
Paul Beecher Blanshard (August 27, 1892 – January 27, 1980) was an American author, assistant editor of ''The Nation'' magazine, lawyer, socialist, secular humanist, and from 1949 an outspoken critic of Catholicism.
Early life and educ ...
(whom Bishop McQuaid felt should have been treated courteously despite disagreeing strongly with him). McQuaid went as far as to write to Fahey in 1954 stating that he opposed the latter's association of the name of the
Blessed Virgin Mary
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
with his organisation. Fahey died before any response could be made, and the group was disbanded the following year; McQuaid took on the group afterward.
Legacy
Fahey left behind a large written body of work that he did not protect by
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...
, instead leaving it in the
public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...
. Some of his publications remain in print in the United States, where he continues to have a following. Antisemitic activist
L. Fry also promoted much of Fahey's work on the decay of Christianity. People in Irish political circles also tried to set up movements adopting some of Fahey's strong beliefs on Catholicism, coupled with a more extreme form of nationalism; such figures included
Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin
Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin (born John Gerald Cunningham; 2 January 1910 – 13 June 1991) was an Irish language activist, Irish nationalist and far-right politician born in Belfast, Ireland. He was the founder and leader of Ailtirí na hAiséirghe ...
, founder of far-right organisation
Ailtirí na hAiséirghe
Ailtirí na hAiséirghe (, meaning "Architects of the Resurrection") was a minor fascist political party in Ireland, founded by Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin in March 1942. and
Gerry McGeough
Terence Gerard 'Gerry' McGeough (born 1958, near Dungannon, County Tyrone) is a prominent Irish republican who was a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), a former Sinn Féin activist and editor of the defunct '' The Hiberni ...
, who founded the magazine ''
The Hibernian''.
Fahey's surviving papers are housed at the Irish
Spiritan Archives at
Kimmage Manor
The Holy Ghost Missionary College, in Kimmage in Dublin, Ireland, colloquially known as Kimmage Manor, is a Holy Ghost Fathers (Spiritans) institution that has served as a Seminary training missionary priests and spawned two other colleges the '' K ...
, Dublin.
Character
Fahey was known to be sensitive to criticisms of his work and was even driven to physical illness by
anti-Christian
Anti-Christian graffiti from the Alexamenos graffito">Alexamenos worships his god.")
Anti-Christian sentiment, also referred to as Christianophobia or Christophobia, is the fear, hatred, discrimination, or prejudice against Christians and/or asp ...
arguments. He avoided social gatherings and was uncomfortable meeting people, which was in part caused by his consistent bouts of
migraine
Migraine (, ) is a complex neurological disorder characterized by episodes of moderate-to-severe headache, most often unilateral and generally associated with nausea, and light and sound sensitivity. Other characterizing symptoms may includ ...
.
Archbishop McQuaid, despite his severe criticisms of Fahey's writings, described him as "a most exemplary priest, of deep sanctity, and a man who will very generously sacrifice his time and health to help anyone: not a small sign of genuine holiness."
Positions
Economics
In economic views, Fahey was a critic of the
Lockean
John Locke (; 29 August 1632 ( O.S.) – 28 October 1704 ( O.S.)) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism". Con ...
liberal
capitalist
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...
system and what he regarded as the "social good" being made subordinate to the needs of the market. He pointed to
usury
Usury () is the practice of making loans that are seen as unfairly enriching the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is charged in e ...
being contrary to
Catholic social teaching
Catholic social teaching (CST) is an area of Catholic doctrine which is concerned with human dignity and the common good in society. It addresses oppression, the role of the state, subsidiarity, social organization, social justice, and w ...
and spoke out against the
newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
industry and its power to form public opinion, he claimed that
finance capitalism
Finance capitalism or financial capitalism is the subordination of processes of production to the accumulation of money profits in a financial system.
Financial capitalism is thus a form of capitalism where the intermediation of saving to inves ...
had come to dominate politics and economics, which it was meant to be subordinate to. He criticised "the unlimited competition, unscrupulous underselling and feverish advertising of the present day" and opined that capitalism led to extreme inequality, "ruthless, unchecked
��tended towards the concentration of capital in the hands of the relatively few."
Fahey also blamed capitalism "with its excessive individualism and uncontrolled seeking for profit", for causing a backlash which naturally attracted many people to embracing communism. Likewise, in his work ''The Tragedy of James Connolly'' he criticised
James Connolly
James Connolly (; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was a Scottish people, Scottish-born Irish republicanism, Irish republican, socialist, and trade union leader, executed for his part in the Easter Rising, 1916 Easter Rising against British rule i ...
's support for "Marx’s wrong philosophy" (and reproached his involved in America with "the Jew,
De Leon"). Consistent with his general conspiratorial outlook in regard to the Jewish influence in society, he saw
Marxism
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...
(and in particular
Bolshevism
Bolshevism (derived from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Leninist and later Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined p ...
) as not a genuine attempt to address the abuses of capitalism but as, "an instrument in the hands of the Jews for the establishment of their future Messianic kingdom". For Fahey, post-Christian European economic life oscillated between the "false" theories of "the Dutch Jew
Ricardo
Ricardo is the Spanish and Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a surname.
People Given name
* Ricardo de Araújo Pereira (born ...
and the German Jew
Marx
Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
”, seeing "the pendulum swinging from the extreme error of
Judaeo-
Protestant Capitalism to the opposite extreme error of the
Judaeo-Masonic Communism of Karl Marx."
In common with the aims of earlier Irish campaigns such as the
Irish National Land League
The Irish National Land League ( Irish: ''Conradh na Talún''), also known as the Land League, was an Irish political organisation of the late 19th century which organised tenant farmers in their resistance to exactions of landowners. Its prima ...
from the period of the
Land War
The Land War () was a period of agrarian agitation in rural History of Ireland (1801–1923), Ireland (then wholly part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom) that began in 1879. It may refer specifically to the firs ...
and having much in common with later thinkers such as Fr.
John Fahy of ''
Lia Fáil
The () or (; "Stone of Fál") is a stone at the Inauguration Mound () on the Hill of Tara in County Meath, Ireland, which served as the coronation stone for the King of Tara and hence High King of Ireland. It is also known as the Stone of D ...
'', Fahey championed the
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
-based
smallholder
A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...
farmer stating that the "Divine Plan for order" called for wide diffusion of property ownership among the people, so that families could procure sufficient material goods required for a virtuous life. The heads of these families would be organised into unions of owners and workers, in guilds or corporations, "reflecting the solidarity of the Mystical Body in economic organization." Many of these ideas cross over with Catholic
corporatism
Corporatism is an ideology and political system of interest representation and policymaking whereby Corporate group (sociology), corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, come toget ...
,
guild socialism
Guild socialism is an ideology and a political movement advocating workers' control of industry through the medium of trade-related guilds "in an implied contractual relationship with the public". It originated in the United Kingdom and was at ...
and
Distributism
Distributism is an economic theory asserting that the world's productive assets should be widely owned rather than concentrated. Developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, distributism was based upon Catholic social teaching princi ...
. Like fellow Irish priests Fr.
Edward Cahill and Fr. Richard Devane, he pointed to the pre-capitalist
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
and the
guild system
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...
as a more rightly ordered ideal. Within Fahey's worldview both economics and politics must be subordinate to the "moral law binding on members of Christ."
Books
*Fahey, Denis. ''Mental Prayer According to the Teaching of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Dublin'': M.H. Gill, 1927.
*Fahey, Denis. ''The Kingship of Christ, According to the Principles of St. Thomas Aquinas''. Dublin, London: Browne and Nolan, Ltd, 1931.
*Phillippe, A., and Denis Fahey. ''The Social Rights of Our Divine Lord Jesus Christ, the King.'' Dublin: Browne and Nolan, 1932.
*Philippe, Auguste, and Denis Fahey. ''The Social Rights of Our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, the King;'' Adapted from the French of the Rev. A. Philippe, C. SS. R. Dublin
tc.
TC, T.C., Tc, Tc, tc, tC, or .tc may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* Theodore "T.C." Calvin, a character on the TV series '' Magnum, P.I.'' and its reboot
* Tom Caron, American television host for New England Sports Netw ...
Browne and Nolan, 1932.
*Fahey, Denis. ''The Mystical Body of Christ in the Modern World.'' Dublin: Browne and Nolan, 1935.
*Le Rohellec, Joseph, Denis Fahey, and Stephen Rigby. ''Mary, Mother of Divine Grace''. Palmdale, Calif: Christian Book Club of America, 1937.
*Joannès, G., and Denis Fahey.'' O Women! What You Could Be.''
ublin Browne and Nolan, 1937.
*Fahey, Denis.
The Mystical Body of Christ and the Reorganization of Society
/nowiki>">mprimatur 1943">The Mystical Body of Christ and the Reorganization of Society [Imprimatur 1943
/nowiki>'. Waterford, Ireland: Browne and Nolan, 3rd edition, 1939.
*Fahey, Denis. ''The Rulers of Russia''. 3rd American edition, revised and enlarged. Detroit: Condon Print. Co., 1940.
*Fahey, Denis. ''The Kingdom of Christ and Organized Naturalism''. Wexford, Ireland: Forum Press, 1943.
Fahey, Denis. ''Money Manipulation and Social Order''. Cork: Browne and Nolan Ltd, 1944.*Fahey, Denis. ''The Tragedy of James Connolly''. Cork: Forum Press, 1947.
*Fahey, Denis. ''The Rulers of Russia and the Russian Farmers''. Maria Regina series, no. 7. Thurles: Co. Tipperary, 1948.
*Fahey, Denis. ''War of Anti-Christ with the Church and Christian Civilization">Grand Orient Freemasonry Unmasked as the Secret Power Behind Communism. 1950.'' republication of
George F. Dillon's work.
*Fahey, Denis. ''Humanum Genus: Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Pope Leo XIII on Freemasonry.'' London:
Britons Publishing Society
Britons Publishing Society, founded in 1923, was an offshoot of The Britons. According to scholar Gisela C. Lebzelter, The Britons split because:
... internal disagreements proved paralysing. Seven members were excluded in November 1923, and ...
, 1953.
*Fahey, Denis. ''The Church and Farming.'' Cork: The Forum Press, 1953.
*Fahey, Denis
''The Kingship of Christ and the Conversion of the Jewish Nation''.Dublin: Holy Ghost Missionary College, 1953.
*Fahey, Denis. ''The Rulers of Russia''. 3d. Ed., Rev. and Enl. Hawthorne, Calif: Christian Book Club of America, 1969.
*Fahey, Denis. ''Money Manipulation and the Social Order''. Dublin: Regina Publications, 1974.
*Fahey, Denis. ''Secret Societies and the Kingship of Christ''. Palmdale, Calif: Christian Book Club of America, 1994.
*Fry, L., and Denis Fahey. ''Waters Flowing Eastward; The War against the Kingship of Christ.''. London:
Britons Pub. Co, 1965.
Bibliography
*''The Coughlin-Fahey connection : Father Charles E. Coughlin, Father Denis Fahey, C.S. Sp., and religious anti-Semitism in the United States, 1938–1954'', Mary Christine Athans, P. Lang, 1991 New York,
See also
*
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican Party (United States), Republican United States Senate, U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death at age ...
*
Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory
The Judeo-Masonic conspiracy is an antisemitic and anti-Masonic conspiracy theory involving an alleged secret coalition of Jews and Freemasons. These theories are popular on the far-right, particularly in France, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Ita ...
*
Catholicism and Freemasonry
The Catholic Church first prohibited Catholics from membership in Masonic organizations and other secret societies in 1738. Since then, at least eleven popes have made pronouncements about the incompatibility of Catholic doctrines and Freemasonry ...
*
Catholic social teaching
Catholic social teaching (CST) is an area of Catholic doctrine which is concerned with human dignity and the common good in society. It addresses oppression, the role of the state, subsidiarity, social organization, social justice, and w ...
*
Christianity and anti-Semitism
*
Charles Coughlin
Charles Edward Coughlin ( ; October 25, 1891 – October 27, 1979), commonly known as Father Coughlin, was a Canadian-American Catholic Church, Catholic priest based near Detroit. He was the founding priest of the National Shrine of the Lit ...
*
L. Fry
References
External links
*Enda Delaney
Political Catholicism in Post-War Ireland'The Kingship of Christ and the Conversion of the Jewish Nation' full text''Grand Orient Freemasonry Unmasked''; republished by Fr. Faheyon the Saint Benedict Center web site
The Problem of Capitalism in Irish Catholic Social Thought, 1922-19501by Aidan Beatty
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fahey, Denis
1883 births
1954 deaths
Alumni of the Royal University of Ireland
Critics of Freemasonry
Antisemitism in Ireland
Catholicism and far-right politics
Catholicism and Freemasonry
Far-right politics in Ireland
Holy Ghost Fathers
Irish anti-communists
20th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests
Irish rugby union players
People educated at Rockwell College
Christian clergy from County Tipperary
Pontifical Gregorian University alumni
Roman Catholic conspiracy theorists
Rugby union players from County Tipperary
Irish conspiracy theorists
Irish Spiritans
Theocrats