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Wednesday 4 May 2011

Restoration III: The Church and the Role of Religion in an Irish Monarchy

If there is one aspect of a potential Irish restoration I constantly harp on about as being vital, it is the role of a religious revival in Irish society. And one of the key reasons i've been putting this is off is how incredibly difficult it will be to approach this without coming across as akin to one of those anemic liberals or even some of the more schismatic Catholic elements who say the Church should do this sort or that sort to suit my own interests and sensibilities. That and a fear that my own shambles of a catechizes will discredit whatever I do say.

On top of this is the concern that detractors will point to the heights of Catholicism in Ireland's past and the government cover-ups and the wonton sexual abuses and psychological damage to Irish folk back then crippled us as a society and damaged us to the point of being fascistic automotons. After all, all those famous books written about Irish life back then from liberal leaning authors were completely accurate despite the fact that most of them were absolute fiction bar a few memoirs?

Oh wait terribly sorry, it turns out most of those works have been deeply challenged as inaccurate many times over and are inherently biased. Moving right along then.

It is impossible for me to say exactly why the Catholic Church specifically is necessary for the task of restoration until the role of religion is clarified. In the past Ireland was, ok admittedly, still is a religious country even though it is rapidly becoming secularized. Religiosity defines the Irish character, the Irish Character is, in turn, mocked for its religiosity... and drunkenness, and wife beating, and our odd way of thinking and turn of speech. Whoever said the Irish stopped being acceptable targets in media for comedy? A fool most likely.

Religious revival is neccessary in turning over the dominant Anglo-Americanised culture that has stamped itself across the english speaking world. It is neccessary because with religiosity comes morals and character, inconvenience for politicians and societal rules that are contrary to what has become the norm. The average Irishman and Irishwoman, when they hold deep moral convictions, are going to feel very alien in the dominant, and foreign, culture that surrounds them. And such unifying moral convictions can only come from an organised Religion to inform, preach and uphold them. Should a Religious revival occur across the country, and God willing it does, the dominant anglo-americanised culture will no longer satisfy the Irishman. The west britons calling for a downgrading of the status of Gaelige in Irish institutions and education will sound more and more like the bleating goats they are, an identity crisis will have emerged. We are no longer in the De Valera era and aggressive nationalism is no longer widespread in Ireland but passive nationalistic pride still remains. Well thats what liberals call it, I'd call it cultural pride. As you know, having celtic styled artwork decorating Churches is so 20th century...

The end goal of such a religious revival is of course, if I am forgiven, for thinking of it in politically manipulative terms, is to create real politics, (not to be confused with Real Politik), and by that I mean politicians with backbone, audacity and character. I was extremely mad at Fine Gael handing over the public sector to their Irish labour bedfellows after the general election because it is the perfect example of shameless politics that boils my blood so. If ever I needed reaffirmation of being a Monarchist I need only look south of the Border... or North to Storment. What this achieves is genuine intellectual political conflict to shake the passive Irish mind from its stupor and it is then monarchism can really be spread as an actual alternative amid such a furious storm of political thought brought on by the spread of solid moral values.

The Catholic Church is the perfect institution to achieve this end precisely because it is not an Irish specific institution. A revival of the Catholic Church, (once His Holiness is done with his Reform of the Reform and a couple hundred dozen Inquisitions are completed), will be explosive in Ireland, for one thing most Catholics in Ireland are Lukewarm, on the fence as it were between being a genuinely religious nation or something akin to the average religiosity of Scandinavia. It also helps the Catholic Church still enjoys a predominant position and favoritism of the Irish Government, even if it is unstated. It also helps that Roman Catholicism has a long history of complementing native cultures once conversion has been achieved, (Ireland entered a golden age of intellectual advancement after it converted) although this is not universally true for the cultural identities of some nations who had violent conversions (Lithuania), so the Catholic Church as a worldwide institution not subject to Irish petty politics and governmental chest pounding can wreck merry havoc on the current poisonous cultural attitude in Ireland and set the stage for real challenge and change in Irish politics.

Again, as stated before, for the case of Irish Monarchism, the Catholic Church's position is an immense gamble precisely because it cannot be controlled. If she does not clean house to wipe away the filth of modernist heresies and liberal poisoning of the clerical mind in this country, all it would take would be for a few liberal bishops to condemn the Irish Monarchist movement as 'un-Catholic' to set back the Restoration for 5 decades if we are fortunate. (Then again mind you, there are plenty of faithful clergy in the Catholic Church who are committed republicans even if they are not overtly political, thus increasing the risk of the gamble) The Church need not actively support the movement, all monarchists need for the Church to do is not to oppose us, that leaves one less moral backing for our republican opponents. (and yes as a Roman Catholic I am inherently biased in favor of the Church, but what I say still remains true)

Now with that said and a best case scenario is achieved and a Native Irish Monarchy is restored, it is in my opinion that religion should remain an overt an active part of the Irish lifestyle. Naturally in such a best case scenario the Church itself would handle these matters, so that leaves the public sphere to deal with.

It is the opinion of this monarchist that the Irish Monarchy would recognize religion's role in the public sphere, this will of course mean that non Catholic religions would also be allowed to be active in the public sphere (more on this in subsequent posts on divine supremacy and the toleration of heretics). The Irish Monarchy would by necessity, much like the republican government beforehand, recognize the special role of the Catholic Church as the religion of the overwhelming majority and take account of that. Even going so far as to make it the state religion precisely to emphasis religion's role in monarchy and in the nation as a whole (more on this in the coronation post), the alliance of alter and throne is as old as monarchy itself and even religion, and I see no reason why the Irish Monarchy should be different in this regard. In fact with the added effect of having a strong monarchy with a leashed Dail giving Ireland the benefit of notoriety and prestige int he great family of nations, the establishment of a State religion in today's world would be a flippant and welcome middle finger to the current republican world view and a direct challenge to the republican ideal.

Again, there is no set guarantee that the revival of religion will make Irish minds more susceptible to our many mysterious monarchical machinations, but at the very least it will provide a forum to dispel myths of monarchy being a decidedly 'protestant thing' precisely because any monarchist movement in Ireland as a whole would be overwhelmingly Catholic to begin with.

I) Rex Hibernie. Imperator Scotturum.
II) Clans and the Role of the Church
III) -
- Supplementary post: Divine Supremecy and Tolerance: The Neccessity of State Religion and toleration of Heretics
IV) The Legislative Process in an Irish Monarchy
- Supplementary Post: Monarchist Economics and Dynamic Politics
- The Role of Chieftans and other Lords
V) The High Coronation, the true All Ireland Final
- The Role of the Council of Chieftans, Dynastic succession issues and legitimacy
- The Role of the Church
- The Role of the Monarch and the Royal Family
- Lords, Statesman and Farmers
- Final comments on the Coronation
VI) And all the world is a stage... Foreign Relations and the Role of a Monarchical Ireland in Europe and Elsewhere.

25 comments:

  1. Excellent post. We have much in common. Please visit me at www.joanandtherese.net.

    God bless

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  2. I've just found this blog, but found myself almost nodding in agreement as I read your articles.

    I'm also from Ireland and agree you fully in that it would be amazing to have a monarchy established in Ireland. A monarchy will be able to represent the Irish people in a way no politician could.

    Thanks for posting such thought-provoking articles on your blog. I'd recommend them to anyone that considers themselves Irish.

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  3. Excellent thoughts on this, and over all they are well stated. I have long thought that Eire should have its monarchy back in place, and I was interested to read that in the beginning of the uprising period Sinn Fein apparently thought so also, and considered an integral part of restoring Irish culture and civilization till republicans sympathetic to the ideals of the French Revolution gained prominence, and the current Irish flag was adopted as a consequence, and was an early symbol of Irish separatism from servitude to the British. I would have preferred the Irish flag of green with the Irish or Brian Boru harp instead. I strongly dislike republican tricolors! Kenneth, Monroe, LA USA

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    1. not all tricolors are the flags of republics and not all republics have flags that are tricolors,
      examples of the former include but are not limited to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_German_Empire.svg
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_Netherlands.svg
      examples of the latter include but are not limited to:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_United_States.svg
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Switzerland_(Pantone).svg

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    2. The Blue field with a Golden Harp is the traditional 'Royal Irish' colours associated with Ireland, indeed, this is the reason the flag of the British Monarchy includes the same design in one quarter of its flag as representative of Ireland.

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    3. I am aware of the previous history of tricolours but that is irrelevant at this time as they are now representative of republics, with the exception of Belgium whose flag is the exception rather then the rule.

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    4. I was not defending the tricolor, I was just pointing out that there is a degree of seperability between the flag issue and the monarchy vs republic debate (there are monarchies that have tricolors (luxemburg, for example) and republics that do not (switserland for exanple)(infact the original tricolor was that of the neatherlands, which is a monarchy)), so a monarchist could in the abstract support the irish tricolor, and a republican could similarly want a new flag, they are somewhat related, but only vaugly, ( i myself advocate a cconstructive motion of no confidence aproach to replacing that flag, do not get rid of one of a countries most prominant oficial symbols without having a specific idea about what to replace it with)

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  4. "to condemn the Irish Monarchist movement as 'un-Catholic' to set back the Restoration for 5 decades if we are fortunate."

    I am intrigued by this part of your post. Do you think there is any serious possibility that the Monarchy in our part of the world - meaning Europe in general - may be restored?

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  5. Yes there is an extremely serious potential, most of europe is either on the verge of being radicalised or left politically apathetic, we are fast approaching a time where institutionalized representative democracy and republicanism will be discredited and fall out of favor. A great deal of the common folk in europe really disrespects the EU as an institution nor takes their claim of being democratic seriously. We monarchists, as I often harp about, need to project ourselves more, we need to focus on communication with monarchists in other countries, promote our values (which often end up making monarchists passionate and arguementitive with eachother, most monarchists are patriots and this is both a hilarious paradox that the loves we hold in common also separate us. But then, thats what makes us different from communists) and spread our ideology back into popular fashion, it is not hard, the majority of europeans are surrounded by relics of monarchical glory everyday, and a fair number of them only reject monarchism because they are convinced it cannot occur in this age of democracy, and not because they are democratists. We'd need only one counter revolution in Europe to ignite a fervor across the continent. France with the strongest monarchist movement in europe is a good potential candidate, if only the three monarchist camps there would agree on which candidate for the throne they want we'd get this ball rolling.

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  6. Servant of the Chief, you may be interested in this --- and this.

    Sincere regards.

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  7. Thank you Shane, as ever you are a wellspring of good and relevant texts, my thanks to you.

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  8. ironicaly, ireland is one of the few countries where you could make a democratic case for a state relgion (as long as you do not opress religous minorites) as the amount that the last census recorded as catholic is 83%
    i think that is wrong and tyranical for a country to have a state religon not practiced by the majority of its population. the anglican church needs to refund all those tithes they forced the irish people to give them even though less then 1% of those people were actauly anglican (and most actaul anglicans found ways to be exempted) they also need to return all religous architacture that they cannot prove they biult. especialy saint patrick's cathedral. the refunded tithes would go to the irish people, the architecture would be given to the catholic church. the anglican church stole that stuff so they should be forced to give it all back.
    i ireland is to have a state religon it is a WAR CRIME, that spits in the face of the very character of they irish nation, for that church to not be catholicism.
    anything in that you disagree with Servent of the Cheif?

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    1. While I agree those buildings should return to Catholic hands, revengeance shouldn't be our motivation. A better form of victory is to be found in merely awaiting the self destruction of the Anglican churches and embrace them back into the Holy Catholic Church, we'll get the lands and Holy Places that way plus their priests and parishioners. Why win reparations when we can win history?

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    2. Post: oh by the way, I wrote up this law in the Irish language this would govern succession for an Irish monarchy(in some respects)
      The act of counter-settlement
      As you can tell it is a response to the British act of settlement, if Britain can have a protestant only monarchy, surely Ireland can have a catholic only one. Anyway here is the text of it
      in irish:

      Aon ghníomh le nithe a réiteach i ndáil leis an throne na hÉireann, chun é a theorannú dóibh siúd atá oiriúnach d'Éirinn, agus cúrsaí a shoiléiriú mar fhreagairt an gníomh na Breataine a shocrú:
      A achtú ag an Oireachtas; comhdhéanta de dhiailiú, an sennad agus an t-airdrí, gach triúr acu ag gníomhú le chéile ar an ábhar seo; go bhfuil an méid seo a leanas ina dhlí:
      De bharr an méid, tá Éire subjugated stairiúil go Sasana ag baint úsáide as bhfeidhm, tá sé ar neamhréir le náisiúin sábháilteacht bheith faoi rialú ag duine ar bith atá nasctha leis an náisiún. Ina theannta sin, subjugation den sórt sin san áireamh go minic lena bhforchuirtear an Eaglais Anglacánach ar an nGaeilge. Tá Éire ina náisiún Caitliceach (toisc go bhfuil an creideamh chleachtadh ag an chuid is mó de dhaonra na hÉireann), dá bhrí sin, go bhfuil sé mícheart le haghaidh an séipéal Anglacánach chun rochtain a fháil ar an cumhacht ag an ríocht ard, a tugadh a úsáid mar ionstraim de stáit sracaireacht, sceimhlitheoireacht, agus kleptocracy. Ina theannta sin, tá an throne Béarla teoranta do Anglicans agus go sonrach toirmeasc ar Chaitlicigh ionas go bhfuil le feiceáil gur féidir bellow cúnamh a choinneáil ar leith leo. Is é an scaradh an dá thrones ar mhaithe le leas an náisiúin na hÉireann; dá bhrí sin, na forálacha seo a leanas de réir mar a chuid de na dlíthe na hÉireann:
      1. Ní dhéanfar aon Anglacánach a cheadú riamh a glacadh leis an throne na hÉireann faoi aon imthoisc.
      2. Cuirfear an fhoráil thuasluaite maidir le céilí ar an rí ard chomh maith
      3. Is féidir Anglicans pósadh an monarc na hÉireann (ach ní bheidh sé) riamh ach amháin i gcás thiontú siad Anglicanism agus dá dtuismitheoirí iad Anglicans, áfach, ní mór dóibh a thiontú go Chaitliceachais ar a laghad cúig bliana roimh an bpósadh.
      4. Bheith ag freastal ar an séipéal Anglacánach faoi deara duine a measfar a bheith ina Anglacánach chun críche an ghnímh.
      5. Beidh baistí Freastal ar, póstaí nó sochraidí le haghaidh Anglicans díolmhaithe ina forálacha thuas (ar choinníoll go bhfreastalaíonn an duine sin a dhéanamh mais Caitliceach laistigh de sheacht lá sin a dhéanamh)
      6. Mar sin féin, nuair a úsáid ach amháin i soláthar roimhe seo, ní bheidh an duine i dtrácht comaoineach nó eile beidh siad a bheith ina Anglacánach
      (too many characters to put in one post)(continues in response bellow)

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    3. ( continuing from above)
      7. Beidh duine ar bith a bhaintear as an comharbas úsáid a bhaint as aon cheann de na forálacha thuas ar fad a chailleadh teidil ríoga, stíleanna agus na pribhléidí
      8. Ní bheidh aon duine air féin an throne na hÉireann má tá an sinsear ach is féidir leo é a éileamh trí Anglacánach
      9. Déanfaidh profess an airdrígh an creideamh Caitliceach más mian leis a bheith den sórt sin
      10. Mar sin féin beidh a bhean chéile a bheith in ann a bheith ar aon chreideamh is mian léi chomh fada is nach bhfuil sí Anglacánach
      11. Má tá gach comharba i dteideal a bhí i gcónaí Caitliceach ídithe, ansin is féidir caitliceach neamh glacadh leis an throne chomh fada agus a thiontú siad Catholicism laistigh de méid réasúnta ama
      12. Ní bheidh duine a phósfaidh i Anglacánach i ndlí na hÉireann pósadh ar bhealach nach ligeann a bheith faoi réir na pionóis pósadh agus Anglacánach i bhfeidhm ag an dlí
      13. Ní dhéanfar aon duine a shliocht ó Monarch na Breataine a cheadú riamh a bheith airdrígh
      14. Má tá ceann ar sinsear coitianta le Monarch na Breataine, ní mór dóibh a bheith níos mó ná 7 glúnta ó shin má tá siad duine a bheidh le lamháil a bheith rí-ard.
      15. Ní mór aon Anglacánach ar mian chun pósadh an airdrígh (nó i seilbh oifige poiblí i gcoitinne) mionn a ghlacadh dtarscaoilfidh an iompar seo caite ar an eaglais Anglacánach in Éirinn
      16. Beidh duine a bheith Caitliceach faoin dlí chomh fada agus a bhfuil siad ag pointe éigin professed go creideamh agus ní d'fhág go deonach ar an séipéal
      17. Beidh na páistí an airdrígh a ardú Caitliceach faoi ngach uile chás
      18. Déanfar aon duine de theaghlach ríoga ard dár deonaíodh teideal ag an airdrígh forghéillfidh teideal má tá siad dícháilithe ó glacadh leis an throne trí a bheith nó a pósadh ar Anglacánach
      19. Ní dhéanfar Anglacánach (mar a mínítear san leis an dlí) gníomhú mar Regent faoi aon imthoisc
      20. Ba chóir go mbeidh ré banríon ard i féin gach tagairt ceart chun an t-airdrí tuigfear gur ag tagairt di. Beidh an gcéanna gach tagairtí don airdrígh bhean chéile a léamh mar sin chun tagairt a dhéanamh fear céile
      (continues further bellow)

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    4. i don't want vengance, i want justice, there is a diference between them, for example, if someone steels from you, going out to kill them is vengance, but demanding that they return what they stole is justice. justice means undoing the acts that violated the persons rights. vengance is administering a punishment for sutch an act. after returning the tithes (which they do not even have to adjust for inflation), and architecture, the anglican church may then operate just like any other religous minority and should be unobstructed.

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    5. Although i intialy disagreed with you servent of the chief on the matter of the anglican church, i have thought about it and come around to your view, that we should encourage the anglican church to merge with the catholic church, (in ireland the cataholics will naturlay come dominant out of sutch a merger due to sheer demographics)nice job persauding me.

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    6. servent of the chief, that merging of the anglican church into the catholic church (in ireland at least) (i don't care what happens to the agnlicans church elseware as long as it ceases to exist in ireland) may not be as far off as I thought it would be see this article for details
      http://wdtprs.com/blog/2007/10/irish-anglicans-aim-for-union-with-rome/

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    7. Interesting, but not entirely unexpected, many groups in the world wide Anglican communion have long been tentatively speculating a reunion with Rome, (usually more conservative and traditional ones), I had no real idea of where the Anglican Church of Ireland fell however. This is most certainly good news.

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    8. Erin go bragh, bás a Anglicans, bás a windsors, bás ar an anglo-na hÉireann, bás go britain, beo fada an t-airdrí, saoirse agus neamhspleáchas go deo, go léir le haghaidh éirinn

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  9. why can't we win in both ways? they do not seem mutauly exclusive to me (in this case)

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    1. anglicans are the most un-irish people ever born, to deport them is amnesty, to imprison them is a pardon, to kill them is justice, there must be zero anglicans left in ireland, i am not in favor of using more violence then is nescecary to do this, but i am in favor of using as much violence as we need to in order to destroy the anglican church

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  10. (continuing from above)
    in case you don't speak irish I have the enlish text of the law here:

    An act to settle matters in relation to the Irish throne, to limit it to those suitable for Ireland, and to clarify matters in response the British act of settlement:
    Be it enacted by the Oireachtas; consisting of the dial, the sennad and the high king, all three of them acting together on this matter; that the following become law:
    Whereas, Ireland has been historically subjugated to England using force, it is incompatible with the nation’s safety to be governed by anyone linked to that nation. Furthermore, such subjugation often included imposing the Anglican Church on the Irish. Ireland is a catholic nation (because that is the faith practiced by the majority of the Irish population), therefore it is wrong for the Anglican church to have access to the power of the high kingdom, given its use as an instrument of extortion, state terrorism, and kleptocracy. In addition the English throne is limited to Anglicans and specifically banned to Catholics so that which is featured bellow can help keep them separate. The separation of the two thrones is in the interest of the Irish nation; therefore the following provisions are adopted as a part of the laws of Ireland:
    1. No Anglican shall ever be allowed to assume the Irish throne under any circumstance.
    2. The above provision shall apply to spouses of the high king as well
    3. Anglicans may marry the Irish monarch (but not be him) only if they never converted to Anglicanism and their parents are Anglicans, however they must convert to Catholicism at least five years in advance of the marriage.
    4. Attendance at an Anglican church shall cause a person to be deemed to be an Anglican for the purpose of this act.
    5. Attending baptisms, weddings or funerals for Anglicans shall be exempted form the above provisions (provided that the person doing so attends catholic mass within seven days of doing so)
    6. However, when using the exception in the previous provision, the person in question shall not take communion or else they shall be deemed to be an Anglican
    7. Anyone removed from the succession using any of the above provisions shall lose all royal titles, styles and privileges
    8. No person shall assume the Irish throne if the only ancestor they can claim it through is an Anglican
    9. The high king shall profess the catholic faith if he wishes to remain such
    10. However his wife shall be able to be any religion she wants as long as she is not Anglican
    (continues further bellow)

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  11. (continuing from above)
    11. If every eligible successor who has always been a catholic is exhausted, then a non catholic may assume the throne as long as they convert to Catholicism within a reasonable amount of time
    12. A person who marries an Anglican in a manner Irish marriage law does not allow shall not be subject to the penalties for marrying and Anglican applied by this law
    13. No one who is descended from a British monarch shall ever be allowed to become high king
    14. If one has a common ancestor with a British monarch, they must be more than 7 generations ago if they person is to be allowed to become high king.
    15. Any Anglican who wishes to marry the high king (or hold public office in general) must take an oath renouncing the past behavior of the Anglican church in Ireland
    16. A person shall be considered catholic under this law as long as they have at some point professed that faith and never voluntarily left the church
    17. The children of the high king shall be raised catholic under all circumstances
    18. Any member of the high royal family who has been granted a title by the high king shall forfeit that title if they are disqualified from assuming the throne by being or marrying an Anglican
    19. An Anglican (as defined by this law) shall not act as regent under any circumstance
    20. Should a high queen reign in her own right all references to the high king shall be read as referring to her. Similarly all references to the high king’s wife shall be read so as to refer to her husband

    not a bad succsesion law, if you do not like it then you are a hypocryte if you like the british act of settlement, this law is using the british crown's own succsesion laws to bar british princes from the irish throne, as to assume the british throne, you must not be catholic, to assume the irish throne you have to be catholic, that makes british and irish succsesion rights mutauly exclusive (in my view it is a logical contridiction to meet the qualifications for both) some people may meet them fore neither but not even god himself could meet both qualifications at once
    that is my view but what do you think of this succsesion law, Servent of the Chief?

    ps: sorry for the long message

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  12. i love the restoration sereis servent of the chief when will you do another one (you don't need to respond if that would slow you down at getting another such post up)

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