Sir, - It would be nice if the heading of Patrick Comerford's article "C. of I. not a sectarian target in 1798" were true, but the evidence to the contrary is contained in the article itself. Certainly a majority of clergy in Wexford went unmolested but out of a total of 57, the fact that 23 suffered "murder, imprisonment, assault or loss of property is hardly negligible. Nor is the fact that four churches were destroyed or damaged, even if it was markedly less than the number of Catholic churches attacked; clearly the Rising in Wexford had a sectarian element - on both sides.
I write as a former rector of Castlecomer, where the church was destroyed by the insurgents and the Protestants forced to flee for their lives to the safety of Kilkenny Castle (happily carrying the magnificent church silver with them). These are facts of history which all of us in Castlecomer were quite well able to acknowledge and put behind us. Yours, etc.,
The Very Rev
Provost of Tuam,
The Rectory, Taylor's Hill, Galway.