'Ireland is too busy being Catholic to be Christian,' remembering Canon John Hayes

Around this time 64 years ago the death took place of Canon John Hayes, the founder of Muintir na Tíre and the Parish Priest of Bansha & Kilmoyler.

His death at a Tipperary nursing home on January 30, 1957, evoked deep and widespread grief throughout Ireland and abroad, where he was widely acknowledged as a passionate advocate of community development.

He was 69 years of age when he died and his funeral in Bansha was an occasion where every section of society was represented from bishops to labourers.

Canon Hayes was a friend to everyone regardless of their social standing or background. For all of his adult life as leader of Muintir na Tíre, John Hayes reminded all those who would listen that he was born in a Land League hut.

Following the eviction of the Hayes family from their farm in Moher, Murroe, Limerick, the local Land League moved quickly into action, erecting a wooden hut on the side of the road at Ballyvoreen for the Hayes family.

They were to live in this temporary accommodation for nearly 13 years until they returned to Moher in 1894.

During their time in the hut, four more children were born to Michael and Hanora Hayes, including their son John Martin, who was born on the November 11, 1887 - St Martin’s Day.

The living conditions in the hut were quite poor, diet was frugal as endorsed by the fact that the younger children, including John, were affected by rickets.

Five of the ten children of the family had died before they returned to their farm and home. John Hayes was ordained in 1913 and, following temporary placements in Meath and Wexford, the young priest was sent to Liverpool in 1915.

The importance of his first real posting as a priest in Liverpool lie in his efforts at organising youth activities and seeing first hand the slum conditions in which so many of the emigrant Irish lived.

The grave of Canon Hayes in Bansha Cemetery

The young Fr Hayes was also to make the English national newspapers in 1920. In his own words Fr Hayes says: “I need not recall the state of the country in 1920; suffice it to say that every effort was being made by England to crush the Republic. Men were on the run and men were in jails.”

Upwards of 150 Irish Republican prisoners were being held in Wormwood Scrubbs in London, including amongst them Fr Hayes’ brother, Mick.

As the prisoners went on hunger-strike, Fr Hayes was anxious to visit his brother. In spite of eventually receiving a permit, he was forbidden to see him.

He decided to enliven a protest outside of Wormwood Scrubbs Jail with speeches and the rosary in support of the Irish prisoners.

The protesters were attacked by an Orange mob while police refused to intervene. The Daily Mail described the “extraordinary scenes at Scrubbs...in the midst of all this a priest (Fr Hayes) calmly recited the Rosary.”

Fr Hayes’ experience in the slum conditions of urban industrial Britain certainly convinced him that something needed to be done to halt rural decline in Ireland. It was there that the seeds were sown for Muintir na Tíre.

The first unit was launched in Tipperary Town in November 1937 and almost immediately won practically universal respect. In 1946 Canon Hayes left Tipperary Town to become Parish Priest of Bansha & Kilmoyler.

On arrival he set himself the task of rebuilding the two churches. Under the leadership of Fr Hayes, Guilds of Muintir na Tíre were established in no less than 420 parishes.

Undoubtedly one of the biggest achievements for Muintir na Tíre was the roll out of of Ireland’s Rural Electrification Scheme, which began in the late 1940s and continued until the early 1950s and the formal switch on in Bansha in May 1948 was a great national occasion.

Canon Hayes became ill in late 1956 and within weeks it became clear that he would not recover from his illness.
Though he died before I was born I have a rich appreciation of Canon Hayes and what he stood for and achieved.

His removal of the “reserved seats” in Church as he wouldn’t have “Tuppence ha’penny looking down on tuppence” is one example. In recent times I have seen a quote of Canon Hayes’ from the 1950s being repeated on social media: “Ireland is too busy being Catholic to be Christian”.

Little did he think when he said that in the 1950s that it would be so relevant to society today.

A quote from a French writer comes to mind; “the more things change, the more they stay the same”.
Canon John Hayes, will always be remembered as a great priest, a great leader and a great Irishman.