In the Spirit of Adventure:
A History of the Catholic Guides of Ireland
Description
ABOUT THE BOOK
The Catholic Guides of Ireland was founded in 1928 in Dublin and soon spread throughout the thirty-two counties. This colourful history of the all-female organisation is essentially a history of women in Ireland during the 20th and early 21st centuries. It moves through the formative years of the 1930s, charting its sometimes fractious relationship with the Catholic church, to the war years of the 1940s, when the Girl Guides, through participation in activities not normally open to them, grew in confidence and camaraderie, perhaps sowing the seeds for the women’s liberation movement of the next generation.
The history then takes us through the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, charting the seismic shifts in society and noting how the Guides continued to play an important role in providing a social forum for girls and young women. It notes the efforts made by the Guides towards promoting peace in Northern Ireland during the 1980s, and the landmark change in logo and uniform in the 1990s, marking the more liberal and multi-denominational thought and outlook of the organisation.
Their awareness of the demands of a modern society prompts the Guides to adapt and continue to bring Guiding to girls and young women in the twenty-first century. Therefore, in the spirit of adventure, fortitude, readiness and courage, this is their story.
ABOUT THE CATHOLIC GUIDES OF IRELAND
The Catholic Guides of Ireland is one of the three Guide Associations on the Island of Ireland. The two other are Irish Girl Guides (ICG) and Girlguiding Ulster. CGI has members both in the Republic and Northern Ireland. The mission statement of the Catholic Guides of Ireland is to provide a challenging programme within a safe environment, to enable all girls and young women to develop their full potential.
www.girlguidesireland.ie
Editorial Review
The Catholic Guides of Ireland came late on the scene compared to similar organisations in Ireland and further afield. It was not until 1928 that it was considered necessary to form an organisation that would offer girls the fun, adventure and skills with a Catholic ethos that were long enjoyed by the Scouts. The organisation was set up under the auspices of Cumann na nGaedhael and the Catholic Church in tandem with the Catholic Boy Scouts and with aims to do with discipline, training, responsibility and so on that would seem strange today.
Brophy's book is essentially a celebration of the movement, but alongside the details of who did what and what happened when she does have a stab at addressing wider issues vis- -vis the guides' place in social developments, their relationship with the Catholic hierarchy and what the movement tells us about the role of women in Irish society. Most complex and delicate were the negotiations to allow CGI to participate in the international movement, since the non-Catholic Guides felt that one nondenominational association should suffice. The book is illustrated with photographs of Guides down the decades, all with the same generous margins as the text.
- BOOKS IRELAND, October 2009
In the Spirit of Adventure, A History of the Catholic Guides of Ireland, has been brought out by Clare Brophy.
It is more than just a straightforward telling of the Guides’ story since founded in 1928, it is also a history of women in Ireland during the 20th and 21st Centuries.
The book moves through the formative years of the 1930s when the organisation spread throughout the 32 counties, despite a sometimes fractious relationship with the Catholic Church. Then on to the war years when the Girl Guides, through participation in activities not usually open to them, grew in confidence, perhaps sowing the seeds for the women’s liberation movement some decades later.
The book then takes us through the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s and on to the present day, charting the seismic shifts in society and noting how the Guides continued to play an important role in providing a social forum for girls and young women.
The Guides have shown a willingness to change and adapt as necessary, ensuring they still have a relevant role to play in modern Ireland.
The book is liberally illustrated with interesting photos from down the years and it will surely hold a fascination for the generations of Irish girls who have been involved in Guiding.
- Ireland’s Own, October 2009
Robert Baden Powell founded the Boy Scouts in 1908. Following representations from sisters of the scouts, Agnes Baden Powell, Robert's sister, set up the Girl Guides in 1910. Similarly, after Frs Ernest and Tom Farrell, with others, established the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland in 1926, moves to set up the Irish Catholic Girl Guides began soon afterwards.
The first few years of the Irish Catholic Girl Guide movement were dogged by controversy. A majority of the initial leadership, including Margaret Loftus and Bridget Ward, wished to have substantial control of the movement. The Farrell brothers and others were determined that it would be a branch of Catholic Action. This meant, in effect, that the local bishop, through appointed chaplains, would supervise the activities of the Girl Guides.
Within a few years the differences between the leaders had been worked through and the movement spread rapidly throughout the whole of Ireland and was established on a diocesan basis. Clare Brophy provides a comprehensive account of the aims, rules, constitution and educational activities of the Guides.
She reminds the reader that from the outset the Guides were involved in hiking, weekend and annual camps, pilgrimages to Knock, Lourdes and Rome and in attending international Catholic Youth Rallies in Europe.
INVOLVED
In this lavishly illustrated book she also records the role of the Guides in important national events such as the Eucharistic Congress of 1932 and the Papal visit of 1979 and that during the ''Emergency'' they joined Red Cross units and were actively involved with the Dublin Diocesan Catholic Social Service Conference in helping to alleviate hardship and poverty.
As Irish society became less conservative so did the Guides with regard to their uniform and the range and direction of their activities. The author notes the lessening influence of the Catholic Church on the Guides and highlights complaints that priests were no longer as active in the Guide movement as they had been.
In the early 1980s the Baden Powell Scouts and the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland invited girls to join their organisations. These developments did not help recruitment to the Guides. However, the Guides, belonging to the two religious denominations, survived and retained their individuality and independence.
Strongly committed to ecumenism and working for justice and peace, the Guides were determined to win international recognition by achieving membership of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. The author describes the tortuous and lengthy negotiations to that end. In the event they were successful, though they failed to have international recognition extend to their Guide Groups in Northern Ireland, as they belonged to a different national jurisdiction.
The author lists the main reasons why membership of the organisation has declined significantly, particularly in recent years. However, apart from indicating that in 1940 there were 1,500 Guides in companies in 22 parishes in the archdiocese of Dublin, she does not provide any statistics on or estimates of the organisation's membership at any period of its history.
I had the honour of acting as chaplain to Guide companies across Dublin and was enriched by the experience. I salute the Group leaders, past and present, for their excellent work for girls and I congratulate Clare Brophy on her well-researched account of the Irish Catholic Girl Guides.
- J Anthony Gaughan, The Irish Catholic, November 2009
First Chapter
FOUNDATIONS: A GUIDE MOVEMENT FOR CATHOLIC GIRLS 1928–1939
Whatever the political issues and the political movements from Catholic Emancipation to the end of the 1930s, the attitude of the Church to these was characterised by one fundamental feature: vigorous opposition to ideas and organisations it could not control...
GROWTH OF YOUTH ORGANISATIONS
By the 1920s youth organisations for boys and girls were an established feature of society, not only in Ireland but also in the broader international context. In Britain the religious-based youth movement, the Boys’ Brigade, was founded in 1883 and had a disciplined militaristic style. In Ireland the Catholic Boys’ Brigade had been formed in March 1894 and by the turn of the century they had an estimated membership of seven hundred boys. The objectives of this organisation were stated to be:
To crush vice and evil habits amongst boys;
to instruct them thoroughly in the Catholic doctrine;
to prepare them for the worthy reception of the sacraments;
to give them habits of obedience, discipline and self respect;
reverence and love for ecclesiastical authority and our holy religion;
to promote their moral, physical and temporal well being and to give them habits of strict sobriety.
In Germany in the mid-1890s informal excursions to the countryside surrounding Berlin were organised for children who came from heavily industrialised parts of the city. These trips to the country were considered beneficial for their health. Through hiking and camping in the open air a strong sense of comradeship developed. The youth movement became immensely popular throughout Germany with boys and girls alike, although mixing of the sexes within the organisation was not encouraged. By 1901 it was formally known as Vandervogel.
In America at the turn of the twentieth century, Ernest Thompson Seton, a naturalist, artist and writer, founded a youth group called the Woodcraft Indians and in 1902 he published a guidebook for boys called The Birch Bark Roll.
Robert Baden-Powell, on returning to Britain from military service in South Africa, initially considered scouting for youths as an addition to the already developed Boys’ Brigade. In 1907 he held an enormously successful camping convention at Brownsea Island and published his book Scouting for Boys (1908). Subsequently, the Baden Powell Boy Scouts became a popular worldwide secular scouting organisation. A company was established in Ireland in 1909. This inevitably led to the formation of a similar movement for girls known as the Girl Guides run by Agnes Baden Powell, sister of Robert. A company of the Baden Powell Girl Guides was established in Harold’s Cross in Dublin in 1911.
At that time Ireland was part of the United Kingdom. Following the treaty negotiations with Britain, Ireland became the Irish Free State. In 1922 the Girl Guides became the Irish Free State Girl Guides and in 1928 they underwent a change of name again to the Irish Girl Guides. Many people at that time associated the Irish Girl Guides with the former British regime and it was perceived as a Protestant and mostly middle-class association. In reaction to this a similar Guide organisation to cater for the needs of Catholic girls was founded in 1928 called Clanna Bhríde, which ultimately became known as the Catholic Girl Guides of Ireland.
In the 1920s, Girl Guide and Girl Scout organisations from various countries had come together to form the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). The object of the World Association was to promote unity of purpose and common understanding in the fundamental principles of the Girl Guide/Girl Scout movements throughout the world, and to encourage friendship among girls of all nations. Their aim was to provide girls and young women with opportunities for self-training in the development of character, responsible citizenship and service to the community.
BIRTH OF THE CATHOLIC GIRL GUIDES OF IRELAND
In April 1923 the pro-treaty party Cumann na nGaedheal was launched at the Mansion House in Dublin and led by W.T. Cosgrave. Faced with the daunting task of bringing stability to a country divided by civil war, the government sought advice on a variety of matters from the Catholic church. Both church and state believed ‘it was imperative to ensure that boys and young men should no longer join political or militaristic organisations and that it was necessary to provide alternative organisations for young people’.(7) Fr Ernest Farrell was instrumental in forming the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland and ultimately the Catholic Girl Guides. He served as a curate in Greystones, Co. Wicklow from 1924 to 1927. While there he formed a Boys’ Club that engaged in activities such as hiking and camping. He studied scouting from the handbook of the Boy Scouts of America and campaigned through the letters page of Our Boys, a popular youth magazine, for the establishment of a uniquely Catholic scouting organisation. With the support of his brother, Fr Thomas Farrell, and members of the influential Catholic lay organisation, the Knights of Columbanus, they sought to establish an Irish national scouting organisation with the backing of the church. The Farrells drafted a constitution based on documentation from the Boy Scouts of America and in October 1926 the Catholic hierarchy approved of the establishment of the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland (CBSI). An organising council was appointed with Fr Thomas Farrell as secretary.
CBSI became a great success and immediately plans were in place to form an organisation for girls. Clanna Bhríde had been formed in 1928 to provide a uniquely Irish style of Guiding for Catholic girls. By 1930, as numbers grew, a more formal administrative system was required, including a change of name, and once again Fr Thomas Farrell approached the Catholic hierarchy seeking backing and support.
The original organising committee for the proposed Catholic Girl Guides of Ireland came together through the Legion of Mary in Dublin. Margaret Loftus and Bridget Ward were both members of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Praesidium of the Legion of Mary in Newman House, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin. Ward was described as ‘a very spiritual person, gentle and unassuming and humble about the great work she was doing with the aid of a few lay helpers’.10 Margaret Loftus had trained as a Domestic Science teacher and taught in impoverished areas of Dublin city. She witnessed first-hand the dreadful living conditions of some girls and young women. She was approached by her friend, Frank Duff, founder of the Legion of Mary, and asked to help form a girl guide movement. From the outset Brigid Ward was appointed National Secretary of the organisation with Margaret Loftus as President.
One of the first commissioners for CBSI was Ernest Cullen, whose wife, along with Margaret Loftus and Bridget Ward, was one of the eleven original members cited by Fr Farrell as suitable to be on the organising committee. Many of the women are referenced in relation to their husband’s occupation: for example, Mrs Margaret Loftus (wife of Dr. J.J. Loftus), Mrs Montgomery (wife of Film Censor). Also included on the committee was the wife of P.J. Little, a Fianna Fáil TD and former editor of the Sinn Féin paper, New Ireland, and Louise Gavan Duffy, who had served in the GPO in 1916. She later founded Scoil Bhríde, an Irish-language secondary school for girls in Dublin.
In a letter dated 7 June 1930 Fr Thomas Farrell wrote to the Archbishop of Dublin to assure him of the suitability of the committee:
The members of the committee are women of education and of good social position. They are animated with the idea of using the Guide Movement developed on truly Catholic lines, to help our girls to attain to the high ideals of Catholic womanhood. They realise the pressing necessity there is for organised Catholic Action among our young girls and are prepared to work ardently for the ends aimed at in the proposed Catholic Girl Guide organisation.
At that time, the church was concerned with what it saw as declining morality in Irish society.16 In the 1920s and1930s Catholic Action was composed of a number of pressure groups such as the Catholic Truth Society and the Irish Vigilence Association, who lobbied the government to put in place legislation on issues such as divorce and censorship.17 Fr R.S. Devane, a Jesuit social worker, and laymen such as Frank Duff, founder of the Legion of Mary, worked to highlight moral and social problems such as the loss of parental control over young girls and the influence of ‘obscene’ newspapers and literature. Another purpose of the Catholic Action body was to strengthen the Catholic faith, a sentiment expressed in a separate statement addressed to the Archbishop by the women organisers:
There is in Ireland a branch of an English organisation known as the Girl Guide Association. In name this branch is non-sectarian. In fact it is Protestant. Just as scouting attracts boys, so guiding has a like attraction for girls, with the result that our Catholic girls are becoming members of this Protestant organisation. For some time past the activities of this organisation have greatly increased, serious efforts being made to induce our girls to join. Since the establishment of the Catholic Boy Scouts, the minds of the girls have been more strongly directed to the benefits afforded by Guiding.
In Ireland an overall anti-Protestant sentiment prevailed. For example, in the same year, 1930, controversy surrounded the appointment of Letitia Dunbar-Harrison, a Trinity graduate, to the position of Mayo County Librarian on the grounds that she was Protestant. Mayo County Council refused to confirm her appointment, which resulted in the Gumman nGaedheal government stepping in to uphold the appointment. The government’s actions are considered to have contributed to a decline in its popularity in favour of Fianna Fáil.
A Synopsis of Policy for the Catholic Girl Guides of Ireland was prepared by the organising committee that reflected a uniquely Catholic, Irish ethos in contrast to the perceived ‘Protestant, English’ Guiding association. In September 1930 Fr Thomas Farrell sent a copy to each of the archbishops and bishops seeking support for the organisation, the aims of which are laid out as follows:
to promote the methods, principles and exercises of Guiding among the Catholic girls of Ireland, to apply these methods, principles and exercises according to Catholic Irish ideals so as to help them to realise the ideals of womanhood, as a preparation for their responsibilities in the home and service for the community. In a higher conception, to elevate the present life of the girl, and so prepare her for the life to come.
The policy and aims of the organisation were laid out in three Articles:
1. The Association is not to take the place of the religious sodalities, or in any way to be detrimental to their success, but shall encourage girls to become members of such organisations as a means of becoming better Guides.
2. The Association is absolutely non-political. Guides, when in uniform, shall not take part in any political activity, and they shall not discuss politics during Guide exercises.
3. The Association is Irish in outlook, and shall encourage girls to study the language, history, music and games of their country and to help in all that appertains to the revival of its Gaelic culture.
It was proposed by the committee that the association be organised as follows:
The Organisation proposes to work through Diocesan Councils and Local Associations, consisting of a President, Chaplain, Commissioners, Secretary etc. The supreme authority of the movement lies with the National Council, on which the Diocesan Councils and Local Associations have representation.
The motto of the Guides was Bí Ullamh (be prepared). It was considered that in order for girls to live up to their motto they would need to be trained in all ‘womanly occupations’. Merit badges were awarded for proficiency in cooking, needlework, laundry, nursing and similar subjects. Girls were encouraged to take an interest in natural history and all forms of art. Most important of all was the merit badge for liturgy: every Girl Guide was expected to obtain this. Also of importance were the Irish speaker’s and homemaker’s badges, which together with the liturgy badge were given the distinction of being the only badges worn on the right arm. ‘A girl winning these three badges becomes a National Guide – the Ideal Irishwoman.’
In July 1932 an ‘impressive ceremony took place at the Esplanade, Collins Barracks in Dublin’. It was the Flag Blessing of St Daire’s Troop of Girl Guides in St Paul’s parish. According to Fr Farrell, ‘this was the first occasion on which they had the pleasure of having a Troop Colour of their Association blessed’. The Irish Independent reported that:
The Girl Guide movement was intended to perpetuate the glorious tradition handed down to them by the womanhood of the past. The Association of Girl Guides held great promise for the future; it was mighty in its prospects and had behind it the glorious traditions of a faithful Irish womanhood.
Fr Farrell paid tribute to the founders ‘who in past years had ploughed the lonely furrow, who had worked to establish the organisation and had brought it to its present state of efficiency’.
FRICTION BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND WOMEN FOUNDERS
By 1933 the organising committee of the Catholic Girl Guides was preparing its constitution, similar to that of the Catholic Boy Scouts. However, early in 1933, Fr Thomas Farrell expressed concerns regarding the wording of the Guide promise: ‘there is a tendency to make the natural aspect of the organisation over-shadow the Catholic aspect, and that is why I suggested that the Guide and Scout Promise should be the same’.
Relations between the Farrell brothers and the organising committee began to deteriorate when the women began to complain about the extent of clerical control over them. A meeting was held on Monday, 22 May 1933 to attempt to resolve differences. At that meeting Fr Ernest Farrell proposed that the following be inserted into the Catholic Girl Guide constitution:
The Parish Priest of the parish or the local superior of a men’s Religious House is the Controlling Authority within the Constitution of Companies within his parish or Religious House respectively, with power to delegate this authority to any Chaplain whom either may wish to appoint.
This contradicted the committee’s proposals in the original Synopsis of Policy sent to the bishops and archbishops outlined above, in which it was stated that the National Council of the Guide organisation would have supreme authority. After an open discussion the motion for inclusion in the constitution was lost by a decisive 11 votes to 4. The majority of women felt that it would be impossible to function effectively if ‘they had no authority on any matter. It was felt that the chaplain’s personal influence would always be such that even in matters outside the moral and religious, he would be paramount’.(29) He ignored the outcome of the vote by the Executive Council and called a ‘secret meeting of captains’ where he stated that the present Executive Council would not work under ecclesiastical authority. Feeling much maligned the Executive Committee considered his action unconstitutional.
At that ‘secret meeting’ Fr Ernest Farrell formed a new organising committee from the captains of the Girl Guide companies. Despite requests from the original committee for Archbishop Edward Byrne to adjudicate on the actions of Fr Farrell, the Archbishop sanctioned a new committee devoted to clerical control. In December 1933 the captains wrote to the Archbishop stating:
We have freely and definitely disassociated ourselves from any control exercised by Mrs Loftus and those associated with her and now look for direction only to the Chaplains and the new Organising Committee set up by them.
Writing on the same day to the Archbishop, Margaret Loftus stated:
We regret that our chaplains should have felt that they had a grievance as we have always stressed that our organisation was first Catholic. We believed that in a Girls’ movement, to be successful it was necessary that each company should function under a local association consisting of representative ladies who, together with the chaplain, would be the controlling authority. As regards the Chaplain’s position, it was felt that his personal influence as a priest gave him a sufficiently controlling power, leaving at the same time room for the initiative and interest of the other members of the local association.
Despite repeated pleas by the women founders to Archbishop Edward Byrne to carry out an enquiry into the circumstances surrounding the case, by April 1934 the dispute had taken a turn for the worse. Bitterly the women recounted to the Archbishop that rumours that they were anti-clerical, ultra-national and extremist were being circulated and they requested an Ecclesiastical Court be set up to investigate events since May 1933. They claimed they were ‘victims of a very grave injustice’ and the only other means left to them would be to take the matter to a Civil Court, ‘exposing the whole unsavoury matter’. They said that all their offers of peace had been ignored and in a despairing tone stated:
It is not necessary for us to point out the evil results which would follow generally upon the eventual success of this manoeuvre to put aside rightful authority. If the lay people were made to feel that priests desirous of more power had only to do as has been done in our case (i.e. allege anti-clericalism, organise secretly and illegally) to throw down the constitutionally established order in all places, they would proceed to safeguard themselves and to look doubtfully upon every action of the priest. In this lies the beginning of real anti-clericalism. Unfortunately, this sad affair is now widely known and spoken of; every centre where a company of self-constituted Guides exists is a seething pot of calumny against us, casting the gravest reflection on each individual member of our Council. We want to assure Your Grace of our absolute loyalty whilst taking any steps that may be deemed necessary to publicly (if needs be) defend our character, and to strenuously oppose every effort of Fr Farrell to use the mighty power of the church unjustly to take possession of the Organisation which we founded, and for whose ideals we have worked for over seven years.
This letter shows the courageous nature of the women. They were ignored and the church took control of the Guide organisation. In a revealing handwritten letter dated July 1934, Fr Thomas Farrell, writing to an unnamed Monsignor, outlined his views concerning the constitution of the Guiding organisation:
from the point of ecclesiastical control this constitution is altogether unsatisfactory. A large number of amendments and additions are required so as to make the organisation safe from being dominated by lay control ... I respectfully suggest there should be a rule in the approved constitution declaring that fundamental rules of the constitution are subject to review and alteration only by the Bishops.
He concluded with this statement:
The interest of the Chaplains in the Guide organisation lies chiefly in the fact that the organisation being established and promoted as a Catholic Action body has a purpose and an end entirely spiritual and supernatural (the ordinary Guide activities are used as an attraction and as a means of recreation).
As far as the women organisers were concerned, the objective of the Guide movement was to improve the lives of young girls whilst embracing a Catholic ethos. They considered that the extent of clerical control imposed on the organisation would render them powerless in making any decisions regarding the direction of the movement. Fr Thomas Farrell intended the Guide organisation to act as another pressure group under the umbrella of Catholic Action.
In a letter dated 22 November 1934, Archbishop Byrne wrote to Margaret Loftus. She had requested a ‘peaceful joining of the ranks of the Guides’.36 Byrne was pleased with these signs of reconciliation and expressed the hope that Margaret Loftus and the other committee members could meet with the chaplains and the leaders of the Dublin Companies, put aside their differences and form a National and Executive Council to manage the organisation. But Byrne warned:
Should the hopes for peace which I have placed in the holding of a National Council be frustrated, I will feel obliged to put an end to the present deplorable situation by withdrawing my approval from all existing bodies of the Guide movement in my diocese and seriously considering the establishment on a purely diocesan basis of an entirely independent Catholic Girl Guide organisation for Dublin.
A resolution could not be found and in 1935 the Catholic Girl Guides were organised and administered by diocese. Margaret Loftus and Bridget Ward refused to let the matter rest. Through the then Papal Nuncio (diplomatic representative of the Pope), Most Rev. Dr Robinson, the women forwarded a detailed account of the dispute to Pope Pius XI in Rome. Subsequently, in October 1935, they were invited to meet with Monsignor Bearzotti at the Nunciature in Dublin where he read to them an English translation of a letter written in Italian by the Pope’s Secretary.
With regard to what Mrs Margaret Loftus and Mrs Bridget Ward put before the Holy Father in documents forwarded to him, the answer is plain from instructions issued repeatedly by the Holy See in the matter of Catholic Action. The Holy See desires that any societies helping in Catholic Action should be subject to the Bishop and should help him in perfect filial obedience.
No doubt it is entertained that the two good ladies referred to who have worked so hard and so zealously for the welfare of girls will, even though it means giving up their personal views now, be quite ready to set an example of whole-hearted and generous discipline, and show by their actions their complete submission to the Holy See.
Having no options left open to them, the women acknowledged the letter from the Pope’s Secretary thanking him for his kind words in regard to their work for the welfare of girls and assured him that they would submit to the wishes of the Holy Father. At the meeting’s conclusion, Monsignor Bearzotti suggested they visit Archbishop Byrne. They explained that he had ignored several requests from them for an interview. Monsignor Bearzotti said that he would arrange it. Margaret Loftus and Bridget Ward hoped ‘that even at the eleventh hour His Grace might give us some measure of justice’. However, before the interview, owing to the poor health of the Archbishop, they were asked not to touch on any contentious matters. ‘So while His Grace was very courteous, talking with us for a considerable time, and giving us his blessing on our departure, the interview was abortive of any good to us.’
Margaret Loftus, Bridget Ward and others on the committee took a brave stand to try to maintain control of an organisation they had helped build. However, church authority proved too strong and the women were effectively sidelined from the organisation.
The original committee of the Catholic Girl Guides headed by Margaret Loftus and Bridget Ward had been administered from an office at 50 Middle Abbey Street in Dublin. The split within the organisation became official when in August 1936 a lease was signed by the Dublin United Tramways Company and the new committee for the Guides represented by Fr Michael Clarke and Fr Thomas Farrell on an office located at Dawson Street in Dublin at a yearly rent of £50 inclusive.
ADMINISTERED BY DIOCESE
Now firmly under the control of the church, the Catholic Guides spread throughou
t Ireland. Originally founded as a National Association it was decided by Archbishop Byrne that the Catholic Guides now be administered by diocese. As laid out in the 1936 Constitution, the organisation was dominated by a Diocesan Council whose duty it was to elect the Executive Committee. The Council consisted of a Diocesan Chaplain, Diocesan Commissioner, Assistant Diocesan Commissioner, District Captains, Chaplains and Captains. The archbishop of the diocese was Chairman of the Council and in his absence the Diocesan Chaplain had the right of a casting vote. The Executive Committee consisted of the Diocesan Chaplain, two other chaplains and three lay members as selected by the Diocesan Council. One of the chaplains on the Executive Committee would act as Honorary Treasurer, having responsibility for all monies. In Article 4 Section 2, the role of the Diocesan Chaplainwas laid out as follows:
The Archbishop appoints the Diocesan Chaplain. The Diocesan Chaplain is, under the Archbishop, the controlling authority in all matters pertaining to the maintenance, development and general welfare of the Organisation in the Diocese, and all acts of the Diocesan Council or the Executive Committee are to be construed having regard to this rule.
The new administration applied to each diocese where there were Catholic Girl Guides and, regardless of the controversy regarding control of the organisation, Guiding had spread through clerical routes throughout Ireland.
GUIDE COMPANIES
Throughout the organisation, Guide companies were organised along similar lines. At company meetings, ‘corners’ was the term for study where each Guide would retire to study for her merit badges. Each meeting concluded with the singing of the Guide anthem. Companies were divided into different groups or patrols with titles such as Skylarks, Robins and Thrushes, and each group was assigned a patrol leader. Registering new members was the role of the captain of the company. Membership cards were completed for each enrolled member and included the date the Guide joined, the date of enrolment, the tests completed and badges awarded. A yearly registration fee was paid by each Guide to cover expenses such as books and equipment. This fee reflected the ability of the Guide to pay. Each company looked after their own funds. Fundraising events such as concerts, raffles and craft sales helped to subsidise the purchase of uniforms, camping trips, outings and insurance.
The Catholic Girl Guides of Ireland was a thirty-two county organisation regardless of the political boundary that separated the six counties in Northern Ireland. A Catholic Guiding movement had been formed in 1932 in St Peter’s Pro-Cathedral, Belfast, in the Diocese of Down and Connor. By the late 1930s in the North of Ireland, Guide companies had been formed in Mount Carmel, Kilkeel and Downpatrick, Co. Down, and areas of Belfast such as College Square North and St Michael’s. There were many letters to Dublin requesting uniforms, badges and information on company colours and patrol emblems, which suggests the organisation there had a large membership and was growing.
Bridie O’Rourke, who later became Sr Francis Joan, is attributed with bringing Guiding to Waterford. She, along with the nuns at the Sisters of Charity Convent in Lady Lane, Waterford City, established St Attracta’s Catholic Girl Guide Company in October 1932 in the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore. Another nun, Sr Rose, later set up a training company in the convent for the purpose of training leaders. As a result of these actions, Guiding soon spread to all areas of Waterford.
In the same year, 1932, in Cork city the Catholic Guides were established with the help of Monsignor John Bastible; Rose Lynch became the first Diocesan Commissioner in the Diocese of Cork and Ross. Backed by the Bishop of Cork, Dr Cohalan, and with the help of Guides from Killarney, Rose Lynch founded five companies with girls recruited from local schools. In 1934 in Cork, Lynch purchased four railway carriages for £5 each and set them up in a field in Redbarn, Youghal. One car was used as the dining area and the other three for sleeping. Blankets were folded on the beds in a particular way to allow two to sleep head to toe. This became the location for many summer camps for Cork Girl Guides up until 1964.
In 1934 the Cork Examiner reported:
It is a marvellous place for a holiday. The Guides have their own field of games and a few yards away is the splendid stretch of strand on which all sorts of games and competitions may be enjoyed. The bathing is excellent and very safe and a special bathing shelter has been erected near the camp in the field over looking [sic] the beach.
But if there’s going to be a life hereafter
As every Girl Guide knows there is going to be
I will ask my Lord to let me make my heaven
In that little Camp beside the Irish Sea.
Through the 1930s visits were often exchanged between Cork and Dublin Guides. On a trip to Dublin in 1933, Cork Guides were given a tour of Dublin with refreshments and entertainment laid on at the Winter Garden, adjacent to the Theatre Royal.47 In July 1934 a number of Dublin Girl Guides travelled to Cork, where the Cork Guides played host and brought them on a sight-seeing tour of Cork. This included a trip on a steamer to Cobh, where they visited St Colman’s Cathedral.
In Dublin, Guide companies were cropping up in areas all around the city and it was soon apparent that the premises at Dawson Street was too small for the administration of the growing Guide organisation. A suitable headquarters was identified as 36/37 Harrington Street, two Georgian houses knocked into one – originally a Methodist female orphan school. The total cost of purchasing the property came to £2,450. A mortgage of£2,000 was taken out by a Committee of Trustees on behalf of the Dublin Diocese and the balance was donated. Arthur O’Hagan & Son Solicitors handled the transaction and the deal was closed in July 1937. As numbers in Dublin began to grow steadily the need for a hall to hold events and fundraisers became obvious and Archbishop Byrne gave permission for the land at the back of Harrington Street headquarters to be used as the site for the hall. Building Contractors Smith & Pearson Ltd quoted £6,000 for the cost of building the hall and, despite the outbreak of war and the short supply of building materials, work went ahead.
ROLE OF WOMEN
To appreciate some of the activities the Guides took part in, it may be beneficial to reflect on the role of girls and women in Irish society at the time the Catholic Girl Guide Organisation was founded. Many Catholic periodicals and pastoral letters of the time advocated women’s life in the home. In 1934 Dr Dignan, Bishop of Clonfert, in his pastoral letter recommended that ‘because girls’ natural place is in the home, mothers should instruct them in housekeeping’. Writing in the Irish Messenger in 1937, Fr Stephen J. Browne believed that employment of daughters outside the home was interfering with home life. Therefore, as can be seen from the diary of Betty Casey, a Guide in Cork in 1932, Guide activities such as tracking coincided with merit badge awards for excellence in activities based around life in the home.
In Italy in the 1930s, with the encouragement of the papacy, women’s participation in the workforce was also discouraged. The Italian Youth of Catholic Action (Girls) was founded in 1918 in Milan by Pope Benedict XV and spread rapidly throughout Italy. In their literature they stated ‘at home they bring life and impulse to the Housewives Movement to unite all the youth of that section’.
It is probable, however, that there were more mundane economic reasons that contributed to the ideology of women as homemakers. In Britain and Germany the war had provided new opportunities for women. However, many of the traditionally male-dominated jobs women had taken on during the war were closed to them afterwards when men returned to the workforce. Later, due to the global economic depression following the 1929 Wall Street Crash, women were actively discouraged from participating in the workforce. With the establishment of the Irish Free State, the Free State Constitution (1922) provided the same rights concerning citizenship for women as it did for men – the right to vote. Many women believed that ultimately this would extend to equality in the workplace. However, even the feminist female trade unionist, Louie Bennett, questioned the usefulness of women working at all as it had ‘not raised standards of living, was a menace to family life and blocked the employment of men’.
GUIDE ACTIVITIES
Although many Guide activities focussed on the home, there were also those that gave girls an opportunity to escape school and household chores. Hiking was a favourite activity of many guides. Sunday 10 July 1932 was May McGrath’s first hike with Buidean Eidín to Donabate: ‘we tramped through fields, gates and over stiles until we reached the strand to be met with a gloriously refreshing sea breeze’.(56) Some of the girls went swimming while others collected firewood for a fire to boil kettles for tea. Games such as chasing, follow-theleader and charades were played, while exercises in tracking, signalling and knots were practised. Another hike in September was organised to Ballycorus near Bray, Co. Wicklow, where the company had tea beside the lead mines chimney. As can be seen from the diaries of Betty Casey and May McGrath, the girls took great pride in taking care of their logbooks and much attention centred on presentation. The considerable artistic rendering given to poems in May McGrath’s logbook, suggests a great love of both poetry and art.
At the time, Guiding provided many activities not catered for in schools. May recalled that company drill was taught by a Miss McCormack and included marching in formation in a series of complex manoeuvres. Semaphore practice included signalling, and the sending and receiving of messages including Morse code. 57 In Dublin the Guides performed at an annual Grand Rally that allowed the girls to show off their talents. The fourth Grand Rally on 18 November 1934 organised by the Guides in the Diocese of Dublin was held in the Olympia Theatre and included a variety of performances including a pageant, Irish dancing, recitation, folk dancing and drill. A similar annual event was held in Cork. In 1936 a fête and exhibition was held at the Arcadia Ballroom where it was reported:
There was a large attendance of clergy and laity when the Cork branch of the Catholic Girl Guides of Ireland held a féte and exhibition of Guide craft at which his Lordship the Bishop of Cork, Most Rev. Dr Cohalan was present.
At the conclusion of the event, Monsignor Sexton stated:
It is a most necessary movement ... because today we want women who are leaders in the march of the nation.
Céilís were also a feature of the fêtes in Cork, with the Pat Crowley Band providing the music for an evening of dancing from 8 p.m. to midnight.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR TRAVEL
Pilgrimages presented opportunities for Guides to travel and see the world. In 1934 Rose Lynch from Cork and Pauline Murray, Assistant Commissioner of the Guides in the Dublin Diocese, led a pilgrimage to Rome in which Guides from all over Ireland took part. The journey took them through London, Paris, Turin and Genoa. They stayed at the Instituto Mater Amabilis Convent in Rome. One of the highlights of the pilgrimage was the canonisation in St Peter’s Square of Don Bosco on 1 April 1934. The Guides were entertained by students of the Irish College in Rome, and the trip was widely reported in Irish newspapers – the Irish Press ran an article under the headline ‘High Privilege for Irish Guides’:
One hundred and nine members of the Catholic Girl Guides of Ireland in uniform, from Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Westport, Tipperary and Clare, who left Dublin last night for Rome will be on first aid duty in St Peter’s on Sunday during the ceremony of the Canonisation of Blessed John Bosco.
On the 5 April 1934 the Guides were granted an audience with Pope Pius XI, where they presented him with an address written in Italian, mounted on vellum and beautifully decorated with a Celtic design. It stated:
Our Guide movement although young embraces over 2,000 Catholic Irish girls … Our aims are to love and serve God and our holy church; to help our neighbours always and, while adhering strictly to the wishes expressed by your Holiness with regard to girls’ physical activities, to fit ourselves both spiritually and physically to make the Catholic Girl Guides of Ireland a stronghold of Catholic Action in our dear country.
In response the Pope thanked the Guides for their expressions of devotion and commended them on their ‘Fortitude, Readiness and Courage’ in the propagation of the faith, inspiring the Guides to adopt the terms as their motto.
In a letter to her aunt, Betty Casey, who was fifteen years old in 1934, recalled another trip to a convent in Bruges, Belgium, organised by the Guides in July of that year. At that time travel was difficult and it often took several days to reach a destination. The object of the trip was to take part in a series of up-to-date Guide training exercises practiced by the Belgium Guides. The journey took two days with a stopover in London, where Betty went sightseeing. There she met up with Guides from Dublin, Waterford and Westport, Co. Mayo, and they all continued on their journey. They stayed at the historic Convent of the Sacred Heart of the Retreat, situated on the site of the Palace of Marie of Burgundy. When they arrived she recalled:
We did not do much the first day, just walking around Bruges. In the morning we had drill and the Commissioner from Brussels and another Captain came. With them we went tracking in a wood in the evening. We had tea there too. Dinner was at 6.45pm. Then we usually had a sing-song, games or a camp-fire before bed. On Tuesday we went by special bus to Zeebrugge where there is a lovely strand. Some of us visited the Museum there, full of relics of the war. We also had a ride on a horse on the strand and went paddling.
The experience of foreign travel for most people in Ireland in the 1930s would have been rare. Through Guiding these girls were presented with the opportunity of seeing other countries, experiencing other cultures and broadening their education generally.
EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS
In many ways Catholicism was central to Irish nationalist ideology. In 1931 Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, which advocated social reforms and a ‘general moral revival’. When Eamon de Valera came to power in 1932 an advertisement was issued stating that the Fianna Fáil party would govern ‘in accordance with the principles enunciated in the encyclicals of Pope Pius XI on social order’. In an address to the Papal Legate at St Patrick’s Hall, Dublin Castle, which was attended by distinguished churchmen and laymen, he equated ‘Irish’ with ‘Catholic’ and made it clear that he considered Ireland to be an essentially Catholic nation. This had a lot to do with consolidating Ireland’s identity distinct from Britain.
The Eucharistic Congress in June 1932 was an example of the collaboration between church and state, with de Valera making many public appearances in the company of Irish bishops. The Eucharistic Congress required the mass involvement of church, state and citizens on a grand scale. It was estimated that in Dublin there were twelve miles of bunting and that at least one million people participated in the event, including hundreds of Catholic Girl Guides.
Guides from St Colman’s in the North of Ireland travelled to Dublin for the Congress and were photographed outside the Theatre Royal, Hippodrome and Winter Garden, situated close to Trinity College in Dublin.
Preparation for the Congress had been ongoing for weeks prior to the event. Schools located near Congress events were closed and used as hostels. To assist with stewarding, some of the girls were given basic lessons in first aid. In her diary May McGrath wrote:
As we did not feel proficient enough in first aid work we were given the duty of carrying water bottles. From the time of our arrival in the park at 10 a.m. we were kept busy until 6 p.m. The children seemed to have an unquenchable thirst and we began to fear that the huge supply of water would run out. We felt that if we gave water in abundance to the people in our section, there would be little need of first aid. Despite this, however, we were obliged to attend to numerous fainting cases. It was a wearying day but we remembered our Guide Laws and refrained from even the slightest grumble. Remembering instructions, we left the trams for our elders and walked home very slowly not knowing whether we were glad or sorry that our work was finished.
An international Camp for Guides and Scouts attending the Congress was held in Powerscourt Park in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow. Guides from around the world including a large contingent of Dutch Girl Guides made camp there for the duration of the Congress. Closer to home, the Cork Examiner reported that ‘a large number of Girl Guides left for Dublin by the 11.40 a.m. train. They will hold camp in Powerscourt Park during the Congress and will attend the ceremonies in Dublin’. In Cork itself, the Guides formally attended the Eucharistic Congress open air mass at the Mardyke.
LEADERSHIP
The recruitment and training of suitable leaders for the organisation was always challenging. Fr Michael Clarke who was Chaplain to the Dublin Guides in the 1930s stated:
The girls we require ... are from 20 to 30 years of age, if possible of secondary school education, and sufficiently interested in this branch of Catholic Action, to devote to it at least two nights a week.
Clarke did not want to approach other organisations within Catholic Action for help with recruitment of leaders, such as the Legion of Mary, as that would deplete their members. Approaches therefore were made to the Catholic Women’s Federation of Secondary School Unions to see if past pupils would be interested in getting involved in Guiding. It was mostly through the schools or religious orders that leaders came forward. Peggy Byrne from Ringsend wrote to Fr Clarke in 1939 having been recommended by Sr Brendan of the Convent of Mercy in Arklow:
Here in Ringsend we have a big parish, there are clubs and a Boy Scout Company for the boys, but so far there is nothing for the girls. If you could let me have the required information I could talk to our P.P. Fr Neary about it. Sr Brendan tells me your biggest difficulty is finding girls to train for Captains, I would be willing to take the course, I am 21 years of age, but I have not Secondary education, if however, you feel I would be acceptable, I am very interested and would do my best to make it a success.
Yours Sincerely
Peggy Byrne.
Peggy’s lack of secondary level education was not unusual for the time. In a report on Religious Examination of Primary Schools in the Diocese of Dublin in 1937 it was found that the average school-leaving age for girls was fourteen. For the Catholic Guides recruiting suitable leaders would pose a constant problem.
Having weathered the conflict of the early years in establishing a Catholic Guiding organisation over which it could have control, the Catholic church supported a diocesan-based Guiding movement. For the girls, membership of the Guides provided opportunities for travel, education and entertainment that otherwise would not have been open to them. This encouraged a sense of sisterhood amongst the girls and with the provision of a uniform, provided a sense of belonging that disguised class background. The Catholic/Irish ethos of the organisation also ensured that the girls played a part in reinforcing the identity of the state. Through the tenacity of Margaret Loftus and the original committee, who were not afraid to question the church, and through the activities and fun related by the guides who were there, life for some girls and young women in the 1920s and 1930s was stimulating and vibrant.
In the 1940s the Guides became an established feature of Irish society. At that time there emerged an odd disparity in the roles allocated to women. On one level, due to conditions arising because of the war, society accepted that girls and women should participate in duties traditionally carried out by men. However, on another level, during this period the popular view of women as mothers and housekeepers was never more ingrained in the fabric of Irish life.
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