Father Bernard Vaughan having been asked whether he thought it justifiable to give the last Sacrament to hunger strikers, replied "Personally from my reading of theology, moral and dogmatic, I should not feel entitled to administer the rites of the Church to anyone, No matter what his nationality, who was deliberately dying of hunger strike. I am free to admit that other theologians far more learned than I am would reverse my verdict on the subject. Some moralists there are who deny that hunger-striking cannot be justified; others draw a distinction between objective truths and subjective error. As you. are asking me for my own personal view of the subject I give it for what it is worth without comment upon anyone who may differ from me."
Father Dominic, chaplain to the Lord Mayor, upon leaving the prison after a recent visit to Mac-Sweeny, was asked by a Press representative whether he supported the Lord Mayor's hunger strike on moral grounds. He said there was nothing wrong in it morally; he had given the Lord Mayor' the Last Sacrament some days ago. "There is no object," he added, "in waiting until the last moment." He did not agree with Father Bernard Vaughan's view, and instanced the case of "that gallant gentleman," Captain Oates, of the Antarctic Expedition, who gave up his life in order to help his com-"That," said Father Dominic, "was considered at the time to be a very praiseworthy act, and the Lord Mayor's hunger strike is essentially the same. He is offering his life for the sake of his fellow countrymen."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.