By Tom Deignan

NINETY years ago this week, Irish Americans of a certain nationalist stripe cheered the Easter Rising of April 23, 1916.

This might seem an easy thing for an Irishman to do, but it wasn’t. President Woodrow Wilson, a noted Anglophile, was known to rail against “hyphenated Americans.” He and many others felt immigrants in the U.S. should pledge their loyalty only to their adopted land rather than the land of their birth.

When it came to the pro-Rising Irish this was a particularly thorny issue. Cheering against the British often seemed a lot like cheering for their enemy in World War I, the Germans.

It did not help that some of the Easter Rising plotters in the U.S. had actually collaborated with the Germans. Some, such as John Devoy, were arrested on conspiracy charges.

So, not for the first time, the Irish in America were accused of having “divided loyalties.”

These days, few doubt the patriotic contributions of Irish Americans to the cause of freedom in the U.S. Since at least the days of JFK’s run for president, balancing the Irish and the Catholic aspects of identity here in America is the thing that has become difficult.

Issues such as abortion, the drift of the Irish away from the Democratic Party as well as the (seemingly contradictory) feeling among many Irish Catholics that birth control and abortion are acceptable, have only made matters more complicated.

In recent weeks, the issue of illegal immigration has proven to be a tough test for Irish Catholics. On one side there are people such as Republican Congress-man Peter King, the Homeland Security chairman in the House whose Irish credentials are impeccable, who is opposed to abortion, yet who feels the time has come to seal up America’s borders.

Then there’s Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, who has sworn to defy a Republican-backed law which would make it illegal to assist any undocumented immigrant.

In short, this was not an easy Holy Week to figure out what it means to be “Irish” and “Catholic.”

Perhaps that’s why a statement signed and released earlier this year by at least 10 Irish Catholic Democrats deserves more attention than it received.

A blessedly brief statement, the Democrats sought to balance their religious convictions with their political beliefs. There were pro-choice and pro-life signatories. But the main thrust of the statement seemed to be that there is more to Catholic life than the issue of abortion.

“As Catholic Democrats in Congress, we are proud to be part of the living Catholic tradition — a tradition that promotes the common good, expresses a consistent moral framework for life and highlights the need to provide a collective safety net to those individuals in society who are most in need,” the statement, signed by a total of 55 representatives, begins.

“We work every day to advance respect for life and the dignity of every human being. We believe that government has moral purpose.”

Among the Irish Americans who signed the document are New York reps Joe Crowley, Maurice Hinchey and Carolyn McCarthy. Massachusetts reps Stephen Lynch, Marty Meehan, Patrick J. Kennedy and Edward J. Markey also signed on.

“We are committed to making real the basic principles that are at the heart of Catholic social teaching — helping the poor and disadvantaged, protecting the most vulnerable among us, and ensuring that all Americans of every faith are given meaningful opportunities to share in the blessings of this great country,” the statement continues.

“In all these issues, we seek the church’s guidance and assistance but believe also in the primacy of conscience. In recognizing the church’s role in providing moral leadership, we acknowledge and accept the tension that comes with being in disagreement with the church in some areas.”

Not surprisingly the statement was blasted by many on the other side of the aisle. On the whole, though, I would say that since religion has become such a political issue, it is important for Irish Catholics to embrace and debate — rather than run from — the religious part of their identity.

Will Republican Irish Catholics respond? Stay tuned.

(Contact Sidewalks at tomdeignan@earthlink.net.)