The themes of loneliness and despair have been introduced by the beginning of chapter four, Belfast, its society and surroundings have been revealed in belittling terms. Religion is a constant theme within the novel and Moore sets the scene as Judith gets ready for Sunday Mass, the best part of the week. “She sets loneliness aside on a Sunday morning,”9 Judith approaches Sunday as a social occasion to see her friends the O’Neil’s and also a day out to meet other Catholics who conformed and attended Mass. Judith never really joined any good causes within the church she followed in her Aunt Darcy’s footsteps, “Church affairs tend to put one in contact with all sorts of people whom one would prefer not to know socially.”10 Moore reveals that religion is a comfort to Judith, a social interaction and a routine. “Gods ways were not our ways,”11 this reveals to the reader the negative attitude Moore has on the teachings of the Catholic Church. This view is further backed up with Madden and his unrighteous thoughts of lust for Mary the night before. Madden is more concerned with keeping his trousers clean from the dusty boards in church, and receiving absolution for his sins, than he is with worshipping god. Moore presents Catholicism in a very negative light; he depicts Maddens character to show us that many Roman Catholics see religion as insurance and a way to get forgiveness to enter heaven. Moore uses the regimented way in which father Quigley criticises his congregation to reveal, according to Donoghue “the whole catholic system whose failings one man is made to embody.”12 Moore describes Father Quigley as “shuffling”13 and “peering”14 as he makes a hasty entrance to the altar. The haste of his arrival is portrayed by the altar boys who “scuttled”15 to keep up with his swift entrance. He is further described as a tall and terribly stern man with accusing “long spatulate fingers.”16 Moore uses repetitiveness and the priests patronising narrative tone to demonstrate his misgivings of the Catholic Church. The sermon itself emphasised regimented routine, not the worship of god, as father Quigley rushed through and “mumbled the opening prayers,”17 showing no respect. The parishioners also had the same sense of haste and lack of respect, “latecomers jostled, whispered and shuffled”18 revealing the diverse absence of secularism amidst the “noise and confusion.”19 It would appear that Moore’s use of pathetic fallacy heightens the mood, as the weather darkens the room “the priest’s white and gold vestments shone brightly out of the murk above his congregation.”20 Moore felt this is “Like many attitudes of Irish priests, he takes the best seat in the room and considers everything to be in his due”.21. Stood like a “watchdog”22 and “his nostrils flare like a horse.”23 To the reader this reveals he is like an owl seeking his prey, in for the kill, as he hurled abuse at his parishioners, shouting repetitively. “I mean you people up there.., I mean coming in late.., I mean young boys and girls dirtying up the seats.., I mean the shocking attitude of the parishioners..,”24 it sounds like he is threatening the parishioners with eternal damnation “if you don’t have time for god he will have no time for you.”25Mass is supposed to be a celebration to God. Moore reveals the paradox of Father Quigley’s angry outburst as a contradiction, “if not a caricature, and a combination of all the worst defects observed imaginable in a Roman Catholic Priest.”26 Moore further subjects the reader to the belief that the Roman Catholic religion is controlling; he once again uses Father Quigley’s embittered tone, as he tells the congregation they have “plenty of money! Plenty of time! Plenty of time.”27 He roars out “drinking the pubs dry.. Football matches.. Naked.. and foreign dances.. instead of ceildhes.”28 Moore reveals the priest is more interested in telling the congregation off for doing worldly activities, instead of putting their money in the collection plate. This seems to show preaching the word of God is secondary, the relief he offers from these immoral sins are an empty church and “sodality meeting for men and Children of Mary devotions for women”29. Moore may also be trying to emphasis the social control of the church on the faithful. Father Quigley tries to threaten his parishioners with “everlasting fire that was prepared for the devil and his angels.”30 He further accuses his parishioners of leaving the “House of God empty.”31 According to Roman Catholic faith god is supposed to live in the gate behind the “tabernacle door.”32 In the final chapters of the novel we recall Judith’s crisis almost like a nervous breakdown, when she tells the reader “what good of anything unless it’s more than bread."33 Moore presents us with Judith’s loss of faith as she attacks the tabernacle; this may indeed support his own atheist approach to “the world is indeed secular and empty that the world can hold its void.”34 Moore uses Judith actions to reveal his lack of belief, also Father Quigley’s inability to help Judith in her time of crisis. The only thing the priest can say is “you should be on your bended knee, praying for forgiveness. A terrible terrible thing!”35 and even Father Quigley rejects her cry for help. “He heaps on penitence and guilt where forgiveness and grace are needed.”36 Moore reveals he was helpless “Shepherd, he looked at his sheep. What ails here? Priest, he could not communicate with his parishioner. No Father Quigley said, “I don’t know what you are talking about,”37 revealing that he could not grasp the situation. He can not understand her loss of faith and he can not deal with it, even as another sympathetic human being. He was more worried about the protestant taxi driver seeing Judith out of control and in a state of drunkenness.
Moore’s attitude to religion throughout The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne relentlessly reveals to the reader that he is not a religious person. He denounces all forms of Belfast bigotry its society and religion, almost like he is biased against Catholicism, to be critical of this it is only his side of the story. His bitterness and religious themes also applies to other novels he has written, such as Black Robe38 and Cold Heaven.39 Moore reveals his negative feelings for organised religion both Roman Catholic and Protestant, suggesting 1950s religion was a frightening experience. Part of the reasons for these hatreds may have evolved from, As Patricia Craig tartly observes, “the fact that the family happened to live bang opposite the local Orange Order headquarters, topped by a statue of King Billy brandishing his sword,” 'probably helped to keep their sectarian instincts up to the mark.” It may also have been the strict catholic upbringing in which Brian had to endure and also simply the troubles and life at that time.
Reference
1. Wall Eamonn, An Interview with Brian Moore, University of Missouri-St. Louis. Volume 5, Number 1 / Fall 2006. (Pg101).
2. Ibid (Pg 106)
3. Ibid (pg106)
4. Biocritical essay: Hallvard Dahlie. [Calgary]: University of Calgary Press (1987)
5. Moore B, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, London Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition 2007, (Pg 103)
6. Craig P, Moore’s Maladies: Belfast in the Mid-Twentieth Century, Christopher Murray. Vol. 18 No.1
7. Donoghue, J Brian Moore: A Critical Study, London, Gill and Macmillan Ltd, 1990 (Pg 39).
8. Robert Sullivan, "Brian Moore: A Clinging Climate", London Magazine 16:5 (December 1976/January 1977), (Pg. 65-66).
9. Moore B, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, London Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition 2007, (Pg 60)
10. Ibid (Pg 66)
11. Ibid (Pg 67)
12. Donoghue, J Brian Moore: A Critical Study, London, Gill and Macmillan Ltd, 1990 (Pg 22).
13. Moore B, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, London Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition 2007, (Pg 67)
14. Ibid (Pg 67)
15. Ibid (Pg 67)
16. Ibid (Pg 67)
17. Ibid (Pg 67)
18. Ibid (Pg 68)
19. Ibid (Pg 68)
20. Ibid (Pg 70)
21. Wall Eamonn, An Interview with Brian Moore, University of Missouri-St. Louis. Volume 5, Number 1 / Fall 2006. (Pg101)
22. Moore B, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, London Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition 2007, (Pg 70)
23. Ibid (Pg72)
24. Ibid (Pg 70-71)
25. Ibid (Pg73)
26. Donoghue, J Brian Moore: A Critical Study, London, Gill and Macmillan Ltd, 1990 (Pg 21).
27. Classics edition 2007, (Pg 70)
28. Ibid (Pg 73)
29. Ibid (Pg71)
30. Ibid (Pg74)
31. Ibid (Pg71)
32. Craig P, Brian Moore biography, smoothing out the rough edges. The .. Keates
33. Moore B, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, London Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition 2007, (Pg 236)
34. Cosgrove B. Brian Moore and The Price of Freedom in a Secular World. Irish University Review. Vol 18. No1 Spring 1988. Editor, Christopher Murry. Pg(60)
35. Moore B, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, London Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition 2007, (Pg 237)
36. Craig P, Brian Moore biography, smoothing out the rough edges. The .. Keates.
37. Moore B, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, London Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition 2007, (Pg 235)
38. Moore B, Black Robe. London, Flamingo, 1994
39. Moore B, Cold heaven. London, triad/panther, 1985
40. Craig P, Brian Moore biography, smoothing out the rough edges. The .. Keates.
June Boyd English Page Words 1632 17/02/2009