Episode 20: Outspoken Women and Excommunication

Bishop Richard Gilmour was already affronted when Irish community members formed organizations without a religious purpose and without the leadership of priests. He was further exercised when those leaders and organizations began to push more aggressively for Irish nationhood. But the conflicts between Bishop Gilmour and some Irish community leaders reached a new level of antagonism when a bold group of women got involved in promoting Irish nationhood. Calling them unwomanly and "brawling politicians" whose place should have been in the home, Gilmour excommunicated the women who persisted in participating in the Ladies Land League.