From The New York Times,

November 24, 1887

THE MEETING IN COMMEMORATION OF THE MANCHESTER MARTYRS

The twentieth anniversary meeting in commemoration of the Manchester martyrs, Allen, O'Brien, and Barrett, under the auspices of the Fenian Brotherhood, District of Manhattan, attracted an audience of 2,500 to Cooper Union last evening. On the platform and scattered through the house were James P. Archibald, James J. Coogan, Bernard Campbell, P. B. Egan, John A. Kearney, Patrick McGahey, Col. James H. Kerrigan, Mrs. Margaret Moore, Mrs. J. H. Hackett, George Smith, and Frank Farrel. The mottoes over the front of the stage were: "Col. John O'Mahoney, Father of the Fenian Brotherhood," and the names of the Manchester martyrs. Miss Agatha Munier's Concordia Chorus sat on the platform, but did not sing.

An attack by Richard Caffrey, the second speaker, a juvenile orator of the Manhattan circle, on Patrick Ford caused a small disturbance. Mr. Caffrey said that after a careful study of Irish history he had come to the conclusion that the best way to right the wrongs of the oppressed country was to plant a bomb in the heart of England.  [Cheers and a yell of dynamite.]  There were men formerly prominent in the Fenian movement who have lately sold their brethren at the polls and dealt the new political party what they considered a deadly blow. Mr. Caffrey mentioned Eugene Kelly and Richard O'Gorman as defunct patriots of this class. He attacked Patrick Ford as one who had effectually stifled the new reform for two or three years to come. Mr. Ford's name was received with a tempest of hissing, groaning, and cat  calls.

Two men in the hall attempted to defend him and were bustled out unceremoniously. One did not succeed in making himself heard, but the other, advancing up the side aisle to the stage, said to the orator: "Mr. Ford is a man, while you are only a child." The objector was quickly taken in charge by a self-constituted committee, overpowered, and borne out. A company of the Sixty-ninth Regiment, who were scattered in uniform in threes and fours around one side of the hall, quickly got up and walked out under the leader of the officers, Paul Leonard, when Mr. Caffrey's opinions became plain.

Dr. McGlynn, who was in excellent form, was the principal speaker of the evening, and said some bitter things against the Catholic Church. It was not a sectional platform on which he stood; it was one on which as a clergyman and an Irishman he was glad to stand. Rightly understood, the Christian ministry did not impair a man's liberty, but made him freer and more eager to support what was holy and just. Twenty-five years ago he had argued in company with other young priests for the rights of the Fenians against certain venerable ecclesiastics, who were all for peace and order, and, singular to observe, were against abolition as well as Irish revolution. A year ago last night, although invited to the platform at the meeting in memory of the Manchester martyrs, he had been afraid to go to it because an old man 5,000 miles away had advised that "this priest McGlynn" be prohibited from attending any public meetings whatever. All his life he had suppressed himself. It was when he could no longer evade the the anger of these men but by denying God's truth that he became emancipated. He would go to the scaffold or the stake rather than give up the great truth that the land of Ireland belonged to the people of Ireland and the land of every country to its people. The Irish had a right to plot and plan for the liberation of their country and to pay no more attention to the theologians in Rome or in Madison-square than to the buzzing of bees. [Applause.]

With Daniel O'Connell they might accept as much religion as they liked from Rome, but no politics. When defending the Fenians one venerable ecclesiastic had told him that he was free to give absolution if he liked, but that he himself personally would not. It was a queer religion where one could get absolution in one confessional box and not in the next. The blessing of the clergy was a good thing, but it was not well always to wait for it to do a good thing. Dr. McGlynn finished by reading a poem by Denis Florence McCarthy on the famine in Ireland.

Ex-Congressman William E. Robinson, John McMackin, and the Rev. Charles McCarthy also spoke.

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Note: The Catholic Encyclopedia online [ http://www.newadvent.org/ ] discusses Fr. McGlynn in a biographical article about Bishop Corrigan (1839-1902).  (Emphasis has been added to the text): Born in Newark, 31 August, 1839, [Bishop Corrigan's] college days were spent at Mt. St. Mary's, Emmitsburg, and at Rome. Ordained in 1863, Bishop Corrigan became president of Seton Hall College in 1868, Bishop of Newark in 1873, Coadjutor of New York in 1880, and archbishop in 1885. He died from an accidental fall during the building of the Lady Chapel at the Cathedral, 5 May, 1902. It was said of him by the New York Evening Post: "The memory of his life distills a fragrance like to that of St. Francis." By some New Yorkers he was for a time a much misunderstood man, whose memory time will vindicate. Acute thinkers are appreciating his worth as a civilian as well as a churchman, and the fact that, for Catholics, he grappled with the first menacing move of Socialism and effectually and permanently checked its advance. He was an administrator of ability and, socially, a man of winning personality. To the serious problem of providing for the spiritual need of the inrushing thousands of European immigrants he gave successful consideration. The splendid seminary at Dunwoodie is his best memorial. Its beautiful chapel he built at a cost of $60,000--his whole private inherited fortune. During his administration controversy over the school question was waged with a certain amount of acrimony. He was regarded as the leader of those all over the country who stood for uncompromising Catholic education. Archbishop Corrigan was also drawn into conflict with the Rev. Dr. Edward McGlynn, rector of St. Stephen's church, a man of considerable ability, but whose radical views on the ownership of land had brought on him the official censure of Cardinal Simeoni, Prefect of Propaganda. In the municipal election of 1886, in spite of the archbishop's warnings, he became the open partisan of Henry George who was the candidate for mayor of the Single Tax Party. As a consequence, he was suspended, and, as an alumnus of the College of Propaganda, was summoned to Rome to answer the charges made against him. He refused to go and was excommunicated. --For details and texts of official letters, see Archbishop Corrigan's statement to New York papers (21 January 1887) and Dr. McGlynn's formal answer in Henry George's Standard (5 February 1887). Dr. McGlynn's partisans organized themselves into what they called the Anti-Poverty Society. He addressed this body every Sunday until about Christmas, 1892, when, having willingly accepted the conditions laid down by the pope, he was absolved from censure and reconciled by Mgr. Satolli, the Apostolic Delegate. According to a published statement by Mgr. Satolli, the conditions were in this form:

Dr. McGlynn had presented a brief statement of his opinions on moral-economic matters, and it was judged not contrary to the doctrine constantly taught by the Church, and as recently confirmed by the Holy Father in the encyclical 'Rerum Novarum'. Also it is hereby made known that Dr. McGlynn, besides publicly professing his adherence to all the doctrines and teachings of the Catholic Church, has expressed regret (saying that he would be the first to regret it) for any word or act of his that may have seemed lacking in the respect due to ecclesiastical authority, and he hereby intends to repair as far as he can any offense which may have been given to Catholics. Finally, Dr. McGlynn has of his own free will declared and promised that, within the limits of a not long period of time, he will go to Rome in the spirit and intention which are becoming to a good Catholic and a priest.

In 1894 Dr. McGlynn was appointed pastor of St. Mary's church, Newburg, where he remained quietly until his death in 1901.