ABSTRACT
The year 1911 was a point at which Irish churchmen might well pause and take stock of their position. It was just forty years from disestablishment and it was a census year. Moreover, though no one could have realized it, Irishmen were at the end of an era of relative political tranquillity and on the threshold of an age which was to be marked by political crises and civil strife. The population changes which occurred after the beginning of the twentieth century demanded a redistribution of the church's resources, especially in clerical manpower. This demand was imperatively reinforced after 1914 by economic pressure, the war accentuating tendencies which had been developing for some years. At the beginning of the 1920s the outlook for reunion had seemed hopeful, at least to an optimistic broad churchman. The active interest shown by the leaders of the Church of Ireland in Christian unity reflects their awareness of the forces at work in contemporary Christianity.
