Editing Father Mathew (section)

==In the United States==
[[File:Father Mathew Statue O'Connell Street.JPG|thumb|upright|The Father Mathew monument in its former location on Dublin's O'Connell Street<ref>{{cite news |last=Fegan |first=Joyce |date=27 November 2014 |title=124-Year-Old Fr Mathew Statue Needs a New Home Due to Luas |url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/124yearold-fr-mathew-statue-needs-a-new-home-due-to-luas-30778351.html |work=Independent.ie |location=Dublin |access-date=29 July 2018}}</ref>]]
Mathew visited the United States in 1849, returning in 1851.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} While there, he found himself at the centre of the [[abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] debate. Many of his hosts, including [[John Hughes (archbishop of New York)|John Hughes]], the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York|Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York]], were anti-abolitionists<ref>{{cite web |title=Archbishop John J. Hughes (1797–1863) |url=http://www.mrlincolnandnewyork.org/new-yorkers/archbishop-john-j-hughes-1797-1863/ |website=Mr. Lincoln and New York |publisher=Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |access-date=15 April 2017}}</ref> and wanted assurances that Mathew would not stray outside his remit of battling alcohol consumption. But Mathew had signed a petition (along with 60,000 Irish people, including [[Daniel O'Connell]]) encouraging the Irish in the US not to partake in slavery in 1841 during [[Charles Lenox Remond]]'s tour of Ireland.{{sfn|Dooley|1998|pp=10–11}}

In order to avoid upsetting these anti-abolitionist friends in the US, he snubbed an invitation to publicly condemn [[chattel slavery]], sacrificing his friendship with that movement. He defended his position by pointing out that there was nothing in the scripture that prohibited slavery. He was condemned by many on the abolitionist side, including the former slave and abolitionist [[Frederick Douglass]] who had received the pledge from Mathew in Cork in 1845. Douglass felt "grieved, humbled and mortified" by Mathew's decision to ignore slavery while campaigning in the US and "wondered how being a Catholic priest should inhibit him from denouncing the sin of slavery as much as the sin of intemperance".{{sfn|Kerrigan|1991}} Douglass felt it was his duty to now "denounce and expose the conduct of Father Mathew".<ref>{{cite web |last=Hogan |first=Liam |date=29 September 2014 |title='Oh What a Transition It Was to Be Changed from the State of a Slave to That of a Free Man!' Frederick Douglass's Journey from Slavery to Limerick |url=http://www.theirishstory.com/2014/09/29/oh-what-a-transition-it-was-to-be-changed-from-the-state-of-a-slave-to-that-of-a-free-man-frederick-douglasss-journey-from-slavery-to-limerick |website=The Irish Story |access-date=8 September 2016}}</ref>
[[File:Bridge plaque-Gaeilge.jpg|thumb|commemoration plaque of Fr. Matthew Bridge over the river Liffey]]