Nuair a tháinig dream beag le chéile i Sr. Uí Chonaill, Baile Átha Cliath, in 1893 chun Conradh na Gaeilge a bhunú, bhí sagart amháin ina measc, an tAth. Liam Ó hAodáin de Chumann Íosa. Bhí an tAth. Eoghan Ó Gramhna thar sáile san am, an sagart óg a ceapadh ina ollamh le Gaeilge i Maigh Nuad dhá bhliain roimhe sin, agus a bhí ina eagarthóir ar Irisleabhar na Gaeilge san am céanna. In alt misniúil a foilsíodh san Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Samhain 1890, léirigh sé go raibh géarghá lena thuilleadh sagart a chuirfeadh suim sa teanga. Tar éis liosta fada de scoláirí Gaeilge ó Jubainville go Thurneysen a lua, scríobh se :
All these are foreigners and nearly all Catholic…..if we search among Irish Catholics, we find no laymen of eminence…..Then in the clergy we shall meet with very few scholars. There are eight or nine in the regular orders. The secular clergy are represented by Dr. McCarthy, and one or two others rarely en evidence, and by a handful of younger priests, willing, it may be, and earnest, but without influence and opportunities
Scríobh Eoin Mac Néill alt den chineál céanna san Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Nollaig 1891, mar dhuirt sé go soiléir go bhféadfadh an chléir an Ghaeilge a shábháil nó a mharbhadh:
To one even practically conversant with the facts of the case, it must seem a truism to say that the future of the Irish Language is almost wholly in the hands of the clergy…there is no other body and there are no other individuals in possession of any such influence