Were Established Church Wardens Protestant?

[Wexflyer]

I was looking last night at a 1831 letter from the Lord Lieutenant to the church wardens of the parish of Coolstuff, Co. Wexford, which can be seen at
http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/reels/tab//004587425/004587425_00175.pdf
You will notice that one of the Church Wardens is John Brennan. I know of only one John Brennan in the parish, and he was definitely Catholic. Would this have been possible?  While the vestry could and did contain Catholics, I though church wardens were universally Protestant.

[Ghostwheel]

Do you know what townland the Catholic John lived in and is it the same as the church's location or especially near?

Other than the townland, the only clue I can think of would be the CoI registers for that parish, that is, if they didn't burn up in 1922.

[Wexflyer]

Do you know what townland the Catholic John lived in and is it the same as the church's location or especially near?

Other than the townland, the only clue I can think of would be the CoI registers for that parish, that is, if they didn't burn up in 1922.

Yes, I do know the townland, though he is inexplicably not shown in the actual tythe valuation. But the townland location is irrelevant, as there was no church in the parish of Coolstuff. Most civil parishes did not have a church at all, usually being part of a larger "union". In fact, that may be the answer to my question - perhaps the Church Wardens listed were not for the civil parish of Coolstuff, per se, but for the larger union, in which case the John Brennan mentioned may in fact be from another parish within the union? However, all the other persons mention with regard to the special vestry were from Coolstuff civil parish.

[aghadowey]

Doesn't really answer your query, but I had always just assumed that Church Wardens would have belonged to the Church of Ireland (Established Church) until I had discovered a member of the nearby Presbyterian church listed as a church warden.

[Ghostwheel]

It seems there was a rectory and glebe, but no church, or at least one that was not ruins.  So, it is still a strong possibility that he was a local man.

A very wild guess.  What I was thinking of is the cemetery.  A lot of old Catholic cemeteries were taken over by the CoI but continued to have Catholic burials as can sometimes be seen on graves which are marked "IHS."  Perhaps, John was involved in taking care of the cemetery or else farming the glebe.