The Church Of Ireland
Press Release

Few will be surprised that as a Churchman who has exercised my ministry during some of the most traumatic years of Ireland's history my most fervent hopes for this new millennium rotate around peace and reconciliation.

These two words are among the most frequently used by this generation in Ireland and their familiarity has bred its own degrees of complacency, indifference and déjà vu. Many have little problem in acknowledging their validity and giving verbal support to their aspirations - but to implement them in practical, everyday ways presents the real challenge. The vast majority of Irish men and women welcomed the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement - but did everyone read the small print and really recognise what would be called for to make its ideals a reality - did everyone see what they would have to face up to themselves to make the Agreement work?

Gospel imperatives:

Reconciliation and peace are deeply theological terms. The New Testament contains much evidence of their proximity to the new order brought into being by the incarnation. Reconciliation with God through the power of the Spirit to transform and the example of Christ to inspire cannot be contradicted. Equally the 'reconciliation of the reconciled' with their neighbour shines out of the Gospel narratives. Peace again stems in that new order from the personal experience of peace with God the Creator, but contains the strictures of understanding, harmony and absence of division within the human experience of society. Few can deny the Gospel imperative to place the concepts of peace and reconciliation high on the list of what was said at Calvary, practised in the Garden of Gethsemane or preached on the Mount.

It is therefore at that centre of incarnational inspiration that I find my real hopes for this new millennium best described.

Let me first acknowledge two aspects of the problem.

Reconciliation - a process:

Some years ago a sixth former in one of our schools put this question to me:

"How will I recognise the day I wake up and know that reconciliation has happened?"

We may smile the smile of adult understanding at those words. But they do point to a vital understanding of reconciliation. Reconciliation is not a fact of the achievement of a moment in history. It is a process. It is a journey. It is a pilgrimage. Reconciliation in all its splendour and in all its vitality takes time. So deep are the problems, so varied are the manifestations of reconciliation in Ireland and so far back in our troubled history lie the root causes of obstacles to reconciliation that none of us can doubt lasting and full reconciliation on this island towards which we are travelling is still a vision on the horizon. The path is long and it is very hard. The Christian call is to do what we can where we are and as we are to make some small even faltering contribution to that journey.

Failure:

The second acknowledgement is that we have all failed miserably to live up to the ideals of reconciliation and peace.

It is all too easy to say 'I have never planted a bomb' or 'I have never thrown a stone' or 'I have never said anything against a neighbour'. It is also all to easy to take the path of safety and security, the path which says 'keep your head down - its nothing to do with you' or 'we have no problem here with our neighbours - it's a matter for the north'. Unfortunately too many have found their own degree of comfort in such approaches. Yet within those who have shown courage, self sacrifice and active involvement surely none would deny, personal failure or shortcoming? Mistakes have been made, errors of judgement committed even when courage of a high personal nature has been present. None more than all the Christian Churches of Ireland must find themselves subject to such condemnation. We have spelt out the Gospel imperatives, we have issued calls and occasionally exhibited a willingness to do together what we ask society to emulate - but time and again the pulpit and the sanctuary have failed to bring into homes, on to our streets or into the debates of decision-makers the Gospel we proclaim.

Scrutiny of the Church:

I remember my old friend Archbishop Desmond Tutu once saying to me:

"It's not just that we have to struggle with a Gospel of unbelievable demands - it's that we have to struggle with a world that expects so much from us."

Society in Ireland is changing to an unbelievable degree and at an equally unbelievable pace. Ireland's Church has not always recognised those facts. Far gone, whether we acknowledge it or not, are the days of universal allegiance, acceptance or unquestioned authority for the Irish Church. Rightly so society scrutinises, criticises and analyses Church stances in ways our forefathers would have found impossible to imagine. Far from hiding away from such public scrutiny the Church should take to heart what society is saying about it. But society needs to be aware that it can fall into the trap of seeing its Churches as some sort of mirror image of its own failings or shortcomings. Nevertheless the Church of Jesus Christ must strive to reach the highest integrity in its reflection of the way of Christ of Galilee. Too often we have sought comfort in the bland pronouncement, the endless condemnation, the hope that faithfulness in the sanctuary will compensate for unfaithfulness in the market-place and that traditional attitudes of respect will carry credence for current shortcomings. Such words directed against the institution in which one seeks to serve may sound harsh. But until we put our own house in order we have a flawed integrity for pronouncing on the ills of Irish society.

So how does all this background relate to the concepts of reconciliation and peace in the years ahead?

Importance of memories:

I believe it speaks to our memories.

Many have had to come to terms in new and searching ways with their memories in the Peace Process. Society has expected much of the victims of violence. It has asked so much of those who have every reason to carry resentment and sorrow in their hearts : parents, widows and children who have watched the early release of those who murdered their loved ones have been subjected to intense testing of their faith victims whose loss and injuries will continue to haunt for a life-time have been forgotten by most of us : old enmities have festered and become more, and more divisive because others have not valued the power of memory. Surely we need a fresh appreciation of what memories do to people?

Struggle for hearts and minds of Protestantism:

But there is another struggle going on in Northern Ireland today. That struggle is one of identity. People have serious choices to make in both the unionist and nationalist communities. There are many who find It almost impossible to come to terms with the pace of change. It is for each community to examine itself with degrees of honesty before addressing its neighbour.

Within the Protestant community the crucial question is how they wish to be identified. Are they to be identified only with the past with all its problems and suffering or are they to find a new identity with the future, unclear though that may be? Are they to follow the voices calling for violence and divisiveness or are they to encourage a new era of cooperation? Are they to cling to old attitudes or are they to embrace forward thinking in which aspirations of both communities are respected? Are they to recognise in urgent ways the dangers involved in sectarian attitudes sectarian actions and sectarian words? Recently we have seen the ugly face of loyalist violence within loyalist areas. That violence could so easily translate into a return to widespread sectarian violence against another community. We dare not and cannot contemplate such a return to the misery of the past. It is not just a question of violence - it is a question of attitude and way of life. I if sectarianism is encouraged and allowed to fester I can visualise a community that the world will want to pass by, a community which history will forget and a community which will have little or nothing to offer its young people for the future.

Drumcree:

The challenge which events surrounding the attendance of Portadown Orange lodges at Drumcree parish church in July pose to the Church of Ireland is immense. Public perception of the civil unrest, the violence, intimidation and disruption which accompany the protest before and after that service has done great harm to the name of the Church of Ireland. Repeatedly I have had to disassociate the Church of Ireland at large from those events. I have made my views very clear to all the parties involved in what is a more complex and sensitive situation than many observers from afar either realise or attempt to understand but those events which have been portrayed across the world by the media are an utter disgrace. None of the parties can shift responsibility on to anyone else. While it is true 'Drumcree' is a cameo of the tensions of Northern Ireland and is a symptom of our divisions, the Church cannot allow responsibility through association to continue. Words spoken following that service this year and calls for widespread protest across the community were a complete rejection of the dignity or solemnity of the worship of Almighty God.

Irish Churches and the peace process:

During the thirty years of widespread terrorism and violence in Northern Ireland the Christian Church reacted to death, injury and violent confrontation by providing pastoral care of a very high order. Across the Christian world many paid tribute to that service at the parish level. Indeed parish clergy of all denominations have received less than due credit for their courage, leadership and costly ministry in many very dangerous situations, However, the coming of the Peace Process has provoked serious and deep questions for Irish Churches. Issues have to be faced which were always there behind the smokescreen of the troubles but which now take on a new intensity in these days. Reconciliation is now an urgent imperative. Forgiveness and understanding test the depth of personal faith. Memories haunt too many and they become obstacles to that reconciliation and forgiveness. There have been remarkable personal examples of Christian reconciliation - but there are many, many people who cannot find forgiveness, who see reconciliation as some sort of weakness and who believe that "things will never change."

The Church has not found the transition from physical trauma to the ministry of reconciliation easy. Ministry in days of violence held its own identity. Now the Gospel of reconciliation is demanding the re-examination of identity, the recognition of other's rights, the active sympathy for how others feel and the overcoming of traditional or historic boundaries. Denominationalism is being confronted by searching questions about tribalism, over identification with its 'own side' and attitudes to what are the genuine concerns of others. Above all else, the Church is being searched out on its role as prophet in a society which is struggling to leave so much of the past behind it while at the same time clinging to the familiarity and strange comfort of traditional attitudes.

How the Irish Churches adapt to this new situation will hold the key to so much of their relevance in future generations.

Prophetic voice:

What then is the real nature of that prophetic voice for the days to come?

First, we need to recapture the vision of 'the God and Father of all.'

The Church must not be identified with or perceived to be the means of worshipping a sectional God. The thought that we proclaim a unionist, a nationalist, a Protestant or a Roman Catholic God may seem to some outside Ireland unbelievable. Sadly there are those who do so. Within the obsessions of sectarianism such evidence abounds. It is nothing short of blasphemy. It is the root seed of religious tribalism. The fact that it is a reality for some challenges Christianity to the core. It is a denial of the universality of the Christ of Calvary. It is the ultimate erosion of the words from the Cross. No greater prophetic voice can there be than that which calls on Ireland to worship and serve a God whose love and forgiveness is universal - and without distinction of class, political outlook or creed.

Voice for justice:

Second, we need to become the real voice for justice.

Each section of society has reason to believe it has suffered injustice, misunderstanding and hurt in Ireland. Each community feels it has been misrepresented. We are all, irrespective of identification, victims and prisoners of our history. Protestantism has been victimised, Roman Catholicism has been victimised, unionism, and nationalism have been victimised, if we are to be true to our Incarnational origins then the hurt or injustice inflicted not just on one section of the community but on any section should be the concern of each Church. Where there is injustice within any one part of the community then that ought to be the concern of the whole Christian community. At the very least we must get away from the concept that all we concern ourselves with is what appears to be an Injustice to "our own people." It will demand courage - and it will involve the cry of 'betrayal' from some - but the Cross of Calvary demands it.

If there is clear injustice within or towards the Roman Catholic or nationalist community that should be a concern for the Protestant or unionist community. If there is clear injustice within or towards the Protestant or unionist community that should be the concern of the Roman Catholic or nationalist community. Until we reach a stage where such levels of concern or appreciation of justice are a feature of everyday life we will continue to tribalise and sectarianise. The search for justice demands nothing less. The path of Calvary demands nothing less.

Christian dimension:

Third, prophesy demands a clear proclamation of the Christian dimension to society.

Sectarianism is the main corrosive force in our society, particularly in Northern Ireland. But the Churches in Ireland also find themselves challenged by secularism. Secularism has come of age in Ireland. We have not always been as conscious of this as we should have been because of our preoccupation with other matters. There are many north and south who see little relevance in what is seen or heard in sanctuary or pulpit. Wealth for some has increased poverty for others. Success for some has spelt personal failure for others. Standards in society today question many traditional attitudes to what constitutes 'the good life'. Young people have either an appreciation of 'the spiritual' which is not imprisoned in traditional denominational teaching or else they have a growing indifference to the relevance of the Church in their lives. Materialism has brought its own value judgements of what is worthwhile. Far from being the ultimate defeat which some Church people regard it to be, I believe the process of Irish secularism is a unique opportunity for the Church of Christ. It is the canvas on which we are called to repaint the vision of Christ, the words of Christ and above all else provides the prophetic voice of such values as sacrifice, good neighbourliness, dedication and service, Above all this situation demands the voice which is seen to be prophetic and is worked out in action, life and personal example.

Just three aspects of what I see to be the prophetic voice of the Irish Churches.

My hopes for the new millennium - a Church which is faithful, a Church which is relevant, a Church which can find a new courageous voice of prophesy. But in the end thank God we will not be judged by popularity, worldly success or worldly influence. In the end of this or any millennium surely all we will be asked is: were you faithful with what I gave you to do?

My hope for society : we must go on and on and on facing the obstacles to peace and reconciliation, answering the fears, overcoming the difficulties - so that one day we can pass on a community to those who come after us in which the absence of fear, violence and hatred will provoke the question:

"Was it really like that?"