The Church of Ireland
Press Release

I come as one who for the past 25 years has exercised an Episcopal ministry in the Church of Ireland, the Anglican Church in Ireland, for the most part in Northern Ireland. For the past 15 years I have been privileged to be Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland. You will recognise that both those periods cover years of great suffering, division and alienation for the communities in Northern Ireland due to civil disorder, terrorism and violence. Both main communities have suffered and the hurt of those years is now beginning to manifest itself in attitudes to the fragile peace process as political dialogue seeks to replace violence. For all the Churches the issues of Christian Ministry to people divided by memories, experience and continuing contrary aspirations present us with judgments, issues and questions. I have long believed that there is a duty on Christians to share insights, discuss problems and analyse reactions with others outside a local scene for the pilgrimage we follow as members of the one Body can only grow in maturity if we share one another's burdens and share our failures in honesty. For the lessons of Northern Ireland contain I believe much which should question and caution the universal Church in a new millennium.

I have also to say that my approach is that of someone who sees the practical implementation of pastoral theology as a priority for my Ministry. Over the years I feel I have seen the development of what I would call 'situational theology'. Ministry has reacted to situations of human need. The 'doing of what seemed necessary' did not always permit the luxury of immediate analysis. Perhaps it is now that the time is right to review and try to evaluate the essential elements based on experience of what the Church tried to do, failed to do or learned it could not do in the arena of division and suffering which has been the recent Northern Ireland story. So, in a word, my approach is one of the practitioner rather than the theorist.

The situation:

The basic facts of the Northern Ireland situation will be well known to you all through the media or your personal connection with the Province. The ways in which you approach those facts will of course vary considerably. My experience when speaking of that situation outside Northern Ireland is that my audiences range from reactions of amazement, frustration, sadness, horror and a sense of incomprehension. To answer the why?, the what is? or the reason for? is never easy. Much of what the outside world would term 'logic' or 'reason' does not seem to apply to Northern Ireland. For many across the world boredom with our problems leads to a steady rejection of interest as apparent solutions are denied and suffering continues. As I speak to you we are in an uneasy period of peace - peace from prolonged terrorism or continuous atrocities, but an uneasy tension which carries with it the ingredients of suspicion and community uncertainty prevails. What is called the Peace Process remains a tender plant - urged on by a majority including those who have genuine doubts and questions but opposed by those who for various reasons doubt its efficacy or integrity. Within that framework of bitter experience of each other and now a process of political progress which faces serious obstacles two communities exist - two communities with apprehensions, aspirations, hopes and fears - two communities with their memories, with their sense of hurt and injustice and both prisoners of their past. But it is also a story of hope …

There are two main communities in Northern Ireland. The unionist community which is largely Protestant represents a majority of the population. Its loyalties lie in the union between Great Britain and the Province. Its long-term aspiration is to maintain that union. The Nationalist community is almost entirely Roman Catholic and aspires to the ultimate reunification of Ireland. Within the Unionist family Loyalism is the label for paramilitary activity by extremes, while Republicanism covers the paramilitary organisations stemming from within the Nationalist society. For 30 years the paramilitary wings and in particular and mainly the Provisional I.R.A., engaged in a continuous and devastating campaign of violence in an effort to control and influence public opinion - particularly political opinions at Westminster and to challenge the right of Northern Ireland to remain in the United Kingdom. The reaction of loyalist terrorism while less continuous was however to inflict grievous suffering on members of the Roman Catholic community under the label 'For God and Ulster'. The suffering of both communities has been immense. The inheritance of those years will cloud issues and overshadow lives for generations. The Peace Process brought about by the ceasefire has had a hesitating history. The tug-of-war between a desire to find security in traditional attitudes aligned to inherent suspicion of the opposite side and the hope that a reduction in terror could permit progress towards an inclusive and stable society is evidenced almost daily. Hurt runs deep - very deep. Divisions of the mind equal divisions in the loyalties of whole geographical areas. Memories dictate attitude. The Churches find themselves not only a part of the problem - they are struggling to be a part of the solution.

What then are the main issues for the Christian Church in the situation in Northern Ireland?

During the decades of prolonged violence ministry demanded and I believe received extraordinary levels of pastoral care. Numerous funerals, care for the bereaved, support for the injured were allied to public stances through statements which attempted to reflect the fears of communities. The absence of a real political forum locally based placed the Church in a position where it spoke for people - and all too often the phrase 'our people' emerged. Identification with the needs of a religious constituency too often became over-identification with individual political aspirations. That danger remains a live issue for the Church now. How do you express genuine local fears, how do you represent those emotions as a Church without allowing immediacy or local feelings to supersede the broader Christian voice?

In those years of trauma the Churches found it comparatively easy to identify a pastoral role to the needy, a public stance of urging an end to violence and suffering. Today in a period of readjustment through political attempts to reach an inclusive and stable society the pressures on the Church are greater. I have to say they have not found the transition easy or comfortable. Then the divisions were between the advocates and perpetrators of violence and the suffering: today the divisions are the cost of peace, the cost society has to pay to bring peace and the demands of turning a history of suffering into the process of reconciliation.

Feelings on both sides of the traditional divide run deep. The Good Friday or Belfast Agreement received majority support. People yearned for peace. People wanted peace. Today the cost of realising that peace is a reality which has caused its own divisive atmosphere. I have to pose the question: in the euphoria of the moment -

Did people read the small print of that Agreement?

There is one other ingredient to the current situation which Christian ministry has to grapple with in the Northern Ireland of today. Secularism has come of age behind the smokescreen of the 'troubles'. Traditional attitudes to religion in Ireland have undergone significant and profound change. The emergence of local party political dialogue, the growth of secular attitudes and a war-weariness have eroded opportunities for Churches once the darling of the media to respond to public debate. But more than that questions about the morality of violence, the morality of the peace process and creeping secular values are compelling the Church to take a long, hard look at its pastoral role.

To be born a Protestant means that you will be brought up under the influence of some form of unionism. To be born a Roman Catholic leads to an up-bringing stemming from a nationalist or republican outlook. Education, social or recreational contacts, marriage and the up-bringing of children will all be controlled by this religious/political apartheid.

That in human terms is I believe the greatest task for the Christian Church in Northern Ireland in the community sense. Mutual understanding, mutual trust, mutual sharing - and mutual recognition that we worship a God and Father of all. One might term this no more than the Gospel imperative. Unfortunately what I have too often experienced over the past 30 years is the divisiveness of religion rather than its unity: the misuse of religion rather than its effectiveness and the use of religious fundamentalism to justify party political attitudes.

However at this time opportunities abound to change the course of history. Against all the odds there is a steady growth of willingness to cross those frontiers and to build those bridges. I remain the divine optimist.

When people grow weary of our efforts to change society I ask them to remember that we are not trying to turn back 30 years: we are trying to turn back the clock for many generations.

NATURE OF RECONCILIATION

As I reflect on my experiences of pastoral ministry and Church leadership over the years in Northern Ireland no word has become more used or more misunderstood to my mind than 'reconciliation'. Held out as the crying need for a divided and suffering community, embraced in political speeches, proclaimed as the panacea for all the Province's ills and announced in pulpit and sanctuary as the ultimate vision, reconciliation has become the in-word for the drama and trauma of my native soil. Legislation and grandiose plans from 'on high' , parliamentary speeches, numerous articles - all have enunciated reconciliation as the crowning attribute of all efforts to end violence and to 'bond' the hitherto fractured relationships of my society.

What has not been as obvious has been attempts to define what it means and what it involves.

I recall the moment during a visit to a Roman Catholic grammar school sometime ago when I was asked by a sixth former: "How will I recognise the day I wake up when reconciliation has happened?"

That innocent question highlights for me one of the great imponderables for those of us who have dedicated ourselves to the achievement of reconciliation in Northern Ireland. Reconciliation is not a fact - it is a process. The journey is more important than the destination. The moment we feel we have arrived will undoubtedly contain a myriad of other problems to solve and questions to answer. In the Christian understanding of life surely a community must be constantly within the process of reconciliation. The visible evidence will stem from effort - not achievement. The achievement will lie within the on-going process. Just as any broken human relationship will search for reconciliation of divided loyalties or extraneous factors so community reconciliation will be a vision. That vision for the Christian will also stem from effort - but effort which has the higher aim and purpose of a God-given agenda, a God-based criteria and a God-granted reward.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is such an agenda. The Incarnational experience is such a criteria. The Christian pilgrimage is a response to the call of Christ that we might seek reconciliation with God the creator so that we can be reconciled to each other.

Therein lies the hope - as well as the challenge. Therein also lies the difficulty. The clash of individualism, the complexities of Biblical interpretation and the confusion of conflicting loyalties to differing denominational creeds calls for a clarity of expression which is not always that visible to the individual pilgrim or searcher after truth. If it was otherwise the often quoted maxim that the Ulster story is one of a religious war would have been put to bed generations ago.

To talk of the Northern Ireland story in terms of religious conflict alone is to over-simplify and to lose the main script. But it is equally impossible to talk of that conflict without clear reference to the religious dimension. There is a religious dimension. Over the years I read of attempts to disassociate the Churches from the causes of the conflict. It is only in comparatively recent times that the institutional Church has been prepared to accept this fact. The question remains - how far is there a religious element and what is the nature of that element?

I want to suggest what I believe to be the main overlapping causes of the conflict which permit by their nature the religious entanglement.

In the beginning it was all about the constitutional positions of Northern Ireland. Unionism saw itself under siege from the Nationalist/Republican tradition and did not feel the rest of the United Kingdom either recognised their case or even cared about it. So rhetoric led to the culture of violence. On the other side failures to produce political institutions which would recognise desires of the minority permitted degrees of support for Republican violence. Each side became separated from the other by ideals as well as violence. The Civil Rights movements of the early sixties were to my mind the inevitable consequence of Roman Catholic alienation and grievance. There was discrimination and there was injustice. On the other side few voices in those early days were prepared to recognise the monster of discontent which was growing in the minority community. Into the vacuum came the man and women of violence. The stage was set for the thirty years of suffering, trauma and hatred.

Now link all this with religious identity: unionism and loyalism with the Reformed Churches - nationalism and republicanism with the Roman Catholic tradition and you have completed the circle.

So, back to reconciliation.

Reconciliation in the purely party political sense demanded dialogue and a forum in which that could take place. Here it was political accommodation which was sought. Despite all the difficulties the current structures, so far from ideal to many, are that forum. How far those structures will survive is for another day and another time.

But what is the role of the Christian Church in this process?

Central to the questions I am posing, is, I believe, the existence in Northern Ireland of religious sectarianism. Historically sectarian attitudes, actions claiming some sectarian basis and claims about others which have been based on sectarian mind-sets have dominated our history. Behind all the details of our recent attempts as a society to address division and seek accommodation has been the acknowledgement that sectarianism is alive and well producing the ultimate negative in community relations.

Attitude holds the key to this real cancer of life in Ulster.

For generations sectarianism has dominated those attitudes and dictated events. It has on one hand provided the extremes with an excuse for violence and on the other dictated social, political and religious relationships. It lies deep in our history. It remains today the over-riding influence. But here again do we see movement? I am horrified at how deep personal attitudes can be influenced in a sectarian way. As a Churchman I believe it is the single most corrosive element in Ulster life. In 1987 the late Cardinal O'Fiaich and I described it as the 'lethal toxin' of community life which at times 'threatened to overwhelm us'. It contains many manifestations:

• It involves such questions as how the different religious groups have regarded each other in their doctrinal statements and formalities and in their public stances.
• It concerns how our society has created and maintained separation, division and conflict.
• It has operated in such areas as education, jobs, housing, ghettos, justice and criminal issues and the influence of loyalist and nationalist orders.
• For the Churches it involves questions about identification with unionism on the part of the Protestant tradition and nationalism on the part of Roman Catholicism.
• It poses the central issue of how we can promote reconciliation and positive, realistic and acceptable respect for difference.

This is the real core of the issue. For reconciliation like ecumenism is viewed by too many as weakness rather than strength, surrender of principle rather than accommodation.

Sectarianism has paid a highly significant role in the Northern Ireland scenario. In fact it continues to be the most identifiable ingredient which results from attitudes while also providing the basis for attitudes. At its best it is seen in traditional ways of regarding another religious community. At its worst it is the excuse rather than the reason for murder. It is a corrosive and totally negative social phenomena which in the light of the religious/political juxta-position in the Province contributes much to the charge that we are talking about a 'religious war'. For the truth is: political Protestantism has drawn on religious Protestantism to find its real justification for negative attitudes. Political Protestantism is identified more by what it is not than by what it is. It is anti-Roman Catholic. It is anti-Vatican. It is anti-the Republic of Ireland, because with complete disregard for the many developments in the life of that State it continues to see 'Rome rule'. Whether we can as easily conclude that sectarianism from the Protestant or unionist perspective is therefore totally religious rather than politically tribal in nature is arguable. What we can say is that sectarianism has always had and continues to have a strong religious basis.

The question is - How far have the Churches contributed to the spread of sectarianism - and how far have they or can they oppose it?

Few clergy would claim to have had a clean sheet in this regard. Part of the reason is the experience of 30 years of conflict in which they were forced to identify with the needs of their own congregation or parish. Inevitably this raised questions about acknowledgement of the needs of others of a different religious or political persuasion. Many clergy would admit that they were influenced by the 'reaction of my own people' and 'how far can I go and remain secure in their loyalty?' We are all prisoners of history - we are also prisoners in many instances of the culture and opinions of our own side. Sadly we must admit that the effort to reach out across the boundaries has not been easy - or encouraged. Ecumenism is viewed as surrender or weakness where fear exists - and fear of change from the old familiar paths corrodes initiative. So it is left to local contacts, local initiatives - and the example of leadership. While I pay tribute to the growing number of localised efforts at inter-Church witness and service, the record of institutionalised Church progress in this regard has been disappointing.

To quote a recent document of my own Church:

"Sectarianism arises as a distorted expression of positive human needs, especially for belonging, identity and the free expression of difference."

The movement for Christian Church unity is a global issue. But in each local situation attitudes to world issues will be reflected in ways which reflect local issues. Current dialogues between the main Christian traditions at the highest level do not necessarily have tangible effect at the local level during the early stages of such conversations. Distance has a habit of producing its own mystic. Where there is local division there will only be a slow process for the recognition of what may be achieved at the international level. Indeed there can be resistance locally to what may appear to be progress internationally on the grounds that "that could never work here". Hence the recent progress of such Commissions as ARCIC (the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission) on authority and Eucharist seems light years away from Northern Ireland - and indeed is seized upon by fundamental Protestantism as further evidence of Anglican "sell out". The speed at which such official progress will encourage local reconciliation is therefore likely to be extremely slow.

Equally the recent Vatican statement 'Dominus Iesus' was welcome fodder for Protestant fundamentalism in Northern Ireland which adopted the attitude 'we told you so'.

So reconciliation locally is unlikely to be profoundly or immediately effected by the international theological scene.

We therefore return to the local scene.

I am convinced that the process of reconciliation in Northern Ireland can and must be a priority for the Churches. It must pose the question - how can we the Church urge society to grasp reconciliation when all they see of us speaks of faltering steps at joint initiatives and understanding? I find encouragement in the many local efforts at joint witness, the great growth in understanding among the main religious traditions and the witness of the Four Church Leaders. I find encouragement in the joint approaches of the Churches to unemployment, health care provision, drug abuse, education and youth problems. Yet joint services during the Octave of Unity are poorly attended and there is a singular lack of enthusiasm for Reformed-Roman Catholic public worship. Indeed in many areas 'ecumenism' means greater contact between the Reformed Churches only. In other instances 'ecumenism' is a term of derision.

But no one should be in any doubt that sectarian attitudes lie deep in the consciousness - and there are those who want to feed it with oxygen by word or action. A concerted inter-Church effort, education and knowledge of its dangers, a mutual recognition of basic human rights - all can contribute to its eradication. But it will take a very long time. Sectarianism is the greatest challenge. Legislation will not remove the real depths of sectarianism. You cannot enforce reconciliation. Reconciliation becomes a reality when people want to be reconciled …..

FORGIVENESS AND MEMORY

The concept of forgiveness lies at the heart of the Christian's belief in and experience of God. From that fact stems so much we believe about the revelation of a God of love who is active in our world. But like all great Biblical principles forgiveness has a manifestation in the here and now which cannot be confined to the purely Christian experience. In daily life forgiveness has its own momentum. In my experience of pastoral ministry situations the act of forgiving, the appreciation of a state of having been forgiven and the knowledge that the understanding flowing from such an attitude opens the gates to truly remarkable circumstances. In fact I recall many situations where forgiveness in its widest sense so changes human attitudes or human relationships that new possibilities not restricted to reconciliation come into being. Between individuals such a point when reached can transform the trauma of a broken relationship to an unbelievable degree. Equally at the community level expressions of forgiveness can and do motivate a fresh start and provide a fresh impetus to bridge-building between those once divided by real or imagined hurt and injury.

The courage involved and the trust involved in such actions have their own reward quite apart from any tangible furthering of community relations. For one community to say it forgives the other for past actions or attitudes calls for a response. Whether that response is forthcoming or not is beside the point. The forgiving community has immediately captured a moral high ground which is impossible to deny or refute. It is of course open to many purely human and instantaneous interpretations. Weakness or surrender of principle are just some of those perceptions. However it is also a major and significant step in the reconciliation process.

The history of the Northern Ireland conflict cries out for an injection of this step towards community healing. There have been truly remarkable examples of individuals who have exhibited forgiveness in the most unlikely human situations. Indeed I believe some such examples have held the nobility and trust so lacking at a community level. What is usually termed by the media as 'ordinary people' have more than once found the grace to say things and to adopt attitudes in complete contrast to what anyone could reasonably have expected. Gordon Wilson in Enniskillen, the mother of a teenage son, the widow of a young husband - such examples have led the way in supreme human moral courage. But have such individual acts of faith been emulated on behalf of communities? Sadly not.

For Protestantism and unionism to say to Roman Catholicism and Nationalism that it forgives or for a similar sentiment to emerge from within the other community maybe and most certainly will be open to misunderstanding. Yet such a collective acknowledgement could open doors history has declared shut. The question of course is one of practicality as much as anything else. Who speaks for each community? Who commands the respect and support to colour such a step with community credibility? The sad fact remains at this time that for many reasons one has to question whether there is ample demand for such a move in either of the divided communities in Northern Ireland.

When we turn to the purely religious dimension to the divided community we must ask: has the Church a role in this regard? Given the overlap of religion and party political allegiance a declaration of forgiveness by one side or the other should surely be nothing more than an expression of basic Christian belief? Yet on one ecumenical occasion when I made this point on behalf of Protestantism my subsequent mail-bag contained many protests and words of disassociation from some who would count themselves committed believers. A strange irony perhaps - but also an indication, if indication were needed, of the depth of the problems of reconciliation between a confused people of the way.

T.S. Eliot's words: "This is the use of memory: for liberation" are among the most pertinent reminders in literature of what I believe is a spiritual truth.

I have long held the view that memory is one of the most significant and influential factors in Christian experience. The nature of memory, how we recall the past, how we regard the past as experience which cannot be altered in the present and how we allow the memories of past determines much more of attitude in the present and aspiration for the future than we yet realise. Surprisingly little has been attempted in discussion of conflict situations to analyse the importance of memory. In the Northern Ireland situation it is a key and significant element in understanding why people are as they are and how they may become. Not only is it a factor demanding careful analysis - but it poses questions of immense importance to reaching any conclusions on the role of Christian ministry to a divided community in which tribalism depends so frequently on interpretation of its past.

In purely Biblical terms throughout both the Old and New Testament in accounts of God's revelation people are called to remember how God has acted. The contrasts between bondage of the past, its relationship to past failure and sin as well as to past achievement provokes people into providing a response. In so doing it determines the sort of people they are. Memory in this sense leads beyond the present as it suggests behaviour patterns for what they could become. Remembering caused the people of God to be aware of the bondage of past imprisonment. Equally it was a remembering that freed them 'to become'.

Forgiveness therefore is one more part of the process. But for all of us in a divided community there is the eternal question: who forgives? Is it right for an injured party to give forgiveness to the perpetrator of an offence? On a personal level - yes. But from the objective Christian standpoint it is surely God who forgives. Therefore the Church which speaks of a forgiving God in the face of suffering must surely encourage not just a belief in God's forbearance, but also of human-kind's acceptance of memory and acceptance of God's healing treatment of human memory.

One other aspect of forgiveness strikes me in this context. Forgiveness is a part of the moral decision-making process. No one needs to be reminded that it is in the constant morass of moral decision-making that some of the deepest questions of the Christian pilgrimage emerge.

In the hurried and at times frantic atmosphere to which this lecture is addressed I often feel Churches in Northern Ireland have without recognising it developed a theology of the instantaneous. Situational ethics are becoming more and more the priority of Christian living. In the divided community it is important to keep an eye on the larger picture.

So:

• What are the moral issues of this complex picture?
• What are the moral issues associated with terrorism and violence?
• At what point does violent action based on a belief that there is no passive alternative to the removal of real or imagined injustice become acceptable?
• What are the moral issues which arise in a period of uncertain political dialogue where paramilitary organisations decline to remove totally the fear caused by arms retention?
• What are the moral questions linked to the taking of political risk where lasting peace is the prize?
• What moral questions need to be involved in the use or misuse of political language?

There is also an element which is not confined to Northern Ireland. In England, Wales and Scotland statistics indicate a reduction in what we term active Church participation. Given the circumstances we have examined in these lectures the question of the influence of the Churches, the ability to influence opinion, the privilege of being regarded as an important player in public affairs - all such aspects require serious consideration.

The sobering truth is that Church influence on community affairs in Northern Ireland has diminished. More attention is now focused on leadership or initiative by individuals more than by institutions. The Churches have lost a generation to all intents and purposes. In many of the once termed 'working class areas' of the Province the Church has found itself marginalised. In those areas the dominant voice is the word of paramilitary groupings. Church attendance figures continue to be ahead per head of the population to figures in England, Scotland and Wales. But the social and community involvement of the Churches presents a different picture. There are notable exceptions of course. But the Churches in Northern Ireland now must recognise that the sanctuary and the pulpit are of declining importance to community activists.

In my own thinking it is the Incarnational experience which speaks so clearly to the Northern Ireland situation. I find there the mirror before which the suffering, the divisions and the frustration can be reflected. I see there the spring-board for all the effort to build bridges and to seek reconciliation. "This is my commandment to you: love one another" seemed very far away during the riots, the burnings of homes and the murders of the seventies. Today society has come a long way. There is hope in the air despite the uncertainties. Perhaps the principle question for the Church is why has the Gospel of love failed to influence those who are set on encouraging a divided community to remain divided. When that division is encouraged in the name of religion perhaps other words come to mind

"Father forgive …"

CONCLUSION

In the time permitted for this lecture I have tried to examine the main issues for the Church in a community divided by many issues - not least that of religious identity. Much I have said has had to be phrased in generalization. The story of Northern Ireland is not yet told. We are still writing the pages. Often I long for an opportunity to stand aside from the daily pressures of tension and frustration and to take a long hard look at where the path is taking us. Such a luxury was denied to the Christian Church by Calvary. The Church in Northern Ireland is called to kneel at that same Cross. The real question is - how are we to be identified on that hill and under the shadow of that Cross?

I have a cameo that often returns to my mind as I think of Ulster's on-going struggle to find a lasting peace with justice for all.

It is the picture of a suffering and bewildered Calvary, full of pain, full of suffering, full of frustration - and full of memories.

But as we lift our eyes beyond the wooden Cross we see the first glimpse of the dawn of Easter Day