Diocesan News
Address by the Archdeacon of Derry, the Venerable Robert Miller, at the Funeral of Mr Ivan Cooper
Archdeacon Robert Miller this afternoon conducted the Funeral Service for Mr Ivan Cooper at St Peter’s Church, Belmont, along with the Rev Katie McAteer, Pastoral Director of Christ Church, Culmore, Muff and St Peter’s. Archdeacon Miller is Archbishop’s Commissary for the Diocese of Derry and Raphoe, pending the appointment of a new Bishop, and also the Rector of the parishes.
Ivan was a man whose life was like a book of many chapters. Today, as we gather for this funeral service and commend him to the care of his Heavenly Father, we will pause briefly and turn the pages of some of those chapters.
It is in the nature of pastoral ministry to meet people at different points on their journey through life. We share encounters like snapshots of a life which we know is far more extensive than these brief coming–togethers. I first met Ivan almost ten years ago after he had endured his series of strokes and had begun to attend St Peter’s regularly.
My encounters with Ivan revealed a man of faith whose life was governed by that faith: a call to love one another as God has first loved us was a truth that shaped Ivan’s whole life.
At our first meeting Ivan had already prepared the ground with the usual Derry question: “Who’s his father?” Well, it wasn’t my father he knew so much as my grandmother and her sister who had both worked with him. He remembered them by name and shared some details of the common battles they had fought with management.
You see, Ivan was a man who was interested in people; he didn’t put them in groups or categories, they were individuals with particular needs and challenges. I found this in my own conversations with Ivan. His body was becoming increasingly frail but his intellect was undiminished. And his determination to see a peaceful resolution to the conflict across this island burned as brightly as ever.
Ivan Cooper was a towering figure in Northern Ireland’s recent history. The breadth of political and religious opinion gathered in this church today is in itself a powerful testament to the impact he made in life and an indication of how he touched people’s lives.
Ivan’s name and face and views would’ve been well–known to a whole generation who came of age – politically – in the turbulence of the late 60s and early 70s.
And yet, in the middle of this challenging time, he was also a loving and devoted husband and father. He found the time to play pranks on his family and others. All I can say is that when hearing some stories from the family it was clear they were only the tip of a very large iceberg. And the fun wasn’t ‘one way traffic’; his daughters, Bronagh and Sinéad, more than held their own and often gave Ivan a taste of his own medicine – like the time they ‘doctored’ one of his own shirts with garlic under the arms!
Today I hope that my recollections might help to bring forth your own recollections of Ivan. Today we seek God’s strength to remember and we look for God to walk with us as we continue to recall this life.
Ivan was building a better community from the family out; his every step was informed and sustained by his Christian faith. Remember the Summary of the Law from St Mark’s Gospel? ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength,’ and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ Over these last ten years these commandments – what Christ regarded as the greatest commandments – summarised how Ivan sought to live out his faith.
People were equal in God’s sight and were to be treated as such in any society that was to honour God.
Ivan sought to build that society by meeting people, talking to them, breaking down barriers, developing relationships, building trust, fostering friendships, challenging attitudes, changing minds, working with others. This was the shape of his politics.
In life, Ivan was regarded as a controversial figure, even divisive in some people’s eyes. But that didn’t stop him. He believed – he was convinced – he had right on his side. Ivan explained to me how he felt that many Unionists took exception to what he was saying and doing:
– his journey across the ‘divide’ from Young Unionist to the SDLP troubled them deeply;
– his advocacy for civil rights for all unnerved them;
– his participation in the Sunningdale power–sharing executive upset them.
Equality for all? Power–sharing? One could argue that Ivan Cooper was a man way ahead of his time. And, lest we forget, he was always – always – adamant that there could be no place and no justification for violence.
As Ivan sought to advance these ideals he was supported by Frances, his rock over the last 50 years and especially during the last trying decade of his life. Ivan was and remained Frances’s primary focus. Somehow she managed to maintain his dignity, ensure he got the care he needed and allow him to engage with life fully.
The family want me to express their profound gratitude to Ivan’s carers Tina, Sandra, Mairead and Laura, as well as to his many, many friends. Some of these I had the privilege of meeting when Ivan came to Sunday worship here in St Peter’s or to our Thursday club.
There are too many friends to mention by name, but they were an intrinsic part of the fabric of Ivan’s life in this community.
I’d like to share some words with you which I think are particularly apt at this Service. Let me quote them for you:
“…let them see that the Catholic minority have nothing to fear from a Protestant majority… Let us take care that we win all that is best amongst those who have been opposed to us in the past in this community…And so I say: from the start be tolerant to all religions, and, while maintaining to the last your own traditions and your own citizenship, take care that similar rights are preserved for those who differ from us.”
Those sentiments can’t have been very different from the young Ivan Cooper’s. But these were not his words; these were the words of Lord Carson, spoken to the Ulster Unionist Council, when he stepped down in February 1921.
(I think Ivan might secretly have enjoyed being compared to Lord Carson at his funeral).
Ivan challenged people. He challenged all of us, from whatever part of the community we came and whatever our position in society. He did so for the right reasons and with the best of motives. He wanted the future to be better than the past.
Today we remember Ivan with affection and love, and we give thanks for his life.
But let’s not leave it at that.
When we go from this church this afternoon, the best thing we can do – the best thing all of us can do – is finish the job that Ivan Cooper dedicated most of his life to: the task of building a better community.
To celebrate his life, we must echo his voice, and be utterly, unequivocally committed to a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Northern Ireland.
So, let’s make Ivan’s vision a reality. Let’s make politics work.
Ivan will be greatly missed by this whole city and by his fellow parishioners here at St Peter’s.
Most of all, though, he’ll be missed by Frances, by Sinéad and Bronagh, by his son–in–law Conor and the grandchildren, and by the wider family circle.
Our prayer for one another is that: We may have strength to meet the days to come with steadfastness and patience; not sorrowing as those without hope, but in thankful remembrance of God’s great goodness, and in the joyful expectation of eternal life with those we love.
Amen.
A report on the funeral is available here.
For further information please contact:
Diocesan Communications Officer, Derry & Raphoe
Mr Paul McFadden
028 7126 2440
07525 826290
press@derryandraphoe.org