FIFTY YEARS OF CHANGE

The past fifty years has been a period of incredible significance for the life and witness of the Irish Churches. I am quite convinced that future historians will attribute to that period a ‘quiet revolution’ which has not only emerged as a result of changing attitudes in Irish society towards the Church but also as a result of changes within the structures and attitudes of the Churches themselves.

A QUIET REVOLUTION

The perspective I offer this evening is based on a Ministry which I have been privileged to exercise over almost 40 years as a parish priest and as a bishop and archbishop in the Church of Ireland. Naturally my views will be based to a large extent on that personal knowledge of my own Church. But, equally, as a convinced ecumenist I have seen at first hand the changes which have resulted from the same ‘quiet revolution’ in the other major denominations in Ireland during years of significant change throughout this island home of ours. The simple truth seems to be: Ireland has changed at a rate it is almost impossible for our generation to grasp: Ireland’s Church has changed either as a response to the changing society it seeks to serve or else in ways though significant by themselves will only become obvious in years to come. How much the ecclesiastical scene has altered because of pragmatic internal developments rather than as a reaction to external community pressures or needs, remains to be seen. I have to say in all honesty I feel the changes in Church life and practice have often been forced upon it because it has been compelled to react. The speed of change in Irish life has not always been matched by a similar speed of change on the part of the Churches. There have been exceptions. But I fear the Irish Church as a whole has been more reactionary in that regard – and that judgement must challenge Church leadership as it looks to the future. Nor can it be argued that all change in our Churches has been for the better.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Let me first place my perspective in some sort of historical context. I do so by referring to some major milestones in Irish Church and Irish community life during my lifetime.

NORTHERN IRELAND: YEARS OF VIOLENCE

Undoubtedly within Northern Ireland the years of violence, community disintegration, terrorism and its consequences from 1969 has dominated the practical everyday life of the Churches as a whole.

During that period the main Churches have found themselves compelled to be a social but spiritual ambulance service attempting to provide pastoral care to a bewildered people in their suffering. We have buried the dead, consoled the bereaved, addressed the trauma of frightened and at times hopeless people caught up in the nightmare of events over which they have felt little control. The memories of those years will be with me to the grave. Numerous funerals, distracted families, whole local communities shattered by violence, many questions of great moral significance about the ‘achievements’ or the destructive consequences of terrorism and basic human reactions to the uncertainties of ‘The Troubles’ demanded so much of local clergy and their people of all denominations.

A THEOLOGY OF THE INSTANTANEOUS

What I have called “theology of the instantaneous” – became the common practice for local clergy.

Time and again we were called upon to respond to critical local situations long before we had any luxury to ask theological questions. The ‘why’ , the ‘reason for’ and ‘the spiritual meaning’ came later for the Church. Churchmen and women were involved within situations of desperate human tragedy when all that mattered was the identification of Christianity with people in need. On all sides and in every denomination the experience was the same. We responded and in so doing perhaps without fully realising it we became identified – some would say ‘over-identified’ – with the needs of ‘our people’. The subtle consequence was that the concept of the Church became ‘our Church’ to the extent that such identification slowed up for years any cogent or practical cross-denominational approach to the questions those events posed for the Christian rather than the denominational approach. The Protestant Churches became identified with the Unionist family: the Roman Catholic tradition became identified with the needs of the nationalist or republican family. The calls for Church support from within one’s own local community contributed to a response from clergy and lay workers which aided that process of sectional or indeed tribal identification in many instances. Inevitable it may have been as days merged into nights of social suffering. While there was almost universal condemnation of violence, there were too few examples of Christian prophecy in which the needs of other traditions were as important as one’s own.

TRIBUTE TO LOCAL CLERGY

In that period of suffering there was another picture to which little or no credit has been paid. The calibre of pastoral care of people by parish clergy was significant and valuable. In many instances but for the local influence and work of clergy of all denominations I am convinced many situations would have been much more dangerous. I pay a warm and genuine tribute to the unsung and rarely recognised work of clergy in Northern Ireland during those years. It was they who exercised a ‘theology of the instantaneous’ and any failure to read the wider picture of what was happening to people must never detract from that tribute.

Perhaps I may repeat another phrase I came to use during those years. ‘When people forget what you said – they will remember you were there.’

Local Church life became involved with the needs of local situations with local people. The positive side was a closeness of clergy and people. The negative side was expressed by such phrases as ‘our people’ or ‘our needs’.

KEY ISSUES

What were the questions the Churches of Northern Ireland faced during those years?

First and foremost was the nature of violence. In what circumstances could violence be justified? What were the Christian perspectives to violence?

In what circumstances and in what way could the ‘evil’ of violence be seen as immoral? What were the moral issues raised by violence?

How do you spell out the Gospel imperatives to a frightened people who could easily identify the instigators of violence with a particular political philosophy?

What had Christianity to say about the taking of human life?

How did you apply the Sermon on the Mount to an on-going situation of community and individual suffering?

And perhaps most significant of all: What were the consequences of a basic confusion between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ when no one knew what the next day or night would bring?

It is easy to over-dramatise the conditions for ordinary people of those years of trauma. But it has to be said lessons were being taught and lessons were being learned about the practical teaching of basic Christianity during those 30 years of misery.

MODERATION THREATENED

In that period of Irish history the voices of moderation, the voices of calm and the voices of reconciliation were frequently silenced by events. Within the Protestant community there grew up the perception that its members were the real victims of the Troubles. Sectarianism found new roots and new forms of expression. In recent years those roots have found expression in attitudes to the Peace Process to which I will refer later in this paper. But during those 30 years Churches of the Reformed faith in Northern Ireland too often found themselves prisoners of the reactions of those who believed themselves to be the hostages of history, the victims of terrorism and the misunderstood by the outside world. To a large extend the political vacuum of those years compelled the leadership of the Churches to become the voice-piece of their own people. United with the voices of those same adherents the Reformed Churches had yet to ask how much they were a part of the problem rather than a part of any solution.

ATTRACTION OF THE FAMILIAR

Human nature being what it is periods such as that which followed 1969 reinforce affection for the familiar. There is a strange comfort in retreat to familiar paths. Traditional paths and familiar paths hold a special attraction in times of need. The Troubles drove people back into their tribal camps behind historic ramparts. Apart from all the suffering the lasting consequence of those years has been the redrawing of lines of demarcation. Much more than so-called ‘Peace Walls’ have been built. In minds and hearts there are now walls which will take many years to remove in Northern Ireland.

FORGIVENESS AND RECONCILIATION

With the coming of the ceasefires and the birth of an uneasy peace questions began to be asked not only by the world at large, but by the Irish Churches themselves about the role of forgiveness, reconciliation and healing in a divided and suffering community.

During the days of widescale terrorism the role of the Church was I believe fairly clear. It was basically pastoral and directed to the immediate needs of people. With the emergence of the Peace Process the Church as a whole has struggled to find the same clear-cut response to a changed social and community picture.

POWER OF MEMORIES

The Gospel imperative of forgiveness and reconciliation has not been easy to interpret or to accept by many whose memories of the past continue to dominate their attitudes to the present. Human memory and its power to dictate attitudes on both a personal and a collective level is a most significant fact of life. I do not believe sufficient attention has been paid to this fact. We see its significance today in Northern Ireland. There have been outstanding examples of personal courage, personal vision and personal initiatives which have spoken of forgiveness and understanding. Gordon Wilson of Enniskillen, the parents of murdered children, widows of young men murdered in the prime of life have amazed us all by their Christian forbearance. But the ominous and dark utterances of others have also been the reality. Far too many calls for reconciliation or forgiveness emanating from Church sources have been condemned by those whose memories continue to entrap them in the negative.

THE PEACE PROCESS

Today the Peace Process stemming from the Belfast Agreement has survived many difficulties. However it would be dangerous to ignore the degree of disenchantment particularly in the Protestant community. The truth is that many did not read the small print of the Belfast Agreement. The steps necessary to give substance to that Agreement have demanded from both communities in Northern Ireland a cost which some find too expensive. There is a perception in the loyalist and Unionist community that the pendulum has swung too far towards the Republican cause. That pendulum is a very delicate balance and governments have failed to convince a substantial percentage of the loyalist and Unionist community that equality and fairness have dictated political developments. An equally substantial number of people long to see peace and stability but within all the Protestant Churches voices are heard which speak of disillusionment with how the Belfast Agreement has been implemented. The Agreement was supported by Church leaders but I have to say that there is danger for the whole of society if in addressing genuine grievance and alienation in the nationalist and Republican community equally genuine grievance and alienation is created in the other community. The Churches which called for support when the Belfast Agreement was signed have an equal moral duty to spell out that danger now. Only the most transparent and honest consciousness of people’s concerns by governments and politicians will address that danger. The grievances of the nationalist family in 1969 were genuine. Many of those grievances have been addressed. Developments in government unimaginable only a few years ago have taken place in Northern Ireland. The body politic has now to win the battle for hearts and minds by showing fairness and genuine equality towards the needs of both communities.

Recent events have reminded us if we needed any reminding that sectarianism is alive and well in Northern Ireland. No greater challenge faces Christianity in our day than to build the sort of understanding of people made in the image of God that before the Cross of Calvary there is that universality.

BEHIND RECENT UNREST

The recent unrest in Belfast has reminded us of how easily society can sink back into violence. From a Church point of view it is important to stress the social background to much of that upheaval. In large areas of Northern Ireland social deprivation continues. Those social needs must be addressed. Of course the Church must condemn violence from any source. But the Gospel imperative demands that we look beneath the surface. While much of the violence has been politically motivated and encouraged by paramilitary sources government must be seen to be much more conscious of the social and community needs of those areas.

MORAL CONFUSION

If basic trust between the communities was the most obvious casualty of the Troubles then surely moral uncertainty and moral confusion have been an equal inheritance. Today there is widespread moral confusion as evidence appears of the grey areas where actions were justified by perceived needs, where the end seemed to justify the means and where the concept of human lives became so cheapened. Terrorism cheapened lives. Terrorism blurred traditional distinctions of what was right and what was wrong. The response to terrorism posed its own moral dilemmas. The Peace Process has prompted many issues to which there is a moral dimension. Are there clear parameters to a State’s response to terrorism beyond which policies or actions by the State take it into areas of immoral behaviour or practice? No one doubts the immense pressure prolonged and sustained terrorism places on any community and its people. But equally it is all too easy for the few to indulge in actions which take ordered society across the brink. When and if that is proved to have happened the Church has a moral duty to condemn it. In that aura of moral confusion society must be reminded that true democracy involves accountability, transparency and clear adherence to moral principles. Silence on such issues spells nothing less than an increase of the moral confusion we see so often today.

BALLYMASCANLON

Looking back now over the years the first tangible collective response of the Irish Churches was what became known as the Ballymascanlon Talks. I well remember the first of those historic occasions. Out of the cauldron of community suffering the Irish Churches through their leaders came together, not just to address divisive issues, but to show the first real signs that there had to be another agenda. Of course there were protests at that first meeting. Words like ‘sell out’ or ‘surrender’ were hurled at us. What I have to ask is the significance of the fact that in the years since the Ballymascanlon process developed into the emergence of the regular Irish Inter-Church meetings that those protests have largely disappeared? Is that an acknowledgement of their success – or is it an acknowledgement of ‘irrelevance? Is it possibly an acknowledgement that the mood for such protests has passed?

OPPOSITION TO ECUMENISM

For many ‘ecumenism’ like ‘reconciliation’ are ‘bad words’. They are suspicious that ecumenical endeavour means only one thing – ecclesiastical and therefore political surrender to ‘the other side’ – for party politics and religious labels are interwoven in Northern Ireland. But the tender plant of that first Ballymascanlon has grown steadily until today we can rightly claim Ireland has shown the way for many other regions. It would be equally wrong to dismiss the opposition to ecumenical activity. Those who firmly believe in the structures of ecumenism need to be aware that they are regarded by many within the Reformed tradition in Ireland as ‘out of step’ or ‘unrelated to reality’. Equally we must guard against an identification of ecumenism as another sort of denominationalism. We have come a long way from that first Ballymascanlon. We have yet to convince a majority that realistic, visionary ecumenism has a real contribution to make to healing the wounds of Northern Ireland.

The truth seems to be: at a local level many practice practical and worthwhile ecumenism by friendships formed across the divisions, by hands reached out in Christian love and compassion and by small but significant steps towards each other. In the end I want to say those relationships are just as important and worthwhile as any perceived structures of an ecumenical nature. It is at the local level that the integrity of inter-Church understanding will always be judged. It is also at the local level that too many continue to view structures at Church leadership level as irrelevant.

FOUR CHURCH LEADERS

Equal to the Ballymascanlon story has been the collective development of the concept of ‘The Four Church Leaders’. The two Primates of the Church of Ireland and the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church and the President of the Methodist Church meet regularly for discussion, for planning and most important of all to present by visits, joint statements and joint involvement in the social/community arena, a united Christian leadership. I believe this concept is becoming a regular feature of joint witness which is now accepted as an important ingredient in the building of understanding. In fact despite the dilemmas and despite the well-documented problems between the denominations at a leadership level Irish Churches have never been closer together. The problem again is to translate understanding at that level into acceptance at the local level.

CHURCH OF IRELAND – METHODIST COVENANT

As with the Ballymascanlon process true ecumenism, that process of understanding each other, that process which far from surrender or sell out is surely a movement of the Spirit, continues to be a tender plant in Ireland. I welcome the recent Covenant relationship established between the Church of Ireland and the Methodist Church. That is surely a good beginning. But much more, much more needs to be done. The new atmosphere between all our Churches needs to recognise the next development I want to address. For that development holds a deep challenge to all Irish Churches.

SECULARISM

Secularism has come of age in Ireland. Here in the Republic the Celtic Tiger has brought vast opportunities for economic growth and well-being. It has also produced inequalities and re-emphasised divisions between those who have and those who have not.

It is when we turn to society that some of the real dangers of de-personalisation become obvious. People talk about ‘not counting any more as individuals’. We hear phrases like: ‘a number on a list’, ‘a figure on a computer’, ‘an ‘X’ on a ballot paper’ or simply ‘a statistic in a census’. There are many, for example, who feel the process of government in both Irish jurisdictions has marginalized them through a process of what is now termed ‘spin-doctoring’. There is a new and dangerous degree of disenchantment with the political process just as there is a questioning of many aspects of institutional life. Of course society is changing. Ireland is changing, north and south. New ways of analysing values are emerging. But economic and material progress has not always taken account of the value of the individual. The speed of change has at times left us breathless. But there have been casualties – there has been a human cost. It is more important than ever that the Church proclaims the sanctity of the individual life and the priceless value of the individual before God. The gift of that individual life must be appreciated, recognised and their needs addressed if Ireland is to be a truly caring, compassionate society.

Too much is happening in Ireland, north and south, which not only devalues life but threatens our claim to be a caring and compassionate society. We must recognise that publicity or political pronouncements which are soon forgotten are not enough.

What are some of the threats to the value of the individual in Ireland today which demand the attention of the Churches?

• the increasing number of people in both our jurisdictions who are living at or below the poverty level
• the manipulation of industrial or commercial interests often of an international nature which appear to give scant attention to the unemployment caused
• the abuse of children often by those who occupy positions of trust.
• the treatment of asylum seekers
• the manipulation of young people by the godfathers of violence, particularly in Northern Ireland
• the presumed failure of those elected to political positions to be seen to address the real needs of healthcare and providers in ways which people can see as productive and realistic

and

• the cynical misuse of power, position, trust and authority by some for their own betterment as recent Tribunals in the Republic have indicated.

All of these have a knock-on effect on the quality of life. They threaten the sanctity of individual lives. They contrast sharply with the desire of most for a caring and just society.

YOUNG PEOPLE

Among the new generation of young people in Ireland there is now significant indifference to structured religion. It is not that that generation has lost spiritual values. In fact their spiritual awareness has been heightened. But it is not a spiritual awareness which necessarily identifies with sanctuary or pulpit. Unless the ‘established’ Churches of Ireland can find a new appreciation of communication with that generation I have to wonder who will be in the pews of any of our Churches at the end of another half century?

THE CHALLENGE OF THE FUTURE

Let me now try to tie these reflections into some sort of agenda for the Irish Churches in the days ahead.

What have been the main lessons of the past 50 years for the Churches in Ireland?

Clearly a priority must be the attitude of each Church to the community in which it serves. For the reasons I have given earlier history has designated to each denomination a perceived and actual identification with a particular political philosophy. To be born a Protestant in Northern Ireland means that by and large you will be brought up in an atmosphere of some form of unionism. To be born a Roman Catholic heralds a life-time of nationalist or republican political influence. Somehow the Churches must gain a new appreciation of the balance to be drawn between ministry to their own flock and the demand to preach a Gospel which transcends political, social and cultural divisions. To ‘speak the truth in love’ demands the genuine needs of all communities must be addressed. To follow Christ and to proclaim the eternal truths of the Gospel is to speak of the ‘universality of God’. For too many in Northern Ireland the righteousness of God depends on whether the God and Father of us all is ‘orange’ or ‘green’, unionist or nationalist. What must matter for the role of the Church is human need irrespective of where it exists.

Second, the Churches must have the courage to examine their own hearts on sectarianism. The Church of Ireland is now engaged in a most extensive programme in which individual parishes are being helped to address their local situation in that regard. It will take time but I believe the results of that study will determine to a large extent the credibility of clergy and people to be true instruments of Christianity in the days ahead.

Third, Irish Churches must recognise that down through the centuries through their over-identification with particular political, social and cultural labels and also a preoccupation with the feelings of their own communities alone they have been party to the infliction of hurt on others. Short of sentimentality or bland words let us have the courage to acknowledge this fact and be unafraid to acknowledge our failure and seek forgiveness from each other. While it can be argued that the present generation cannot be held responsible for the actions of past generations surely there is every justification for each Church to say to its neighbours in Christ – “we have failed in our common responsibilities to you in Christ – and we are sorry.” If we do perhaps we will have taken a major step towards the healing of Ireland’s troubled past.

Finally, the aftermath of those years of widespread violence has been a blurring of the scale of moral values. There are many ‘grey areas’ where what is right and what is wrong for community life have become over-complicated by dilemma. Those years cheapened the gift of human life. Murder became equated with “the acceptable level of violence”. What a devastating immoral phrase. There was no, is no, nor can be any justification for taking of a human life. But that grey area to which I refer continues to challenge basic Christian thinking in this period of uneasy peace. To put the ‘past behind us’ requires that somehow a door is closed. But in the closing of that door the utmost sensitivity is necessary to the memories, the apprehensions of people who have endured so much.

I am not yet convinced that a Truth and Reconciliation Commission identical to that in South Africa is appropriate for Northern Ireland. But a way has to be found where memories of the past, hurts of the past, guilt of the past and an honest addressing of the past all contribute to closing a door. With all the burdens and all the grievances if we do not find a way of moving forward we will be condemned to another generation of inherited anger, memory and division.

It will take a super-human effort for many to put their memories behind them. No greater task under God confronts the Christian community at this time. In that process let the Churches speak again with new confidence of the judgement, forgiveness and reconciliation which lies with Almighty God alone.

So I reflect on a ‘quiet revolution’. Revolutions are not always negative experiences. It is what follows and what endures which matters. Let us be thankful that in the end it is not by any earthly yard-stick we will be judged …