Press Releases16 Mar 09

Bishop Ken Good Speaks of Community Unity in Northern Ireland

Who will shape our future?

Those who carried out the terrorist attacks in Antrim and Craigavon have murdered three people and seriously injured several others. But the architects of these deaths have also sought to do even more harm. They are intent on sowing among us seeds of mistrust, of suspicion and of fear.

It doesn't take much for such seeds of fear to take root. As individuals and as communities, fear can begin to make us feel helpless, divided and powerless to do anything about a situation which we assume to be outside our control. And soon the short-lived hope which we had come to enjoy in recent years evaporates as fear paralyses. Neighbour mistrusts neighbour and the downward spiral begins again.

As we face another moment of crisis in Northern Ireland, I detect that this time there is a crucial difference. The new factor which dissidents of whatever political persuasion need to realise is that there is now a much stronger unity of purpose and shared commitment right across the community which will mean that the people, rather than the terrorist, will determine the shape of the future.

Several years of peace have allowed all of us to enjoy again a new sense of freedom from fear. We have been able to move about without the restrictive threat of violence. We have found fresh release in the growing levels of trust, slow and difficult though progress has sometimes been in trust-building. The miracle of normality that has gradually been restored to community life has made us believe that it will again be possible to feel that we are all part of one community rather than of two. Much work still needs to be done, but we have the appetite to continue doing it.

Inadvertently, the terrorists' deadly plan has achieved something they never anticipated it would. This week all of us in Northern Ireland, as well as the on-looking world, have been profoundly impacted by the unprecedented solidarity shown by political leaders working and speaking together, and by church leaders, business leaders, trades’ union leaders and community leaders doing likewise. With a greater unity than any of us can ever remember, the whole community is now resolute. This is a determined refusal to be drawn back into a destructive cycle of conflict, violence and murder.

Rather than being paralysed by fear and a sense of powerlessness, this time the people have a fresh confidence in our ability to act together in shaping the shared future upon which we have embarked. We are prepared to stand up and let our united voice be heard. We tell those who are intent on instilling fear, division and destruction that their schemes will not be allowed to shape our future. No, the shape of the future will continue to be determined democratically and peacefully by a united people who have a fresh confidence, a restored hope and a shared belief in working together for the common good.

The Right Revd Ken Good, Bishop of Derry and Raphoe

ENDS

This article appeared in the News Letter, 16 March 2009.