ARCHBISHOP SEES HOPE IN SUMMER TRAGEDY
Archbishop sees hope in summer of tragedy
By Niall Blaney
A MARCH forced down the Garvaghy Road would have been disastrous and risked unravelling the Good Friday agreement, the Catholic primate has said.
Dr Sean Brady said that situation would have handed a moral victory to republican extremists.
Writing in the Christian magazine, The Month, the archbishop of Armagh said the Drumcree crisis and the Omagh bombing had pushed the issue of reconciliation centre-stage as never before.
People across Northern Ireland were now talking about a watershed in society, he said.
"There is a perception that the absolute depths of depravity, as never before, have been reached in the Omagh bombing and in the arson attack in July which killed three young boys.
"Both communities feel utterly aggrieved and disgusted by these two dastardly acts and feel an unprecedented disdain and revulsion for the people who perpetrated them and for the mentality which made these deeds possible," said Dr Brady.
He said the marching season was in great need of a permanent solution and that Northern Ireland could not endure one disastrous summer after another.
''Building new relationships of trust and mutual respect and neighbourly harmony are absolutely necessary. Dialogue, accommodation and compromise must be our new weapons. Bigotry, sectarianism and intransigence must be decommissioned."
Dr Brady said the Omagh bombing seemed to be a watershed - a republican bomb planted in a mainly nationalist town which killed Catholics and Protestants and people from as far away as Spain.
The appalling face of terrorism and the absolute futility and insanity of violence had been unmasked in their absolute nakedness and
impoverishment as never before.
'The widespread desire to show grief publicly and manifest revulsion throughout the island by public demonstrations and acts of reflection and remembrance was quite unique and unprecedented in the history of Ireland."
The archbishop said it was crucial hopes for peace were consolidated and not ruined by the bomb.
The hope that the Good Friday agreement was going to work was very much alive and well, he said.
"The awful events of recent months have, in a perverse way, been a catalyst for good," added Dr Brady. "We cannot be prisoners of our history, of strife and dissension forever.
"Of course there are very real fears on the unionist side that they are in danger of being pushed by what they see as a vindictive and unforgiving nationalist population."
It was up to nationalists to recognise those fears existed and to take decisive and generous action with them, he said There were sceptics on the nationalist side who were yet to be convinced that any real change was expected.
"I think the concept of respect is crucial... We need to listen to each other's story and to hear each other's fears of being divided from one's own place."
Dr Brady said one other crucial factor was the plight of the victims of violence. Asking those people to overlook their suffering was to continue the oppressive situation.
"It is, in fact, wrong and unjust to say that the experiences of those who suffer are not important and that they themselves are not important to the process. By forgetting the pain and the hurt, the victim is forgotten. So the causes of the suffering are not uncovered and dealt with."
By Niall Blaney
A MARCH forced down the Garvaghy Road would have been disastrous and risked unravelling the Good Friday agreement, the Catholic primate has said.
Dr Sean Brady said that situation would have handed a moral victory to republican extremists.
Writing in the Christian magazine, The Month, the archbishop of Armagh said the Drumcree crisis and the Omagh bombing had pushed the issue of reconciliation centre-stage as never before.
People across Northern Ireland were now talking about a watershed in society, he said.
"There is a perception that the absolute depths of depravity, as never before, have been reached in the Omagh bombing and in the arson attack in July which killed three young boys.
"Both communities feel utterly aggrieved and disgusted by these two dastardly acts and feel an unprecedented disdain and revulsion for the people who perpetrated them and for the mentality which made these deeds possible," said Dr Brady.
He said the marching season was in great need of a permanent solution and that Northern Ireland could not endure one disastrous summer after another.
''Building new relationships of trust and mutual respect and neighbourly harmony are absolutely necessary. Dialogue, accommodation and compromise must be our new weapons. Bigotry, sectarianism and intransigence must be decommissioned."
Dr Brady said the Omagh bombing seemed to be a watershed - a republican bomb planted in a mainly nationalist town which killed Catholics and Protestants and people from as far away as Spain.
The appalling face of terrorism and the absolute futility and insanity of violence had been unmasked in their absolute nakedness and
impoverishment as never before.
'The widespread desire to show grief publicly and manifest revulsion throughout the island by public demonstrations and acts of reflection and remembrance was quite unique and unprecedented in the history of Ireland."
The archbishop said it was crucial hopes for peace were consolidated and not ruined by the bomb.
The hope that the Good Friday agreement was going to work was very much alive and well, he said.
"The awful events of recent months have, in a perverse way, been a catalyst for good," added Dr Brady. "We cannot be prisoners of our history, of strife and dissension forever.
"Of course there are very real fears on the unionist side that they are in danger of being pushed by what they see as a vindictive and unforgiving nationalist population."
It was up to nationalists to recognise those fears existed and to take decisive and generous action with them, he said There were sceptics on the nationalist side who were yet to be convinced that any real change was expected.
"I think the concept of respect is crucial... We need to listen to each other's story and to hear each other's fears of being divided from one's own place."
Dr Brady said one other crucial factor was the plight of the victims of violence. Asking those people to overlook their suffering was to continue the oppressive situation.
"It is, in fact, wrong and unjust to say that the experiences of those who suffer are not important and that they themselves are not important to the process. By forgetting the pain and the hurt, the victim is forgotten. So the causes of the suffering are not uncovered and dealt with."
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0412
Published Date: 30-Sep-98
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