Dennis Cooke
Methodist Pastor, Northern Ireland
  

In this brief paper I want to consider two questions:

Why was there a war?

How can we create peace?

WHY WAS THERE A WAR? WHAT WERE THE PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS WHICH GAVE BIRTH TO WAR? SOME MAY PREFER TO SAY: WHY WAS THERE VIOLENCE?

I want to preface my comments by saying that I speak as a Methodist from within the Protestant tradition and therefore the major part of my brief remarks will focus on possible ways in which the Protestant community contributed to the outbreak of violence.

An attitude of superiority among Protestants was one of the main reasons for the war. Why do I suggest this?

The Northern Ireland State was created in 1920/21 in response to Unionist opposition to being included in a United Ireland. Ireland had been under English rule for about 7 centuries but by the second decade of the twentieth century it was clear that some form of Home Rule would be granted to Ireland. By and large the Protestant population in Ireland, found mainly in the North, were opposed to the creation of an independent Ireland because they believed, to use one of their popular slogans, �Home Rule meant Rome Rule�. They feared the influence of the Roman Catholic Church within an independent State. The creation of Northern Ireland in 1920/21 was therefore something of a compromise intended to meet the demands of the Protestant/Unionist population. Six Northern counties with an overall Protestant majority were carved out of an existing 32 county Ireland and Northern Ireland was created. The other twenty-six counties formed the Irish Free State, now known as the Republic of Ireland.

It could be argued that this was a legitimate compromise in a difficult situation. The creation of Northern Ireland avoided the worst fears of the Protestant/Unionist population, allowed for a local Parliament to be elected, but maintained the link with the United Kingdom. However, consider the consequences of this arrangement.

The 1920 Government of Ireland Act which legalised the creation of Northern Ireland declared that ultimate power and responsibility lay with the Westminster Parliament, but little oversight by that Parliament existed during the first fifty years of the State. Because Unionists were in a majority in the new State elections to the local Parliament inevitably resulted in the election of a Unionist government. One party rule existed in Northern Ireland for fifty years from the creation of the State. Unionists assumed that they had the right to govern the six counties of Northern Ireland and ignore the Nationalist aspirations of the minority Catholic community.

Along with the exercise of government went greater economic privileges: access to better jobs and better housing. Nationalists felt that their opinions were of no consequence. They had no prospect of sharing in the government of the country. Only in a few local town councils, where electoral boundaries had not been altered to facilitate the election of a Unionist majority, did they have a small degree of authority and control.

The main Protestant Churches in Northern Ireland gave their tacit support to this state of affairs. It could be described as an attitude of superiority. Unionism was supported by Protestantism and the parameters of each were largely identical.

Few, if any, on the Protestant side questioned the rightness of this one-party rule. This attitude of superiority led many within Unionism to resist the legitimate claims of the Civil Rights movement. Some of these can be noted: universal franchise for local government elections; the redrawing of electoral boundaries to end gerrymandering; the introduction of laws to end discrimination in local government employment; and a compulsory points system for public housing.

Was this attitude of superiority really a reaction of fear by Protestants to what they perceived as the power of the Roman Catholic Church? They feared being included in a State which would be dominated by the Roman Catholic Church. This may go some way to explaining the development of a superior attitude among Protestants.

The awakening of a social conscience among a few on the Protestant side in the late 1960s came too late to be of any value. Their opinions were not valued. The damage had been done.

Comment on the attitude of superiority in Unionism and Protestantism must include a reference to the existence of anti-Catholicism within Protestantism. This was partly a legacy from the religious wars in Europe which resulted in the demonising of opponents from the sixteenth century and later. In Northern Ireland it took a particularly extreme form. Not content with criticising Roman Catholicism or suggesting errors of practice or doctrine, this anti-Catholicism denied that the Roman Catholic Church was a Christian Church. Dr Ian Paisley is the leading exponent of this position. He has said: �Recognising the Church of Rome as revealed in Scripture as the �mother of harlots and abominations of the earth� [Revelation 17:5] we maintain our total resistance to every attempt to accept that system as a Christian Church.� Paisley accused the Roman Catholic Church of being the instigator of persecution and revolution throughout the world and the inspiration behind the �Troubles� in Northern Ireland. He declared: �The Provisional IRA is in reality the armed wing of the Roman Catholic Church�.

This extreme form of anti-Catholicism is not limited to Paisley�s party or followers. It has been a strong element in Protestantism in general and some suggest it lies at the root of the Protestant attitude of superiority. However, we have to ask what is the significance of all this in relation to the results of the recent 2003 elections for a local Assembly in Northern Ireland when Ian Paisley�s Democratic Unionist Party emerged as the largest party in the Assembly.

Another factor contributing to war was an inflexible pursuance of their political ideology on the part of Irish republicanism. The conviction that physical force was required to remove the British presence and secure a united Ireland was reaffirmed by the Provisional IRA in 1970 and remained firm for two decades. A rigid adherence to their political ideology meant that the eventual granting of the Civil Rights demands in the early 1970s did not alter their decision to use physical force. This ideology of Sinn Fein and the IRA was in stark contrast to that of the Social Democratic and Labour Party who pursued their political objectives by peaceful means.

Could war have been avoided if there had been �bridges of contact� between the Catholic and Protestant communities? Sadly these bridges of contact did not appear until the late 1960s. The Corrymeala Community for Reconciliation was not formed until 1965 and took years to develop. The Glencree Centre for Reconciliation outside Dublin was not formed until 1974. These were para-Church groups. Official contact between the Roman Catholic Church and the main Protestant Churches did not exist until 1969 and at first it purposely avoided all publicity lest hostile forces attempted to destroy it! The first contact was in the form of a small Ad Hoc group consisting of Catholic and Protestant representatives whose sole function was to advise the Church leaders on how to respond to the various crises in the Province. Within four years the annual Ballymascanlon Conference had been set up which provided an official meeting point for Protestant and Catholic Church leaders to discuss theological, political, social and economic issues of importance.

These bridges of contact were significant and important. But were they too late? If they had been in existence earlier they may have been in a better position to provide a listening point for the Catholic and Protestant communities?

HOW CAN WE CREATE PEACE?

We are aware of the well-known dictum �Peace is not just the absence of war�. Real peace has to be created. We have to work to create peace.

The speakers at this session have all been active in endeavours to create peace. Their contributions indicate the many different methods that are being followed. Some of these methods are common to each of us, some are distinctive to the group or organisation with which we work.

We all hold in common the necessity to build bridges. �Jaw-jaw� is much better than �war-war�. Northern Ireland has suffered from people in one group being in ignorance of what others in another group really believe. They are unaware of what motivates people in another section of the Northern Irish community. So, each of us have been active in building bridges of communication.

These bridges of communication have been instruments in slowly hacking away at attitudes of superiority. Unionists and Protestants have not been the only ones guilty of arrogance and superiority. Meeting people from another section of the community, listening to them, and having others to listen to their story, can contribute to removing the demon image which they may previously have held of their opponents.

Bridges of communication can serve in the process of exploding myths previously held regarding others. The anti-Catholicism of some Protestants can be challenged.

The Methodist Church in Ireland has been active, to some degree, in building bridges. One of its ministers, the late Revd Dr Eric Gallagher, was the first to meet with the IRA and attempt to reason with them. This was in 1971. In 1974 he was the chief spokesperson for the Protestant clergy and laity who met the IRA at a hotel in Feakle, County Clare. These kind of contacts continued in the 1980s and 1990s and continue at the present time.

Being Principal of Edgehill Theological College from 1984 to 2004 gave me an opportunity to build bridges of understanding. This is a training college for Methodist ministerial and lay students. Both Catholics and Protestants have been and are students at the College.

For the past 20 years Methodist ministers have learned about the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church from a priest of that Church and not from myself or another Protestant. Seminars are provided to serve this purpose. Not only are they taught about the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, they are also brought into contact with Roman Catholic clergy and laity. When teams of ministers-in-training have gone out on mission for a week in a town or city, arrangements have been made for them to meet with local people, both Protestant and Catholic.

I well remember one of these weeks, a week in Armagh. The local Methodist minister made arrangements for us to meet the late Cardinal Tomas O Fiaich. The Cardinal took us around the Cathedral, brought us to his house, gave us tea and sandwiches, talked with us and listened to us. Finally, he sang for us.

What was the value of a visit like this? It started a process in the minds of these young ministers: some started to re-examine their anti-Catholicism. It may not have happened overnight, but a process of re-thinking was encouraged..

In the training of Methodist ministers we have also encouraged the practice of praying with others, and attending their places of worship. In the past year one of our Ministers-in-training did her placement in a Roman Catholic parish community on the Falls Road in Belfast [Clonard Monastery].

Trips for Methodist Ministers-in-training and lay people were organised to areas of social deprivation, both Catholic and Protestant. They have met with people in these areas and listened to them.

Students in the theological colleges have met with students from other seminaries, both Protestant and Catholic, north and south of the island. They have shared in reflection together and prayed together. Since 1997 the Principals/Presidents of the Irish theological colleges have met together annually, to talk together and to eat together. The first of these annual dinners was in Edgehill Theological College.

Perhaps one of the most creative methods of building peace has been the Exploring Theology Together course initiated by Edgehill Theological College in 2001. The course is based on the Bachelor of Theology degree course offered by the Queen�s University of Belfast. It is an established university course. Lecturers in the degree course are 50:50 Catholic and Protestant. The Catholic lecturers travel from the Mater Dei Institute in Dublin. Students enrolled in the course are both Protestant and Catholic.

What is the value of the course? Firstly, students and staff in the course have found that the study of theology is exciting. Their Christian faith has been strengthened. Theology has become meaningful and dynamic for them. Secondly, students and staff have found that what they hold in common far outweighs the things which divide them. Previously held misconceptions have been corrected. It has been a thrilling experience, though sometimes painful, to teach and study together our understanding of what the church is and the significance of the eucharist. Thirdly, the course has demonstrated that Catholics and Protestants in Ireland can actually teach and study theology together. I personally would go further and suggest that this is the way that laity and clergy should be trained; not separately in different institutions but together in the same institution. On a world-wide basis lay and clergy should study theology together.

All of these measures may contribute in a small way to the building up of peace. Clergy and lay are being prepared to be bridge-builders for the future.