WEDNESDAY'S NEWS

Sectarianism Education Project

Defeating deeply embedded sectarianism will be a long drawn out process requiring the best use of biblical, prayerful and communal gifts, the Bishop of Tuam, Rt. Revd. Richard Henderson told the General Synod on Wednesday.

"Sectarianism has been a long time in the hatching and therefore will be a long time in despatching," he said. The Church needs to be explicit in drawing on Biblical principles, in prayer and in ecumenical rather than economic appreciation of the issues involved.

Revd. Paul Dundas, who ministers at Sandy Row in Belfast, said people needed leadership. "We need to earth this scoping study to enable the Church to rise above the problems we face in society." He said the study presented many opportunities for growth.

Canon Jonathan Barry (Comber), said visitors to Ireland found the people charming, north, south east and west but often as not expressed surprise that they can't find a way of living in peace with one another.

Stating that groups should be held more responsible for their actions, he pointed out that Millwall Football Club in London may face punitive damages as a result of the behaviour of their supporters following a recent defeat, in which there was much damage to property and serious assaults on the Police.

Canon Barry said it opened the possibility that the Northern Ireland Office, in another context, could pursue the Church of Ireland where such behaviour followed a church service and he posited the question whether this might lead to changes in the nature of certain services.

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Reform Bill tensions

Tensions resurfaced at the General Synod on Wednesday over the defeat of attempts to reform the representation of synod the previous day. On Tuesday, Canon Brian Courtney, proposing the Bill asked if the status quo did not represent a 'contrived sectarianism' in the Church.

During a debate on the sectarianism education project on Wednesday, the seconder of the failed Bill, Canon Philip Patterson (Down) said Synod itself needed to examine its own structures, attitudes and actions in the way a minority overlooked, belittled and dominated a majority.

Canon Des Harman (Dublin) who is a secretary to the Synod, said Canon Patterson had raised very serious matters and challenged him to give specific examples of the areas he had mentioned. "If there are areas, then through the Standing Coimmittee, the Sectarian Education Committee or some other body we will look at them seriously." Otherwise the remarks were just a matter of rhetoric.

Canon Harman said the Synod had been conducted in a great spirit and he was deeply concerned at the allegations of unfairness and dominance.

Canon Billy Neely (Armagh) said innuendo was a very low form of argument and he would like to know who the synod was persecuting and denying rights to.

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Dangers of Nice Treaty rejection should be promoted by the Churches

The rejection of the Nice Treaty by the Irish people must be made an issue by the Churches, Bishop John Neill told general synod on Wednesday.

"The people of the Republic may have rejected the Treaty for all the best reasons, such as concerns about the role of smaller nations in an enlarged Europe, and concerns about the Community becoming too much of a NATO type of alliance. We can defend our stance by saying we did not vote against enlargement, we voted against other implications of the Nice Treaty", he said.

Nonetheless the result had been to put a damper on the whole process of enlargement, he said.

"Can we afford to allow the message ro go out that Ireland has achieved so much because of the European enterprise, and now wants to keep it all for itself and to protect its own tender conscience? More importantly can we think of all those people in the countries of Eastern Europe who have enjoyed nothing of the freedom or prosperity that we have enjoyed, and not say to them: 'we want you with us in Europe and we will make sacrifices to make this possible'? "

"Perhaps most important of all, can we not make it a priority to help those fledgling democracies continue to develop rather than slip back into the hands of an old guard that is already gaining credibility? We have seen again the emergence of the extreme right in Europe very recently, and the extreme left is not far behind."

Bishop Neill said the Churches have a responsibility to keep this before the public when next there is an opportunity to vote on the issue.

(reports courtesy of Rev Gregg Ryan of the Church Times)

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