Reflection on Northern Ireland - ”we seek to show the love of God in action”

My Sabbatical/Study Leave is about “exploring my understanding of my relationship with God through life's varied experiences...... exploring particularly the spirituality of suffering and struggle..... through the troubles of Northern Ireland”.

Having arranged this trip some months ago, I was put in touch with Dr Hamilton by one of my fellow Governors at the Dukeries College in New Ollerton.  This proved to be a very fruitful introduction, and through it  I met many wonderful people.  Thank you very much Gill!

I wanted to visit Northern Ireland as part of my sabbatical/study leave, because I have always had an interest in the troubles of Northern Ireland, particularly the  people involved, and what motivates them.

In my pre-sabbatical readings I realised I was not going to come up with any quick or easy answers to the many questions I had -- and this most certainly proved to be the case in what I saw; the people I met; and in the stories they told me. 

Parts of Belfast and Londonderry still remain very divided -- the Belfast peace walls dividing the two communities. many on opposite sides of what was once the same street, and the Protestant area of Londonderry which I could only describe as being a ghetto, squeezed into predominantly Catholic area.

 

I heard the expression time and time again "not an inch", and when you see just how near together the two communities are to each other, you get a real feel of how important an inch is territorially.

With the exception of one person, when we tried to visit Sinn Fein headquarters in Belfast the people I met were extremely friendly and welcoming. 

Many of them had a strong Christian faith, and those who hadn't told me they believed in God -- after all, and I quote, “God is on our side because we are right”. 

I met some wonderful people, DH and his wife Daphne, Gary, Jim -- the former paramilitary man, the two Roman Catholic sisters, the head of Springfield primary School, R and S, the Dean of Londonderry, the retired head teachers of Northern Ireland,  and of course  Harold Good, who had a very great impact on me, and the meal and evening we shared together will remain with me for the rest of my life.

I visited the Springfield Road Methodist Church -- the church and community centre where Dessie had  attended and worshipped as a boy and young man, and where Gary Mason had been a previous minister. 

Once a thriving Methodist church, there are now only a handful of loyal and faithful people who come to worship there.  However its influence still reaches well into the community in its various projects and work that it does.

I also visited Springfield  Primary School -- a school using a blend of traditional and modern teaching methods to provide a broad and balanced curriculum.  It was quite obvious from what I saw whilst being shown around, and talking with the head teacher that much work is being done in bringing Protestants and Catholics together -- this process was being actively encouraged by the parents of the children, who themselves would have been caught up in the tail end of the troubles as children.

I saw for myself  the Peace Wall -- this was a very striking feature of Belfast, and could be found in many areas of the city.  I was surprised to find that many roads were still closed at night, and indeed some were only open for pedestrians.

As on my only previous visit to Belfast I was once again fell in love with and deeply moved by the beautiful murals -- "muriels” as these were called by the locals, and these murals featured on the Peace Wall  and throughout the city, and in both sections of the community. 

On the Tuesday morning I visited two churches in the centre of Belfast -- St George's and St Malachy’s.  St Georges is high Anglican and St Malachy’s Roman Catholic.  I also visited another Roman Catholic church on the Falls Road, each beautiful buildings, but following very closely  the tradition of the denomination. 

In my limited experience of visiting churches this time, it is the Methodist Church which seems to be very creative in the use of its buildings and finding exciting and fresh ways in expressing its ministry.

I have to add that I was extremely surprised at the number of churches, and former churches, and the many different and obscure Christian denominations there seems to be particularly in Belfast.  Not because God initiates the troubles and the divisions, but rather due to the fact that the troubles and divisions find a Christian peg to hang their clothes on.

I also visited many of the famous named roads and areas of Belfast, two libraries -- one Catholic and one Protestant, and both the grave of and where Bobby Sands grew up.  Bobby Sands was pushed in his pram by Dessie when he was a young man.   Interestingly -- although Bobby Sands, who died through his hunger strike, was a Catholic and a Republican, and his mother a Roman Catholic, his father was a Protestant!

I visited the East Belfast Mission\ which has a long track record of social engagement in the area.  It started in the 19th century with a church soup kitchen and today continues to transform and renew East Belfast. 

It is involved with -- employability service, homelessness, running charity shops, cafes and Meals on Wheels, community work, youth work, and right at the heart of worshipping congregation.  It currently employs 70 staff supported by over 100 volunteers.  I had the chance to speak to some of them.

Its mission statement is ”we seek to show the love of God in action”

During my time in Northern Ireland, I heard of  a lady in her 80s whose husband had been killed by the IRA over 40 years ago -- and this was a case of mistaken identity.  Her faith only seemed to have been strengthened by her experience.  I also heard of another lady whose husband and son were both killed by the IRA, on separate occasions but in the same place.  Her faith, too, remained strong. These people , along with many others, were ministered to by the Dean of Londonderry and his team.

It was quite obvious in speaking to many people that with one exception, they all feel the troubles could easily start again. 

Jim, the former paramilitary man was the exception, and he felt the problems were in the past, and put this down to 9/11 -- and the realisation by the American's that they were supporting terrorism in giving money to the IRA, and understanding what this was like having been on the receiving end of a terrorist attack itself.

Jim also spoke to me about his dark memories, which still troubled him.  He knew members of the Shanklin Butchers, and had himself been actively involved in terrorism.  He spoke about his time in prison, and internment, and about his most detested man – and that seems to have been Ian Paisley -- a man who when Jim was young he admired as a hero, and along with tens of thousands of other young men would have done anything for him.  He now feels that Ian Paisley and many other statesman of utterly let them down.  He seemed to have more time for Martin McGuiness who he believed had at least stayed true to his cause. 

What had brought Jim back on the right path?  He had been involved with the community for many years now particularly in the building industry, but it was his wife, three children and his grandchildren who had refocused him. 

Whilst I saw much hope in the schools I visited, in the communities, and the people I met, the undermining issues are very great indeed and my own humble opinion is that they haven't been properly addressed. 

One other interesting fact I discovered on quite a few occasions, is that if you were middle class and Protestant, the troubles would have had little effect on you, or maybe even passed you by.  Those involved were mainly young working class men and women, and in the case of the Protestant East Belfast area very much under the influence of the Holland and Wolfe shipyard. 

I have already blogged about the gold match with the Police Inspector.

Researching the history of Ireland, particularly the recent history of the last hundred years or so, it is quite clear that London and then from 1921 Dublin didn't really want anything to do with the province of Northern Ireland.  And I still feel that is the same today.

I have many photographs to show, and I will include them in my final presentation, but they are available for anyone who wants to see them.

There is much I have not recorded here, like my trip round the Titanic quarters, Stormont, the Ulster Hall, and the beautiful Antrim Coast.

But how has my visit to Belfast and Northern Ireland helped with  “exploring my understanding of my relationship with God through life's varied experiences...... exploring particularly the spirituality of suffering and struggle..... through the troubles of Northern Ireland”?

I set out not really thinking that the troubles in Northern Ireland had much to do with the Christian faith, and that was confirmed for me.  God is there, but as a Pastor and helper, working through some of the many wonderful people I met.

Harold Good’s God was quite clearly a Pastoral God, who worked, and goes on working through ordinary men and women of all ages.   The small, gentle, quiet acts of kindness; the unseen gestures, the quiet prayerful patience with humankind in all its various guises.  Harold’s Gospel is not one that is carried out with unnecessary words or great theological theses, but with simple acts of kindness, love and compassion.

That, too, has always been my God, and the Gospel I follow – and it was good to see this in a place which has had a troubled history.  This has greatly affirmed me as a human being, as a Christian, and as a Priest.  It has greatly affirmed my faith!

If people of whatever community, whatever denomination, whatever faith, or of none,  were to focus a little more on this patience, reflection, kindness, compassion and love, then that would bring real hope for the future, not just for Northern Ireland, but for the world as a whole.