The most senior Catholic cleric in Ireland, the Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin, has proposed that Churches develop “truth recovery processes” to aid in confronting the legacy of the Troubles.
An ecumenical service in Belfast’s St Anne’s Cathedral, led by the Church of Ireland Dean of Belfast, was held to mark 100 years since the first meeting of the Irish Council of Churches – and 50 years since the groundbreaking Ballymascanlon Talks, where Protestant and Catholic Churches met for the first time in modern Irish History.
At the service, which coincided with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Archbishop Martin described the history of violence in the North as “hidden and festering”.
Churches should be “ambitious” in seeking to “address the legacy of pain and mistrust that continues to hang over us” he said.
Christians in Northern Ireland should also, he said, “work together to create spaces for dialogue at parish, congregation and community level so that all voices can be fully heard about the kind of society and values we want”.
“To engage in such issues – together, and with honesty – may uncover ways in which we ourselves might be supporting or facilitating unjust systems and structures,” the archbishop warned.
“But it will also bring us closer in Christ,” he said, “and strengthen our sense of common Christian purpose.”
The remarks, issued on the 22 January, were addressed to an audience that included leaders from 16 different Northern Irish Churches, and included senior politicians from the British and Irish governments.
One of the politicians in the audience, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris MP, is about to embark on a five-day trip to the US where he is expected to face questions about the controversial legacy bill, which will introduce conditional amnesties for crimes committed during the Troubles.
Earlier this month, Archbishop Martin argued that the “trauma and hurt” suffered by victims of the Troubles remains “substantially unhealed” 25 years after the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement.
"Sadly, 25 years on, the trauma and hurt of those horrific years remain substantially unhealed,” he said.
“Wounds within, and between, our communities remain open – wounds of body, mind, spirit and heart – and the legacy of suffering continues to fuel mistrust.”
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