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THURSDAY MAY 8 2008

Faith matters

Religious Affairs Correspondent: William Scholes tel: 028 9033 7544 email: w.scholes@irishnews.com

CONFLICT: Drumcree

Church, the scene of some of the norths most bitter divides

PICTURE: Irish News Archive

The Hard Gospel is the road to overcoming our barriers

How do Churches respond to the changes taking place in Irish society today? Earl Storey explains how the Drumcree dispute forced the Church of Ireland to ask itself hard questions about its past and future
Belfast alone tell their own story. We live in a deeply divided community. What brave soul is seriously going to say that no-one did anything wrong? No-one really suggests this. The truth is that there is a search going on for what others did wrong. But no-one takes moral responsibility for their part in the whole sorry mess. There are two searches for truth about our conflict. One is the very understandable desire that relatives have for truth about how loved ones died, and who was responsible. Who would not want to know? There is another need for truth about how political division and communal tension grew and gave way to violence. It is to this latter search that we turn. It cant honestly be argued that no-one did anything wrong. There is also a reluctance for anyone to begin the process of owning up, of taking moral responsibility for anything. What are we to do? What has the Church to contribute here? Jesuss challenge to take the log out of your own eye before trying to take the speck out of your neighbours eye seems short and to the point in dealing with our past, present and future in Northern Ireland. The Church of Ireland established the Hard Gospel Project in 2005 to address a key issue how does the Church build peace in the midst of historic difference on this island? It represents one attempt by that denomination to ask itself hard questions. Is there anything we have done, anything that we have said about ourselves or about other communities that has contributed to an atmosphere of division on this island? It is a way of beginning with the log in our own eye before looking to remove the speck in the eye of any other community. In the late 1990s the Church of Ireland was thrust into the limelight by events at Drumcree with the challenge of how, as a Christian church, to deal responsibly with the problems arising out of

Jesuss challenge to take the log out of your own eye before trying to take the speck out of your neighbours eye seems short and to the point in dealing with our past, present and future in Northern Ireland
sectarianism in a divided society. The General Synod is the key legislative decision-making body in the Church of Ireland. It is made up of clergy and lay delegates from every part of this island. In 1997 the General Synod adopted a motion that the Church was opposed to sectarianism. It started a process of self-examination with the intention of determining how to promote at all levels of church life tolerance, dialogue, co-operation and mutual respect between the churches and in society. This was the beginning of a process for the Church of Ireland to look at itself in the mirror and ask a question. Is there any way in which we as an institution or as a membership can be seen to be part of a solution to division rather than contributing to it? Keep it simple is always going to be the challenge of the Hard Gospel process. It is to enable the Church

NE of the characteristics in our peace process is that no-one did anything wrong, so says Duncan Morrow, chief executive of the Community Relations Council. His words remind us of the uneasy feeling many of us have when we observe the unfolding peace process in Northern Ireland. No-one can quite believe the momentous political changes that have taken place of late, with sworn enemies doing business together. As we build peace in Northern Ireland, is it really the truth that no-one did anything wrong? The nonsense of such a statement is obvious. Thirty years of violence, over 3,500 dead and countless people wounded physically and mentally. Thirteen miles of peace walls in

of Ireland to ask itself crystal clear questions. They are as relevant in a meeting in Church House or a parish. do we find our greatest sense of identity and passion in Christ rather than in our political, ethnic or tribal identity? how are we to love God more than any political affiliation or aspiration? in a divided community with a violent past, who is my neighbour? in 21st century Ireland, what does it mean to love my neighbour? As the Church of Ireland meets for its annual General Synod next week in Galway, its members will have received a Hard Gospel report. This report has two important aspects to it. On the one hand it assesses the balance of the composition of representative bodies in the Church of Ireland, according to age, gender and location. In rather more digestible terms it means looking at central Church structures and asking: Who is at the table doing our business in the Church, and how is that business being done? Living with Difference A Reality Check also provides a tool for use at any level of the Church of Ireland. If anyone in the Church of Ireland wants to ask whether a policy or practice helps or hinders community relations, this report contains a simple proofing tool for answering that question. The challenge of loving your neighbour seemed predictable if not always well-practised by Churches on this island. As an all-island project the Hard Gospel found itself addressing two newly apparent challenges. Identifying your neighbour easily expressed itself in bridging the unionist nationalist divide. However, what of the gap between

the Church and marginalised Protestant/loyalist communities? These are communities where education is failing young people and the most insidious poverty can be a poverty of aspiration a loss of a sense of the future. Has the Church of Ireland a role or have

The words of one retired rector inspired the title for the project. He said: I want to see a return to the Hard Gospel... that you love God and love your neighbour as yourself

parishes become isolated islands in these communities? The relevance of living with difference in the Republic found a new challenge how to welcome and adapt Church life to the unprecedented wave of immigrants that have come to live and work in these shores. It is not to suggest that sectarianism is a challenge that mysteriously stops at the border. The challenge of loving our neighbour is constantly taking new guises. The words of one retired rector inspired the title for the project. He said: I want to see a return to the Hard Gospel... that you love God and love your neighbour as yourself. The Hard Gospel is much more than a project. It is a process. It is not about discovering something new. It is about doing something old living out the shockingly simple teachings of Jesus. Rev Earl Storey is director of the Church of Irelands Hard Gospel project