NEWS STORY: Evangelical, Catholic movement emerges in Ireland

c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ A group of Roman Catholic and Protestant leaders in Northern Ireland, taking a cue from their U.S. counterparts, have launched an Evangelicals and Catholics Together movement hoping to overcome centuries of sectarian strife that has often plunged the region into bloody violence. Despite the deadliest sectarian attack in […]

c. 1998 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ A group of Roman Catholic and Protestant leaders in Northern Ireland, taking a cue from their U.S. counterparts, have launched an Evangelicals and Catholics Together movement hoping to overcome centuries of sectarian strife that has often plunged the region into bloody violence.

Despite the deadliest sectarian attack in 29 years _ an Aug. 15 car bombing in Omagh that killed 28 mostly women and children and injured 220 _ Irish church leaders seem more willing that ever to take steps toward cooperation and peace.


People are asking”are we prepared to do things and engage in dialogue for the good of peace?”said the Rev. David Montgomery, a Presbyterian minister in Belfast. He said he believes people are now ready to”move out of their traditional comfort zones”for the sake of peace.

And church leaders hope the new Evangelicals and Catholics Together in Ireland movement, launched with a lengthy manifesto drafted with the help of North American theologian J.I.Packer and made public July 30, will play a significant role in that process.

The 10-page statement, according to Paddy Monaghan, an evangelical Catholic and one of its drafters, is the first significant interdenominational statement in Ireland. The statement was drafted by a steering committee of five Protestant and Catholic leaders and was signed by 130 church and lay leaders from Roman Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist and Church of Ireland churches.

Generally, the statement reaffirms traditional, orthodox Christian doctrines on such issues as the Trinity and the authority of Scripture. And while noting differences in some doctrines, it says the two groups are drawn together as”a result of (a) common effort to value, respect and protect all human beings, especially the lives of the most vulnerable among us.”As a consequence, we share a deep social concern about abortion, the rights of the child, men, women and children as victims of war, the exploitation and inequality of women, the growing culture of violence and death and the evil of oppression and torture.” It adds:”In the context of Ireland we share a particular concern to reduce and eliminate sectarianism in our own live, in our churches and in our communities. We want to work together to bring to an end sectarian murder, bitterness, hatred and division.” The document highlights the need to clear away”misunderstandings and caricatures”hindering the progress toward resolving differences between Catholics and Protestants.

Irish church leaders, in preparing the document, drew from the North American statement issued in March 1994 and signed by a group of prominent conservative Protestants, including Charles Colson of Prison Fellowship, and Roman Catholics, such as the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus of the Institute on Religion and Public Life.

Packer, of Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, said he believes there is a strong theological argument for Catholic and Protestant relationships.”Jesus’ prayer was that his people would be one as he and the father are one,”he said.”When Jesus was facing the cross, the father was there with him and both Jesus and the father were thus together on mission in facing the cross. This is why I want to see Catholics and Protestants working together in mission on the same platform.” In Northern Ireland, however, the statement was not greeted with the same equanimity as the U.S. document. It was sharply denounced by members of Ian Paisley’s Free Presbyterian Church who demonstrated outside Lowe Memorial Presbyterian Church where Packer spoke on the statement.

Eugene Boyle, a spokesman for the new movement, said Irish religious leaders are beginning to acknowledge the role of the churches in nurturing sectarianism in Northern Ireland.”I feel that the seeds of sectarianism were first sown in all of the churches,”he said.”Sectarianism wasn’t preached against in any church. … We do have a vital part to play in eradicating it.” Montgomery said Packer’s involvement gave credibility to the evangelical- Catholic statement because the conservative theologian is well respected among hardline evangelicals in Northern Ireland.”Packer’s visit exposed people who have traditionally been separatist evangelicals to the whole dialogue between evangelicals and Catholics,”Montgomery said.


Like their U.S. counterparts, the issue that must be addressed by Christians in Northern Ireland is whether or not theological disagreement precludes action together across denominational boundaries, Montgomery said.”We have put up more barriers than are absolutely necessary,”he said.”In the churches we have hidden too long behind our theological differences. … Packer explained to us how historically other Christians have been able to work together despite their theological differences.” (OPTIONAL TRIM _ STORY MAY END HERE.)

The Rev. Trevor Morrow, a Presbyterian minister in Dublin who grew up near Belfast, said evangelical Protestants in Northern Ireland have an inbred fear of Rome.”We have been brought up to believe that the Roman Catholic Church is antithetical to the Christian faith,”he said.”You’re perceived as identifying with enemies of your culture when you cooperate with Catholics.” Morrow said because individual Catholics rather than the church were involved in composing the Evangelical and Catholics Together in Ireland statement, it would be more acceptable to evangelical Protestants. “I suspect that the document would be very favorable to great numbers in the north if they perceived this as Christians wanting to come together to express their faith rather than an institutionalized ecumenism,”Morrow said.”The involvement of the Catholic Church would send shivers down many evangelical spines in Northern Ireland.” According to Montgomery, the churches”are trying to mirror the brave and courageous initiatives that the politicians are making.”The need to break down barriers and make the most of movements like the evangelical and Catholic movement is all the more urgent in light of the recent atrocities in Omagh.” DEA END CAGNEY

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