LIKE many English Catholics I can trace my Catholicism to an Irish ancestry. My grandmother on my mother's side, an O'Brien, came from Clare and Dublin. I am not sure about my Protestant father's background, though I believe there were O'Keeffes somewhere and that suggests further Irish ancestry.

I grew up in an intensely English nationalist home and my awareness of the biases this introduced did not grow until well into adult life. I thought the English were intrinsically good people and was utterly shocked when I first learned about the Black and Tans.

There was little discussion among English Catholics about the injustices in Northern Ireland and, indeed, when the current "troubles" erupted in the late 1960s, the main concern was whether there would an anti Catholic backlash against English Catholics. The general view was that they ought to keep their heads down and not rock the boat.

I have a stronger sense now that English colonialism was not the unqualified blessing that I had been led to believe, and that the global postwar independence movement also had relevance in the Irish context. Nevertheless, whatever the historical rights and wrongs of partition, the fact is that there are roughly twice as many Protestants in Northern Ireland as there are Catholics and they have lived there much longer than Americans of European origin have lived in the United States.

I ACCEPT they have their own culture and religious beliefs which they feel are threatened by the politics for a united Ireland.

These beliefs are rooted in the historical legacy of a powerful papacy and fears for the independence and integrity of their Protestant beliefs. These are real fears and current political facts.

I live in a town where five of my fellow countrymen were killed in the infamous Guildford pub bombing. I am aware that, in pursuit of appropriate retribution, great injustices were permitted by the British state and its justice system, not only in this case but in others as well. I am aware that those involved in the Bloody Sunday massacre operated from just down the road from where I live. Like other Catholics, I joined the peace marches in London in the mid 1970s and wished: "if only they'd stop the killing!"

Somebody usually appears to have an interest in preventing peaceful dialogue. It seems that there are two contradictory imperatives, both of which require the total surrender of the other community's beliefs and interests. This intransigence by both parties is likely to lead to permanent bitter warfare, slogging it out forever, rather like the evils of trench warfare in the first World War.

Surely, though, in the modern world there is an alternative which respects the dignity of the other side, and that is the way of slow, patient, persevering, committed dialogue and the gradual building of trust and consensus.

I am aware that violent liberation movements have sometimes been successful. But they have typically been a reaction to the oppression of the majority by a minority. This is clearly not the case in Northern Ireland.

As a Catholic, I believe that acts of terrorism, the employment of a strategy of indiscriminate violence and intimidation, the taking of innocent lives and the infliction of economic damage which can harm the livelihoods of large numbers of people cannot be justified morally. At its crudest, they do not fulfil the conditions of the "just war".

I am deeply worried when people who pursue such strategies seem to have so much tacit support from members of my own religious community.

The expansion of trust and the enjoyment of ordinary everyday life by people in both communities following the IRA ceasefire was not only a joy and a relief but a sign of hope.

What recent events have done is damage that slow, persevering building of trust among ordinary people. For those under 30, it was their first experience of a normal life and they clearly revelled in it. To have destroyed that hope was a crime.

I CANNOT expect to offer a solution to what is clearly the greatest evil and injustice in our countries today. So many others, more knowledgeable and skilled, have failed to do so in the past 30 years.

But other conflicts, which also seemed insoluble, have been resolved by the persistence and courage of people of goodwill the reconciliation between France and Germany after three wars in 70 years; the largely peaceful ending of apartheid in South Africa; the ending of totalitarianism in the countries in eastern Europe; and the slow peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, to give but four examples.

I am convinced that a successful resolution of this centuries long conflict can be achieved only by people of goodwill at the grassroots, working together to create cross community friendships and promote joint endeavouring. Could we not continue to build on whatever mutual trust there is, however damaged it was by the marches of last summer?

So many people in both communities have latent goodwill. One of the greatest acts of Christian witness in the present troubles was that of Gordon Wilson, who forgave as he held the hand of his dying daughter.

May the God of peace bless those who work so quietly and unobtrusively at the grassroots in their own communities to urge the path of peace and reconciliation, and try to talk to suspicious or hostile members of the other community.

I would like to think that this article, naive though it may seem, might offer support and encouragement to those who feel swamped by angry members of their own religious communities who urge intransigence and hatred. I believe the work of achieving a peaceful resolution of the inter communal conflict must begin with ordinary people at total level. I am sure English Catholics will be pleased to offer support in any way they can.