IT is easy to think of Englishmen who have taken a passionate interest in Ireland and have become passionate nationalists for example, Erskine Childers and Jim Larkin. Nicholas Frayling has strong ancestral roots in Ireland, but he is no ordinary Englishman converted to the cause of traditional Irish nationalism. He is one of the leading Church of England clergymen on Merseyside. As Rector of Liverpool and a canon of the city's Church of England cathedral, he has been fully engaged in the nitty gritty ecumenical work in a city where sectarian divisions once ran deeper than merely going to Goodison Park or Annfield on Saturdays, being a Catholic or a Protestant on a Sunday. Liverpool's Church leaders, in a foreword to the book, praise his role in ridding the city of sectarian suspicion and rivalry.
Nicholas Frayling is deeply conscious of the Irish component in Liverpool's history and its present life. At the same time, he believes the British presence in Ireland has amounted to centuries of injustice and oppression.
When the Warrington bombs went off on March 20th, 1993, killing young Tim Parry and Jonathan Ball, Canon Frayling wrote to the London Pi dependent calling for sorrow and penitence to be shown by the British people towards Ireland. His letter received an overwhelming response from the public, both Catholic and Protestant he was invited to the United States, and became involved in launching the Warrington Project. That response gave him the impetus for writing Pardon and Peace, a very personal account of his "journey of discovery".
As Canon Frayling became more and more involved in dialogue with people in Ireland, he came to the conviction that Britain must acknowledge its responsibility for the agony here and apologise to the Irish people "Without sorrow and penitence there can be no lasting reconciliation."
Canon Frayling spent three months in Ireland, listening to Protestants and Catholics, Loyalists and Republicans, as he worked on this book. He was profoundly struck by the depth of feelings of injustice and betrayal shown by both Unionists and Nationalists.
But if Canon Frayling has a deep sympathy for the victims of political injustice, he makes no claim to providing a political analysis or offering political solutions to the problems of Ireland. Instead, he focuses on the religious aspects of the situation, arguing that sorrow and repentance are the only ways to lasting peace in Ireland. In his writing he hopes to bring British readers who do not share his faith to an understanding of events in Northern Ireland, and to accept Britain's responsibility to bring healing in Ireland.
It is not, as the publishers claim, the first book about peace and reconciliation in Ireland providing a Christian approach to the subject David Bleakley's recent book is one of the latest. But it is a book that will help careful and thoughtful English readers to understand the Irish situation, and to be sympathetic. It is also a valuable reminder to Irish people of how English people can care about our legacy of hurt and bitterness without being patronising.
He ends with a personal plea for healing and reconciliation to atone for what he describes as centuries of pain, and to enable the dead in Ireland to rest in peace.
But his appeal for a change of hearts and a change of minds is not merely emotional Canon Frayling appeals to the Churches in Britain and Ireland to give a prophetic lead and he suggests how Christians can become involved in bringing about reconciliation. At a practical level, he gives a simplified outline of Irish history and lists reconciliation projects on both islands for those who wish to act on his suggestions.