Sir, - At a press briefing in advance of his church's General Synod, the Church of Ireland Primate, Dr Robin Eames, defended his Church's handling of the annual Drumcree crisis. He is quoted as saying: "No single issue of my primacy has occupied more heartache and time" (The Irish Times, May 12th). He was "fully conscious of the damage done to the Christian Church and the Church of Ireland" by the images of Drumcree parish church appearing annually on TV screens worldwide. But "truly no stone has been left unturned" in seeking a resolution, he said.
Dr Eames's current position on Drumcree is to be welcomed, but I believe it falls short of what is required to convince many Christians of the Church of Ireland's commitment to confronting those within its ranks who seek some kind of religious justification or unofficial blessing for their sectarian agendas.
Dr Eames needs to avoid a recurrence of previous Drumcree stand-offs and the subsequent threat to civil society. Who can forget the arrival at Drumcree Parish Church last year of Johnny Adare with what seemed like a private army, instilling fear in Catholic communities across the North? It was only after a most scathing editorial in The Irish Times criticising Dr Eames's handling of the Drumcree situation that action was taken. Dr Eames must differentiate between political Protestantism and Christian Protestantism. He should insist that land belonging to the Church should not be used for wanton violence and lawlessness by sinister groups associated with the Drumcree protest. He should also reflect on whether it is acceptable that more than 60 grand officers of the Orange Order are also Church of Ireland clergy.
Dr Eames, on behalf of the C of I, should insist that the church at Drumcree must never again be hijacked for political purposes and used as a device to spread sectarianism across the North. He should also signal his Church's intention to end its formal and informal relationship with the loyal orders and emphatically reject the conferring of official or unofficial status on bigoted agendas.
The need for transparency and accountability from the C of I's decision-making body on the issues of religious and political sectarianism is imperative. - Yours, etc.,
Tom Cooper, Delaford Lawn, Knocklyon, Dublin 16.