Sir, - John Taylor MP (November 18th) makes the point that only 27 clergy in Northern Ireland signed the Catalyst letter concerning the situation at Drumcree. Does that mean that the other clergy of the Church of Ireland in the Six Counties are in favour of the stand taken by the rector and select vestry of Drumcree parish? Or could it possibly be a reflection of the fact that many clergy in the North of Ireland are frightened to take a stand, lest they upset some of the vociferous Orangemen in their parishes who might then make mischief? It would be ministerial suicide for someone in the Diocese of Armagh to sign a letter critical of the Orange Order and one must sympathise with those who have to keep their own views private for the greater good of the Church of Ireland in their own area.
The Catalyst letter was sent to me, but I declined to sign it, as there were certain aspects of it with which I disagreed. I would hate to think that it might be inferred by some that the absence of my name from the list of signatories points either to silent approbation of the Orange Order's behaviour at Drumcree, or to a "couldn't be bothered to take a stand" approach to the whole affair. I am very much opposed to a quasi-religious institution basically taking over an act of worship of the Church of Ireland.
As I see it, the Orange Order is very much out of order on this issue as it opposes the law established by the constitutional process which it professes to uphold. If its members are the loyal British subjects they claim to be (something I have always questioned), they should not be confronting their forces of law and order.
Since its foundation, Orangeism has often been in conflict with the law and is in many ways a confrontation-seeking organisation. It has sought to march at will through neighourhoods where it is not welcome, in true fascist manner, and anyone who argues that it is just a religious fellowship of people with like-minded views on political matters is being extremely disingenuous. Orangeism may have started out as a Protestant defence organisation in the wake of the skirmish at Dan Winter's cottage with some real validity in the circumstances of those times, but it soon became an offensive and offending body, which was used by the Ascendancy and then the Unionist Party to keep Roman Catholics in their place.
The Church of Ireland forged alliances with Orangeism in certain areas and it cannot now back out of the problem it helped create. Given that local clergy feel constrained in speaking out, it is up to others in our church to be prophetic and ask our people to abandon Orangeism, with its noxious mixture of politics and outmoded religious beliefs. We must call on them to serve the King of Kings and forsake the idol worship of the British Royal Family, which finds expression in the Prayer Book in the state prayers. These should really have been done away with at the dis-establishment, when we ceased to be the state church.
Finally, I would like to commend the strong Christian leadership of Archbishop Empey, who knows the Northern Ireland situation well from his schooldays at Portora in Fermanagh. The Church of Ireland is not a partitionist church and he has as much right to comment on events in the North as those in the North have to comment on events in the South. The greater the exchange of views the better, as far as I am concerned. Through exchange of opinions in an honest and forthright manner we may get to know one another better and perhaps in the long term discover that we have a lot in common, Orange and Green, North and South. - Yours, etc., David Frazer,
St Michael's Rectory, Millicent, Sallins, Co Kildare.