Sir, – As a fellow member of the Church of Ireland, I wish to endorse Senator David Norris’s view that the church should put clear blue water between itself and the Orange Order (Home News, July 15th). At present, the church permits “Orange Services” to be held in its places of worship and, in many rural areas, union flags are flown from church towers. It is argued that it is up to the rector and select vestry of a parish to decide on these matters and that the central church has no power to intervene.
Quite simply, that is not true. The bishop of each diocese has authority over the nature of the worship that is conducted in each parish church under his care and the general synod is the ultimate authority on all matters.
In the aftermath of the Drumcree crisis, the church set up a “Hard Gospel” committee to deal with sectarianism. Rather than confront the beast and slay it, the church took a “softly, softly” approach. A new approach is now required.
Sadly, we have witnessed the hard reality of naked sectarianism on the streets of Belfast over last weekend. It is imperative that the church now takes active steps to prove that it is on the side of those who are opposed to religious hatred. There must be no ambiguity.
The church has no right to dictate the private interests of its members and some may wish to be Orangemen; that does not mean that the church should be tied to those members’ interests in any way. There has been silence from the church over the last few days. If it is to retain any moral credibility, someone in a position of authority must break that silence. – Yours, etc, DAVID FRAZER,
Inse Bay,
Laytown,
Co Meath.
Sir, – I am sure that republicans and loyalists could work out something together that would recognise the beliefs of each other and lead to a happy and peaceful compromise for both sides.
However, the real problem is not those with sincere and traditional political positions – it is the vandals, gurriers and thugs, who have no real interest in politics (despite avowed affiliations) and whose primary concern is to indulge in brick-throwing and generally indulge in behaviour that somehow appeals to their more base instincts. Both sides need to recognise and root out this “third group”, while working together to celebrate their individual and shared traditions. – Yours, etc,
GEOFF SCARGILL,
Loreto Grange,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.