GOOD news from the North? Yes, it is still possible for the courage and honesty of individuals to signal hope for a more tolerant future. Last Saturday evening, Robert Saulters, the new Grand Master of the Orange Order, led a group of senior members of the order to stand outside Our Lady's Church in Harryville in solidarity with Catholic mass goers.
The group carried a banner: Orangemen support Civil and Religious Liberty for all". Later, the Rev Brian Kennaway, who chairs the Orange Order's education committee, told journalists he hoped that their presence might lead to greater contact between Catholics and Protestants so that each would gain a better understanding of the other's point of view.
For several months now people attending evening Mass in the mainly Protestant estate outside Ballymena have been subjected to intimidation: and abuse, sometimes erupting into extremely ugly violence, from loyalists. Although these events have been roundly condemned by the leaders of the main Protestant churches, the demonstrators have argued that they are there to protest at the refusal of the nationalist community in nearby Dunloy to allow Orange marchers to parade through the village.
So the presence of the order's grand master and his senior colleagues, their physical rejection of the protest, was a powerful gesture. Such positive public acts of solidarity on grounds of principle are rare in any society, and this one was all the more welcome because of the darkening gloom of the political situation in the North.
Robert Saulters, who led the small group and chatted afterwards with priests and parishioners, got a lot of stick from the liberal media when he was elected grand master in December, succeeding the Rev Martin Smyth. This focused mainly on his criticism of Tony Blair as having "sold his Protestant birthright by marrying a Romanist".
Soon after his election I took part in a discussion programme on BBC's Radio Ulster with Mr. Saulters. Father Denis Faul was also a panellist, and there was no question as to which of the two men was the more accomplished and politically suave performer. It struck me that the new grand master was a decent, upright man, who could learn a lot from Father Faul about dealing with the media.
HE said then that he abhorred what was happening each week at the Harryville church and that, if invited, he would be prepared to do anything he could to help.
I don't know that we believed he would do it, but he proved as good as his word.
Many people have condemned, usually from a safe physical and political distance, the increasing virulent demonstrations of sectarianism in Northern Ireland in recent months. A few public figures have gone in person to the Catholic church in Harryville. James Currie, the Ulster Unionist mayor of Ballymena, is one of those who has demonstrated his repugnance for the bullying violence of the protesters, along with several colleagues and local Protestant clergymen.
Others who should have been there unionists known for their public association with the Orange Order, like David Trimble and John Taylor, have been noticeably absent. That is why the decision of Mr Saulters to defend the rights of the Catholics is important.
The most immediate effect will be to shine a faint - but desperately needed - ray of hope that it may be possible to deal with the Orange marching season this summer in a more tolerant and generous way, that both sides may see the advantages of negotiation over confrontation. Perhaps, given a little time and determination to build bridges, Drumcree need not be repeated.
We know that very many members of the Orange Order - decent if politically anxious Protestants - were appalled at what happened last summer, the terrible damage which it did not only to the image of their community across the world, but also to community relations in small towns and villages.
These people are trapped by old loyalties and fears of what will happen if they compromise. Leadership is needed at a national and local level to move the situation forward - from the churches, from the unionist parties, from the business community. If Mr Saulters and his colleagues 10 to Harryville again, they should try to persuade David Trimble to join them.
ARCHBISHOP Robin Eames has spoken" eloquently of the "cancer of sectarianism". It has shocked many people just, ow far and how fast that cancer has spread in recent months. It existed long before Drumcree. But the bitterness of last year's marching season, taken together with the breakdown of the IRA ceasefire, seems to have ripped away the civilising taboos which enabled the two communities to offer each other succour and comfort, through even the worst of the violence, across the sectarian divide.
It is as though the failure to make political progress, the fears and disappointments on both sides, have dealt a fatal blow to the immune system of Northern society. The boycott of Protestant shops, arson attacks on churches, the burning out of Catholic families have provided images of the deepening divisions that threaten the new year.
It has become almost commonplace to hear church leaders from all denominations condemn these attacks and that, of course, is as it should be. What is all too often lacking, though, is the same kind of support for the victims by politicians and clergy at local level, which would make the point that sectarian behaviour from members of one's own community is morally and socially unacceptable.
In the final days of last year, a Protestant butcher, Robert Rainey, was forced to close his shop and leave the village of Pomeroy, where his family had lived for nearly a century. This is a story I have covered myself and I know that anything one writes about it will provoke angry letters saying one has failed to understand the complexities of the situation. But some facts are absolutely clear.
This was one of three Protestant families with young children living in the village. The fear of those who remain is that soon the other two families will follow and there will be no Protestant children to attend the small school which stands - beside the manse at the end of the Main Street.
Robert Rainey told this paper's reporter, Gerry Moriarty, that it might have helped if the local Catholic clergy had preached against the boycott. He also said he did not blame local Catholics because it is very hard for ordinary decent people to, stand up to pressure.
The importance of what Robert Saulters and his colleagues have done by giving public support to Catholic mass goers at Harryville is that they have reminded ordinary decent people in their community that it is possible to stand up to pressure and against sectarianism. Others should follow their example. On both sides,