ALL the troubles of Northern Ireland seem to have come to a head

Drumcree, It all seems to have come to boiling point here, particularly since the Anglo-Irish Agreement which disturbed so many people.

We have the feeling that Northern Ireland came to the brink at Drumcree, but I am hopeful and I say that it could also be a turning point.

I don't think man has the answer to this problem. People have tried and tried and tried, but I think we have to recognise that God is the only one with the answer.

There is no reason why Drumcree could not be the turning point, when you think of Jesus's death and resurrection. When He died, everyone was very forlorn and downcast, but He rose again, so we may have come to the brink here.

But there's no reason why it can't be a turning point, I believe people should be working towards that end.

I am not a political person and I don't want to be. I think it would be wrong of me as a clergyman to be political because there are plenty of people out there who know more about politics than I do. In relation to the Drumcree parade, I keep myself to taking the church service, but when the church service is over that's my role concluded.

It is not my role to tell Orangemen what they should or should not do. I believe there are far too many people in Northern Ireland trying to solve all of Northern Ireland's problems by themselves.

I think if they would stick to what they can do, it would be better. I'm sticking to what I can do, that is hold the service, and appeal for calm and for prayer.

The situation is that I hold a service at 11.30 a.m, every Sunday and the church door is open - to anybody who wishes to come to worship. On the first Sunday of July every year the Orangemen come to the service just as there is a certain Sunday when the Boys' Brigade come together or the Girls' Brigade.

The Orange Order was founded to help and support the Protestant faith across the Protestant denominations. The Portadown Orange Lodge was formed in 1796. At that time the various trade guilds used to go to church together on a particular Sunday.

When the Orangemen started up, they decided to do the same.

RECORDS have it that in 1807 Orangemen came out here for the first time. They came out here because at that time there was no parish church in Portadown and later they continued to come here because the tradition had been so well established.

The parade always went back down the Garvaghy Road, but over 25 years ago the area was developed into a housing area. At the beginning the population was 50 per cent Protestant and 50 per cent Roman Catholic, and then as time went on it became more and more populated by Roman Catholic people, so that's when all the objections to the Orangemen going down started.

I am not an Orangemen myself but Orangemen will tell you that they have given up seven parades in this area over the past 10 years and they would say that they have been reaching out all the time. They feel they have been generous and they don't see why they can't hold on to their last traditional parade,

They would say they have done enough and there is no need for any more talking.

MEMBERS of the Orange Order are honourable, upright men from every walk of life. Last year there were people who got involved and it was nothing to do with them. There was no excuse for what they did. They should have stayed out of it.

But it must be said that last year the mood was calm and quiet for most of the time. The ugly scenes that occurred were only now and then and were very short, but TV pictures gave the wrong impression.

I want peace for the whole community and for the whole town. I want peace for the people of the Garvaghy Road, for the people of Portadown and for all the people of Northern Ireland.

In the homily on Sunday, I will be talking about the day when Peter was out on the Lake of Galilee and a storm blew up. The storm is an illustration of the storms of life and the storm here in this area.

I will say that Peter put out the hand of faith to Jesus, who had his hand stretched out to him, and the storm went away. I will encourage people here to reach out the hand of faith to Jesus, because he is the only one with the answer to it.

I am anxious that everything will go off well and I am seeking to be hopeful that it will. It would be good if it was all over and everyone was agreeable and we could go on with normal life again.