Andrews salutes peace work of churches

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, said yesterday there was a risk that the contribution of the churches and of church people might be overshadowed in the political excitement of the Belfast Agreement.

He wished, he said, to put on record "that vital strand of Christian reconciliation work that never waned during the North's darkest days". Mr Andrews was speaking at a liturgy in Milltown Catholic church in Dublin celebrating the Belfast Agreement.

During "the long years of violence and enmity that plagued Northern Ireland", he said, "there was a dimension to the eventual peace agreement that must never be overlooked and that is the very real, patient and often unpublicised work of the churches".

Mr Andrews referred to "the witness of successive archbishops of Armagh", of bishops from both Derry and Belfast, and "people like the Redemptorist Fathers of Clonard Monastery" in Belfast. He pointed out that two Catholic priests had lost their lives in the line of duty over the years, and highlighted "the outstanding facilitating work carried on for over a decade by Father Alec Reid and others". It went without saying that members of other Christian churches also witnessed well to the reconciliation process.

"Good Friday last brought something of a graced moment for us all," he said, "and that grace was won, not just by politicians like myself, but by all citizens, North and South, who served in many diverse ways the cause of peace and reconciliation."