THE Church of Ireland Bishop of Tuam, Right Rev John Neill, has said many church members found the Church of Ireland's association with the events at Drumcree last July "deeply embarrassing and offensive."
Speaking at his diocesan synod in Westport, Co Mayo, on Saturday, Bishop Neill said: "The threat of extreme violence, the use of church property by the Orange Order, the perpetuation of the myth that because a march is to a service of worship it is a quasi religious occasion, are features of recent events with which we cannot identify in any manner."
He paid tribute to Catholics in the Tuam diocese who "have realised that we do not condone in any way the actions of Orangemen or the links apparently maintained between the Orange Order and some Church of Ireland parishes and clergy in parts of Northern Ireland."
Bishop Neill warned that the churches in Ireland, of all denominations, "will have little to contribute to a new Ireland, whatever its political shape, unless we can truly initiate a change of direction.
"That change of direction must be a willingness to place our social thought, our teaching of children, our moral guidance and our theological reflection in the context of the future to which God is calling us. For too long we have articulated the stories of the past, we have kept alive so much that divides, and we have failed miserably to convert the evil of violence and hatred into the joy of reconciliation and peace.
"The fact that we all know of outstanding exceptions to this in the past, and in the present, does not vindicate the failure of the churches to take us forward from the sad story that has been the long history of this island. Unless Christians repent of their clinging to a past that has failed there is little hope of moving things forward."
Bishop Neill then quoted the head of the Armenian Church in Lebanon addressing the World Council of Churches recently out of his experience in that religiously divided country.
The Lebanese prelate said: "The churches should first of all recognise and repent of their own complicity in many cases of ethnic tension and conflict. They must transcend their own ethnic boundaries. They must unite around the vision of a holistic and just society perceived in the perspective of the Kingdom of God."
Bishop Neill recalled that in South Africa "it was a prophetic church that stood at the foot of the cross, losing many members, that led the nation forward."
He added: "A prophetic church is one in which its members are prepared to face the cost of discipleship, to realise that standing for peace and justice will involve the loss of members and of income. A prophetic church is not comfortable to belong to.
"We in the Church of Ireland in the Republic have often tended to keep quiet on many issues, refused to take a stand, lest we lose members. This is a problem in many a small parish, where the real problem of meeting financial commitments may mean submitting to the whims of those who want little change or disturbance.
"We require a radical and costly courage in the Church of Ireland in our own diocese as much as elsewhere if we are to make a living contribution to peace in Ireland," he said.