Ireland name besmirched by IRA deeds - Archbishop

"COWARDS, cowards, callous cowards," Archbishop Walton Empey said of the IRA during his enthronement service in Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin, yesterday.

Archbishop Empey said the name of Ireland had been "be smirched" by a group who by their very name claimed to act on behalf of the Irish people.

"Any expression of abhorrence completely fails to express the revulsion of the vast majority of people living on this island. Our hearts go out to the injured and the bereaved yet again," he said referring to the injured in Manchester and Det Garda Jerry McCabe's family.

"As for those who carry out such atrocities we pray that God may take away their hearts of stone and give them hearts of flesh."

Archbishop Empey was speaking during a service where he was enthroned as Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Bishop of Glendalough, Primate of Ireland and Metropolitan. He was elected to the position on April 24th, in succession to Dr Donald Caird.

The attendance at the service included the President, Mrs Robinson, the Minister for Social Welfare, Mr De Rossa, on behalf of the Government, and the Minister for Education, Ms Breathnach, on behalf of the Tanaiste, Mr Spring.

The need for priests to concentrate on giving spiritual leadership, and the need for the church to reach out to people in need were emphasised.

Archbishop Empey said one of the most potentially spiritually damaging things for a priest was the tension between perceptions of what the priest ought to be and to do, and what the priest promised to be and to do at ordination.

The attendance at the service included the Apostolic Nuncio, the Most Rev Dr Luciano. Storero, the British ambassador, Mrs Veronica Sutherland, the Canadian ambassador, Mr Barry McWhinney, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Rev Dr Desmond Connell, The Supreme Court judge, Mrs Justice Susan Denham, and the Circuit Court judge and chairwoman of the Forum for Peace and Reconcilation, Judge Catherine McGuinness.

Also present were the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Alderman Sean D. Loftus, Senator Maurice Manning, Ms Mary Harney TD, Mr Des O'Malley TD, the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, Lieut Gen Gerry McMahon, and the Garda Commissioner, Mr Patrick Culligan.

Representatives of the Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran and Greek Orthodox Churches were present, as were representatives of the Salvation Army and the Anglican nuns from the Community of St John the Evangelist, Pembroke Park.

Archbishop Empey's wife, Mrs Louisa Empey, his mother, Mrs Mildred Empey, his sons, Patrick, Karl and Kevin, and daughter, Sheila, were also present, as was his brother, Mr Paul Empey.