President's `bridge-building' theme praised

The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Walton Empey, spoke of the importance of the President's theme of "bridge-building" at a service yesterday in Christ Church Cathedral, which was attended by Mrs McAleese.

Referring to the overhead bridge connecting the cathedral to the old synod hall - "one of the most famous sights in Dublin" - he said the building of bridges was "hugely important in this land at this time, especially when another sectarian murder has taken place".

He was referring to the death of Mr Gerry Devlin (36) at St Enda's GAA club in Glengormley, Belfast, on Friday. The Loyalist Volunteer Force is being blamed.

Dr Empey noted that Mrs McAleese has made the building of bridges the special theme of her Presidency, and told her she and her family were prayed for every Sunday in every Church of Ireland church in the State.

The former Beirut hostage, Mr Terry Waite, patron of the Warrington male voice choir, which sang at yesterday's service, spoke of how a resolve to build bridges of understanding and friendship with Ireland developed after the IRA bombings there.

On March 20th, 1993, two young boys, Jonathan Ball and Tim Parry, were killed by the explosion.

"Thousands of ordinary men and women came out on to the streets of Dublin," he recalled. "They had one simple message. Murder, especially of children, is no way to resolve conflict. In return, the hearts of the people of Warrington went out to Ireland."

The second reading was by Dr Kenneth Milne, who was the Church of Ireland's representative on the inter-church study on sectarianism, which was chaired by Mrs McAleese.

Among the attendance at the service were the British ambassador, Mrs Veronica Sutherland; the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Mr John Stafford; the Mayor of Warrington, Mr Roy Humpries; and the MP for Tatton, former BBC correspondent Mr Martin Bell. Mrs McAleese was accompanied by her husband Martin and their daughters Emma and Sarah Mai.

Last night the President attended a service at the Presbyterian church on Dublin's Adelaide Road, where she read the final lesson from St John's Gospel.

The minister, the Rev Frank Sellar, is Moderator of the Presbytery of Dublin and Munster, and helped prepare the prayer service at Mrs McAleese's inauguration.

At a reception after the service, the President was presented with a hand-coloured linoprint of a high tower inscribed in Scots Gaelic with the words "Thou my soul's shelter, thou my high tower". The words come from the hymn Be Thou My Vision, which was sung at the inauguration.

Dr Empey yesterday rededicated Kenure Church, Rush, Co Dublin, at a Holy Communion service. The church was damaged by petrol bombs in July last year, following Drumcree. Approximately £20,000 was raised among all sections of the local community to fund a complete refurbishment of the building.

The service was conducted by the rector of Holmpatrick, Kenure and Balbriggan, the Rev John Watts. Also in attendance was the parish priest of Rush, Father John Stokes.