Shame over events at Drumcree is felt by Archbishop

The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Walton Empey, has expressed shame over events at Drumcree.

"To see a Church of Ireland church faced with a ring of razor wire, armed police and soldiers fills us with a deep sense of shame at what was said and done in our name," he said.

Speaking at St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin yesterday, he said "we are not alone in enduring such shame - many decent Orangemen were also deeply shocked and it is important that this should be acknowledged.

"On our TV screens over the past couple of weeks we have seen people imprisoned by their tribal beliefs, which turn reason upon its head," he said.

"We watched the leader of the Portadown Orange Lodge refuse to condemn the presence of paramilitaries but rather maintain that anyone was welcome to support their stand at Drumcree. One group fired shots - this action was not condemned.

"He called for peaceful protests all across Northern Ireland but washed his hands of any violence or intimidation that would inevitably ensue from such a call. One might as well invite a fox into the hen run and tell him not to touch any of the hens as to use such words.

"Of course, we also need to remember that the ring of steel was there to protect another tribe equally imprisoned by their entrenched beliefs and whose local leader was convicted of a terrorist offence. Both sides are prisoners of their own tradition," he said.

In such a situation, voices of reason and the voice of Christ could be lost in a "venomous clamour of words of hatred". One such voice of calm moderation down the years had been that of the Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Robin Eames.

"Sometimes vilified, sometimes praised, he has never been deflected from his calm, patient and Christian approach to this complex issue," Dr Empey said.

He referred to an article by Archbishop Eames in The Irish Times last week. "I quote . . . `Much of what I have heard spoken at Drumcree on Sunday is very far from my understanding of the teaching of Christ, let alone the principles of the Church of Ireland. Much of what I heard comes from a different world from that experienced in parishes up and down the country. It is that church which I dissociate without reservation from what we have seen and heard at Drumcree'."

Referring to prisons, Dr Empey said in his 10 years as a prison chaplain he had met one prisoner who could be called white collar. His main problem with the current situation "is that the vast majority (of prisoners) come from deprived backgrounds".

He wondered "how many powerful people about whom we read at tribunals, if found guilty, will ever serve a sentence. We will wait and see but I do not think we should hold our breaths."

Of course there were prisons that had nothing to do with steel bars and high walls, he said. He then went on to discuss Drumcree and the imprisonment that accompanies tribalism.