At the annual St Patrick’s Day celebrations in Downpatrick, Presbyterian moderator the Rev Norman Hamilton was the guest speaker at Down Cathedral.
The Moderator’s key point today was that commitment to good community relations should not fall off the Christian agenda. He reminded listeners that love for God and neighbour is at the core of Jesus’ teaching.
Referring to St Patrick and his famous confession, Mr. Hamilton said: “It is not simply enough to know what to do, say or think – but it has to be backed up by very careful attention to godly living. I want to suggest here this morning, that one expression of godly living is in fact our commitment to good relationships across whatever divides there are in our community.
“So today, as we continue to celebrate the memory of St Patrick in this cathedral and in this town, can we move away from thinking of snakes and various shades of green to this one big scriptural theme of the active building of relationships across this community – indeed this island – in the name of and for the honour of Jesus Christ – doing it with integrity and courage and tenacity – and looking forward with Patrick to what he himself saw as God’s glorious reward.”
In a statement released yesterday, the Rt Revd Harold Miller, Bishop of Down and Dromore, said the theme of the St Patrick’s Day Pilgrimage from Saul to Downpatrick this year is ‘shared past-shared future’.
“It is one of the great joys and privileges of my ministry to welcome people from all churches and backgrounds to the pilgrimage each year,” he said. “Here, nationalists and unionists gladly meet and people from Catholic and Protestant backgrounds worship the one Lord together.”
He said it has been encouraging to see the development in good relations in Northern Ireland over the last decade and the respect and pragmatism at Stormont.
“It is vitally important that all of us do everything in our power to continue laying a firm foundation for a shared future in this province,” he added.
“Our beginnings of faith lie in Patrick’s mission. Our common history, personified in the Irishness and Britishness of Patrick, holds and ties us all together. The task God is giving to us here in Northern Ireland, at this stage in our life together, is to lay solid foundations for a truly shared future. We must never become complacent.”
Unfortunately after several years as a model of cross-community tolerance and understanding, sectional loyalties about flags and identities caused several schools attended mainly by Protestants and some community and hobby groups to withdraw from the local council’s civic celebrations which had heretofore been regarded in terms of shared ownership and support as exemplary to the rest of Northern Ireland.