Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Cardinal calls for formal dialogue between faith traditions and political establishment

The Catholic Primate of All Ireland has urged the newly elected Government and the leaders of NI’s Executive to prioritise the establishment of new structures to facilitate formal dialogue between the major faith traditions and the political establishment.

In his address at the Abrahamic Religions Dinner in Belfast Castle on Thursday evening, Cardinal Seán Brady also called on political and religious leaders to make a joint approach to the UN. 

What he proposed was a venture which would seek to promote dialogue between political and religious leaders at an international level in an effort to foster peace and the well-being of humanity.

Speaking on the theme Why dialogue in today’s world in a discussion organised by the Northern Ireland Dialogue Society, Cardinal Brady said  people needed opportunities to share their beliefs and insights in an atmosphere of friendship and mutual concern for the whole human family.

Welcoming the announcement that Queen Elizabeth II had accepted the invitation of President McAleese to visit Ireland, the Archbishop of Armagh said it would be “an important religious and civic event.”  

He added that he was conscious of the “very warm and gracious welcome offered by Her Majesty to Pope Benedict XVI on his recent visit to Scotland and England.”

“I welcome the visit of Queen Elizabeth as a mark of the mutual respect that exists between our two countries and also of the deep bonds of friendship between the Church of Ireland and the Catholic Church on this island at this time”, Cardinal Brady told the gathering at Belfast Castle.

He added that the experience of inter-Church dialogue in Ireland had a wider significance for conflicts involving religious as well as historical-political dimensions.  

The leader of the Church in Ireland warned that differences of religion “must not be a cause of conflict” and added, “Peace needs dialogue.  It cannot happen without dialogue.”

Basing his observations in the local context, Cardinal Brady said that the people of Northern Ireland knew only too well the hope that can be born of dialogue.  

“That is why I am delighted to see some of the members of our Legislative Assembly here this evening.  The fact that we have a devolved Assembly up and running in Northern Ireland is testimony to the progress and stability that can come from dialogue,” he said.

Saying he believed religious leaders, by and large, played their part in promoting dialogue in Northern Ireland, he said this was especially so during the times when politicians and others found it difficult to engage with one another. 

There were also religious leaders from different denominations who engaged in both public and behind the scenes mediation and bridge building, the Cardinal said.  

“I believe history will show that this involvement by church people played a critical part in achieving political agreement and support for that agreement in the wider community,” Cardinal Brady suggested.

Saying he found it significant that the beginning of the Troubles coincided with a period of unprecedented progress in inter-Church dialogue at an international level post Vatican II, the Cardinal noted that in Ireland, this gave rise to initiatives such as Corrymeela and the Ballymascanlon talks, which later became the Irish Inter-Church Meeting.

“A brief look back at some of the statements and joint position papers of that inter-Church dialogue during the early years of the Troubles shows that the language of forgiveness, reconciliation, empathy, mutual understanding and respect were already the dominant themes.”

Furthermore, Cardinal Brady said he would argue that a document such as Violence in Ireland: A Report to the Churches which was produced in 1977 already contained the vocabulary and political principles of the Belfast [Good Friday] Agreement.

Referring to Jeremiah 29:1, the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh said, “God has something to say to us all about who we are, why we are here and what we ought to do at this critical moment in the history of the world!”  

These, he said were plans for our collective good and that was why he believed the most urgent challenge for people of faith today is to discern God’s plan for our times.

The Gospel, the Tanak, the Qur'an are all books of peace, Cardinal Brady told the members of the various faith traditions gathered in Belfast Castle to discuss the theme Why Dialogue in Today’s World.  

“They contain a patrimony of religious and human values that are as relevant now for the peace and well-being of humanity as they have ever been.”

“I believe it is only by dialoguing together, by respectfully acknowledging the action of God in our respective traditions, that we can offer the world a future and a hope,” Cardinal Brady said.

Other speakers at the event included Archbishop Alan Harper OBE, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh; Rev. Dr Donald Kerr, General Secretary of the Methodist Church; and Kerim Balci, Theologian/columnist from the Muslim Community.