Peter Robinson has said he is prepared to attend funeral Masses “as a mark of
respect” for dead Catholic friends and dignitaries.
It will be seen as
evidence of Mr Robinson’s aim to reposition the DUP as a secular,
centre-right party.
“We have to be a party that has respect and understanding for all sectors of
the community,” he said.
Attending Mass will be a first for any DUP leader and will provide a clear
lead to ministers who have in the past felt unable to attend Catholic
funerals.
For instance, when Cardinal Cahal Daly was laid to rest last year, DUP
ministers Arlene Foster and Sammy Wilson visited Armagh to offer sympathies
to the church hierarchy, but did not enter the city's Catholic cathedral or
walk in the Cardinal’s cortege.
Even this caused some awkwardness in party circles at the time.
Mr Robinson sidestepped theological issues, and said: “I would have no
objection to attending the funeral of a friend who was a Roman Catholic.
“I wouldn’t be going as an act of worship, I would be going as an act of
respect for the individual.”
He regards this issue as a matter of individual conscience rather than party
discipline, and added: “These are personal |matters and some of my other
colleagues might have a different view on them.”
A precedent was set in 2009 when Jimmy Spratt, the DUP policing spokesman and
a former police officer himself, represented the party at the funeral of
Constable Stephen Carroll, a Catholic who was murdered by republican
dissidents.
Mr Robinson said: “I have been in a Roman Catholic chapel on a number of
occasions but not for a service.”
He added: “I have a very large number, perhaps a surprisingly large number, of
Roman Catholic friends.
“There are issues of showing respect to individuals so that (religious
objections) would not keep me out of going to the communion service.”
Mr Robinson was recently filmed welcoming Prince Charles to St Malachy’s
Church in Alfred Street.
The two men were clapped as they left the historic building where Fr Martin
Graham, a curate, showed them the results of a £3.5m restoration project.
Mr Robinson said the event showed that Northern Ireland had entered a “new
era”.
He said: “It is a good start. It should send an indication that respect,
understanding and tolerance is growing in Northern Ireland.”
The DUP’s traditional difficulty with Catholic services dates back to its
origins in the Free Presbyterian Church which, like the party itself, was
founded by the Rev Ian Paisley.
Mr Paisley set the tone by refusing to attend any function at which Mass was
celebrated, describing the Catholic communion service as an “abomination”
and “idolatry”.
He objects to the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation,
which holds that the bread and wine used in the service actually become the
body and blood of Christ.
Many fundamentalist Protestants shared his objections — for instance, members
of the Orange Order are also expressly forbidden to attend and can be
disciplined for doing so.
Mr Robinson is not a member of the loyal orders, or of any church.
However, he is a bible-believing Protestant and frequently attends Pastor
James McConnell’s Metropolitan Tabernacle, an evangelical mega-church in
north Belfast.
His sister Pat Herron is a minister in the Free Methodist
Church.
DUP sources say that Mr Robinson’s willingness to attend Catholic functions,
including Mass, as part of his duties as First Minister, raises the question
of whether Martin McGuinness, the Deputy First Minister, will now attend
functions at which members of the Royal family are present, or funerals of
local soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
So far, he has declined to do so.