THE CATHOLIC primate Cardinal Seán Brady is to attend the royal
wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in London’s Westminster
Abbey later this month.
The invitation to the event on April 29th,
and its acceptance, have been described as “unprecedented” by a
spokesman for Ireland’s Catholic bishops.
The spokesman attributed the
invitation to Cardinal Brady’s contribution to the peace
process.
“He
was the first [Catholic primate] to attend a Church of Ireland general
synod and to attend the installation of a Presbyterian moderator. He was
the first to meet members of the Orange Order as well as loyalist
paramilitaries, and he was the first to meet the Rev Ian Paisley.”
The
cardinal had also encouraged Catholics to join the Police Service of
Northern Ireland, he said.
Cardinal Brady presided at the funeral of
Catholic PSNI constable Ronan Kerr, who was murdered in Omagh on April
2nd. Dissident republicans are believed to have carried out the killing.
Speaking
at the funeral Mass in Beragh parish, Co Tyrone, which is in the
cardinal’s own Armagh archdiocese, he said that “the people have said
‘no, never again’, to the evil and futility of violence”.
In an
impassioned plea to parents and grandparents, he said: “I beg you, plead
with your children and with your grandchildren, not to get involved
with violence. Never let them be deceived by those who say that Ireland
will be united or the union made more secure by war. They are wrong. It
is an illusion.”
Last month Cardinal Brady welcomed the
forthcoming visit of Queen Elizabeth to the Republic. He described it as
“an important religious and civic event” and “a mark of the mutual
respect that exists between our two countries”.
It demonstrated the
“bonds of friendship” between the Church of Ireland and Catholic Church
in Ireland, he said.
Church of Ireland primate Archbishop Alan Harper will also attend the wedding.
In
March 2008 the Queen took part in the Maundy Thursday service at St
Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral in Armagh. She is supreme governor
of the Church of England.