One of the greatest annual demonstrations of faith in these islands
is Clonard Novena in Belfast each June. One of its salient features is the ecumenical day when a Protestant minister is invited to preach.
Each year the visitor is given a typically warm Clonard welcome but in its history the reception given to Bishop Harold Miller of Down and Dromore in 2008 stands out.
Before and after his homily there was generous applause – as there is each year for the guest - but the response to Bishop Harold was more intense than usual both inside and outside the church.
And what really struck those of us who witnessed it was the way he was mobbed by worshippers outside after an afternoon service, later documented by reporter Malachi O’Doherty on BBC Radio Ulster’s Sunday Sequence programme.
The memory of that occasion prompted one to introduce Bishop Harold to Irish Catholic readers. His evangelical fervour, political acuity and winning personality combine to make him ‘stand out from the pack’.
In relation to current ‘hot topics’ he has strong views on same-sex marriage, abortion and the concept of ‘a Shared Future’ in Northern Ireland.
In our interview he made a point, for example, in admitting being “confused” by the fact that no Catholic MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly at Stormont) voted in support of their Church’s teaching on marriage in the April 29 vote on a Sinn Féin motion calling on the Executive to support same-sex marriage.
The motion was blocked by the DUP - who tabled a petition of concern which meant it required cross-community consent. Eight of the SDLP’s 14 MLAs supported the motion and six either abstained or were not present.
Speaking before last week’s statement by the First Minister and Deputy First Minister on the issue Bishop Miller said the Churches should consider coming together to work out a shared vision for Northern Ireland if the politicians failed to do it.
Harold Miller, aged 63, was baptised a Methodist and grew up in the Shore Road area of north Belfast before studying English and philosophy at Trinity College Dublin where he met his future wife, Liz (nee Harper) the mother of their four children.
Earlier, at the age of 15, on a Boys Brigade camp on the Isle of Man he recalls “a life-transforming experience of Christ”. He received his training for ordination at St John’s College, Nottingham and studied theology at Nottingham University.
After ordination as a priest in 1977 he saw various spells in Carrickfergus, Nottingham, Queen’s University (where he was Church of Ireland chaplain) and Co. Cork before taking over at Down and Dromore, his Church’s second largest diocese, in 1997.
With 100 ordained clergy it serves some 64,500 people over 77 parishes stretching from Bangor in the north right down to the Border. Bishop Harold is one of the leaders of the evangelical wing of the Church of Ireland but he is also a confirmed ecumenist.
Many inside and outside his Church would see a contradiction between the two but he rejects this insisting they are both Christian imperatives.
“The Gospel imperative for ecumenism is John 17 where the Lord prays three times that we may be one - that the world may believe. So that means actually not just one but seen [his emphasis] to be to be one. I don’t think that is an institutional thing but I think it needs to be visible to people, particularly in places of division and sectarianism. “
The imperative for evangelism is “the great commission in Matthew 28 to go out to the whole world to preach the Gospel".
He says people on both sides often exaggerate the differences between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland but that doesn’t mean “that the doctrines on which we disagree are not important”.
Asked to identify the critical difference between the two Churches he doesn’t mention authority or Transubstantiation: “To me the most important difference is the understanding of Justification by grace through faith and that changes how you see the sacraments because for an evangelical person a sacrament is God offering his grace to us but can only be received by faith.”
He adds: “Our salvation is totally dependent on faith, an entrusting of [ourselves] to Christ. Our salvation is totally dependent on faith not on works. That does not mean that works are not important.”
He thinks most Catholics would believe that when you are baptised you are “regenerate” and then by the way you work you “keep that in place”.
“Protestants would generally not see works as any part of our salvation other than a response of thanks and gratitude.”
He is anxious to see “more intentional working” through the differences between Rome and Anglicanism and commends the “phenomenal” work of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) down the years.
Reaffirming the Church of Ireland view that “marriage is between one man and one woman” he is not short of observations on the current controversy around the issue in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK and seems at a loss to understand why it has become a “hot issue” so suddenly.
He says as recently as 18 months ago no one was arguing for it and “gay couples were saying we don’t want same sex marriage, we want civil partnerships”.
There seems, he states, “ a sudden change in tack or philosophical position to move towards same-sex marriage” and rejects the notion of “marriage equality” quoting his All-Primate, Dr Richard Clarke, who said shortly after his arrival in Armagh: “Equality is not equivalence.”
Bishop Harold adds: The fact that somebody isn’t able to do one thing doesn’t mean they are less equal in other ways. If marriage is by definition what it has been for a very long time in Scripture, a relationship between one man and one woman, then it does not apply to same gender relationships.”
He admits to being “deeply confused” by the failure of any Catholic MLA “not one!” to support Catholic Church teaching on marriage by voting against same-sex marriage. He thinks this would not happen in Britain or the Republic and wonders why MLAs are not given a free vote on such an issue.
He hopes he is not misrepresenting anyone stating: “I don’t know what’s going on there. I don’t know whether it’s because one side [mainly the DUP] vote one way the other side [mainly Sinn Féin] automatically vote the other way but that didn’t happen in relation to abortion.”
He wonders if it’s because people in the past were so fed up with the Catholic Church telling them what to do that they steer away from it as much as possible and ignore the teaching as they have done in relation to contraception which is “not a teaching that has integrity in the lives of the people”.
The bishop then adds colourfully it may be because Catholic politicians have embraced “if you are being kind” what he calls “the theology of the Alliance Party which appears to me to be that a politician is there to legislate for a liberal environment in which the Church is protected - so that you legislate for same sex marriage but you legislate safeguards for faith communities”.
“My first reaction to that is if I were a Muslim or a Mormon who believed in having several wives I’d be very comforted. “
On abortion Bishop Miller says evangelicals and Catholics are “very close together” and they must not forget that.
The Church of Ireland view is that abortion is only to be considered when the mother’s actual life as distinct from her “mental life” is in real danger and “that is a very very very very rare circumstance” though the church does support legislation to “provide clarity”.
Turning to the post conflict situation in Northern Ireland the bishop acknowledges “it is good we have generally transferred the battle from the streets to Stormont but I see a Shared Future getting further and further on to the backburner and I fear that a Shared Future may not be the preferred option for the two major parties”.
“I’ve often wondered if it is not possible for the politicians to paint a picture of a shared future would it be possible for the Churches” though he volunteers the “reality has been the Churches have seen an advantage in having separate territory as well.”
The challenge for the Churches, he says is to “repent” of that mind-set, to change and accept that it is not good to have a world of two different communities in this part of Ireland.
The flag protests demonstrated “a disjunction between Protestant inner-city communities and politicians” for which his Church “must take some ownership” pointing out that until the mid-twentieth century it was very strong in such working class areas.
Bishop Miller talks about “the absolute magical quality” of having a new Archbishop of Canterbury and a new Pope inaugurated in the same week. “I don’t think it was missed on many people that both men spoke with a great deal of humility and grace and straightforwardness that was immediately accessible and understandable.
Reflecting on that welcome in Clonard five years ago he says he never experienced anything as warm in a Protestant church. “I don’t think the people there were applauding the person. I think they are applauding the fact that we can meet together in this kind of way because I am old enough to remember the day when Catholics didn’t go into Protestant churches, in fact they were forbidden from doing do and Protestants didn’t go into Catholic churches.”