Church bells will ring out in
protest at anti-immigrant sentiment across the world on Sunday, March
19th next, following an initiative by Church of Ireland Dean of
Waterford Maria Jansson.
At 11am that day, former president
of Ireland Mary McAleese will launch the Joy of Bells initiative in
opposition to what Dean Jansson has described as “the incredible fear
out there” being generated towards immigrants and refugees.
Since it was announced earlier in
February, Dean Jansson and Ms McAleese have been inundated with support
from around Ireland and the world with promises that bells will ring
that morning in locations including on the banks of the Mekong river in
southeast Asia, at Notre Dame University in Indiana, US, in Rome,
Cambridge in England, in Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon, and in churches
and cathedrals all over Ireland.
Dean Jansson has described the response as “humbling. Goodness is popping up everywhere.”
Ms McAleese had “been wonderful and has worked really hard on this, although oversubscribed already”, she said.
The response was “testament to the
innate goodness of people” said the Dean, “even if populism was a
response to hatred, good people are now popping up everywhere and not
just in major ecclesiastical centres. Goodness reinforces goodness.”
Positive responses
Among those who have responded
positively to the initiative are former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan
Williams, based at Magdalen College, Cambridge; Cardinal Joseph Tobin of
Newark, New Jersey, US; the Irish College and the Caravita Oratory in
Rome; Ireland’s Catholic primate Archbishop Eamon Martin; the Catholic
primate of England and Wales Cardinal Vincent Nichols; St Agnes Catholic
Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; St Cornelius Church in Pai Si
Tong on the banks of the Mekong in Thailand; the Poor Clare Monastery,
Ennis, Co Clare; and the City of Sanctuary UK and Ireland.
Also included are cathedrals and churches all over Ireland and of all denominations.
Among cathedrals ringing their
bells that Sunday morning will be St Colman’s in Cobh Co Cork. “Cobh is
significant because it is from there so many Irish left and became
immigrants abroad,” said Dean Jansson.
A Redemptorist priest in Thailand
sent her a message to “please let Mrs McAleese know that the bells in St
Cornelius Church in Pai Si Tong will ring out on March 19th”.
On the Mekong
It was probably “the most unusual
church to join the bell-ringing venture. On the banks of the Mekong, in
an area where people are still being trafficked,” the Dean said.
The bells at St Cornelius’s will ring to coincide with the 11am ringing at Waterford Cathedral.
“But it doesn’t have to be bells.
Mrs McAleese said it might be an idea for people to gather in flash mobs
and ring their phones,” said Dean Jansson, “and it doesn’t matter what
race or religion people belong to.
“This is for everybody. It’s a
tiny little gesture which may help people overcome a sense of isolation
as so much hatred spreads across the world. People will be getting
together for a good.”