Northern Ireland

North's churches 'were not given advance warning' of President Higgins' concerns over centenary service

Anglican Archbishop of Armagh, John McDowell, (left) and Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin, during a service to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland at St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh last month. Picture by Liam McBurney, Press Association
Anglican Archbishop of Armagh, John McDowell, (left) and Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin, during a service to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland at St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh last month. Picture by Liam McBurney, Press Associatio Anglican Archbishop of Armagh, John McDowell, (left) and Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin, during a service to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland at St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh last month. Picture by Liam McBurney, Press Association

THE north's main churches had no advance warning that an ecumenical service in Armagh last month to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland would be so politically divisive, the Anglican Archbishop of Armagh, John McDowell, has said.

The service in Armagh's Church of Ireland Cathedral sparked a row in September after Irish president Michael D Higgins declined an invitation to attend because he believed it was not politically neutral.

The Irish government was instead represented by Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney and chief whip Jack Chambers.

Queen Elizabeth had been due to attend as part of a visit to Northern Ireland, but her trip was cancelled on medical advice.

Archbishop McDowell, who was elected as Anglican primate last year, told The Saint Patrick Podcast, hosted by Saint Patrick’s Way guides Martina Purdy and Elaine Kelly, that the church leaders had kept in regular contact with the Republic's Department of Foreign Affairs, the Northern Ireland Office and Buckingham Palace.

"We felt we had kept everybody informed of what we were doing and we were getting feedback with 'yes that's alright'," he said.

"We didn't ever get feedback to say 'oops there's a problem there'.

"If there had been a problem, we could either have fixed it by just changing some words or whatever or we could have fixed it by perhaps explaining exactly what it was we were trying to do in more detail so people had that kind of reassurance."

Archbishop McDowell said he and the leaders of the Catholic, Presbyterian and Methodist churches, as well as Dr Ivan Patterson, the president of the Irish Council of Churches, felt they "did what we said we were going to do which was to create a space where people from different backgrounds, different age groups, different ethnicities, different outlooks, (could) come together to have a moment of prayer in the face of God and some time to reflect".

Archbishop McDowell said intense scrutiny around the service "made some of it a bit more difficult".

"And also, when you're dealing with politicians, when you're dealing with a very wide range of, and sometimes quite high level, people that can be difficult because not everyone's expectations can be met," he said.

Archbishop McDowell said the event was never discussed in terms of a celebration of partition.

"The word celebration never entered our head," he said.

"The advisory body in the Republic of Ireland on historic centenaries calls it exactly the same thing as we call it - the partition of Ireland and the creation of Northern Ireland."