Northern Ireland

Split reaction on Church leader's offer to help Troubles truth process

Archbishop Éamon Martin pictured at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell.
Archbishop Éamon Martin pictured at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell. Archbishop Éamon Martin pictured at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell.

CALLS for a Church role in a Troubles legacy truth recovery process has met with a mixed reaction by victims and campaigners.

Archbishop Éamon Martin, Catholic Primate of All Ireland, made the suggestion at a service in St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, attended by religious and political leaders on Sunday.

With an ongoing row over the British government’s legacy bill, he said: "It may seem ambitious, but might we in the Churches offer to help develop an agreed truth recovery process to address the legacy of pain and mistrust that continues to hang over us?”

He said this could involve creating spaces for dialogue in the Church and wider community.

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If passed, the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill would provide immunity for people accused of Troubles offences, provided they cooperate with a truth recovery body.

Future civil cases and inquests linked to the conflict would also be halted.

The proposals have been opposed by Northern Ireland's main political parties, the Irish government and victims' groups.

Victims’ campaigner Alex Bunting lost a leg after an IRA bomb attack in Belfast in 1991.

He said he supported a role for the Church as he believed the controversial legacy bill will ultimately be passed.

“I honestly think this legacy bill is totally wrong, but I think it’s going to happen in the summer,” he told the Irish News.

“I think people have a right to know the truth about what happened to their loved ones.

“At the end of the day, it’s about time churches stepped up to the mark. I think that’s what they were trying to bring across,” he said.

Catherine McCartney’s brother Robert was killed by republicans in Belfast in 2005.

Her family falls outside the scope of the legacy bill, which covers cases up to 1998, but she told the Irish News she would not support church involvement in a truth recovery process.

“Anyone with a stake in Northern Ireland has a right to make their views heard,” she said.

“But I would have concerns that any group coming to these talks has totally clean hands.

“I would say the Church doesn’t. My own experience of the Catholic Church after Robert’s murder wasn’t one that inspired confidence."

Ms McCartney said she believed some clergy had been reluctant to condemn her brother’s murder at the time.

“When we held a vigil, we couldn’t get a Catholic priest to come and say prayers. We actually had to get a Jesuit priest.

“I would absolutely have a lack of trust in the Catholic Church. I’m not saying they should be excluded from any process, but I think they need to reflect on their own handling of certain families.”

“It’s easy to reach across the fence, but asking your own tribe what accountability you have is when the real courage comes forward and I believe the Church failed when it came to my own family.”

Kenny Donaldson from victims’ group the South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF), said: "We have long since made the point that the leaderships within our Churches ceased to perform the role of spiritual leaders and were instead drawn into the role of quasi-politicians".

Describing Archbishop Martin’s comments as “quite broad,” Mr Donaldson said he did agree that societal healing would be “significantly compromised” without facing difficult truths from the past.

He said any truth recovery process could only be credible if “there is an acceptance that the violence was wrong and illegitimate irrespective of who the perpetrators were.”

He also said the Catholic Church and other denominations had “fundamental questions to answer concerning their actions and inactions over the years of The Troubles".