wfn.org | IRISH CHURCHES SHOULD APOLOGISE

[Audrey Whitefield <a.whitefield@quest.org.uk>]

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Jan. 31, 1997 
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London, England

[97.1.5.3]

IRELAND: ALL IRISH CHURCHES SHOULD APOLOGISE SAYS BISHOP

(CT) The Churches in Ireland should agree a common admission of guilt
for
their part in the wrongs of centuries, said the former Anglican Bishop
of
Connor, Bishop Samuel Poyntz during the Week of Prayer for Christian
Unity.

"There is much in our past histories of which we should be ashamed,"
said
the Anglican ecumenist.

"To name one thing among many on the Church of Ireland's side; we never
raised a voice against the penal laws that had such a savage effect on
Roman Catholics and Presbyterians.

"On the Roman Catholic side, mention might be made of the rigorous
imposition of the 1908 Ne Temere  decree (requiring Protestants in
inter-Church marriages to rear their children as Roman Catholics) until
recent legislation.

"Scratch the surface and we all have hurts," said the Bishop.

Bishop Poyntz said many prominent church people, including the
Archbishop
of Canterbury, the Church of Ireland Primate of All Ireland, Dr Robin
Eames, and the former Roman Catholic Primate of Ireland, Dr Cahal Daly,
had
asked pardon for past wrongs.

"This is commendable; but is another step required? The Irish
inter-Church
meeting committee might consider drafting a confession, to be accepted
by
all the mainline Churches on this island."