wfn.org | IRELAND: PRIMATE CONDEMNS ARSON

[a.whitefield@quest.org.uk]

April 18, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London, UK

[97.4.3.2] 

TITLE:IRELAND: PRIMATE CONDEMNS ARSON

(CT, Church of Ireland) The Primate of All Ireland, the Most Revd Dr
Robin Eames, has warned against further outbreaks of sectarian turmoil
after attacks in Armagh and Antrim left two churches in ruins and a
third badly damaged.

The Primate extended his sympathy and that of his Church to the Roman
Catholic Primate of All Ireland, Archbishop Sean Brady, after a Roman
Catholic church was  almost completed destroyed. OThose who carry out
such attacks cannot claim, and must not be allowed to claim, that they
are acting on behalf of the vast majority of decent people in either of
our communities, said Dr Eames.

The Primate said that such actions were an example of the sickness which
lies at the root of so many of the problems in Northern Ireland, Onaked,
corrosive sectarianism.

However, to burn deliberately  a place of any tradition dedicated to the
worship of Almighty God is to take sectarianism to the ultimate limit. 
If these attacks continue our entire society will be dragged into a new
nightmare of division and suffering. No support or encouragement either
by word or action - or by silence - must be given to such actions at
this time.