wfn.org | Irish archbishop urges Episcopalian

[ENS.parti@ecunet.org]

July 16, 1997
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

ENSGC-01-04

Irish archbishop urges Episcopalians to be instruments of peace

By Carol E. Barnwell
and Mary Lee B. Simpson 

PHILADELPHIA (July 16, 1997) - In a world where "violence has come of age," 
Episcopalians welcomed Archbishop Robin Eames of the Church of Ireland asthe 
preacher at this morning's opening Eucharist of the 72nd General Convention.
	
As archbishop of Armagh and primate of the Anglican Church in Ireland for 12 
years, Eames knows first-hand about terror and violence.  He used his 
experience as a leading international peacemaker to challenge the 3,600 
General Convention deputies, bishops and visitors to be instruments of the 
"peace of Christ."
	
"We must search for a new strategy of peace," Eames said. "There are many 
peace lovers but too few peacemakers."
	
"Perception can become reality overnight," he said, adding there is a need 
for the Anglican family to develop a "language and a new and deeper theology 
of peace." 

Eames asked, "What is the real peace the people of God must search for in 
the world as it is?" He encouraged worshipers to be "an Easter people," to 
have the courage and confidence of Christians "touched by Good Friday, who 
live encapsulated in the warmth of Easter." He encouraged them to "face the 
momentous decisions" at this assembly, remembering the reality of the world 
in which they meet.
	
In an interview, Eames talked about his role as the invited broker for a 
cease-fire between John Majors, then-prime minister of England, Prime 
Minister Albert Reynolds of Ireland, and the loyalist paramilitary. The 
resulting Downing Street Declaration still holds.  
	
"I'm very happy to have been called to do this job, although I've seen human 
nature at its best and its worst," he said. "We work night and day, it's 
exhausting and frustrating, but we must continue to be the divine agency of 
hope."
	
"I am totally committed to people of Ireland," said the one-time lawyer.  
"They deserve more than they have been given. I want to see Ireland at 
peace."
	
When asked how Episcopalians can help, the bishop requested prayers and the 
understanding that there "is a perfectly legitimate wish" on the part of 
Protestant Irish "to remain part of the United Kingdom."

- Mary Lee Simpson is communications director of the Diocese of Southwestern 
Virginia, and Carol Barnwell is the communications director of the Diocese 
of Texas.

[Note: The complete text of Archbishop Eames' sermon is available on 
request.]