Fr Alec Reid believed that the Church and politicians had to find a way out of conflict rather than just condemn, writes Dr Martin Mansergh
The life of Fr Alec Reid is a striking example of the importance of Christian influence in bringing a prolonged and intractable conflict without glory to an end.
His approach is best illustrated by the opening paragraphs of a paper sub-titled ‘A Pastoral Response to the Present Conflict’, which he wrote in the late 1980s and gave to the three political leaders with whom he was in contact.
“The daily, tragic consequences of the conflict in Northern Ireland – bloodshed, imprisonment, widespread suffering and general despair of any just and democratic solution – are a constant source of anguish to the Christian heart and demand a compassionate and effective response from it.”
Responsibility
“It is the responsibility, therefore, of every Christian but particularly of Christian leaders to do everything possible to end this inhuman situation by seeking to channel the course of events away from the road of armed and violent confrontation which is strewn with death and destruction and on to the road of political communication and dialogue which is marked out by the principles of justice and charity and characterised by the democratic use of political and diplomatic persuasion,” he wrote.
About the same time, he made the private comment: “The gun is an anachronism.” He felt strongly that both the Church and political leaders needed to do more than preach and condemn. They had a duty to help find a way out of the impasse that took account of the factors that had created conflict in the first place.
A member throughout the Troubles of Clonard Monastery in West Belfast, Fr Alec Reid had access to and the trust of the Republican community there, amongst those involved directly in armed struggle and the political leaders. His motivation always was to save life, regardless of who was involved. The image of him as he knelt beside the body of one of the two soldiers shot in March 1988 near Milltown Cemetery, when tensions and emotions were running very high, showed his courage, his compassion, and the strength of the principles that guided his mission. Such terrible scenes motivated him all the more in the search for an alternative path.
Dialogue
He was not just a mediator. He was a peacemaker. He worked himself on proposals and formulae that might bridge ideological differences that were a barrier to peace as a means of stimulating dialogue and communication. He knew that real difficulties and legacies of injustices had to be addressed and that communities needed their dignity to be respected, if peace were to be possible. He believed that those of similar background and sharing many of the same aims and values were in the best position to help, but also that some of the positions attributed to adversaries were based on misunderstanding and could be clarified. Where parties could not meet openly, he brought together in private monastic settings those deputed to work on an initiative that involved a statement of principles between Taoiseach and Prime Minister. This would deal with fundamental issues, such as how the right to self-determination and the principle of consent could be reconciled and the right of all parties once they were no longer engaged in violence to full political participation in negotiations on the way ahead. Fr Reid never believed that Unionists could be simply steamrollered into a united Ireland, and he understood that peace would involve for some time to come an agreement to differ on fundamental constitutional preferences. What he wanted to see altered was the treatment of Nationalists.
Persistent
Fr Reid was both patient and persistent. The project had urgency, because people were continuing to die, needlessly in his view. There were certainly valley periods, where it would have been easy to become discouraged. His religious order, the Redemptorists, maintained a watchful eye, but they were very supportive of what he was trying to do. The few in the Irish Government who knew did not want him to stop, while having no illusions about the difficulties of the task. At times when he, like others, could not see a way through, he would cheerfully invoke the power of the Holy Spirit.The extraordinary role that he played certainly contradicts the notion that priests have no freedom to act because of the constraints of clerical authority.
Guiding hand
His guiding hand was present right through to the IRA ceasefire and well beyond. Later, he became involved in trying to win a Basque ceasefire, which eventually came about. Some criticised him for having a simplistic and partisan approach, but the point surely is that he was part of a process that persuaded those involved in armed insurrection but making no progress to desist and seek other ways.
Towards the end of the peace process, he was a witness with the Methodist, the Rev. Harold Good, to the final destruction of IRA weapons, proving his point that guns were an anachronism.
To put in context his achievement, without a ceasefire there would have been no negotiations on a comprehensive agreement, still less any implementation of such an agreement. Peace could have proved elusive for a number of years more, with many more lives lost as a result.
Networking
In highlighting Fr Reid’s contribution, it is not intended to diminish the role of political leaders, officials, or many active in community interaction. It is more that by his indefatigable networking he helped create a framework that enabled others, not previously in communication, to work out the language and detail of the compromises that in the end would allow decisive moves to be made.
While we will never reach the end of history or all live happily ever after, it does appear that the centuries-old cycle of conflict may finally have been broken.
While there are some immediate difficulties and points of confrontation to be resolved, as well as the likelihood that the issue of constitutional change has been deferred rather than removed for all future time, peace is holding and can be consolidated. It remains more likely that, provided vigilance is maintained, residual violence will eventually peter out, because it is without point, than that the whole conflict will flare up again and undo everything that has been achieved.
Peace is central to the Christian message. Many clergy have worked tirelessly in that field, and mitigated even worse potential effects of conflict. Peace is not just an absence or suspension of violence, but the creation of structures that will underpin it and help prevent a reversion to the evil consequences of past inability to bridge the gulf. May we thank God for the life of Fr Alec Reid.
Dr Martin Mansergh is a former Minister of State and special adviser to successive taoisigh.