Left to right: Bishop John McDowell, President of the Irish Council of Churches; Archbishop Richard Clarke, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh; Archbishop Eamon Martin, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh; the Rt. Rev. Dr. Noble McNeely, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland; and the Rev. Dr. Laurence Graham, President of the Methodist Church in Ireland. Church leaders have called on paramilitaries in the North to stop their violence for the sake of young people in the region.
In a statement to coincide with the United Nations’ Universal Children’s Day, the clergy warned that the vision of the Peace Process was being lost in the face of continued violence and intimidation.
Lamenting how too many children and young people remain exposed to such violence either directly or indirectly, the clerics praised those who work to offer better options, while warning that such valuable work is threatened by funding cuts and financial uncertainty.
The statement was issued by Armagh’s Archbishop Eamon Martin, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh Dr Richard Clarke, Rev Dr Laurence Graham, President of the Methodist Church in Ireland. Rt Rev Dr Noble McNeely, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, and Dr John McDowell, the Church of Ireland Bishop of Clogher and President of the Irish Council of Churches.