Paisley condemns militant threats against Catholics
-07/10/05
The Rev Ian Paisley, founder of the Free Presbyterian Church and leader of the mainly Protestant-backed Democratic Unionist Party – which has the largest parliamentary representation from Northern Ireland – has condemned a threat by pro-British paramilitaries to desecrate Roman Catholic graves, reports Ray McMenamin for Ecumenical News International.
Mr Paisley, who has in the past faced accusations of making inflammatory remarks against Catholics, was speaking at St Louis’s Catholic primary school in Ballymena, county Antrim, which was targeted by sectarian arsonists in August 2005.
As parliamentary representative for the Antrim area in the British parliament, Mr Paisley was accompanied by Peter Hain, the British cabinet minister responsible for Northern Ireland, which is a disputed part of the United Kingdom.
Hain described the threats, made during a blessing ceremony at nearby Carnmoney cemetery on 2 October, as a “medieval throwback to a past of violence and bigotry”. For his part, Paisley said that those behind the threats had “no respect for the living or the dead”, adding that no words of condemnation were strong enough.
Describing his congregation as “very upset”, Catholic priest the Fr Dan Whyte, who performed the ceremony, said: “Catholics and Protestants should unite to oppose such attitudes.”
Many parts of county Antrim saw a stream of sectarian attacks during the 2005 summer and councillor Briege Meehan of the predominantly Catholic, pro-united Ireland Sinn Fein party said: “Once again the Catholic community [has] been subjected to naked sectarian hatred and bigotry in its most vile form as they paid devotion to their deceased loved ones.”
The Ireland Online Web site reported on earlier this week that up to a dozen windows were smashed at Paisley’s Martyrs Memorial Free Presbyterian Church on the Ravenhill Road in Belfast.
[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches.]
Paisley condemns militant threats against Catholics
-07/10/05
The Rev Ian Paisley, founder of the Free Presbyterian Church and leader of the mainly Protestant-backed Democratic Unionist Party – which has the largest parliamentary representation from Northern Ireland – has condemned a threat by pro-British paramilitaries to desecrate Roman Catholic graves, reports Ray McMenamin for Ecumenical News International.
Mr Paisley, who has in the past faced accusations of making inflammatory remarks against Catholics, was speaking at St Louis’s Catholic primary school in Ballymena, county Antrim, which was targeted by sectarian arsonists in August 2005.
As parliamentary representative for the Antrim area in the British parliament, Mr Paisley was accompanied by Peter Hain, the British cabinet minister responsible for Northern Ireland, which is a disputed part of the United Kingdom.
Hain described the threats, made during a blessing ceremony at nearby Carnmoney cemetery on 2 October, as a “medieval throwback to a past of violence and bigotry”. For his part, Paisley said that those behind the threats had “no respect for the living or the dead”, adding that no words of condemnation were strong enough.
Describing his congregation as “very upset”, Catholic priest the Fr Dan Whyte, who performed the ceremony, said: “Catholics and Protestants should unite to oppose such attitudes.”
Many parts of county Antrim saw a stream of sectarian attacks during the 2005 summer and councillor Briege Meehan of the predominantly Catholic, pro-united Ireland Sinn Fein party said: “Once again the Catholic community [has] been subjected to naked sectarian hatred and bigotry in its most vile form as they paid devotion to their deceased loved ones.”
The Ireland Online Web site reported on earlier this week that up to a dozen windows were smashed at Paisley’s Martyrs Memorial Free Presbyterian Church on the Ravenhill Road in Belfast.
[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches.]