Fr. Alec Reid: Making Magic at the Ard Fheis

 

Fr. Alec Reid

Next Wednesday – 22 November –will mark the tenth anniversary of the death of Father Alec Reid. It is amatter of wonderment that a decade has passed since he left us. Studentsof the Irish peace process will know that Alec was a central figure in oursearch for peace. He and Fr. Des Wilson were key to the beginning of thatprocess. I won’t deal in this column with all the twists and turns ofthose times or the stubborn refusal for decades of the establishments,British and Irish, to embrace dialogue. Fr Alec and Des helped to changethat. And much more. This column reflects on some of Fr Alec’s qualities.

First of all Alec was an innovatorand in many ways a free spirit. He was a priest so he believed in God but hisGod was not a distant supreme force.  His God was in everyoneand Alec believed that everyone deserved to be treated properly. In hisview the work of God – and therefore the work of the priest - was to beamong people upholding their rights. Fr Alec’s work with the Traveller Communityin Belfast was a great example of this. 

He was a friend to the people likethe Traveller families who were victimised. He also believed that‘ordinary’ people had a great wealth of goodness, wisdom and experience.Especially women. He developed this thinking and formed a view that theChurch’s attitude to women was wrong.

He believed the Holy Spirit works inus all. “Do your best and don’t blame yourself. It will work out if you give it100 percent. It’s over then to the Holy Spirit.” Having said that he was like aterrier, never giving up. He found ways to engage with people in powerfulpositions from Taoisigh, Ambassadors, senior Government and political leaders.His work with John Hume was central to all that followed. 

He was also personally brave. Hispresence on the streets in very dangerous times especially during the Battle ofthe Funerals in the mid and late 80s is proof of that. Photos of toughinteractions between family, neighbours and comrades of Republican dead and theRUC and the British Army, when the Church Hierarchy sided with theoppressors, often feature Fr. Alec in the midst of the throng trying to calmthings down.

His main peace-making principles arebased on the dignity of the human being and the right of everyone to be treatedproperly and with respect – do onto others as you would do on to yourself.And the primacy of dialogue.  He was a good listener. And alwayswilling to reach out for advice from whoever he thought might be of help. He also understood his role, especially the role of a go between. Many othershave made a mess of this by exaggerating their own role or the positions ofthose they engage with. Their intentions were usually good intentions but thereare lots of do gooders who made matters worse and wasted peoples’ time. Fr Aleckept everything tight and straight in his role as go between even though hiswork was not confined to this.

He had a good sense of humour. Heliked people. He enjoyed company, particularly the relationships he built withworking people including working class loyalists and republicans. He lovedGaelic games, especially hurling. He liked being out and about. He and I usedto walk together when his health allowed him.  His roots were in Tipperary– he played minor hurling there but he supported Dublin as well in thefootball. The Rice brothers of Éire Óg were often called upon to get him CrokePark tickets. He used to come to our house on Christmas Eve to enjoy thecraic and banter with our other festive visitors. He and Colette were good friends. 

He was very respectful about hisfellow priests although he skirted around them if they were slow or reluctantor disapproving of his work. “Fr ….. is too holy.” He remarked to me one day byway of explanation for the perceived shortcomings of a brotherpriest 

He could also be very impatient atthe ‘great and the good’ and angry at their double standards. He was veryinfluenced by Fr. Des Wilson. Alec probably would not have survived as adiocesan priest.  The Redemptorists gave him space and ‘protection’ to dohis work. He tried to institutionalise this within the Order, particularly inClonard. So he was aware of the need to structure his work and for the churchleadership to face up to its responsibilities to fulfil its mission by dealingwith issues of justice, equality and rights. He became very aware of theshortcomings of the Church and of its controlling nature and its leadership’ssubservient relationship with and as part of the establishment.

He was proud to be a priest. Thescandals of child abuse wounded him greatly. He told me he missed not beingable to be in the company of children or to give a child a hug because of howthat might be misconstrued. But he always wore his clerical collarpublicly in defiance during those difficult times for good priests.

In our troubled world today his peacemaking principles remain totally relevant.  For sure we would not havedeveloped our peace process when we did without Father Alec. Go ndeanfaidh Diatrocaire air.

 

The Palestinian Ambassador - Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid

Makingmagic at the Ard Fheis

There have been Sinn Féin ArdFheiseanna that have had their special, magical moment that remains in thememory years – even decades - later. Last weekend’s Ard Fheis in Athloneproduced two such moments. The first came just before 1pm on Saturday. MattCarthy TD - the party’s spokesperson on Foreign Affairs -introduced the Palestinian Ambassador DrJilan Wahba Abdalmajid.

At the end of his remarks in which heexcoriated Israel for its countlessbreaches of international law, brutal acts of oppression, annexation, apartheidand ethnic cleansing Matt loudly chanted; “In our thousands and in ourmillions, we are all Palestinians”. As he repeated this a second time it wastaken up by the hall. By the third time everyone was applauding and shouting;“In our thousands and in our millions, we are all Palestinians.”  For anamazing moment the Ard Fheis was the heart and soul of Ireland reaching intoGaza and the West Bank as we all welcomed the Ambassador. 

Later Mary Lougave one of the best ever Presidential speeches. With four major electionslikely this year she proclaimed, “We wantto build a new Ireland. A nation home for all. A unified nation ofconfidence and compassion, talent and ingenuity, claiming our future, ourrightful place among the nations of the world. The Orange and Greenreconciled. No place for racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, sexism,homophobia, transphobia, or sectarianism. Where there is no them - onlyus. All of us who call Ireland home.”

Mary Lou also spoke about the Israelistate’s genocide of Palestinians.

“The Palestinian people have a rightto their homeland,” she said… the Irish government should take the lead andrefer Israel to the International Criminal Court. And send the IsraeliAmbassador home… Israel must stop its slaughter in Gaza. Hamas must release allhostages. Ceasefires must be called”.

In a speech that was riveting,confident and empowering Mary Lou spoke of the need for change and oftransforming Ireland to resolve the housing crisis, resourcing health, tacklingthe climate crisis, and much more. She called on the Irish government toestablish a Citizens’ Assembly on Unity.

And at a time when some British andUnionist politicians are trying to rewrite the terms of the unity referendum inthe Good Friday Agreement Mary Lou said: “The day is coming when everyone onthis island will have their say in referendums. Each vote counting equally, novetoes, no shifting of the goal posts. Irish Unity is the very best opportunityfor the future. In the words of Rita O’Hare, “We must keep going. A UnitedIreland lies ahead”.

Another magical moment.