10,000 people expected at anti-hunger rally in Belfast on the eve of the G8 summit; Book reveals if violence was for God or Ulster; Discovery Community Event; Concerts at Calary Church; New Manchester United manager David Moyes and ‘the god squad’
10,000 people expected at anti-hunger rally in Belfast on the eve of the G8 summit
Belfast Telegraph – Around 10,000 people are expected to attend an anti-hunger rally in Belfast on the eve of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland.
Details were released yesterday by the campaign organisers at the Palm House in Botanic Gardens, where the rally will be held.
Members of the Ulster Orchestra, the Belfast Community Gospel Choir and entertainer Flash Harry were on hand to lend support.
The rally on Saturday, June 15 is being organised by the ‘Enough Food for everyone IF…’ campaign, run by a coalition of organisations who will try to influence the world leaders, who will be meeting in Fermanagh, to alleviate hunger in the developing world.
Dan Schofield from the IF campaign said: “People want the opportunity to make their voices heard in a dignified way so that the world leaders attending the G8 summit will be in no doubt that justice for the world’s poor has to be top of the agenda.
“The last time we worked together on this scale was for Make Poverty History. Now that the G8 group of world leaders are returning to the UK, we are demanding they take action on hunger.
“The year 2013 won’t be the end of hunger, but it could be the beginning of the end.”
The IF campaign has support from a wide range of organisations including Oxfam, Tearfund, Christian Aid, Nipsa, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Troicaire, War on Want NI and the Irish Council of Churches.
The campaign was also endorsed last week by the General Synod of the Church of Ireland, and a reception was held last week at the Long Gallery in Stormont where MLAs voiced their support.
The IF campaign believes that world hunger can be prevented if governments can stop poor farmers being forced off their land, if large corporations are prevented from dodging taxes in poor countries, and if aid is given to help people feed themselves.
Book reveals if violence was for God or Ulster
Belfast Telegraph – Two academics from the University of Ulster and one from Queen’s have this week launched the first book to explore ex-combatants’ relationships with religion.
‘Ex-Combatants, Religion and Peace in Northern Ireland’, written by Professor Gerard Leavey and Dr David Mitchell from the University of Ulster with Professor John Brewer, Queens University, Belfast, sheds new light on the interplay of religion, identity and violence in Ireland using original interviews with ex-combatants from across the political and religious divide.
Professor Leavey, director of the Bamford Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing, said: “This book offers fascinating insights into the very complex relationship between the various people from loyalist and nationalist communities who were involved in violence and the churches.
“It explores, through the perspectives of ex-combatants, how the conflict in Northern Ireland, while certainly not a religious one, was entangled with religion in various and complex ways.”
He added: “Much has been written about the influence of religion on the Northern Ireland conflict and the part played by ex-combatants in the peace process. Yet surprisingly, we know almost nothing about the religious outlook of ex-combatants themselves.
“Did they consider themselves religious? Was religion integral to their political identity? How do they view the position of their respectivechurches during the troubles? Does religion help them cope with the past?
“This book is the first to address these questions and also shows how the case of Northern Ireland may help illuminate the current international debate around religion and peace-making.”
Professor Leavey, from north Belfast, developed this study while Director of Research at the Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health.
Discovery Community Event
The Discovery Community Event is back this month on Saturday May 18 from 5.00 pm to 9.00 pm in St George and St Thomas’ Church, Cathal Brugha Street, Dublin 1.
This time they are transforming St Thomas’s Church into a Cafe. Come from 5.00 pm with friends, kids, families for some tea, coffee and treats. At 7.00 pm there will be some soulful music, story telling and lots of upbeat Discovery classics.
https://www.facebook.com/events/454459924628419/
Series of Concerts at Calary Church
A series of concerts takes place in Calary Church (between Kilmacanogue and Roundwood) this month.
On Friday May 17 at 8.00 pm, Moya O’Grady (cello), Geraldine O’Doherty (harp), Catherina Lemoni (piano) and David O’Doherty (violin) will play works by, among others, Chopin, Debussy, Ravel and Piazzola.
On Saturday May 18 at 8.00 pm, Fiachra Garvey (piano) will play Brahms Variations opus 21 no 1, Clara Schumann Variations opus 20, Schubert Sonata in A minor D 845 and Prokofiev Sonata no 8 opus 84.
On Sunday May 19 from 11.00 am to 3.00 pm, Fiachra Garvey will give a master class to a number of young local pianists. This class is sponsored by Music Generation Wicklow and promises to be an interesting opportunity to hear about 10 of the most promising young local pianists from 10 to 22 years of age. All are welcome.
Admission to all concerts is €15 or €10 for concessions and booking is essential. Please email derekneilson@eircom.net for tickets or information.
New Manchester United manager David Moyes and ‘the god squad’
Belfast Telegraph – The public image of incoming Manchester United manager David Moyes is as an intense, hard manager.
The reality is different. He is quietly-spoken and good company with an interest in the pastoral care of his players. That perhaps stems from his deep-seated Christian beliefs, an aspect of his personality he tends not to discuss (see this interview in The Independent five years ago). His faith did not always find favour in his playing days though, as Roy McDonough, who played with Moyes in a struggling Cambridge United side in 1984-85, revealed in his recent, extremely candid autobiography Red Card Roy (Vision Sports Publishing).
Moyes was one of a trio of active Christians at the club, the others being Alan Comfort and Graham Daniels. They were described by McDonough as “Cambridge’s Holy Trinity.” McDonough writes: “The three of them sat in the changing room with a little black book, discussing their beliefs, when they should have been getting psyched up for a relegation scrap. I would cut out a lurid tabloid newspaper story and stick it on the noticeboard in front of them saying, ‘see that pervert. That’s what you will end up like. Vicars messing around with the choir boys.’ But they just turned the other cheek.”
McDonough goes on to describe how he “completely lost the plot with the God Squad” after a 3-3 draw at Wigan in which he had a bruising, running battle with three opposition centre-halves. “I was still in a bad temper after the game, sinking a couple of cans on the coach before launching into a fully blown persecution of the Christians. In my mind they were part of the problem. They were too nice on the pitch, not nasty enough to win games, so it was like turning up with eight men each week. I battered Moyes first demanding to know why a big ginger Jock from Glasgow Celtic could play with absolutely zero aggression, putting all of his energies into bleating on about Jesus instead.
“Alan Comfort had scored that day, so I gave him a wide berth. But there was no respite for Graham Daniels, who had recently become a father but was out of contract at the end of the season. ‘And you,’ I spewed. ‘I’m fighting the world for this team and you’re doing nothing. Forget all that little black book bollocks. Where is God when we are fighting for our lives and getting beaten every week? He’s not giving us much help is he? You’ve no chance of getting an new contract here. Who’s going to fend for your baby and put food on the plate?
“Daniels just looked up at the roof of the coach, smiled, and said three words: ‘He will provide.’ I could have baptized him with a can of beer there and then but I didn’t want to waste it. After that I never bothered saying anything again and, and the three of them stuck to their beliefs.”
Comfort, who later played for Orient and Middlesbrough, became a vicar. He works in Walthamstow and is Leyton Orient’s club chaplain. Daniels is General Director of Christians in Sport.