The Church of Ireland in the most foot-dragging fashion possible followed the Roman Catholic and Presbyterian Churches in commenting prior to the Stormont Assembly’s debate on same-sex marriage.
The C of I Committee whose title alone is a most masterful confusion of role and purpose, issued a statement which was hardly fit for purpose and in the circumstances it may have been best advised to say nothing. After all, the political reality is that the DUP can prevent any such motion on gay marriage moving forward and it was open, crystal-clear, in its avowal to do so.
In stark contrast the contemporary political realities of Norther Ireland which shape the daily lives and future of its citizens are something upon which the churches offer no comment or leadership. That the churches should wait to open their corporate mouths on this single sex-related policy issue is a sad condemnation of their irrelevance to society and their lack of concern about the wider political scene. They maintain their total silence as Stormont staggers from one crisis to another.
Consider please a few:
The Sinn Fein Minister for Agriculture declared that her department would decant to Eglinton, Co. Derry, apparently prior to the results of any feasibility study being received. She said virtually the location was a foregone conclusion and such a study would be a waste of funds. Waste certainly, but not in the way she thought. It is a sure-fire earner for the legal profession with a judicial review being unavoidable with the attendant waste of public funds, in a case taken by the unions or other parties who believe in the proper management procedures in respect of public assets.
The long-running “flag demonstrations” prompted only a short statement from the Bishop of Down despite its occurence throughout five northern dioceses. At a time of job shortages, businesses have been severely impacted and jobs lost. To say nothing of possible inward investment being deterred. Still silence from the churches.
Even a road from Strabane to Dublin is now on hold, possibly gone forever, due to the incompetence of previous Ministers and their advisers and with an attendant loss of funds which are now wasted despite the need of other cash-starved priorities.
Last week brought two more critical decisions into the public forum. The decision to concentrate child heart surgery in Dublin as opposed to the existing unit in Belfast, and the proposal to close state run old peoples’ homes in two of the health trust areas. Still silence from churches which would protest their pastoral concern and commitment to their parishioners.
The proposed development of a peace and reconciliation centre at the former Long Kesh prison site has produced unity amongst groups representing PIRA victims including the Prison Officers Association and the RUC-GC. Silence still from the churches, who have not led what should have been an ethical debate on what constitutes a victim. Meanwhile this project which is most determinedly under the close control of the Office of the First and Deputy First Ministers rolls ahead regardless of any criticism, in a style more reminiscent of a politburo soviet state, than that of a developing and inclusive democracy.
Again, there has been a silence of such a dimension that ethics can safely be taken off the syllabus at the various denominational seminaries. That is of course with the exception of sex.
Christ in his concern for the world of his time and age had more to say about social issues, justice and economics, than he had about sex. It is long since time that the Christian churches in Ireland – and especially in the north – followed his example. What is the role of the church? This central question cannot be bye-passed or simply be hived off to four church leaders operating to all intents and purposes under Presbyterian control, welcome and all as their recent meeting with the UUP is.
Houston McKelvey