“I think I am well rounded, compassionate and understanding”
I see that one of Dr. Paisley’s best friends has been interviewed on the Eamon Dunphy show on RTE today. You can listen to the programme via this link. Mr. McGuinness came across, in an admittedly hardly challenging interview, as a friendly, affable individual. Behind the bonhomie, however, it was most interesting that we heard lots about people killed by the British army and a little about British soldiers who were killed. We heard about how Bloody Sunday “Hardened our attitudes considerably” and McGuinness proclaiming his wish: “If I had of had the opportunity to kill every single British soldier that was on the streets of Derry I would have killed every single one of them without any difficulty whatsoever.” I suppose at least that was honest though it sounds like what one would expect from the likes of Torrens Knight or Michael Stone; which is of course about the same level as that which practically all unionists hold Mr. McGunniess.
However, less honest was McGuinness’s claim that in Londonderry it was “A straight fight between the army, RUC and IRA”. Not one word was mentioned about people like Frank Hegarty, Patsy Gillipse, Jeff Agate nor any of the others who were in neither the army nor RUC yet were murdered by Mr. McGuinness’s friends.
Some other quotes from McGuiness are also enlightening. “I think I am well rounded, compassionate and understanding”; that without a hint of irony, along with this about his own mother: “Thank God she is still with us”. A pity that due to McGuiness and his friends there are a large number of people on this island and elsewhere who cannot say that about family members.
Still William McCrea seems to think this gives weight to the DUP’s view that policing and justice should not be devolved. Funny though, that it does not stop Dr. McCrea accepting Mr. McGuinness as Deputy (and in reality equal) First Minister.
Shaughnessy, my roots are Presbyterian and my contacts with Catholic religious and laity in the realm of community projects have generally been very positive. I recall one message from a Mother Superior in the summer of ’73 when I needed some help with transport, “Anything Mr T wants Mr T can have”.
In senior school projects that I was associated with at Corrymeela there was often a greater enthusiasm from the Catholic sector than from other denominations. I appreciate that many allegiances are somewhat nominal but that was how I found it.
If you’ve got reservations about the Church having control over local communities then I suspect we’ve far more to fear from the paramilitary sector. Hence my comment about Adams in the Clonard pulpit.
There’s something of the Opus Dei about the Chuckle Brothers – if you take away the smiles
Doctor,
Ervine’s response was basically to shrug his shoulders and imply the victims more or less got what they deserved, while using “police brutality and provocation”
Indeed. In fact I remember Ervine boasting only a few years before his death that the UVF could “wipe out the LVF overnight” or something similar.
And actually, I don’t recall that Ervine renounced violence at all. He pointedly refused to say that any aspect of the “war” that he fought was wrong.
Jo: Yeah, ok. So would David Ervine. Both men changed.
The difference is that DE *renounced* violence, and MMcG *abandoned* violence.
Posted by Reader on Feb 24, 2008 @ 04:52 PM
– Fucking Hell.
Cardinal Brady has portrayed the Catholic Church as the leading agent of the ‘society within a society’ in Northern Ireland.
Actually, Nevin, it was Cardinal Hume and he is quoting, and what was actually said is:
In the midst of such discrimination and a deep sense of alienation from the
Northern State, the structures of education, health, parish and community
provided by the Catholic Church, made it a very natural alternative source of
political and cultural identity for Northern Nationalists. As one commentator
explains:
After partition Northern Nationalists kept a respectful distance from the State
and became ‘a society within a society’. The Catholic Church was the key institution
in integrating the community and clerical leadership was important. There was an
intertwining of Catholicism, Irish culture and political nationalism.
http://www.armagharchdiocese.org/html/arch/Catholic%20Perspective%20on%20N%20Ireland%2005.05.04.html
This is not the same at all. The Catholic Church was not the leading “agent” implying some proactive measure, it was simply the point that Nationalism rallied around, as it kept distance from the very Protestant State. Further more, he goes onto mention the role of the OO in keeping the communities separate, by on the one hand keeping Unionism from reaching out, and ont he other keeping Nationalism and Catholicism under attack.
Moreover, the quote is flat, plain wrong. There has been an intertwining of Catholicism, Nationalism and Irish culture from at least the time of O’Connell, when he enlisted the Church to help in his campaigns: and there have been plenty of religious revolutionaries. It’s a symbiotic relationship.
I would say sloppy, Nevin, but we both know you aren’t that dumb, so I can only assume you are being wilfully dishonest. You might want to drop that one from your repertoire posts you have.