“it would not have been our choice to have prayers from the catholic church”

The Antrim Guardian leads this week with news that an ‘enraged’ Christian parent pulled his child off stage during a Christmas Carol Service in Antrim Forum when he learned that a Catholic priest would be jointly leading the assembled audience in prayers. The unnamed parent, a Free Presbyterian, told the paper that he was “literally shaking with anger” when he discovered from the programme of the priest’s attendance and role at the cross-community service. Whilst other political parties- including UUP Deputy Mayor, Adrian Watson, publicly branded the actions of the unnamed parent as “mean-spirited,” an unnamed DUP representative provided the party’s rather interesting take:
“We were totally unaware of the programme in advance and though it would not have been our choice to have prayers from the catholic church, we were present as representatives of the entire community.”

Chris Donnelly