Fr. Martin Magill

Reflection on Attestation Ceremony of latest PSNI Constables – an occasion of hope…

Fr. Martin Magill on August 28, 2019, 2:18 pm

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During August, I attended an attestation ceremony for the latest PSNI constables in the police college at Garneville. It was my first time both in the college and at the ceremony. The attestation took place in the assembly hall where the soon to be constables, their families and guests gathered. I found it formal without being overly formal and felt sufficiently at ease to make notes on what I would call the ‘Order of Service’ for the occasion. After introductions, …

“Touting” and the ethics of gathering information…

Fr. Martin Magill on August 16, 2018, 7:47 pm

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A number of years ago the Andersonstown News carried on a front page headline the phrase: “Ten Pound Touts.” “Ten Pounds Touts” was a reference to what was perceived at the time (and indeed is still perceived by some people) as the practice by the RUC/PSNI of recruiting as informers (touts) young people involved in car crime, anti-social behaviour, or low level crime. These youths were/are given small amounts of money for doing this – allegedly as little as a …

Breaking the logjam on legacy issues – Discussion this Friday as part of Feile an Phobail…

Fr. Martin Magill on August 1, 2017, 11:14 am

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Dealing with our past, never mind healing its wounds, has been an ongoing challenge since the signing of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement nearly twenty years ago. So far our politicians have not been able to form a consensus on how best to address the past. In the absence of any formal political agreement, it’s crucial to keep the conversation going and to provide platforms for people from different backgrounds to offer their perspectives on the issues, and to challenge existing …

Pledging for the International Day of Peace

Fr. Martin Magill on September 20, 2016, 2:33 pm

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Each year, on 21st September, people throughout the world mark an International Day of Peace. Across our planet, communities live with the impact of war and violence, but there are also many examples of mankind’s ability to resolve conflict, foster better relationships and create happier, more peaceful societies, including here, in Northern Ireland. It’s more important than ever to celebrate these achievements and promote attempts to encourage peace, understanding and friendship. Over its history, the citizens of Belfast experienced violence, rioting …

Some highlights of this years 2016 Féile an Phobail, the West Belfast Festival…

Fr. Martin Magill on July 26, 2016, 1:49 pm

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Féile an Phobail, the West Belfast Festival will shortly kick off with this year’s selection of debates, music, discussion, cultural events and comedy to mention some of the key elements within it. It runs from 3rd August – 14th August though the programme gives details of some events outside these dates. Féile began in 1988 as a way of showcasing the positive side of the west of Belfast city and to channel energy into creative expression. That time of the …

Forgiveness as release whether it is acknowledged by the perpetrator or not

Fr. Martin Magill on May 8, 2016, 8:13 am

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During a recent visit to the USA, I attended an event entitled “The Language of Forgiveness” in a Festival of Faith and Writing in Calvin College, Michigan. It was an interview by a journalist Jeff Chu with two people of colour, an Episcopalian priest Kelly Brown Douglas and a poet lecturer Shane McCrae. As they discussed the issue of forgiveness, Douglas commented that when someone forgives, two things happen – firstly, the “forgiver” often experiences a freedom within him …

Armistice Day – a catalyst for peace?

Fr. Martin Magill on November 11, 2015, 12:11 am

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REMEMBRANCE AND REMEMBERING: Yesterday when I visited the cemetery in Aldergrove where members of my family are buried, I stopped at the grave of a neighbour (aged 22), “inhumanly taken” as the headstone described his death during our conflict. I had forgotten his mother died just over a year after his murder.

To remember or not to remember…

Fr. Martin Magill on November 8, 2015, 8:10 am

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Last year on Remembrance Sunday I called into Joanmount Methodist Church in North Belfast a short time before the service was to start. The church was filling up with most of the congregation wearing poppies. After a brief conversation with the minister, I then drove less than a mile to the nearest Catholic Church which is in Sacred Heart Parish where I am the parish priest. The contrast on that particular day could not have been more startling. The congregation …

The complex issue of how we remember ALL those who died in conflict…

Fr. Martin Magill on November 2, 2015, 4:35 pm

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The issue of remembering those who died as a result of war or conflict is a very complex one. John Hewitt, one of our local poets even cautions using the word “remember.” “For the people of my province and the rest of Ireland Bear in mind these dead: I can find no plainer words. I dare not risk using that loaded word, Remember, for your memory is a cruel web threaded from thorn to thorn across a hedge of dead …

How can we rid our society of our sectarian shackles? Guest post by Fr Martin Magill…

Fr. Martin Magill on August 19, 2015, 11:49 am

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Recently Rev Dr Lesley Carroll and I were interviewed on BBC Radio Ulster’s Sunday Sequence on the issue of sectarianism. Over breakfast together afterwards, we both acknowledged there were things we would like to have said had there been more time. This article includes some of those things I would have said. The interview came on the back of a riot in North Belfast following the stopping of the anti-internment rally. I witnessed at first hand that riot which left me …