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April 9, 2007 • VOL. 45, NO. 7 • Oakland, CA
Irish, British
church officials praise
power-sharing accord in Northern Ireland
DUBLIN, Ireland
(CNS) -- Irish and British church officials welcomed the announcement
that political parties in Northern Ireland have agreed to share power
again.
The March 26 announcement represents “an important and welcome development
in the search for a stable future for Northern Ireland,” said a
statement from Ireland’s Catholic, Presbyterian, Anglican and Methodist
church leaders. Among those signing was Archbishop Sean Brady of Armagh,
Northern Ireland.
The statement said the churches had worked for a devolved government for
Northern Ireland, “and we trust that this is now to be realized.”
It encouraged people to continue to pray for their communities.
The British section of the Catholic peace movement Pax Christi welcomed
the announcement and said, “Everyone involved now owes it to the
victims and suffering families of the conflict to seize this opportunity
to build a lasting peaceful and just society.”
The predominantly Protestant Democratic Unionist Party and predominantly
Catholic Sinn Fein agreed to set aside decades of animosity and share
power with each other to rule Northern Ireland, beginning May 8.
The power-sharing arrangement was proposed in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement
to end the violence between unionists, who are mainly Protestant and favor
continued British rule, and nationalists, who are mainly Catholic and
want Northern Ireland reunited with the Irish Republic.
While power-sharing governments have been established, they have fallen
apart several times, most recently in 2004.
