05.05.2014
Archbishop of Dublin Appeals to Politicians South and North to Work Together for the Common Good
Statement from Archbishop Michael Jackson:
“The deep level of anxiety felt among ordinary people with everyday preoccupations about prospects for peace and stability in the developing relationships between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland over the past tense days underlines how precious such peace and stability are to the people of Ireland right across the country. There is now a generation of young people both North and South who have had no direct experience of the torment which The Troubles caused to countless members of earlier generations. The scars and wounds are still carried by those whose cry is still for understanding, justice, compassion and forgiveness.
“For almost ten years, I had the privilege to serve the people as bishop of a truly cross–Border diocese, the Diocese of Clogher. I have the deepest of admiration for the ways in which people took the future creatively into their own hands and developed community aspirations and programmes which took them and their families beyond the day–to–day trench warfare of suspicion, mistrust, violence and hopelessness. I have worked for more than three years in the dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and sense a deepening expectation of cross–Border togetherness in the things which matter to people – their relationships with their neighbours on this island of Ireland. Public figures from both Ireland and the UK have underwritten this sense of solidarity and have been warmly applauded for their courage and vision.
“Like many others, I appeal to politicians South and North to work together with renewed fervour for the common good and to take the fair wind offered by the people of Ireland to foster co–operation and good relations among and for our people throughout the length and breadth of the land.”
Michael Jackson, Church of Ireland archbishop of Dublin
May 5 2014