13.11.2016
Clearing the Way for Reconciliation and Remembrance a Christian Vocation – Remembrance Sunday in St Patrick’s Cathedral
The annual Remembrance Sunday Service took place in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, this afternoon (November 13).
The service was led by Dean William Morton and sung by the Cathedral Choir (Schola and Men’s Voices). Among the dignitaries present was the Lord Mayor of Dublin. The President and Taoiseach were represented by their Aides de Camp and Minister Heather Humphries represented the Government.
The standards of the RBL, ONET and OCA were presented and wreaths were laid at the War Memorial in the north transept by Minister Humphries and Major General The O’Morchoe, President of the RBL Republic of Ireland.
The preacher was the Very Revd Houston McKelvey. An excerpt from his sermon follows:
Sermon preached by the Very Revd Houston McKelvey
Remembrance Sunday, 13 November 2016, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin
The centenaries of 1916 have given us an opportunity to reassess remembrance and reconciliation – The events at the General Post Office, the Battle of Jutland, the loss of Lord Kitchener, the battles at the Somme and Guillemont and Ginchy.
We each bring to these centenaries our own personal lenses. My awareness of the First World War came from my family’s service and that of the village community in which I was raised.
My interest in history was nurtured in my Belfast city centre grammar school which taught European, British and Irish history in a most professional and responsible way. We had our exemplars amongst our former pupils. Professor James Beckett at Queen’s and Professor Theo Moody and the incomparable Robert Brendan McDowell at Trinity.
One event at school impacted more than most. Despite not having more than three words of Irish we were dragooned to a city centre cinema to see Mise Eire which one left with no illusions about what happened at Kilmainham.
I came to Trinity in 1965 after spending four years at Queen’s Belfast reading political and economic geography alongside two years of Irish history with Jim Beckett.
The singing pubs from Howth to Dun Laoghaire were resounding to a great tune and ballad – “We are off to Dublin in the Green, where the rifles glisten in the sun”, and a Thompson machine gun rattled. All good craic. Then we had to wake up to the reality that some group had blown off the top of Nelson’s Pillar. That there were those who were willing to challenge the very legitimacy of the state made for a difficult 50th anniversary… quite apart from adversely impacting on the embers of discontent which were already glowing in Northern Ireland.
It has rightly been said that Ireland after 1916 was polarised between the two Gs of the General Post Office and Gallipoli. There was a hidden record of war time service in Europe which in many places in Ireland would not, and perhaps could not, be referred to.
In comparison with 1966, I was delighted with the inclusive and sensitive way in which this year’s commemorations have been observed, and I take this opportunity to look at the contributions made by people who in the spirit of the old Irish regimental motto and war cry (Faugh a Ballabh – clear the way), have helped clear the way to the situation in which thank God, we find ourselves this year.
The first path clearers in my esteem are Senator Paddy Harte and Glenn Barr. They were obviously politically diametrically opposed, but what a partnership in enabling people in Donegal to own the two traditions who served in the wars.
And eventually the most symbolic outcome of their influence was of course the Peace Park at Messines. When the Peace Park was dedicated, the sight of the two female heads of state spoke unquestionably. Indeed there was something particularly poignant about two women in black paying tribute to the fallen.
Of course I am inordinately proud of the Queen’s graduate and lecturer who became President of Ireland and her achievements in that office. I believe that the personal relationship between Her Majesty the Queen and President McAleese changed the relationship between Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Twenty years ago the Army Chaplains’ Department had a two day celebration of the second centenary of the granting of the Royal Charter. We were bussed from Deepcut to Westminster Abbey in full uniform, on one of the most sweltering days of that summer. The Queen graced us with her presence at a garden party at our centre at Bagshot House. Just before she left I was presented to Her Majesty by a fellow irishman who was Chaplain General. Her Majesty told us she was returning to Windsor to meet President McAleese. She was obviously looking forward to receiving her guest.
The dedication of the Messiness Peace Park signifed the clearance of the way.
But there is another park, one much closer to this cathedral and city, where the way was cleared during the period I was chaplain to the Royal British Legion in Northern Ireland.
I certainly remember and cherish the occasion when for the very first time the comrades of the Legion from Northern Ireland and the Republic met with members of the Irish Defence Forces Association at the war memorial gardens at Islandbridge. I shared in the conduct of that act of remembrance with a serving Irish Chaplain. Together the ex–service community cleared the way, and enabled civic society to gather at Islandbridge to remember.
There is one person whom I am going to make uncomfortable now. He has been a superb “faugh” in keeping the channels of communication and respect open between the ex–service community throughout this island. We are indebted beyond words to Major General David Morrow – The O’Morchoe, .
Clearing the way for reconciliation and remembrance is a Christian vocation. When we establish esteem and understanding, we stand with Christ. He who said I am the Way, the truth and the life. He who gave his own life in the cause of reconciliation between man and man, and between man and God.
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Biographical notes –
The Very Rev. Dr. Houston McKelvey served for 30 years as a chaplain in the army reserve and took part in the major exercises in Germany during the Cold War. His services were recognised by the awards of the Queen’s Volunteer Reserve Medal and the Territorial Decoration. He served for 20 years as the chaplain to the Norther Ireland area of the Royal British Legion. His most recent appointment was as an Honorary Chaplain to the Royal Naval Reserve in recognition of his pastoral care of the personnel in HMS Caroline, the former Royal Naval Reserve base in Belfast harbour. He was a Chapter Canon of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, prior to his appointment as Dean of Belfast from which he retired in 2011.
Photo Captions:
Top: The preacher, the Very Revd Houston McKelvey; the President’s Aide de Camp, Lieutenant Louise Conlon; and the Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, the Very Revd William Morton.
Bottom: The Standard Bearers prepare to march.