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SEPTEMBER 2010 - THE DEAN WRITES

RECOVERING THE VALUES OF CARSON

Almost every day I pass the tomb of Sir Edward Carson in the Cathedral where I minister. He is the only person buried in the Cathedral and an act of parliament had to be passed at Stormont for this to happen. Each time we baptise, the silver bowl which contains the water is that which contained the soil taken from each of the six counties and was poured into the tomb by the President of the Methodist Church at his funeral.

Ireland, north and south, the United Kingdom and the world has changed immeasurably since the signing of the Ulster Covenant. The very word ‘covenant’ with the Biblical resonances about relationships with God, one’s neighbours and our sharing of the land around us, which it evoked at its signing, has lost its Biblical power in our more secular society today.

We are the poorer politically and socially for the loss of that perspective. And this loss is not confined to those who regard themselves as Protestant or Unionist. I contend that the loss of this perspective and spiritual commitment affects all in this province. If the celebrations of the centenary help us to recover the spirituality of the Covenant concept, we will all, regardless of faith, ethnicity or political allegiance, be the better for that.

The Catholic and Apostolic Ireland of De Valera and a totally dominant, indeed triumphalist, Roman Church is today awash with secularism and the population and state would appear to be concerned more about its wallet than its soul. The days of the massive Eucharistic Congress of the thirties have gone for ever. Only a Papal visit can deliver a response near that scale. Nationally and individually has secularism triumphed in the Republic?

The original northern dissident, Joe McKelvey, who with Liam Fellows and over twenty others were executed in Kilmainham with a ruthlessness by the infant Irish state which outdistanced that of the Brits, may feel that he died in vain. He has paid a high price for a grave in Milltown Cemetery for an Ireland which has vanished. Today’s dissidents should take note.

North of the border “For God and Ulster” is reduced to a catch cry. Many who march behind that banner know little of the inside of church or tabernacle of any description. And the nation to which Carson pledged his allegiance and those of his followers in a covenant relationship has disappeared with ever increasing areas of ethnicity and other world faiths dominating as the consequences of Empire and the extension of the European community impact. That the monarchy maintains the pre-Reformation title , “The Defender of the Faith” has been questioned critically is further evidence of massive change. And even in Ulster, there are those who have suggested that the only future for Carson’s Unionist Party is to become more appealing to people who have no faith at all.

Basically, a case could be made that the two tribes of Ulster - the Orange and the Green - no longer have other sovereign states to whom they can effectively relate to in terms of the basic values which brought their political identities into being in this province.

For me, it is a matter of personal choice. I prefer a constitutional monarchy and economically I believe that for the long term it has been proven, and especially recently, that the UK is more able to support our welfare than the Republic of Ireland. For me it is a style of governance, public life and the finance of a fair society in which people may enjoy the results of their endeavours. And you too are entitled to your opinion and to express the same in your voting.

As I see it the biggest challenges facing this society in Northern Ireland are:

(i)     the breakdown in family life which in many places feeds the too large tail end record of underachievement in some of our schools. This is a problem which the best of educationalists cannot fix on their own. We know that but do we only pay lip service to it in our allocation of public funds and charity giving?

(ii)    the failure to recognise that we need several streams of education meeting different types of aptitude in our young people, and especially at a time when we do not know and cannot know what employment opportunities will exist in the world, never mind the province. The situation is not one which will be solved by continual bickering over the 11+ or the existence of grammar schools. Where are the existing models of excellence, and what are we doing about sharing that good news?

(iii)    the effective presentation of spiritual lifestyle which will enable people to have faith in an increasingly utilitarian society. The old Gospel catch cries, and trite answers about jazzing up music are not enough. Too many congregations of all denominations are introverted and governed by people - clergy and laity - who are change resistant in their fixed opinions and practices.

I challenge those who are making arrangements to celebrate the Centenary of the Covenant, to tackle these kinds of issues. I believe the Centenary should be inclusive of all in Northern Ireland, that it should involve the UK and the Republic, and as far afield as there are Irish roots. But the emphasis should be spiritual, rather than political, otherwise we will miss that foundation point, and dismiss too readily the spirituality which was integral in Carson’s politics, and demonstrated in his costly commitment to his convictions both personal and national, political and spiritual.

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