Irish Christian leaders join to condemn new violence in Northern Ireland

March 10, 2009

The Catholic and Anglican bishops of Down and Dromore, Ireland, have issued a joint statement condemning the "cold-blooded murder" of a police officer in Craigavon. The killing followed on the heels of a shooting attack at an army barracks; in both cases the killings were attributed to extremist splinter groups of the IRA that reject the peace settlement in Northern Ireland. "Those who perpetrated this murder and other recent atrocities have nothing to offer the future of our society," the bishops said. "Our community will not allow them to succeed." The statement of outrage at the Craigavon killing came as the leaders of Ireland's four largest religious groups joined in a separate statement deploring the earlier attack on the army barracks. That statement was signed by Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Anglican (Church of Ireland) Archbishop Alan Harper, Methodist president Rev. Aian Ferguson, and Presbyterian moderator Rt. Rev. Dr. Donald Patton.

 

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Further information:

• Joint Statement from the Bishops of Dromore on the Murder of a Police Officer in Craigavon (Irish bishops' conference)
• Four Church Leaders shocked by attack on whole community(Irish bishops' conference)