05.04.2023
Multi–denominational Service on RTE to mark 25th anniversary of Good Friday Agreement
A special multi–denominational Service will be broadcast this Maundy Thursday (6th April) on RTÉ to mark the 25th anniversary of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement.
It airs at 4.40pm on RTÉ One television and 7.00pm on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra/LW252 and will be available subsequently on the RTÉ Player and Radio Player.
A number of significant participants – religious and community leaders, peacemakers, victims of violence, and bereaved family members of victims – took part in a cogent and heartfelt way in a remarkable Service, which connects the themes and readings of Holy Thursday to the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
The Service was put together by an inter–denominational steering group comprising Bishop Trevor Williams, the Revd Dr Julian Hamilton, the Revd William Hayes, and Catherine McCoy (a lay worship leader in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Down and Connor). Bishop Williams was formerly Church of Ireland Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe and was leader of the Corrymeela Community at the time of the Agreement.
In the course of the service, the participants turned a reading and affirmation of the values underpinning the Good Friday Agreement into a series of prayers, and concluded by making a Pledge with a series of commitments in which they invite others to share (as outlined below).
The Service also includes moments of personal testimony from people whose lives have been impacted by The Troubles; three diverse reflections on “what peace means to me”; and readings and reflections on the Scriptures relating to Maundy Thursday.
Music was provided by Presbyterian minister and musician, the Revd Kiran Young Wimberly, and the McGrath family of traditional Irish family of musicians from Omagh.
Back row (left to right): Fr Martin Magill, the Revd Steve Stockman, Fardus Sultan, Briege Voyle, the Revd Alex Wimberly, David Williamson, and Alan McBride. Front row (left to right): Nichola Corner, Bishop Trevor Williams, the Revd Harold Good, Mary McAleese, Catherine McCoy, and Bridie McGoldrick.
The Pledge
The signatories to the Good Friday Agreement recognised it as “an historic opportunity for a new beginning.”
That’s important. The document they signed was a beginning, not an end: a commitment to our shared future and to the beliefs and values we hope will underpin it.
Beliefs and values, as the saying goes, are to be lived, not laminated, so we know we will rightly be judged by our actions, not our words. Nonetheless, we invite you to join with us as we make these pledges:
Do you pledge to renounce violence and all words, attitudes and actions that cause injury to others, choosing instead the principles that underpin the Good Friday Agreement: democracy, cooperation, mutual respect and consent?
We do.
Do you pledge to offer empathy and justice to all who have suffered bereavement, hurt, fear or trauma, as a result of the fractured politics of this island?
We do.
Do you pledge to seek peace through truth and reconciliation, and not to allow our own sense of injury or grief to poison our hearts with grievance?
We do.
Do you pledge to see diversity – of beliefs, identities and aspirations – as an enrichment of our society, not a threat, and to seek ways to accommodate, protect and encourage those who differ from, or disagree with, ourselves, in order to make this island, genuinely, a place of a hundred thousand welcomes?
We do.
Do you pledge to work together to address the root causes of conflict and to build a peaceful, just, fair and compassionate society, recognising our shared and interlocking needs and interests?
We do.
Do you pledge to strive to be channels of God’s peace:
bringing love where there is hatred;
pardon, where there is offence;
harmony, where there is discord;
truth, where there is falsehood;
faith, where there is doubt;
and hope, where there is despair?
We do.
Then, let us go in peace.