Remarks by President McAleese Eaghairc don Mhilaois/Requiem for the Millennium
Remarks by President McAleese Eaghairc don Mhilaois/Requiem for the Millennium, Clonard Monastery, Belfast
Is mór an chúis bróid agus áthais dom bheith anseo libh tráthnóna i Mainistir Cluain Árd. Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúl daoibh as an chuireadh, agus as fáilte a bhí caoin, cneasta, agus croiúil.
It is a joy to be part of this special celebration of the Millennium and as it happens the centenary of this very special Monastery. The partnership between Féile an Phobail West Belfast, The Ulster Orchestra and the Redemptorist Community could not be happening at a more opportune time. Somehow this week of all weeks it seems apt to be gathering in a house of God and in particular in a place where over many years people have struggled to bring the language of love, forgiveness, renewal, redemption but above all hope, to a people struggling with the grim consequences of deep-rooted division and conflict. It is good to be here to be able to take pride in talent, in effort, in creativity, in genius in so many forms from the theatrical talent of ‘The Sky is the Limit’, to the Meanscoil Feirste's feast of Irish music and dance, and the showcasing of Mozart's beautiful ‘Requiem by the Ulster Orchestra’, St. Agnes’ Choral Society and a host of wonderful soloists from all over this island. This truly is a Féile an Phobail, to lift our hearts, to give us a day of bright, happy memories, shared memories, the kind of memories which build up and renew communities.
Few New Years can have dawned in Belfast with more hope and optimism than this one. It had the feel of a fresh start. A people had consciously decided that the toxins of political conflict and sectarian hatred which had poisoned so much of the past could not be allowed to leach into the unlived future. They craved a truly new Millennium, built on equality, respectful of human rights, tolerant of difference, comfortable with diversity. They pledged themselves to create a new civic society, civil, civilised, inclusive, consensus based. The jeremiads thought it a pipe dream but we have watched, amazed and grateful as the new dispensation unfolded, new institutions, new ministers, a new language working its way towards consensus, towards trust. The realists have always known the fragility of this journey, the strength of purpose it would require from all to nurture it and help it grow. And so we meet in uneasy times when the fragility of it all is stark and so are the choices, times when it would be easy to forget the amazing triumph of goodness, the extraordinary accomplishments which have already transformed us and our hopes.
The final lines from Derek Mahon's poem Rathlin capture the mood and the moment well:
"Spray-blind,
We leave here the infancy of the race,
Unsure among the pitching surfaces
Whether the future lies before us or behind us."
Somehow when the wind whips up the sea spray we see, if we are able to see at all only a frightening and furious landscape, things get distorted, we grow anxious, unsteady, unsure. The old adage speaks of the calm before the storm but life teaches us that there is also calm after the storm, work to be done in clearing up, mending, making good. We need people who willingly take on that work, who refuse to be overwhelmed by the scale of it all and who get up, get out and get on with it. In this monastery there are some of the best exemplars of that work. At this gathering there are more.
We meet at a time when we have had a short but profound insight into the shape, the sound, the touch and feel of the new world we are capable of creating together in friendship, in partnership, no losers, all winners. We know its worth, its value. We know the tragic hurts, the loss, the absences it is built on. We know how far we have all come on this journey out of chaos and at times like this when the surface is pitching it is important that there are rocks to cling to, that there is real hope of rescue, that we believe in our ability to see this storm through to the calm beyond.That is why it is good to gather today to acknowledge that we have begun a long and hope-filled journey together, itself a cause of jubilation, that there is still a considerable distance to travel but that there is no going back. It is also a day to acknowledge that as so often in the past when the very best of human endeavour cannot seem to solve the problem, we turn to God and beg his help yet again but also to offer gratitude for the gifts, the opportunities this generation is privileged to be custodian of.
No previous generation in Ireland has known such a time of opportunity. An economic and cultural renaissance has fuelled an energising self-confidence. A vibrant culture of achievement has emerged and with it the best hope for generations of lasting peace here on this island. And among the things we have to look forward to is a new cultural engagement between the people of this island for the divisions of history scarred and skewed our cultural expression, too often kept us from enjoying fully each other’s company.
As President, I have been greatly struck by the tremendous upsurge in cultural activity that has taken place throughout the island in recent years. And I have been particularly heartened by the new inclusive approach being taken, an approach that results in programmes as diverse and dynamic as that which we have before us today.
In the past, we have seen cultural expression used to divide people, to highlight difference and to foster discord. We have seen the so-called ‘high culture’ separated from the ‘low’; the ‘traditional’ from the ‘modern’; ‘theirs’ from ‘ours’. As we enter this new era, we have come to realise that the time has come to celebrate the riotous diversity of all of our people and to enjoy the harmonies we can make together.
We have come to recognise that everyone has a story to tell and a contribution to make.
Tonight's programme gives us a truly rich and diverse programme and on my own behalf and on yours I pay tribute to every member of the huge team, under the direction of Caitriona Ruane whose hard work made this event possible. Our thanks to the sponsors, the Andersonstown News and Northern Ireland Electricity whose financial help and support gives communities the resource and the self-belief they need to imagine and deliver an event like this.
But a special tribute goes to our hosts - the Clonard Redemptorist Community whose hospitality, generous outreach and profound love of the people of this city are legendary. I know that the organisers of Féile an Phobail very much appreciate the co-operation and support from Clonard over the years. It was to this place I often came, as did my mother and grandmother before me, to ask God's help in facing and overcoming some obstacle or another. It does not seem so long ago since I spoke from the altar here on the subject of women in the church and survived without the floor opening up and swallowing me.
Today we know that the basic building block of trust needed make this new dispensation robust and enduring, needs our help, all our help. Maybe in this place before God we can, in the silence of our own hearts, pledge ourselves anew to doing what we can to keep alive the miracle of peace. It was Mother Teresa of Calcutta who said that to truly love we have to give until it hurts. That is something Clonard understands well, that is what it was founded to say and to keep on saying no matter what the time or tides.
I salute the achievements of the Clonard Community, and wish them every continued success.
May we all have a wonderful, entertaining and happy evening.
Gúim gach rath oraibh sa todhchaí. Go raibh maith agaibh.