Gladys Ganiel - Considering Grace

CONSIDERING

GRACE

Gladys Ganiel is a sociologist of religion at Queens University Belfast. Her previous books include Transforming Post-Catholic Ireland; Evangelicalism and Conflict in Northern Ireland; Unity Pilgrim: The Life of Fr Gerry Reynolds CSsR ; and The Deconstructed Church: Understanding Emerging Christianity , with Gerardo Marti.

Jamie Yohanis s background is in theology and education with a particular interest in the intersection of confessional faith and state-funded education, the field in which he conducted his doctoral studies. Professionally, Jamie has worked as an RE teacher and now works in an educational capacity with service users within the criminal justice system.

CONSIDERING

GRACE

PRESBYTERIANS AND
THE TROUBLES

GLADYS GANIEL AND JAMIE YOHANIS

First published in 2019 by

Merrion Press

An imprint of Irish Academic Press

10 Georges Street

Newbridge

Co. Kildare

Ireland

www.merrionpress.ie

Gladys Ganiel and Jamie Yohanis, 2019

9781785372896 (Paper)

97878537-2902 (Kindle)

9781785372919 (Epub)

9781785372926 (PDF)

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

An entry can be found on request

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

An entry can be found on request

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved alone, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

Typeset in ITC New Baskerville 11/15 pt

Cover: Fire In The Storm , Ballycastle Beach, Co. Antrim. (Steven Hanna, NEBO Fine Art)

Contents

Acknowledgements

T he Presbyterian Church in Irelands (PCI) Council for Public Affairs (CPA) Dealing with the Past subgroup conceived the idea for this book and steered it to its completion. The subgroup was chaired by Very Rev. Norman Hamilton until mid-2019 and by Rev. Daniel Kane thereafter; its members are Rev. Bill Addley, Catherine Bell, Sam Pollock and Valerie Stewart. Over the course of the project, PCIs Public Affairs Officers Gavin Norris (until 2018) and Karen Jardine (from 2019), and Press Officer Mark Smith, provided invaluable administrative support. The subgroup assisted and commented on the research at every stage of the process, providing vision and perspective.

The project was also overseen by an academic advisory group which included John Alderdice, Stafford Carson, Ian McBride, Duncan Morrow, Ethel White and Gillian Wylie; and a reference group which included Rev. Trevor Gribben, clerk of the General Assembly, and former Moderators Very Revs Stafford Carson, Rob Craig, Trevor Morrow, Charles McMullen, Noble McNeely and Frank Sellar. These groups read drafts of the work-in-progress and provided valuable insights. Very Rev. John Dunlop provided comment on the concluding chapter.

The research was supported by the Irish Governments Department of Foreign Affairs Reconciliation Fund, which funded the employment of Jamie Yohanis as an interviewer and transcriber. The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queens University Belfast provided institutional support, facilitated by its director, Hastings Donnan. Queens academics John Brewer, Katy Hayward and Dirk Schubotz, and Queens research impact officer Liz Fawcett also aided at key stages of the research. Caroline Clarke transcribed a large portion of the interviews with much care and attention to detail. Joram Tarusarira, director of the Centre for Religion, Conflict and Globalisation at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, facilitated the volunteer placements of three masters students who assisted with transcribing: Jonathan Barry, Ananda Klopstra and Januschka Schmidt. Madeleine Lerner, a student on Queens University masters course in Conflict Transformation and Social Justice, also volunteered as a transcriber.

From February to May 2019, Dave Thompson of Confluence Facilitation facilitated a series of three focus groups in six locations. Participants were presented with results of the research and provided feedback on how the material could be shaped into resources to be used in small groups in congregations or presbyteries and for trainee ministers at Union Theological College. These focus groups took place as Gladys Ganiel was completing the book manuscript, helping her to clarify important insights. Dave Thompson also read the full manuscript; his comments were particularly helpful in shaping the concluding reflections.

This book has been wholly written by Gladys Ganiel; the important role of Jamie Yohanis in providing feedback on drafts, and conducting the majority of interviews and transcriptions, warrants his inclusion as co-author.

Conor Graham and Fiona Dunne of Merrion Press were encouraging and supportive during the publication process.

Finally, this book would not have been possible without the willing participation of the interviewees and the Presbyterian ministers who helped us to find them and encouraged them to talk. Our interviewees spoke openly and passionately with us about events and circumstances that tested and re-tested their reserves of faith and fortitude. We hope this book honours their stories and helps us all remember together for a better future.

List of Abbreviations

Foreword

S trangely, it is the small red light of a cigarette burning in the darkness of a graveyard that stays with me as a guide through this compelling book. The man smoking the cigarette is sitting on the grave of his murdered parents, and the person who has been searching for him is his minister, alerted by the mans wife that her husband has gone missing in the night, again. Considering Grace is largely preoccupied with examining how the Presbyterian Church of Ireland (PCI) handled the Troubles, and since many of the interviews at its core are with those directly affected by traumatic incidents, there are a lot of glimpses of people struggling with desperate grief those who could cite, as one person does, Psalm 88: You have taken my friends and loved ones from me. Darkness is my closest friend.