PRESS RELEASE
30 July 2010
Statement by Bishop Noel Treanor, Bishop of Down and Connor, in St Mary's University College, Belfast, on the handing over of Church archive documents to the families of those killed and injured by the British Army in Ballymurphy between 9 - 11 August 1971 I am here today to show my support and pastoral concern for the families of those killed and injured during the tragic events of the 9 - 11 of August 1971 in Ballymurphy.

I have met representatives of the families on two previous occasions. Firstly, in May of last year and, more recently, on 10 June of this year.  At the first meeting the families asked me to establish what documents, if any, might be held in the archives of the Diocese relating to the events surrounding the death and injury of their loved ones. An initial search of the main archives in the Diocese of Down & Connor and in the Diocese of Armagh yielded no significant results. However, thanks to some very helpful suggestions from the families at the most recent meeting in June, we were able to initiate a more focused search of the archives and of other possible sources, such as parish records. This search will continue in the months ahead and may yet yield further important results.

At the meeting with the families in June, however, I became aware of just how important even the smallest piece of information can be to those who want to establish the truth about what happened to their loved ones who were killed or injured in such violent circumstances. I therefore gave a commitment to the families that I would share with them any information that subsequently emerged at the earliest opportunity.

To that end I am pleased to be able to hand over to the families today two distinct sets of documents which have since discovered since our last meeting. The first is a series of short extracts taken from the personal diary of Cardinal William Conway, at that time Archbishop of Armagh though originally a native of Belfast. While these short extracts do not provide much detail of the events of those days they do convey his personal sentiments and concern for what was happening in Ballymurphy. Most notably, he records on the opening entry of his diary for Wednesday 11 August 1971: ‘I think in a way this was one of the most unhappy days of my life… It was the feeling of hopelessness – of the great suffering in Belfast and my not being able to do much about it’. We are still in the process of checking the diary and will present a compilation of the relevant extracts to the families in the next few days. I am grateful to Cardinal Brady and the Archdiocese of Armagh for making these extracts available.

The second set of documents were discovered in the personal files of Canon Padraig Murphy, then Parish Priest of Corpus Christi Parish which includes Ballymurphy. I am very grateful to the executors of Canon Murphy’s estate for their permission to release these documents to the families.

These documents will contribute to a wider tapestry of material already gathered by the families of those killed and injured. When put together with other documents they may help to create a fuller picture of the events of those days. They may fill-in certain gaps or open-up new lines of investigation or prompt the memory of important details that have been lost in the midst of time. Some of the documents are incomplete and we will continue to search for the remaining material. Some are hand written and difficult to decipher or ascertain their full significance. Notably, the documents include:

1. An original typed copy of a ‘Report’ summarising the main findings of several eyewitness accounts of ‘the events of August 9th 1971 in the Springfield Park area of Belfast’ taken ‘about a fortnight after the incident’. The eyewitnesses cited in the Report include ‘a serving member of the British Army’, a member of the British Navy who returned to his ship shortly after the shootings and an ex Irish Guardsman. This Report was complied by a Thomas J. Glynn (M.Sc.), Edna Arthurs (B.A., Cert. Ed) and Eugene G. Arthurs (B.Sc), possibly at the request of Canon Murphy – though this has yet to be definitively established. We would be most interested to hear from anyone who might know something about these authors and how they came to be tasked with taking the evidence of the witnesses listed. It is likely that at least one of the report’s authors was a teacher. Sadly, we do not appear to have all the accompanying witness statements, though I understand some of this documentation may already be in the possession of the families.

Critically, the authors of the Report list seven ‘important conclusions’ based on the eyewitness accounts. They conclude, for example, that ‘the Army fired on two first-aid men wearing white helmets and carrying a first-aid kit’, that they fired on and killed a number of people, including Fr Hugh Mullan, who were clearly carrying a white emblem, ‘the international symbol of truce’, and that they fired on and killed people who were clearly going to the assistance of women and children fleeing a hostile mob. Critically, in the final paragraphs of the Report, the authors conclude that on the basis of the eye-witness accounts they have listened that they ‘are convinced that the British Army Units involved, whether through fear or vindictiveness unnecessarily fired a large number of rounds into the waste grounds across which innocent men, women and children were fleeing…Certainly the fatalities did not occur in a cross-fire… We feel that there is a sufficient weight of evidence to indict the soldiers on the roof of the Springmartin flats.’

This view is supported by some of the other documents we handing over today. These include:

2. An original typed copy of the statement of one eyewitness, a Mr Robert Clark of 60 Springfield Park, who was himself shot and seriously wounded as he tried to assist women and children. He records how Fr Hugh Mullan approached him carrying a white cloth at shoulder height and how Fr Hugh anointed him. He then describes how Fr Hugh was shot and killed before his eyes and how Frank Quinn was shot coming to the aid of Fr Mullan. At the end of his statement Mr Clark refers to hearing shots that ‘sounded different to the former shots’.  This may provide an important link between the Report cited earlier, Mr Clark’s statement and the hand written notes, possibly from Canon Murphy himself, which comprise the third document we are handing over today.  This hand written document of some five pages is at times difficult to decipher. It would appear to be first hand notes of an eye witness statement of events on the day. Interestingly, it is possible to determine some reference at the end of the document to a distinction between shots fired from an SLR rifle and so-called ‘303 shots’. This may suggest that the evidence is from someone with a military background and opens up the possibility of a link with the evidence given by the serving British soldier in the Report cited earlier. An address in England is also given. All of this will require closer examination to establish the full significance of this document.

3. Two other shorter documents have been discovered in the same hand writing, presumed to be that of Canon Murphy. One contains a substantial list of names and addresses of what are presumed to be known witnesses along with a few occasional comments or notes. The other shorter document seems to be some brief notes taken from a witness to the events.

4. We are also handing over a small number of newspaper clippings of reportage on the events at the time, notably in an English Catholic newspaper which is unlikely to have been easily accessible to the families at that time of since. Interestingly, the newspaper cites the following statement by Bishop Philbin, the Bishop of Down and Connor at the time. Bishop Philbin’s statement reads: ‘The circumstances of Fr Mullan’s death call for the most rigorous investigation in the interests of justice and truth and in the hope of bringing the present dreadful contagion of killing to an end.’ I repeat that call for a rigorous investigation today.

5. Finally, we have discovered some personal letters belonging to the late Fr Hugh Mullan relating to his time as a seminarian. As these do not relate in any way to the events in Ballymurphy but will be of interest to Fr Hugh’s family for personal reason copies of these will be given only to Fr Hugh’s family.

I want to repeat again that these are only the findings of our most recent search of Church records and we will continue to explore all avenues to ascertain if any other relevant information may be in the possession of the Church. I say this as an indication of my commitment, and the commitment of the Church in this Diocese, to assist the families of those killed and injured in Ballymurphy during 9-11 August 1971 in establishing the truth of what happened.

The events of those days in Ballymurphy were a disturbing prelude to the events of Bloody Sunday only six months later. Both were seminal events that profoundly influenced the future direction of the Troubles. The families of those killed and injured rightly wonder as we all do, what could have been avoided if the evidence of eye witnesses like those cited today had been treated with the importance and respect it deserved at the time. What could have been avoided if the institutions of law and order charged with the safety and care of all citizens had taken action on the basis of these reliable testimonies to ensure the Army never acted in such a reckless and indiscriminate manner again. Instead, as in Bloody Sunday, the reputations of those who were killed and injured were actively besmirched and the evidence of reliable eye witnesses was either ignored or actively discredited. This has led me to the view that the Ballymurphy killings are the unfinished business of the Saville Inquiry. Indeed the events in Ballymurphy on 9-11 August 1971 would and perhaps should have been considered the necessary starting point for such an inquiry.

This is not to say that I - or as I understand the families - are seeking an expensive and lengthy Saville style Inquiry into these events. It should be possible to find a mechanism of investigation into these and other events of the Troubles sufficiently efficient, robust and independent to contribute to a meaningful healing of memory and to a vindication of the truth for the individuals and communities involved.

It does not always require a Saville style Inquiry to provide sufficient grounds for an apology for actions that were manifestly wrong or to uphold the innocence of those who were manifestly innocent or entitled to the presumption of innocence. In the case of the Ballymurphy killings, sufficient eye witness and other evidence is available to render an efficient mechanism of investigation and assessment realistic and achievable, one which could quickly justify the inclusion of those killed and injured in the spirit and scope of the apology issued by the British Government following the publication of the Saville Inquiry.

On the basis of the eye witness testimony in these and other documents alone, it is difficult to see how any such investigation would not justify a re-echoing of the following words of that apology: ‘What happened should never, ever have happened. The families of those who died should not have had to live with the pain and hurt of that day – and a lifetime of loss. Some members of our Armed Forces acted wrongly…And for that, on behalf of the Government – and indeed our country – I am deeply sorry.’

Finally, let me say that the ongoing legacy of pain experienced by the families gathered here today highlights the need for an agreed, cohesive and comprehensive way of dealing with the violent past of our society. A piecemeal approach to dealing with the past risks contributing to further hurt, alienation and a futile cycle of ‘what-aboutery’.  My point today is that there is a strong case for the killings in Ballymurphy to be included in the spirit and scope of the recognition and apology already offered in respect of the events of Bloody Sunday. They are materially connected.

The efficient and effective use of resources is essential to the common good. How we prioritise the use of our limited financial and other resources is an important consideration in any decision about dealing with the past. What is clear is that the past and its memory will continue to have an impact on how we live together into the future. We need to develop efficient, effective and constructive ways of supporting a genuine healing of memory and a safe disclosure of the truth in ways that contribute to peace, cohesion and reconciliation. We need to ensure that how we deal with the past contributes to the well being and quality of life of everyone in our society now and in the future.

To that end I believe the British and Irish Governments should discuss with the relevant institutions of the European Union the potential role those institutions might play in encouraging and supporting just and constructive ways of dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. Such engagement by the European Union on this specific issue would be consistent with the founding values and achievements of the European Union and contribute to deepening further positive relations between the people of Ireland and Britain.

During the coming months I hope that elected representatives, especially those who will participate in the forthcoming debate on the Saville Report in the Westminster Parliament, will give due attention to the material link between the events in Ballymurphy in August 1971 and those of Bloody Sunday. I hope that all of us together will work to find an agreed way of sharing the full truth of what happened to all those killed and injured in the Troubles in the hope of bringing peace, healing and reconciliation to our society and to those who continue to bear the painful wounds of our past.

Thank you.

ENDS

Further information
Fr Edward McGee, Media Liaison Officer, Diocese of Down and Connor, 0044 (0) 78 111 44268
Martin Long, Catholic Communications Office, Maynooth, 00 353 (0) 86 172 7678

PRESS RELEASE
30 July 2010
Statement by Bishop Noel Treanor, Bishop of Down and Connor, in St Mary's University College, Belfast, on the handing over of Church archive documents to the families of those killed and injured by the British Army in Ballymurphy between 9 - 11 August 1971 I am here today to show my support and pastoral concern for the families of those killed and injured during the tragic events of the 9 - 11 of August 1971 in Ballymurphy.

I have met representatives of the families on two previous occasions. Firstly, in May of last year and, more recently, on 10 June of this year.  At the first meeting the families asked me to establish what documents, if any, might be held in the archives of the Diocese relating to the events surrounding the death and injury of their loved ones. An initial search of the main archives in the Diocese of Down & Connor and in the Diocese of Armagh yielded no significant results. However, thanks to some very helpful suggestions from the families at the most recent meeting in June, we were able to initiate a more focused search of the archives and of other possible sources, such as parish records. This search will continue in the months ahead and may yet yield further important results.

At the meeting with the families in June, however, I became aware of just how important even the smallest piece of information can be to those who want to establish the truth about what happened to their loved ones who were killed or injured in such violent circumstances. I therefore gave a commitment to the families that I would share with them any information that subsequently emerged at the earliest opportunity.

To that end I am pleased to be able to hand over to the families today two distinct sets of documents which have since discovered since our last meeting. The first is a series of short extracts taken from the personal diary of Cardinal William Conway, at that time Archbishop of Armagh though originally a native of Belfast. While these short extracts do not provide much detail of the events of those days they do convey his personal sentiments and concern for what was happening in Ballymurphy. Most notably, he records on the opening entry of his diary for Wednesday 11 August 1971: ‘I think in a way this was one of the most unhappy days of my life… It was the feeling of hopelessness – of the great suffering in Belfast and my not being able to do much about it’. We are still in the process of checking the diary and will present a compilation of the relevant extracts to the families in the next few days. I am grateful to Cardinal Brady and the Archdiocese of Armagh for making these extracts available.

The second set of documents were discovered in the personal files of Canon Padraig Murphy, then Parish Priest of Corpus Christi Parish which includes Ballymurphy. I am very grateful to the executors of Canon Murphy’s estate for their permission to release these documents to the families.

These documents will contribute to a wider tapestry of material already gathered by the families of those killed and injured. When put together with other documents they may help to create a fuller picture of the events of those days. They may fill-in certain gaps or open-up new lines of investigation or prompt the memory of important details that have been lost in the midst of time. Some of the documents are incomplete and we will continue to search for the remaining material. Some are hand written and difficult to decipher or ascertain their full significance. Notably, the documents include:

1. An original typed copy of a ‘Report’ summarising the main findings of several eyewitness accounts of ‘the events of August 9th 1971 in the Springfield Park area of Belfast’ taken ‘about a fortnight after the incident’. The eyewitnesses cited in the Report include ‘a serving member of the British Army’, a member of the British Navy who returned to his ship shortly after the shootings and an ex Irish Guardsman. This Report was complied by a Thomas J. Glynn (M.Sc.), Edna Arthurs (B.A., Cert. Ed) and Eugene G. Arthurs (B.Sc), possibly at the request of Canon Murphy – though this has yet to be definitively established. We would be most interested to hear from anyone who might know something about these authors and how they came to be tasked with taking the evidence of the witnesses listed. It is likely that at least one of the report’s authors was a teacher. Sadly, we do not appear to have all the accompanying witness statements, though I understand some of this documentation may already be in the possession of the families.

Critically, the authors of the Report list seven ‘important conclusions’ based on the eyewitness accounts. They conclude, for example, that ‘the Army fired on two first-aid men wearing white helmets and carrying a first-aid kit’, that they fired on and killed a number of people, including Fr Hugh Mullan, who were clearly carrying a white emblem, ‘the international symbol of truce’, and that they fired on and killed people who were clearly going to the assistance of women and children fleeing a hostile mob. Critically, in the final paragraphs of the Report, the authors conclude that on the basis of the eye-witness accounts they have listened that they ‘are convinced that the British Army Units involved, whether through fear or vindictiveness unnecessarily fired a large number of rounds into the waste grounds across which innocent men, women and children were fleeing…Certainly the fatalities did not occur in a cross-fire… We feel that there is a sufficient weight of evidence to indict the soldiers on the roof of the Springmartin flats.’

This view is supported by some of the other documents we handing over today. These include:

2. An original typed copy of the statement of one eyewitness, a Mr Robert Clark of 60 Springfield Park, who was himself shot and seriously wounded as he tried to assist women and children. He records how Fr Hugh Mullan approached him carrying a white cloth at shoulder height and how Fr Hugh anointed him. He then describes how Fr Hugh was shot and killed before his eyes and how Frank Quinn was shot coming to the aid of Fr Mullan. At the end of his statement Mr Clark refers to hearing shots that ‘sounded different to the former shots’.  This may provide an important link between the Report cited earlier, Mr Clark’s statement and the hand written notes, possibly from Canon Murphy himself, which comprise the third document we are handing over today.  This hand written document of some five pages is at times difficult to decipher. It would appear to be first hand notes of an eye witness statement of events on the day. Interestingly, it is possible to determine some reference at the end of the document to a distinction between shots fired from an SLR rifle and so-called ‘303 shots’. This may suggest that the evidence is from someone with a military background and opens up the possibility of a link with the evidence given by the serving British soldier in the Report cited earlier. An address in England is also given. All of this will require closer examination to establish the full significance of this document.

3. Two other shorter documents have been discovered in the same hand writing, presumed to be that of Canon Murphy. One contains a substantial list of names and addresses of what are presumed to be known witnesses along with a few occasional comments or notes. The other shorter document seems to be some brief notes taken from a witness to the events.

4. We are also handing over a small number of newspaper clippings of reportage on the events at the time, notably in an English Catholic newspaper which is unlikely to have been easily accessible to the families at that time of since. Interestingly, the newspaper cites the following statement by Bishop Philbin, the Bishop of Down and Connor at the time. Bishop Philbin’s statement reads: ‘The circumstances of Fr Mullan’s death call for the most rigorous investigation in the interests of justice and truth and in the hope of bringing the present dreadful contagion of killing to an end.’ I repeat that call for a rigorous investigation today.

5. Finally, we have discovered some personal letters belonging to the late Fr Hugh Mullan relating to his time as a seminarian. As these do not relate in any way to the events in Ballymurphy but will be of interest to Fr Hugh’s family for personal reason copies of these will be given only to Fr Hugh’s family.

I want to repeat again that these are only the findings of our most recent search of Church records and we will continue to explore all avenues to ascertain if any other relevant information may be in the possession of the Church. I say this as an indication of my commitment, and the commitment of the Church in this Diocese, to assist the families of those killed and injured in Ballymurphy during 9-11 August 1971 in establishing the truth of what happened.

The events of those days in Ballymurphy were a disturbing prelude to the events of Bloody Sunday only six months later. Both were seminal events that profoundly influenced the future direction of the Troubles. The families of those killed and injured rightly wonder as we all do, what could have been avoided if the evidence of eye witnesses like those cited today had been treated with the importance and respect it deserved at the time. What could have been avoided if the institutions of law and order charged with the safety and care of all citizens had taken action on the basis of these reliable testimonies to ensure the Army never acted in such a reckless and indiscriminate manner again. Instead, as in Bloody Sunday, the reputations of those who were killed and injured were actively besmirched and the evidence of reliable eye witnesses was either ignored or actively discredited. This has led me to the view that the Ballymurphy killings are the unfinished business of the Saville Inquiry. Indeed the events in Ballymurphy on 9-11 August 1971 would and perhaps should have been considered the necessary starting point for such an inquiry.

This is not to say that I - or as I understand the families - are seeking an expensive and lengthy Saville style Inquiry into these events. It should be possible to find a mechanism of investigation into these and other events of the Troubles sufficiently efficient, robust and independent to contribute to a meaningful healing of memory and to a vindication of the truth for the individuals and communities involved.

It does not always require a Saville style Inquiry to provide sufficient grounds for an apology for actions that were manifestly wrong or to uphold the innocence of those who were manifestly innocent or entitled to the presumption of innocence. In the case of the Ballymurphy killings, sufficient eye witness and other evidence is available to render an efficient mechanism of investigation and assessment realistic and achievable, one which could quickly justify the inclusion of those killed and injured in the spirit and scope of the apology issued by the British Government following the publication of the Saville Inquiry.

On the basis of the eye witness testimony in these and other documents alone, it is difficult to see how any such investigation would not justify a re-echoing of the following words of that apology: ‘What happened should never, ever have happened. The families of those who died should not have had to live with the pain and hurt of that day – and a lifetime of loss. Some members of our Armed Forces acted wrongly…And for that, on behalf of the Government – and indeed our country – I am deeply sorry.’

Finally, let me say that the ongoing legacy of pain experienced by the families gathered here today highlights the need for an agreed, cohesive and comprehensive way of dealing with the violent past of our society. A piecemeal approach to dealing with the past risks contributing to further hurt, alienation and a futile cycle of ‘what-aboutery’.  My point today is that there is a strong case for the killings in Ballymurphy to be included in the spirit and scope of the recognition and apology already offered in respect of the events of Bloody Sunday. They are materially connected.

The efficient and effective use of resources is essential to the common good. How we prioritise the use of our limited financial and other resources is an important consideration in any decision about dealing with the past. What is clear is that the past and its memory will continue to have an impact on how we live together into the future. We need to develop efficient, effective and constructive ways of supporting a genuine healing of memory and a safe disclosure of the truth in ways that contribute to peace, cohesion and reconciliation. We need to ensure that how we deal with the past contributes to the well being and quality of life of everyone in our society now and in the future.

To that end I believe the British and Irish Governments should discuss with the relevant institutions of the European Union the potential role those institutions might play in encouraging and supporting just and constructive ways of dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. Such engagement by the European Union on this specific issue would be consistent with the founding values and achievements of the European Union and contribute to deepening further positive relations between the people of Ireland and Britain.

During the coming months I hope that elected representatives, especially those who will participate in the forthcoming debate on the Saville Report in the Westminster Parliament, will give due attention to the material link between the events in Ballymurphy in August 1971 and those of Bloody Sunday. I hope that all of us together will work to find an agreed way of sharing the full truth of what happened to all those killed and injured in the Troubles in the hope of bringing peace, healing and reconciliation to our society and to those who continue to bear the painful wounds of our past.

Thank you.

ENDS

Further information
Fr Edward McGee, Media Liaison Officer, Diocese of Down and Connor, 0044 (0) 78 111 44268
Martin Long, Catholic Communications Office, Maynooth, 00 353 (0) 86 172 7678

PRESS RELEASE
30 July 2010
Statement by Bishop Noel Treanor, Bishop of Down and Connor, in St Mary's University College, Belfast, on the handing over of Church archive documents to the families of those killed and injured by the British Army in Ballymurphy between 9 - 11 August 1971 I am here today to show my support and pastoral concern for the families of those killed and injured during the tragic events of the 9 - 11 of August 1971 in Ballymurphy.

I have met representatives of the families on two previous occasions. Firstly, in May of last year and, more recently, on 10 June of this year.  At the first meeting the families asked me to establish what documents, if any, might be held in the archives of the Diocese relating to the events surrounding the death and injury of their loved ones. An initial search of the main archives in the Diocese of Down & Connor and in the Diocese of Armagh yielded no significant results. However, thanks to some very helpful suggestions from the families at the most recent meeting in June, we were able to initiate a more focused search of the archives and of other possible sources, such as parish records. This search will continue in the months ahead and may yet yield further important results.

At the meeting with the families in June, however, I became aware of just how important even the smallest piece of information can be to those who want to establish the truth about what happened to their loved ones who were killed or injured in such violent circumstances. I therefore gave a commitment to the families that I would share with them any information that subsequently emerged at the earliest opportunity.

To that end I am pleased to be able to hand over to the families today two distinct sets of documents which have since discovered since our last meeting. The first is a series of short extracts taken from the personal diary of Cardinal William Conway, at that time Archbishop of Armagh though originally a native of Belfast. While these short extracts do not provide much detail of the events of those days they do convey his personal sentiments and concern for what was happening in Ballymurphy. Most notably, he records on the opening entry of his diary for Wednesday 11 August 1971: ‘I think in a way this was one of the most unhappy days of my life… It was the feeling of hopelessness – of the great suffering in Belfast and my not being able to do much about it’. We are still in the process of checking the diary and will present a compilation of the relevant extracts to the families in the next few days. I am grateful to Cardinal Brady and the Archdiocese of Armagh for making these extracts available.

The second set of documents were discovered in the personal files of Canon Padraig Murphy, then Parish Priest of Corpus Christi Parish which includes Ballymurphy. I am very grateful to the executors of Canon Murphy’s estate for their permission to release these documents to the families.

These documents will contribute to a wider tapestry of material already gathered by the families of those killed and injured. When put together with other documents they may help to create a fuller picture of the events of those days. They may fill-in certain gaps or open-up new lines of investigation or prompt the memory of important details that have been lost in the midst of time. Some of the documents are incomplete and we will continue to search for the remaining material. Some are hand written and difficult to decipher or ascertain their full significance. Notably, the documents include:

1. An original typed copy of a ‘Report’ summarising the main findings of several eyewitness accounts of ‘the events of August 9th 1971 in the Springfield Park area of Belfast’ taken ‘about a fortnight after the incident’. The eyewitnesses cited in the Report include ‘a serving member of the British Army’, a member of the British Navy who returned to his ship shortly after the shootings and an ex Irish Guardsman. This Report was complied by a Thomas J. Glynn (M.Sc.), Edna Arthurs (B.A., Cert. Ed) and Eugene G. Arthurs (B.Sc), possibly at the request of Canon Murphy – though this has yet to be definitively established. We would be most interested to hear from anyone who might know something about these authors and how they came to be tasked with taking the evidence of the witnesses listed. It is likely that at least one of the report’s authors was a teacher. Sadly, we do not appear to have all the accompanying witness statements, though I understand some of this documentation may already be in the possession of the families.

Critically, the authors of the Report list seven ‘important conclusions’ based on the eyewitness accounts. They conclude, for example, that ‘the Army fired on two first-aid men wearing white helmets and carrying a first-aid kit’, that they fired on and killed a number of people, including Fr Hugh Mullan, who were clearly carrying a white emblem, ‘the international symbol of truce’, and that they fired on and killed people who were clearly going to the assistance of women and children fleeing a hostile mob. Critically, in the final paragraphs of the Report, the authors conclude that on the basis of the eye-witness accounts they have listened that they ‘are convinced that the British Army Units involved, whether through fear or vindictiveness unnecessarily fired a large number of rounds into the waste grounds across which innocent men, women and children were fleeing…Certainly the fatalities did not occur in a cross-fire… We feel that there is a sufficient weight of evidence to indict the soldiers on the roof of the Springmartin flats.’

This view is supported by some of the other documents we handing over today. These include:

2. An original typed copy of the statement of one eyewitness, a Mr Robert Clark of 60 Springfield Park, who was himself shot and seriously wounded as he tried to assist women and children. He records how Fr Hugh Mullan approached him carrying a white cloth at shoulder height and how Fr Hugh anointed him. He then describes how Fr Hugh was shot and killed before his eyes and how Frank Quinn was shot coming to the aid of Fr Mullan. At the end of his statement Mr Clark refers to hearing shots that ‘sounded different to the former shots’.  This may provide an important link between the Report cited earlier, Mr Clark’s statement and the hand written notes, possibly from Canon Murphy himself, which comprise the third document we are handing over today.  This hand written document of some five pages is at times difficult to decipher. It would appear to be first hand notes of an eye witness statement of events on the day. Interestingly, it is possible to determine some reference at the end of the document to a distinction between shots fired from an SLR rifle and so-called ‘303 shots’. This may suggest that the evidence is from someone with a military background and opens up the possibility of a link with the evidence given by the serving British soldier in the Report cited earlier. An address in England is also given. All of this will require closer examination to establish the full significance of this document.

3. Two other shorter documents have been discovered in the same hand writing, presumed to be that of Canon Murphy. One contains a substantial list of names and addresses of what are presumed to be known witnesses along with a few occasional comments or notes. The other shorter document seems to be some brief notes taken from a witness to the events.

4. We are also handing over a small number of newspaper clippings of reportage on the events at the time, notably in an English Catholic newspaper which is unlikely to have been easily accessible to the families at that time of since. Interestingly, the newspaper cites the following statement by Bishop Philbin, the Bishop of Down and Connor at the time. Bishop Philbin’s statement reads: ‘The circumstances of Fr Mullan’s death call for the most rigorous investigation in the interests of justice and truth and in the hope of bringing the present dreadful contagion of killing to an end.’ I repeat that call for a rigorous investigation today.

5. Finally, we have discovered some personal letters belonging to the late Fr Hugh Mullan relating to his time as a seminarian. As these do not relate in any way to the events in Ballymurphy but will be of interest to Fr Hugh’s family for personal reason copies of these will be given only to Fr Hugh’s family.

I want to repeat again that these are only the findings of our most recent search of Church records and we will continue to explore all avenues to ascertain if any other relevant information may be in the possession of the Church. I say this as an indication of my commitment, and the commitment of the Church in this Diocese, to assist the families of those killed and injured in Ballymurphy during 9-11 August 1971 in establishing the truth of what happened.

The events of those days in Ballymurphy were a disturbing prelude to the events of Bloody Sunday only six months later. Both were seminal events that profoundly influenced the future direction of the Troubles. The families of those killed and injured rightly wonder as we all do, what could have been avoided if the evidence of eye witnesses like those cited today had been treated with the importance and respect it deserved at the time. What could have been avoided if the institutions of law and order charged with the safety and care of all citizens had taken action on the basis of these reliable testimonies to ensure the Army never acted in such a reckless and indiscriminate manner again. Instead, as in Bloody Sunday, the reputations of those who were killed and injured were actively besmirched and the evidence of reliable eye witnesses was either ignored or actively discredited. This has led me to the view that the Ballymurphy killings are the unfinished business of the Saville Inquiry. Indeed the events in Ballymurphy on 9-11 August 1971 would and perhaps should have been considered the necessary starting point for such an inquiry.

This is not to say that I - or as I understand the families - are seeking an expensive and lengthy Saville style Inquiry into these events. It should be possible to find a mechanism of investigation into these and other events of the Troubles sufficiently efficient, robust and independent to contribute to a meaningful healing of memory and to a vindication of the truth for the individuals and communities involved.

It does not always require a Saville style Inquiry to provide sufficient grounds for an apology for actions that were manifestly wrong or to uphold the innocence of those who were manifestly innocent or entitled to the presumption of innocence. In the case of the Ballymurphy killings, sufficient eye witness and other evidence is available to render an efficient mechanism of investigation and assessment realistic and achievable, one which could quickly justify the inclusion of those killed and injured in the spirit and scope of the apology issued by the British Government following the publication of the Saville Inquiry.

On the basis of the eye witness testimony in these and other documents alone, it is difficult to see how any such investigation would not justify a re-echoing of the following words of that apology: ‘What happened should never, ever have happened. The families of those who died should not have had to live with the pain and hurt of that day – and a lifetime of loss. Some members of our Armed Forces acted wrongly…And for that, on behalf of the Government – and indeed our country – I am deeply sorry.’

Finally, let me say that the ongoing legacy of pain experienced by the families gathered here today highlights the need for an agreed, cohesive and comprehensive way of dealing with the violent past of our society. A piecemeal approach to dealing with the past risks contributing to further hurt, alienation and a futile cycle of ‘what-aboutery’.  My point today is that there is a strong case for the killings in Ballymurphy to be included in the spirit and scope of the recognition and apology already offered in respect of the events of Bloody Sunday. They are materially connected.

The efficient and effective use of resources is essential to the common good. How we prioritise the use of our limited financial and other resources is an important consideration in any decision about dealing with the past. What is clear is that the past and its memory will continue to have an impact on how we live together into the future. We need to develop efficient, effective and constructive ways of supporting a genuine healing of memory and a safe disclosure of the truth in ways that contribute to peace, cohesion and reconciliation. We need to ensure that how we deal with the past contributes to the well being and quality of life of everyone in our society now and in the future.

To that end I believe the British and Irish Governments should discuss with the relevant institutions of the European Union the potential role those institutions might play in encouraging and supporting just and constructive ways of dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. Such engagement by the European Union on this specific issue would be consistent with the founding values and achievements of the European Union and contribute to deepening further positive relations between the people of Ireland and Britain.

During the coming months I hope that elected representatives, especially those who will participate in the forthcoming debate on the Saville Report in the Westminster Parliament, will give due attention to the material link between the events in Ballymurphy in August 1971 and those of Bloody Sunday. I hope that all of us together will work to find an agreed way of sharing the full truth of what happened to all those killed and injured in the Troubles in the hope of bringing peace, healing and reconciliation to our society and to those who continue to bear the painful wounds of our past.

Thank you.

ENDS

Further information
Fr Edward McGee, Media Liaison Officer, Diocese of Down and Connor, 0044 (0) 78 111 44268
Martin Long, Catholic Communications Office, Maynooth, 00 353 (0) 86 172 7678

PRESS RELEASE
30 July 2010
Statement by Bishop Noel Treanor, Bishop of Down and Connor, in St Mary's University College, Belfast, on the handing over of Church archive documents to the families of those killed and injured by the British Army in Ballymurphy between 9 - 11 August 1971 I am here today to show my support and pastoral concern for the families of those killed and injured during the tragic events of the 9 - 11 of August 1971 in Ballymurphy.

I have met representatives of the families on two previous occasions. Firstly, in May of last year and, more recently, on 10 June of this year.  At the first meeting the families asked me to establish what documents, if any, might be held in the archives of the Diocese relating to the events surrounding the death and injury of their loved ones. An initial search of the main archives in the Diocese of Down & Connor and in the Diocese of Armagh yielded no significant results. However, thanks to some very helpful suggestions from the families at the most recent meeting in June, we were able to initiate a more focused search of the archives and of other possible sources, such as parish records. This search will continue in the months ahead and may yet yield further important results.

At the meeting with the families in June, however, I became aware of just how important even the smallest piece of information can be to those who want to establish the truth about what happened to their loved ones who were killed or injured in such violent circumstances. I therefore gave a commitment to the families that I would share with them any information that subsequently emerged at the earliest opportunity.

To that end I am pleased to be able to hand over to the families today two distinct sets of documents which have since discovered since our last meeting. The first is a series of short extracts taken from the personal diary of Cardinal William Conway, at that time Archbishop of Armagh though originally a native of Belfast. While these short extracts do not provide much detail of the events of those days they do convey his personal sentiments and concern for what was happening in Ballymurphy. Most notably, he records on the opening entry of his diary for Wednesday 11 August 1971: ‘I think in a way this was one of the most unhappy days of my life… It was the feeling of hopelessness – of the great suffering in Belfast and my not being able to do much about it’. We are still in the process of checking the diary and will present a compilation of the relevant extracts to the families in the next few days. I am grateful to Cardinal Brady and the Archdiocese of Armagh for making these extracts available.

The second set of documents were discovered in the personal files of Canon Padraig Murphy, then Parish Priest of Corpus Christi Parish which includes Ballymurphy. I am very grateful to the executors of Canon Murphy’s estate for their permission to release these documents to the families.

These documents will contribute to a wider tapestry of material already gathered by the families of those killed and injured. When put together with other documents they may help to create a fuller picture of the events of those days. They may fill-in certain gaps or open-up new lines of investigation or prompt the memory of important details that have been lost in the midst of time. Some of the documents are incomplete and we will continue to search for the remaining material. Some are hand written and difficult to decipher or ascertain their full significance. Notably, the documents include:

1. An original typed copy of a ‘Report’ summarising the main findings of several eyewitness accounts of ‘the events of August 9th 1971 in the Springfield Park area of Belfast’ taken ‘about a fortnight after the incident’. The eyewitnesses cited in the Report include ‘a serving member of the British Army’, a member of the British Navy who returned to his ship shortly after the shootings and an ex Irish Guardsman. This Report was complied by a Thomas J. Glynn (M.Sc.), Edna Arthurs (B.A., Cert. Ed) and Eugene G. Arthurs (B.Sc), possibly at the request of Canon Murphy – though this has yet to be definitively established. We would be most interested to hear from anyone who might know something about these authors and how they came to be tasked with taking the evidence of the witnesses listed. It is likely that at least one of the report’s authors was a teacher. Sadly, we do not appear to have all the accompanying witness statements, though I understand some of this documentation may already be in the possession of the families.

Critically, the authors of the Report list seven ‘important conclusions’ based on the eyewitness accounts. They conclude, for example, that ‘the Army fired on two first-aid men wearing white helmets and carrying a first-aid kit’, that they fired on and killed a number of people, including Fr Hugh Mullan, who were clearly carrying a white emblem, ‘the international symbol of truce’, and that they fired on and killed people who were clearly going to the assistance of women and children fleeing a hostile mob. Critically, in the final paragraphs of the Report, the authors conclude that on the basis of the eye-witness accounts they have listened that they ‘are convinced that the British Army Units involved, whether through fear or vindictiveness unnecessarily fired a large number of rounds into the waste grounds across which innocent men, women and children were fleeing…Certainly the fatalities did not occur in a cross-fire… We feel that there is a sufficient weight of evidence to indict the soldiers on the roof of the Springmartin flats.’

This view is supported by some of the other documents we handing over today. These include:

2. An original typed copy of the statement of one eyewitness, a Mr Robert Clark of 60 Springfield Park, who was himself shot and seriously wounded as he tried to assist women and children. He records how Fr Hugh Mullan approached him carrying a white cloth at shoulder height and how Fr Hugh anointed him. He then describes how Fr Hugh was shot and killed before his eyes and how Frank Quinn was shot coming to the aid of Fr Mullan. At the end of his statement Mr Clark refers to hearing shots that ‘sounded different to the former shots’.  This may provide an important link between the Report cited earlier, Mr Clark’s statement and the hand written notes, possibly from Canon Murphy himself, which comprise the third document we are handing over today.  This hand written document of some five pages is at times difficult to decipher. It would appear to be first hand notes of an eye witness statement of events on the day. Interestingly, it is possible to determine some reference at the end of the document to a distinction between shots fired from an SLR rifle and so-called ‘303 shots’. This may suggest that the evidence is from someone with a military background and opens up the possibility of a link with the evidence given by the serving British soldier in the Report cited earlier. An address in England is also given. All of this will require closer examination to establish the full significance of this document.

3. Two other shorter documents have been discovered in the same hand writing, presumed to be that of Canon Murphy. One contains a substantial list of names and addresses of what are presumed to be known witnesses along with a few occasional comments or notes. The other shorter document seems to be some brief notes taken from a witness to the events.

4. We are also handing over a small number of newspaper clippings of reportage on the events at the time, notably in an English Catholic newspaper which is unlikely to have been easily accessible to the families at that time of since. Interestingly, the newspaper cites the following statement by Bishop Philbin, the Bishop of Down and Connor at the time. Bishop Philbin’s statement reads: ‘The circumstances of Fr Mullan’s death call for the most rigorous investigation in the interests of justice and truth and in the hope of bringing the present dreadful contagion of killing to an end.’ I repeat that call for a rigorous investigation today.

5. Finally, we have discovered some personal letters belonging to the late Fr Hugh Mullan relating to his time as a seminarian. As these do not relate in any way to the events in Ballymurphy but will be of interest to Fr Hugh’s family for personal reason copies of these will be given only to Fr Hugh’s family.

I want to repeat again that these are only the findings of our most recent search of Church records and we will continue to explore all avenues to ascertain if any other relevant information may be in the possession of the Church. I say this as an indication of my commitment, and the commitment of the Church in this Diocese, to assist the families of those killed and injured in Ballymurphy during 9-11 August 1971 in establishing the truth of what happened.

The events of those days in Ballymurphy were a disturbing prelude to the events of Bloody Sunday only six months later. Both were seminal events that profoundly influenced the future direction of the Troubles. The families of those killed and injured rightly wonder as we all do, what could have been avoided if the evidence of eye witnesses like those cited today had been treated with the importance and respect it deserved at the time. What could have been avoided if the institutions of law and order charged with the safety and care of all citizens had taken action on the basis of these reliable testimonies to ensure the Army never acted in such a reckless and indiscriminate manner again. Instead, as in Bloody Sunday, the reputations of those who were killed and injured were actively besmirched and the evidence of reliable eye witnesses was either ignored or actively discredited. This has led me to the view that the Ballymurphy killings are the unfinished business of the Saville Inquiry. Indeed the events in Ballymurphy on 9-11 August 1971 would and perhaps should have been considered the necessary starting point for such an inquiry.

This is not to say that I - or as I understand the families - are seeking an expensive and lengthy Saville style Inquiry into these events. It should be possible to find a mechanism of investigation into these and other events of the Troubles sufficiently efficient, robust and independent to contribute to a meaningful healing of memory and to a vindication of the truth for the individuals and communities involved.

It does not always require a Saville style Inquiry to provide sufficient grounds for an apology for actions that were manifestly wrong or to uphold the innocence of those who were manifestly innocent or entitled to the presumption of innocence. In the case of the Ballymurphy killings, sufficient eye witness and other evidence is available to render an efficient mechanism of investigation and assessment realistic and achievable, one which could quickly justify the inclusion of those killed and injured in the spirit and scope of the apology issued by the British Government following the publication of the Saville Inquiry.

On the basis of the eye witness testimony in these and other documents alone, it is difficult to see how any such investigation would not justify a re-echoing of the following words of that apology: ‘What happened should never, ever have happened. The families of those who died should not have had to live with the pain and hurt of that day – and a lifetime of loss. Some members of our Armed Forces acted wrongly…And for that, on behalf of the Government – and indeed our country – I am deeply sorry.’

Finally, let me say that the ongoing legacy of pain experienced by the families gathered here today highlights the need for an agreed, cohesive and comprehensive way of dealing with the violent past of our society. A piecemeal approach to dealing with the past risks contributing to further hurt, alienation and a futile cycle of ‘what-aboutery’.  My point today is that there is a strong case for the killings in Ballymurphy to be included in the spirit and scope of the recognition and apology already offered in respect of the events of Bloody Sunday. They are materially connected.

The efficient and effective use of resources is essential to the common good. How we prioritise the use of our limited financial and other resources is an important consideration in any decision about dealing with the past. What is clear is that the past and its memory will continue to have an impact on how we live together into the future. We need to develop efficient, effective and constructive ways of supporting a genuine healing of memory and a safe disclosure of the truth in ways that contribute to peace, cohesion and reconciliation. We need to ensure that how we deal with the past contributes to the well being and quality of life of everyone in our society now and in the future.

To that end I believe the British and Irish Governments should discuss with the relevant institutions of the European Union the potential role those institutions might play in encouraging and supporting just and constructive ways of dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. Such engagement by the European Union on this specific issue would be consistent with the founding values and achievements of the European Union and contribute to deepening further positive relations between the people of Ireland and Britain.

During the coming months I hope that elected representatives, especially those who will participate in the forthcoming debate on the Saville Report in the Westminster Parliament, will give due attention to the material link between the events in Ballymurphy in August 1971 and those of Bloody Sunday. I hope that all of us together will work to find an agreed way of sharing the full truth of what happened to all those killed and injured in the Troubles in the hope of bringing peace, healing and reconciliation to our society and to those who continue to bear the painful wounds of our past.

Thank you.

ENDS

Further information
Fr Edward McGee, Media Liaison Officer, Diocese of Down and Connor, 0044 (0) 78 111 44268
Martin Long, Catholic Communications Office, Maynooth, 00 353 (0) 86 172 7678

PRESS RELEASE
30 July 2010
Statement by Bishop Noel Treanor, Bishop of Down and Connor, in St Mary's University College, Belfast, on the handing over of Church archive documents to the families of those killed and injured by the British Army in Ballymurphy between 9 - 11 August 1971 I am here today to show my support and pastoral concern for the families of those killed and injured during the tragic events of the 9 - 11 of August 1971 in Ballymurphy.

I have met representatives of the families on two previous occasions. Firstly, in May of last year and, more recently, on 10 June of this year.  At the first meeting the families asked me to establish what documents, if any, might be held in the archives of the Diocese relating to the events surrounding the death and injury of their loved ones. An initial search of the main archives in the Diocese of Down & Connor and in the Diocese of Armagh yielded no significant results. However, thanks to some very helpful suggestions from the families at the most recent meeting in June, we were able to initiate a more focused search of the archives and of other possible sources, such as parish records. This search will continue in the months ahead and may yet yield further important results.

At the meeting with the families in June, however, I became aware of just how important even the smallest piece of information can be to those who want to establish the truth about what happened to their loved ones who were killed or injured in such violent circumstances. I therefore gave a commitment to the families that I would share with them any information that subsequently emerged at the earliest opportunity.

To that end I am pleased to be able to hand over to the families today two distinct sets of documents which have since discovered since our last meeting. The first is a series of short extracts taken from the personal diary of Cardinal William Conway, at that time Archbishop of Armagh though originally a native of Belfast. While these short extracts do not provide much detail of the events of those days they do convey his personal sentiments and concern for what was happening in Ballymurphy. Most notably, he records on the opening entry of his diary for Wednesday 11 August 1971: ‘I think in a way this was one of the most unhappy days of my life… It was the feeling of hopelessness – of the great suffering in Belfast and my not being able to do much about it’. We are still in the process of checking the diary and will present a compilation of the relevant extracts to the families in the next few days. I am grateful to Cardinal Brady and the Archdiocese of Armagh for making these extracts available.

The second set of documents were discovered in the personal files of Canon Padraig Murphy, then Parish Priest of Corpus Christi Parish which includes Ballymurphy. I am very grateful to the executors of Canon Murphy’s estate for their permission to release these documents to the families.

These documents will contribute to a wider tapestry of material already gathered by the families of those killed and injured. When put together with other documents they may help to create a fuller picture of the events of those days. They may fill-in certain gaps or open-up new lines of investigation or prompt the memory of important details that have been lost in the midst of time. Some of the documents are incomplete and we will continue to search for the remaining material. Some are hand written and difficult to decipher or ascertain their full significance. Notably, the documents include:

1. An original typed copy of a ‘Report’ summarising the main findings of several eyewitness accounts of ‘the events of August 9th 1971 in the Springfield Park area of Belfast’ taken ‘about a fortnight after the incident’. The eyewitnesses cited in the Report include ‘a serving member of the British Army’, a member of the British Navy who returned to his ship shortly after the shootings and an ex Irish Guardsman. This Report was complied by a Thomas J. Glynn (M.Sc.), Edna Arthurs (B.A., Cert. Ed) and Eugene G. Arthurs (B.Sc), possibly at the request of Canon Murphy – though this has yet to be definitively established. We would be most interested to hear from anyone who might know something about these authors and how they came to be tasked with taking the evidence of the witnesses listed. It is likely that at least one of the report’s authors was a teacher. Sadly, we do not appear to have all the accompanying witness statements, though I understand some of this documentation may already be in the possession of the families.

Critically, the authors of the Report list seven ‘important conclusions’ based on the eyewitness accounts. They conclude, for example, that ‘the Army fired on two first-aid men wearing white helmets and carrying a first-aid kit’, that they fired on and killed a number of people, including Fr Hugh Mullan, who were clearly carrying a white emblem, ‘the international symbol of truce’, and that they fired on and killed people who were clearly going to the assistance of women and children fleeing a hostile mob. Critically, in the final paragraphs of the Report, the authors conclude that on the basis of the eye-witness accounts they have listened that they ‘are convinced that the British Army Units involved, whether through fear or vindictiveness unnecessarily fired a large number of rounds into the waste grounds across which innocent men, women and children were fleeing…Certainly the fatalities did not occur in a cross-fire… We feel that there is a sufficient weight of evidence to indict the soldiers on the roof of the Springmartin flats.’

This view is supported by some of the other documents we handing over today. These include:

2. An original typed copy of the statement of one eyewitness, a Mr Robert Clark of 60 Springfield Park, who was himself shot and seriously wounded as he tried to assist women and children. He records how Fr Hugh Mullan approached him carrying a white cloth at shoulder height and how Fr Hugh anointed him. He then describes how Fr Hugh was shot and killed before his eyes and how Frank Quinn was shot coming to the aid of Fr Mullan. At the end of his statement Mr Clark refers to hearing shots that ‘sounded different to the former shots’.  This may provide an important link between the Report cited earlier, Mr Clark’s statement and the hand written notes, possibly from Canon Murphy himself, which comprise the third document we are handing over today.  This hand written document of some five pages is at times difficult to decipher. It would appear to be first hand notes of an eye witness statement of events on the day. Interestingly, it is possible to determine some reference at the end of the document to a distinction between shots fired from an SLR rifle and so-called ‘303 shots’. This may suggest that the evidence is from someone with a military background and opens up the possibility of a link with the evidence given by the serving British soldier in the Report cited earlier. An address in England is also given. All of this will require closer examination to establish the full significance of this document.

3. Two other shorter documents have been discovered in the same hand writing, presumed to be that of Canon Murphy. One contains a substantial list of names and addresses of what are presumed to be known witnesses along with a few occasional comments or notes. The other shorter document seems to be some brief notes taken from a witness to the events.

4. We are also handing over a small number of newspaper clippings of reportage on the events at the time, notably in an English Catholic newspaper which is unlikely to have been easily accessible to the families at that time of since. Interestingly, the newspaper cites the following statement by Bishop Philbin, the Bishop of Down and Connor at the time. Bishop Philbin’s statement reads: ‘The circumstances of Fr Mullan’s death call for the most rigorous investigation in the interests of justice and truth and in the hope of bringing the present dreadful contagion of killing to an end.’ I repeat that call for a rigorous investigation today.

5. Finally, we have discovered some personal letters belonging to the late Fr Hugh Mullan relating to his time as a seminarian. As these do not relate in any way to the events in Ballymurphy but will be of interest to Fr Hugh’s family for personal reason copies of these will be given only to Fr Hugh’s family.

I want to repeat again that these are only the findings of our most recent search of Church records and we will continue to explore all avenues to ascertain if any other relevant information may be in the possession of the Church. I say this as an indication of my commitment, and the commitment of the Church in this Diocese, to assist the families of those killed and injured in Ballymurphy during 9-11 August 1971 in establishing the truth of what happened.

The events of those days in Ballymurphy were a disturbing prelude to the events of Bloody Sunday only six months later. Both were seminal events that profoundly influenced the future direction of the Troubles. The families of those killed and injured rightly wonder as we all do, what could have been avoided if the evidence of eye witnesses like those cited today had been treated with the importance and respect it deserved at the time. What could have been avoided if the institutions of law and order charged with the safety and care of all citizens had taken action on the basis of these reliable testimonies to ensure the Army never acted in such a reckless and indiscriminate manner again. Instead, as in Bloody Sunday, the reputations of those who were killed and injured were actively besmirched and the evidence of reliable eye witnesses was either ignored or actively discredited. This has led me to the view that the Ballymurphy killings are the unfinished business of the Saville Inquiry. Indeed the events in Ballymurphy on 9-11 August 1971 would and perhaps should have been considered the necessary starting point for such an inquiry.

This is not to say that I - or as I understand the families - are seeking an expensive and lengthy Saville style Inquiry into these events. It should be possible to find a mechanism of investigation into these and other events of the Troubles sufficiently efficient, robust and independent to contribute to a meaningful healing of memory and to a vindication of the truth for the individuals and communities involved.

It does not always require a Saville style Inquiry to provide sufficient grounds for an apology for actions that were manifestly wrong or to uphold the innocence of those who were manifestly innocent or entitled to the presumption of innocence. In the case of the Ballymurphy killings, sufficient eye witness and other evidence is available to render an efficient mechanism of investigation and assessment realistic and achievable, one which could quickly justify the inclusion of those killed and injured in the spirit and scope of the apology issued by the British Government following the publication of the Saville Inquiry.

On the basis of the eye witness testimony in these and other documents alone, it is difficult to see how any such investigation would not justify a re-echoing of the following words of that apology: ‘What happened should never, ever have happened. The families of those who died should not have had to live with the pain and hurt of that day – and a lifetime of loss. Some members of our Armed Forces acted wrongly…And for that, on behalf of the Government – and indeed our country – I am deeply sorry.’

Finally, let me say that the ongoing legacy of pain experienced by the families gathered here today highlights the need for an agreed, cohesive and comprehensive way of dealing with the violent past of our society. A piecemeal approach to dealing with the past risks contributing to further hurt, alienation and a futile cycle of ‘what-aboutery’.  My point today is that there is a strong case for the killings in Ballymurphy to be included in the spirit and scope of the recognition and apology already offered in respect of the events of Bloody Sunday. They are materially connected.

The efficient and effective use of resources is essential to the common good. How we prioritise the use of our limited financial and other resources is an important consideration in any decision about dealing with the past. What is clear is that the past and its memory will continue to have an impact on how we live together into the future. We need to develop efficient, effective and constructive ways of supporting a genuine healing of memory and a safe disclosure of the truth in ways that contribute to peace, cohesion and reconciliation. We need to ensure that how we deal with the past contributes to the well being and quality of life of everyone in our society now and in the future.

To that end I believe the British and Irish Governments should discuss with the relevant institutions of the European Union the potential role those institutions might play in encouraging and supporting just and constructive ways of dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. Such engagement by the European Union on this specific issue would be consistent with the founding values and achievements of the European Union and contribute to deepening further positive relations between the people of Ireland and Britain.

During the coming months I hope that elected representatives, especially those who will participate in the forthcoming debate on the Saville Report in the Westminster Parliament, will give due attention to the material link between the events in Ballymurphy in August 1971 and those of Bloody Sunday. I hope that all of us together will work to find an agreed way of sharing the full truth of what happened to all those killed and injured in the Troubles in the hope of bringing peace, healing and reconciliation to our society and to those who continue to bear the painful wounds of our past.

Thank you.

ENDS

Further information
Fr Edward McGee, Media Liaison Officer, Diocese of Down and Connor, 0044 (0) 78 111 44268
Martin Long, Catholic Communications Office, Maynooth, 00 353 (0) 86 172 7678

PRESS RELEASE
30 July 2010
Statement by Bishop Noel Treanor, Bishop of Down and Connor, in St Mary's University College, Belfast, on the handing over of Church archive documents to the families of those killed and injured by the British Army in Ballymurphy between 9 - 11 August 1971 I am here today to show my support and pastoral concern for the families of those killed and injured during the tragic events of the 9 - 11 of August 1971 in Ballymurphy.

I have met representatives of the families on two previous occasions. Firstly, in May of last year and, more recently, on 10 June of this year.  At the first meeting the families asked me to establish what documents, if any, might be held in the archives of the Diocese relating to the events surrounding the death and injury of their loved ones. An initial search of the main archives in the Diocese of Down & Connor and in the Diocese of Armagh yielded no significant results. However, thanks to some very helpful suggestions from the families at the most recent meeting in June, we were able to initiate a more focused search of the archives and of other possible sources, such as parish records. This search will continue in the months ahead and may yet yield further important results.

At the meeting with the families in June, however, I became aware of just how important even the smallest piece of information can be to those who want to establish the truth about what happened to their loved ones who were killed or injured in such violent circumstances. I therefore gave a commitment to the families that I would share with them any information that subsequently emerged at the earliest opportunity.

To that end I am pleased to be able to hand over to the families today two distinct sets of documents which have since discovered since our last meeting. The first is a series of short extracts taken from the personal diary of Cardinal William Conway, at that time Archbishop of Armagh though originally a native of Belfast. While these short extracts do not provide much detail of the events of those days they do convey his personal sentiments and concern for what was happening in Ballymurphy. Most notably, he records on the opening entry of his diary for Wednesday 11 August 1971: ‘I think in a way this was one of the most unhappy days of my life… It was the feeling of hopelessness – of the great suffering in Belfast and my not being able to do much about it’. We are still in the process of checking the diary and will present a compilation of the relevant extracts to the families in the next few days. I am grateful to Cardinal Brady and the Archdiocese of Armagh for making these extracts available.

The second set of documents were discovered in the personal files of Canon Padraig Murphy, then Parish Priest of Corpus Christi Parish which includes Ballymurphy. I am very grateful to the executors of Canon Murphy’s estate for their permission to release these documents to the families.

These documents will contribute to a wider tapestry of material already gathered by the families of those killed and injured. When put together with other documents they may help to create a fuller picture of the events of those days. They may fill-in certain gaps or open-up new lines of investigation or prompt the memory of important details that have been lost in the midst of time. Some of the documents are incomplete and we will continue to search for the remaining material. Some are hand written and difficult to decipher or ascertain their full significance. Notably, the documents include:

1. An original typed copy of a ‘Report’ summarising the main findings of several eyewitness accounts of ‘the events of August 9th 1971 in the Springfield Park area of Belfast’ taken ‘about a fortnight after the incident’. The eyewitnesses cited in the Report include ‘a serving member of the British Army’, a member of the British Navy who returned to his ship shortly after the shootings and an ex Irish Guardsman. This Report was complied by a Thomas J. Glynn (M.Sc.), Edna Arthurs (B.A., Cert. Ed) and Eugene G. Arthurs (B.Sc), possibly at the request of Canon Murphy – though this has yet to be definitively established. We would be most interested to hear from anyone who might know something about these authors and how they came to be tasked with taking the evidence of the witnesses listed. It is likely that at least one of the report’s authors was a teacher. Sadly, we do not appear to have all the accompanying witness statements, though I understand some of this documentation may already be in the possession of the families.

Critically, the authors of the Report list seven ‘important conclusions’ based on the eyewitness accounts. They conclude, for example, that ‘the Army fired on two first-aid men wearing white helmets and carrying a first-aid kit’, that they fired on and killed a number of people, including Fr Hugh Mullan, who were clearly carrying a white emblem, ‘the international symbol of truce’, and that they fired on and killed people who were clearly going to the assistance of women and children fleeing a hostile mob. Critically, in the final paragraphs of the Report, the authors conclude that on the basis of the eye-witness accounts they have listened that they ‘are convinced that the British Army Units involved, whether through fear or vindictiveness unnecessarily fired a large number of rounds into the waste grounds across which innocent men, women and children were fleeing…Certainly the fatalities did not occur in a cross-fire… We feel that there is a sufficient weight of evidence to indict the soldiers on the roof of the Springmartin flats.’

This view is supported by some of the other documents we handing over today. These include:

2. An original typed copy of the statement of one eyewitness, a Mr Robert Clark of 60 Springfield Park, who was himself shot and seriously wounded as he tried to assist women and children. He records how Fr Hugh Mullan approached him carrying a white cloth at shoulder height and how Fr Hugh anointed him. He then describes how Fr Hugh was shot and killed before his eyes and how Frank Quinn was shot coming to the aid of Fr Mullan. At the end of his statement Mr Clark refers to hearing shots that ‘sounded different to the former shots’.  This may provide an important link between the Report cited earlier, Mr Clark’s statement and the hand written notes, possibly from Canon Murphy himself, which comprise the third document we are handing over today.  This hand written document of some five pages is at times difficult to decipher. It would appear to be first hand notes of an eye witness statement of events on the day. Interestingly, it is possible to determine some reference at the end of the document to a distinction between shots fired from an SLR rifle and so-called ‘303 shots’. This may suggest that the evidence is from someone with a military background and opens up the possibility of a link with the evidence given by the serving British soldier in the Report cited earlier. An address in England is also given. All of this will require closer examination to establish the full significance of this document.

3. Two other shorter documents have been discovered in the same hand writing, presumed to be that of Canon Murphy. One contains a substantial list of names and addresses of what are presumed to be known witnesses along with a few occasional comments or notes. The other shorter document seems to be some brief notes taken from a witness to the events.

4. We are also handing over a small number of newspaper clippings of reportage on the events at the time, notably in an English Catholic newspaper which is unlikely to have been easily accessible to the families at that time of since. Interestingly, the newspaper cites the following statement by Bishop Philbin, the Bishop of Down and Connor at the time. Bishop Philbin’s statement reads: ‘The circumstances of Fr Mullan’s death call for the most rigorous investigation in the interests of justice and truth and in the hope of bringing the present dreadful contagion of killing to an end.’ I repeat that call for a rigorous investigation today.

5. Finally, we have discovered some personal letters belonging to the late Fr Hugh Mullan relating to his time as a seminarian. As these do not relate in any way to the events in Ballymurphy but will be of interest to Fr Hugh’s family for personal reason copies of these will be given only to Fr Hugh’s family.

I want to repeat again that these are only the findings of our most recent search of Church records and we will continue to explore all avenues to ascertain if any other relevant information may be in the possession of the Church. I say this as an indication of my commitment, and the commitment of the Church in this Diocese, to assist the families of those killed and injured in Ballymurphy during 9-11 August 1971 in establishing the truth of what happened.

The events of those days in Ballymurphy were a disturbing prelude to the events of Bloody Sunday only six months later. Both were seminal events that profoundly influenced the future direction of the Troubles. The families of those killed and injured rightly wonder as we all do, what could have been avoided if the evidence of eye witnesses like those cited today had been treated with the importance and respect it deserved at the time. What could have been avoided if the institutions of law and order charged with the safety and care of all citizens had taken action on the basis of these reliable testimonies to ensure the Army never acted in such a reckless and indiscriminate manner again. Instead, as in Bloody Sunday, the reputations of those who were killed and injured were actively besmirched and the evidence of reliable eye witnesses was either ignored or actively discredited. This has led me to the view that the Ballymurphy killings are the unfinished business of the Saville Inquiry. Indeed the events in Ballymurphy on 9-11 August 1971 would and perhaps should have been considered the necessary starting point for such an inquiry.

This is not to say that I - or as I understand the families - are seeking an expensive and lengthy Saville style Inquiry into these events. It should be possible to find a mechanism of investigation into these and other events of the Troubles sufficiently efficient, robust and independent to contribute to a meaningful healing of memory and to a vindication of the truth for the individuals and communities involved.

It does not always require a Saville style Inquiry to provide sufficient grounds for an apology for actions that were manifestly wrong or to uphold the innocence of those who were manifestly innocent or entitled to the presumption of innocence. In the case of the Ballymurphy killings, sufficient eye witness and other evidence is available to render an efficient mechanism of investigation and assessment realistic and achievable, one which could quickly justify the inclusion of those killed and injured in the spirit and scope of the apology issued by the British Government following the publication of the Saville Inquiry.

On the basis of the eye witness testimony in these and other documents alone, it is difficult to see how any such investigation would not justify a re-echoing of the following words of that apology: ‘What happened should never, ever have happened. The families of those who died should not have had to live with the pain and hurt of that day – and a lifetime of loss. Some members of our Armed Forces acted wrongly…And for that, on behalf of the Government – and indeed our country – I am deeply sorry.’

Finally, let me say that the ongoing legacy of pain experienced by the families gathered here today highlights the need for an agreed, cohesive and comprehensive way of dealing with the violent past of our society. A piecemeal approach to dealing with the past risks contributing to further hurt, alienation and a futile cycle of ‘what-aboutery’.  My point today is that there is a strong case for the killings in Ballymurphy to be included in the spirit and scope of the recognition and apology already offered in respect of the events of Bloody Sunday. They are materially connected.

The efficient and effective use of resources is essential to the common good. How we prioritise the use of our limited financial and other resources is an important consideration in any decision about dealing with the past. What is clear is that the past and its memory will continue to have an impact on how we live together into the future. We need to develop efficient, effective and constructive ways of supporting a genuine healing of memory and a safe disclosure of the truth in ways that contribute to peace, cohesion and reconciliation. We need to ensure that how we deal with the past contributes to the well being and quality of life of everyone in our society now and in the future.

To that end I believe the British and Irish Governments should discuss with the relevant institutions of the European Union the potential role those institutions might play in encouraging and supporting just and constructive ways of dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. Such engagement by the European Union on this specific issue would be consistent with the founding values and achievements of the European Union and contribute to deepening further positive relations between the people of Ireland and Britain.

During the coming months I hope that elected representatives, especially those who will participate in the forthcoming debate on the Saville Report in the Westminster Parliament, will give due attention to the material link between the events in Ballymurphy in August 1971 and those of Bloody Sunday. I hope that all of us together will work to find an agreed way of sharing the full truth of what happened to all those killed and injured in the Troubles in the hope of bringing peace, healing and reconciliation to our society and to those who continue to bear the painful wounds of our past.

Thank you.

ENDS

Further information
Fr Edward McGee, Media Liaison Officer, Diocese of Down and Connor, 0044 (0) 78 111 44268
Martin Long, Catholic Communications Office, Maynooth, 00 353 (0) 86 172 7678

PRESS RELEASE
30 July 2010
Statement by Bishop Noel Treanor, Bishop of Down and Connor, in St Mary's University College, Belfast, on the handing over of Church archive documents to the families of those killed and injured by the British Army in Ballymurphy between 9 - 11 August 1971 I am here today to show my support and pastoral concern for the families of those killed and injured during the tragic events of the 9 - 11 of August 1971 in Ballymurphy.

I have met representatives of the families on two previous occasions. Firstly, in May of last year and, more recently, on 10 June of this year.  At the first meeting the families asked me to establish what documents, if any, might be held in the archives of the Diocese relating to the events surrounding the death and injury of their loved ones. An initial search of the main archives in the Diocese of Down & Connor and in the Diocese of Armagh yielded no significant results. However, thanks to some very helpful suggestions from the families at the most recent meeting in June, we were able to initiate a more focused search of the archives and of other possible sources, such as parish records. This search will continue in the months ahead and may yet yield further important results.

At the meeting with the families in June, however, I became aware of just how important even the smallest piece of information can be to those who want to establish the truth about what happened to their loved ones who were killed or injured in such violent circumstances. I therefore gave a commitment to the families that I would share with them any information that subsequently emerged at the earliest opportunity.

To that end I am pleased to be able to hand over to the families today two distinct sets of documents which have since discovered since our last meeting. The first is a series of short extracts taken from the personal diary of Cardinal William Conway, at that time Archbishop of Armagh though originally a native of Belfast. While these short extracts do not provide much detail of the events of those days they do convey his personal sentiments and concern for what was happening in Ballymurphy. Most notably, he records on the opening entry of his diary for Wednesday 11 August 1971: ‘I think in a way this was one of the most unhappy days of my life… It was the feeling of hopelessness – of the great suffering in Belfast and my not being able to do much about it’. We are still in the process of checking the diary and will present a compilation of the relevant extracts to the families in the next few days. I am grateful to Cardinal Brady and the Archdiocese of Armagh for making these extracts available.

The second set of documents were discovered in the personal files of Canon Padraig Murphy, then Parish Priest of Corpus Christi Parish which includes Ballymurphy. I am very grateful to the executors of Canon Murphy’s estate for their permission to release these documents to the families.

These documents will contribute to a wider tapestry of material already gathered by the families of those killed and injured. When put together with other documents they may help to create a fuller picture of the events of those days. They may fill-in certain gaps or open-up new lines of investigation or prompt the memory of important details that have been lost in the midst of time. Some of the documents are incomplete and we will continue to search for the remaining material. Some are hand written and difficult to decipher or ascertain their full significance. Notably, the documents include:

1. An original typed copy of a ‘Report’ summarising the main findings of several eyewitness accounts of ‘the events of August 9th 1971 in the Springfield Park area of Belfast’ taken ‘about a fortnight after the incident’. The eyewitnesses cited in the Report include ‘a serving member of the British Army’, a member of the British Navy who returned to his ship shortly after the shootings and an ex Irish Guardsman. This Report was complied by a Thomas J. Glynn (M.Sc.), Edna Arthurs (B.A., Cert. Ed) and Eugene G. Arthurs (B.Sc), possibly at the request of Canon Murphy – though this has yet to be definitively established. We would be most interested to hear from anyone who might know something about these authors and how they came to be tasked with taking the evidence of the witnesses listed. It is likely that at least one of the report’s authors was a teacher. Sadly, we do not appear to have all the accompanying witness statements, though I understand some of this documentation may already be in the possession of the families.

Critically, the authors of the Report list seven ‘important conclusions’ based on the eyewitness accounts. They conclude, for example, that ‘the Army fired on two first-aid men wearing white helmets and carrying a first-aid kit’, that they fired on and killed a number of people, including Fr Hugh Mullan, who were clearly carrying a white emblem, ‘the international symbol of truce’, and that they fired on and killed people who were clearly going to the assistance of women and children fleeing a hostile mob. Critically, in the final paragraphs of the Report, the authors conclude that on the basis of the eye-witness accounts they have listened that they ‘are convinced that the British Army Units involved, whether through fear or vindictiveness unnecessarily fired a large number of rounds into the waste grounds across which innocent men, women and children were fleeing…Certainly the fatalities did not occur in a cross-fire… We feel that there is a sufficient weight of evidence to indict the soldiers on the roof of the Springmartin flats.’

This view is supported by some of the other documents we handing over today. These include:

2. An original typed copy of the statement of one eyewitness, a Mr Robert Clark of 60 Springfield Park, who was himself shot and seriously wounded as he tried to assist women and children. He records how Fr Hugh Mullan approached him carrying a white cloth at shoulder height and how Fr Hugh anointed him. He then describes how Fr Hugh was shot and killed before his eyes and how Frank Quinn was shot coming to the aid of Fr Mullan. At the end of his statement Mr Clark refers to hearing shots that ‘sounded different to the former shots’.  This may provide an important link between the Report cited earlier, Mr Clark’s statement and the hand written notes, possibly from Canon Murphy himself, which comprise the third document we are handing over today.  This hand written document of some five pages is at times difficult to decipher. It would appear to be first hand notes of an eye witness statement of events on the day. Interestingly, it is possible to determine some reference at the end of the document to a distinction between shots fired from an SLR rifle and so-called ‘303 shots’. This may suggest that the evidence is from someone with a military background and opens up the possibility of a link with the evidence given by the serving British soldier in the Report cited earlier. An address in England is also given. All of this will require closer examination to establish the full significance of this document.

3. Two other shorter documents have been discovered in the same hand writing, presumed to be that of Canon Murphy. One contains a substantial list of names and addresses of what are presumed to be known witnesses along with a few occasional comments or notes. The other shorter document seems to be some brief notes taken from a witness to the events.

4. We are also handing over a small number of newspaper clippings of reportage on the events at the time, notably in an English Catholic newspaper which is unlikely to have been easily accessible to the families at that time of since. Interestingly, the newspaper cites the following statement by Bishop Philbin, the Bishop of Down and Connor at the time. Bishop Philbin’s statement reads: ‘The circumstances of Fr Mullan’s death call for the most rigorous investigation in the interests of justice and truth and in the hope of bringing the present dreadful contagion of killing to an end.’ I repeat that call for a rigorous investigation today.

5. Finally, we have discovered some personal letters belonging to the late Fr Hugh Mullan relating to his time as a seminarian. As these do not relate in any way to the events in Ballymurphy but will be of interest to Fr Hugh’s family for personal reason copies of these will be given only to Fr Hugh’s family.

I want to repeat again that these are only the findings of our most recent search of Church records and we will continue to explore all avenues to ascertain if any other relevant information may be in the possession of the Church. I say this as an indication of my commitment, and the commitment of the Church in this Diocese, to assist the families of those killed and injured in Ballymurphy during 9-11 August 1971 in establishing the truth of what happened.

The events of those days in Ballymurphy were a disturbing prelude to the events of Bloody Sunday only six months later. Both were seminal events that profoundly influenced the future direction of the Troubles. The families of those killed and injured rightly wonder as we all do, what could have been avoided if the evidence of eye witnesses like those cited today had been treated with the importance and respect it deserved at the time. What could have been avoided if the institutions of law and order charged with the safety and care of all citizens had taken action on the basis of these reliable testimonies to ensure the Army never acted in such a reckless and indiscriminate manner again. Instead, as in Bloody Sunday, the reputations of those who were killed and injured were actively besmirched and the evidence of reliable eye witnesses was either ignored or actively discredited. This has led me to the view that the Ballymurphy killings are the unfinished business of the Saville Inquiry. Indeed the events in Ballymurphy on 9-11 August 1971 would and perhaps should have been considered the necessary starting point for such an inquiry.

This is not to say that I - or as I understand the families - are seeking an expensive and lengthy Saville style Inquiry into these events. It should be possible to find a mechanism of investigation into these and other events of the Troubles sufficiently efficient, robust and independent to contribute to a meaningful healing of memory and to a vindication of the truth for the individuals and communities involved.

It does not always require a Saville style Inquiry to provide sufficient grounds for an apology for actions that were manifestly wrong or to uphold the innocence of those who were manifestly innocent or entitled to the presumption of innocence. In the case of the Ballymurphy killings, sufficient eye witness and other evidence is available to render an efficient mechanism of investigation and assessment realistic and achievable, one which could quickly justify the inclusion of those killed and injured in the spirit and scope of the apology issued by the British Government following the publication of the Saville Inquiry.

On the basis of the eye witness testimony in these and other documents alone, it is difficult to see how any such investigation would not justify a re-echoing of the following words of that apology: ‘What happened should never, ever have happened. The families of those who died should not have had to live with the pain and hurt of that day – and a lifetime of loss. Some members of our Armed Forces acted wrongly…And for that, on behalf of the Government – and indeed our country – I am deeply sorry.’

Finally, let me say that the ongoing legacy of pain experienced by the families gathered here today highlights the need for an agreed, cohesive and comprehensive way of dealing with the violent past of our society. A piecemeal approach to dealing with the past risks contributing to further hurt, alienation and a futile cycle of ‘what-aboutery’.  My point today is that there is a strong case for the killings in Ballymurphy to be included in the spirit and scope of the recognition and apology already offered in respect of the events of Bloody Sunday. They are materially connected.

The efficient and effective use of resources is essential to the common good. How we prioritise the use of our limited financial and other resources is an important consideration in any decision about dealing with the past. What is clear is that the past and its memory will continue to have an impact on how we live together into the future. We need to develop efficient, effective and constructive ways of supporting a genuine healing of memory and a safe disclosure of the truth in ways that contribute to peace, cohesion and reconciliation. We need to ensure that how we deal with the past contributes to the well being and quality of life of everyone in our society now and in the future.

To that end I believe the British and Irish Governments should discuss with the relevant institutions of the European Union the potential role those institutions might play in encouraging and supporting just and constructive ways of dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. Such engagement by the European Union on this specific issue would be consistent with the founding values and achievements of the European Union and contribute to deepening further positive relations between the people of Ireland and Britain.

During the coming months I hope that elected representatives, especially those who will participate in the forthcoming debate on the Saville Report in the Westminster Parliament, will give due attention to the material link between the events in Ballymurphy in August 1971 and those of Bloody Sunday. I hope that all of us together will work to find an agreed way of sharing the full truth of what happened to all those killed and injured in the Troubles in the hope of bringing peace, healing and reconciliation to our society and to those who continue to bear the painful wounds of our past.

Thank you.

ENDS

Further information
Fr Edward McGee, Media Liaison Officer, Diocese of Down and Connor, 0044 (0) 78 111 44268
Martin Long, Catholic Communications Office, Maynooth, 00 353 (0) 86 172 7678

PRESS RELEASE
30 July 2010
Statement by Bishop Noel Treanor, Bishop of Down and Connor, in St Mary's University College, Belfast, on the handing over of Church archive documents to the families of those killed and injured by the British Army in Ballymurphy between 9 - 11 August 1971 I am here today to show my support and pastoral concern for the families of those killed and injured during the tragic events of the 9 - 11 of August 1971 in Ballymurphy.

I have met representatives of the families on two previous occasions. Firstly, in May of last year and, more recently, on 10 June of this year.  At the first meeting the families asked me to establish what documents, if any, might be held in the archives of the Diocese relating to the events surrounding the death and injury of their loved ones. An initial search of the main archives in the Diocese of Down & Connor and in the Diocese of Armagh yielded no significant results. However, thanks to some very helpful suggestions from the families at the most recent meeting in June, we were able to initiate a more focused search of the archives and of other possible sources, such as parish records. This search will continue in the months ahead and may yet yield further important results.

At the meeting with the families in June, however, I became aware of just how important even the smallest piece of information can be to those who want to establish the truth about what happened to their loved ones who were killed or injured in such violent circumstances. I therefore gave a commitment to the families that I would share with them any information that subsequently emerged at the earliest opportunity.

To that end I am pleased to be able to hand over to the families today two distinct sets of documents which have since discovered since our last meeting. The first is a series of short extracts taken from the personal diary of Cardinal William Conway, at that time Archbishop of Armagh though originally a native of Belfast. While these short extracts do not provide much detail of the events of those days they do convey his personal sentiments and concern for what was happening in Ballymurphy. Most notably, he records on the opening entry of his diary for Wednesday 11 August 1971: ‘I think in a way this was one of the most unhappy days of my life… It was the feeling of hopelessness – of the great suffering in Belfast and my not being able to do much about it’. We are still in the process of checking the diary and will present a compilation of the relevant extracts to the families in the next few days. I am grateful to Cardinal Brady and the Archdiocese of Armagh for making these extracts available.

The second set of documents were discovered in the personal files of Canon Padraig Murphy, then Parish Priest of Corpus Christi Parish which includes Ballymurphy. I am very grateful to the executors of Canon Murphy’s estate for their permission to release these documents to the families.

These documents will contribute to a wider tapestry of material already gathered by the families of those killed and injured. When put together with other documents they may help to create a fuller picture of the events of those days. They may fill-in certain gaps or open-up new lines of investigation or prompt the memory of important details that have been lost in the midst of time. Some of the documents are incomplete and we will continue to search for the remaining material. Some are hand written and difficult to decipher or ascertain their full significance. Notably, the documents include:

1. An original typed copy of a ‘Report’ summarising the main findings of several eyewitness accounts of ‘the events of August 9th 1971 in the Springfield Park area of Belfast’ taken ‘about a fortnight after the incident’. The eyewitnesses cited in the Report include ‘a serving member of the British Army’, a member of the British Navy who returned to his ship shortly after the shootings and an ex Irish Guardsman. This Report was complied by a Thomas J. Glynn (M.Sc.), Edna Arthurs (B.A., Cert. Ed) and Eugene G. Arthurs (B.Sc), possibly at the request of Canon Murphy – though this has yet to be definitively established. We would be most interested to hear from anyone who might know something about these authors and how they came to be tasked with taking the evidence of the witnesses listed. It is likely that at least one of the report’s authors was a teacher. Sadly, we do not appear to have all the accompanying witness statements, though I understand some of this documentation may already be in the possession of the families.

Critically, the authors of the Report list seven ‘important conclusions’ based on the eyewitness accounts. They conclude, for example, that ‘the Army fired on two first-aid men wearing white helmets and carrying a first-aid kit’, that they fired on and killed a number of people, including Fr Hugh Mullan, who were clearly carrying a white emblem, ‘the international symbol of truce’, and that they fired on and killed people who were clearly going to the assistance of women and children fleeing a hostile mob. Critically, in the final paragraphs of the Report, the authors conclude that on the basis of the eye-witness accounts they have listened that they ‘are convinced that the British Army Units involved, whether through fear or vindictiveness unnecessarily fired a large number of rounds into the waste grounds across which innocent men, women and children were fleeing…Certainly the fatalities did not occur in a cross-fire… We feel that there is a sufficient weight of evidence to indict the soldiers on the roof of the Springmartin flats.’

This view is supported by some of the other documents we handing over today. These include:

2. An original typed copy of the statement of one eyewitness, a Mr Robert Clark of 60 Springfield Park, who was himself shot and seriously wounded as he tried to assist women and children. He records how Fr Hugh Mullan approached him carrying a white cloth at shoulder height and how Fr Hugh anointed him. He then describes how Fr Hugh was shot and killed before his eyes and how Frank Quinn was shot coming to the aid of Fr Mullan. At the end of his statement Mr Clark refers to hearing shots that ‘sounded different to the former shots’.  This may provide an important link between the Report cited earlier, Mr Clark’s statement and the hand written notes, possibly from Canon Murphy himself, which comprise the third document we are handing over today.  This hand written document of some five pages is at times difficult to decipher. It would appear to be first hand notes of an eye witness statement of events on the day. Interestingly, it is possible to determine some reference at the end of the document to a distinction between shots fired from an SLR rifle and so-called ‘303 shots’. This may suggest that the evidence is from someone with a military background and opens up the possibility of a link with the evidence given by the serving British soldier in the Report cited earlier. An address in England is also given. All of this will require closer examination to establish the full significance of this document.

3. Two other shorter documents have been discovered in the same hand writing, presumed to be that of Canon Murphy. One contains a substantial list of names and addresses of what are presumed to be known witnesses along with a few occasional comments or notes. The other shorter document seems to be some brief notes taken from a witness to the events.

4. We are also handing over a small number of newspaper clippings of reportage on the events at the time, notably in an English Catholic newspaper which is unlikely to have been easily accessible to the families at that time of since. Interestingly, the newspaper cites the following statement by Bishop Philbin, the Bishop of Down and Connor at the time. Bishop Philbin’s statement reads: ‘The circumstances of Fr Mullan’s death call for the most rigorous investigation in the interests of justice and truth and in the hope of bringing the present dreadful contagion of killing to an end.’ I repeat that call for a rigorous investigation today.

5. Finally, we have discovered some personal letters belonging to the late Fr Hugh Mullan relating to his time as a seminarian. As these do not relate in any way to the events in Ballymurphy but will be of interest to Fr Hugh’s family for personal reason copies of these will be given only to Fr Hugh’s family.

I want to repeat again that these are only the findings of our most recent search of Church records and we will continue to explore all avenues to ascertain if any other relevant information may be in the possession of the Church. I say this as an indication of my commitment, and the commitment of the Church in this Diocese, to assist the families of those killed and injured in Ballymurphy during 9-11 August 1971 in establishing the truth of what happened.

The events of those days in Ballymurphy were a disturbing prelude to the events of Bloody Sunday only six months later. Both were seminal events that profoundly influenced the future direction of the Troubles. The families of those killed and injured rightly wonder as we all do, what could have been avoided if the evidence of eye witnesses like those cited today had been treated with the importance and respect it deserved at the time. What could have been avoided if the institutions of law and order charged with the safety and care of all citizens had taken action on the basis of these reliable testimonies to ensure the Army never acted in such a reckless and indiscriminate manner again. Instead, as in Bloody Sunday, the reputations of those who were killed and injured were actively besmirched and the evidence of reliable eye witnesses was either ignored or actively discredited. This has led me to the view that the Ballymurphy killings are the unfinished business of the Saville Inquiry. Indeed the events in Ballymurphy on 9-11 August 1971 would and perhaps should have been considered the necessary starting point for such an inquiry.

This is not to say that I - or as I understand the families - are seeking an expensive and lengthy Saville style Inquiry into these events. It should be possible to find a mechanism of investigation into these and other events of the Troubles sufficiently efficient, robust and independent to contribute to a meaningful healing of memory and to a vindication of the truth for the individuals and communities involved.

It does not always require a Saville style Inquiry to provide sufficient grounds for an apology for actions that were manifestly wrong or to uphold the innocence of those who were manifestly innocent or entitled to the presumption of innocence. In the case of the Ballymurphy killings, sufficient eye witness and other evidence is available to render an efficient mechanism of investigation and assessment realistic and achievable, one which could quickly justify the inclusion of those killed and injured in the spirit and scope of the apology issued by the British Government following the publication of the Saville Inquiry.

On the basis of the eye witness testimony in these and other documents alone, it is difficult to see how any such investigation would not justify a re-echoing of the following words of that apology: ‘What happened should never, ever have happened. The families of those who died should not have had to live with the pain and hurt of that day – and a lifetime of loss. Some members of our Armed Forces acted wrongly…And for that, on behalf of the Government – and indeed our country – I am deeply sorry.’

Finally, let me say that the ongoing legacy of pain experienced by the families gathered here today highlights the need for an agreed, cohesive and comprehensive way of dealing with the violent past of our society. A piecemeal approach to dealing with the past risks contributing to further hurt, alienation and a futile cycle of ‘what-aboutery’.  My point today is that there is a strong case for the killings in Ballymurphy to be included in the spirit and scope of the recognition and apology already offered in respect of the events of Bloody Sunday. They are materially connected.

The efficient and effective use of resources is essential to the common good. How we prioritise the use of our limited financial and other resources is an important consideration in any decision about dealing with the past. What is clear is that the past and its memory will continue to have an impact on how we live together into the future. We need to develop efficient, effective and constructive ways of supporting a genuine healing of memory and a safe disclosure of the truth in ways that contribute to peace, cohesion and reconciliation. We need to ensure that how we deal with the past contributes to the well being and quality of life of everyone in our society now and in the future.

To that end I believe the British and Irish Governments should discuss with the relevant institutions of the European Union the potential role those institutions might play in encouraging and supporting just and constructive ways of dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. Such engagement by the European Union on this specific issue would be consistent with the founding values and achievements of the European Union and contribute to deepening further positive relations between the people of Ireland and Britain.

During the coming months I hope that elected representatives, especially those who will participate in the forthcoming debate on the Saville Report in the Westminster Parliament, will give due attention to the material link between the events in Ballymurphy in August 1971 and those of Bloody Sunday. I hope that all of us together will work to find an agreed way of sharing the full truth of what happened to all those killed and injured in the Troubles in the hope of bringing peace, healing and reconciliation to our society and to those who continue to bear the painful wounds of our past.

Thank you.

ENDS

Further information
Fr Edward McGee, Media Liaison Officer, Diocese of Down and Connor, 0044 (0) 78 111 44268
Martin Long, Catholic Communications Office, Maynooth, 00 353 (0) 86 172 7678

PRESS RELEASE
30 July 2010
Statement by Bishop Noel Treanor, Bishop of Down and Connor, in St Mary's University College, Belfast, on the handing over of Church archive documents to the families of those killed and injured by the British Army in Ballymurphy between 9 - 11 August 1971 I am here today to show my support and pastoral concern for the families of those killed and injured during the tragic events of the 9 - 11 of August 1971 in Ballymurphy.

I have met representatives of the families on two previous occasions. Firstly, in May of last year and, more recently, on 10 June of this year.  At the first meeting the families asked me to establish what documents, if any, might be held in the archives of the Diocese relating to the events surrounding the death and injury of their loved ones. An initial search of the main archives in the Diocese of Down & Connor and in the Diocese of Armagh yielded no significant results. However, thanks to some very helpful suggestions from the families at the most recent meeting in June, we were able to initiate a more focused search of the archives and of other possible sources, such as parish records. This search will continue in the months ahead and may yet yield further important results.

At the meeting with the families in June, however, I became aware of just how important even the smallest piece of information can be to those who want to establish the truth about what happened to their loved ones who were killed or injured in such violent circumstances. I therefore gave a commitment to the families that I would share with them any information that subsequently emerged at the earliest opportunity.

To that end I am pleased to be able to hand over to the families today two distinct sets of documents which have since discovered since our last meeting. The first is a series of short extracts taken from the personal diary of Cardinal William Conway, at that time Archbishop of Armagh though originally a native of Belfast. While these short extracts do not provide much detail of the events of those days they do convey his personal sentiments and concern for what was happening in Ballymurphy. Most notably, he records on the opening entry of his diary for Wednesday 11 August 1971: ‘I think in a way this was one of the most unhappy days of my life… It was the feeling of hopelessness – of the great suffering in Belfast and my not being able to do much about it’. We are still in the process of checking the diary and will present a compilation of the relevant extracts to the families in the next few days. I am grateful to Cardinal Brady and the Archdiocese of Armagh for making these extracts available.

The second set of documents were discovered in the personal files of Canon Padraig Murphy, then Parish Priest of Corpus Christi Parish which includes Ballymurphy. I am very grateful to the executors of Canon Murphy’s estate for their permission to release these documents to the families.

These documents will contribute to a wider tapestry of material already gathered by the families of those killed and injured. When put together with other documents they may help to create a fuller picture of the events of those days. They may fill-in certain gaps or open-up new lines of investigation or prompt the memory of important details that have been lost in the midst of time. Some of the documents are incomplete and we will continue to search for the remaining material. Some are hand written and difficult to decipher or ascertain their full significance. Notably, the documents include:

1. An original typed copy of a ‘Report’ summarising the main findings of several eyewitness accounts of ‘the events of August 9th 1971 in the Springfield Park area of Belfast’ taken ‘about a fortnight after the incident’. The eyewitnesses cited in the Report include ‘a serving member of the British Army’, a member of the British Navy who returned to his ship shortly after the shootings and an ex Irish Guardsman. This Report was complied by a Thomas J. Glynn (M.Sc.), Edna Arthurs (B.A., Cert. Ed) and Eugene G. Arthurs (B.Sc), possibly at the request of Canon Murphy – though this has yet to be definitively established. We would be most interested to hear from anyone who might know something about these authors and how they came to be tasked with taking the evidence of the witnesses listed. It is likely that at least one of the report’s authors was a teacher. Sadly, we do not appear to have all the accompanying witness statements, though I understand some of this documentation may already be in the possession of the families.

Critically, the authors of the Report list seven ‘important conclusions’ based on the eyewitness accounts. They conclude, for example, that ‘the Army fired on two first-aid men wearing white helmets and carrying a first-aid kit’, that they fired on and killed a number of people, including Fr Hugh Mullan, who were clearly carrying a white emblem, ‘the international symbol of truce’, and that they fired on and killed people who were clearly going to the assistance of women and children fleeing a hostile mob. Critically, in the final paragraphs of the Report, the authors conclude that on the basis of the eye-witness accounts they have listened that they ‘are convinced that the British Army Units involved, whether through fear or vindictiveness unnecessarily fired a large number of rounds into the waste grounds across which innocent men, women and children were fleeing…Certainly the fatalities did not occur in a cross-fire… We feel that there is a sufficient weight of evidence to indict the soldiers on the roof of the Springmartin flats.’

This view is supported by some of the other documents we handing over today. These include:

2. An original typed copy of the statement of one eyewitness, a Mr Robert Clark of 60 Springfield Park, who was himself shot and seriously wounded as he tried to assist women and children. He records how Fr Hugh Mullan approached him carrying a white cloth at shoulder height and how Fr Hugh anointed him. He then describes how Fr Hugh was shot and killed before his eyes and how Frank Quinn was shot coming to the aid of Fr Mullan. At the end of his statement Mr Clark refers to hearing shots that ‘sounded different to the former shots’.  This may provide an important link between the Report cited earlier, Mr Clark’s statement and the hand written notes, possibly from Canon Murphy himself, which comprise the third document we are handing over today.  This hand written document of some five pages is at times difficult to decipher. It would appear to be first hand notes of an eye witness statement of events on the day. Interestingly, it is possible to determine some reference at the end of the document to a distinction between shots fired from an SLR rifle and so-called ‘303 shots’. This may suggest that the evidence is from someone with a military background and opens up the possibility of a link with the evidence given by the serving British soldier in the Report cited earlier. An address in England is also given. All of this will require closer examination to establish the full significance of this document.

3. Two other shorter documents have been discovered in the same hand writing, presumed to be that of Canon Murphy. One contains a substantial list of names and addresses of what are presumed to be known witnesses along with a few occasional comments or notes. The other shorter document seems to be some brief notes taken from a witness to the events.

4. We are also handing over a small number of newspaper clippings of reportage on the events at the time, notably in an English Catholic newspaper which is unlikely to have been easily accessible to the families at that time of since. Interestingly, the newspaper cites the following statement by Bishop Philbin, the Bishop of Down and Connor at the time. Bishop Philbin’s statement reads: ‘The circumstances of Fr Mullan’s death call for the most rigorous investigation in the interests of justice and truth and in the hope of bringing the present dreadful contagion of killing to an end.’ I repeat that call for a rigorous investigation today.

5. Finally, we have discovered some personal letters belonging to the late Fr Hugh Mullan relating to his time as a seminarian. As these do not relate in any way to the events in Ballymurphy but will be of interest to Fr Hugh’s family for personal reason copies of these will be given only to Fr Hugh’s family.

I want to repeat again that these are only the findings of our most recent search of Church records and we will continue to explore all avenues to ascertain if any other relevant information may be in the possession of the Church. I say this as an indication of my commitment, and the commitment of the Church in this Diocese, to assist the families of those killed and injured in Ballymurphy during 9-11 August 1971 in establishing the truth of what happened.

The events of those days in Ballymurphy were a disturbing prelude to the events of Bloody Sunday only six months later. Both were seminal events that profoundly influenced the future direction of the Troubles. The families of those killed and injured rightly wonder as we all do, what could have been avoided if the evidence of eye witnesses like those cited today had been treated with the importance and respect it deserved at the time. What could have been avoided if the institutions of law and order charged with the safety and care of all citizens had taken action on the basis of these reliable testimonies to ensure the Army never acted in such a reckless and indiscriminate manner again. Instead, as in Bloody Sunday, the reputations of those who were killed and injured were actively besmirched and the evidence of reliable eye witnesses was either ignored or actively discredited. This has led me to the view that the Ballymurphy killings are the unfinished business of the Saville Inquiry. Indeed the events in Ballymurphy on 9-11 August 1971 would and perhaps should have been considered the necessary starting point for such an inquiry.

This is not to say that I - or as I understand the families - are seeking an expensive and lengthy Saville style Inquiry into these events. It should be possible to find a mechanism of investigation into these and other events of the Troubles sufficiently efficient, robust and independent to contribute to a meaningful healing of memory and to a vindication of the truth for the individuals and communities involved.

It does not always require a Saville style Inquiry to provide sufficient grounds for an apology for actions that were manifestly wrong or to uphold the innocence of those who were manifestly innocent or entitled to the presumption of innocence. In the case of the Ballymurphy killings, sufficient eye witness and other evidence is available to render an efficient mechanism of investigation and assessment realistic and achievable, one which could quickly justify the inclusion of those killed and injured in the spirit and scope of the apology issued by the British Government following the publication of the Saville Inquiry.

On the basis of the eye witness testimony in these and other documents alone, it is difficult to see how any such investigation would not justify a re-echoing of the following words of that apology: ‘What happened should never, ever have happened. The families of those who died should not have had to live with the pain and hurt of that day – and a lifetime of loss. Some members of our Armed Forces acted wrongly…And for that, on behalf of the Government – and indeed our country – I am deeply sorry.’

Finally, let me say that the ongoing legacy of pain experienced by the families gathered here today highlights the need for an agreed, cohesive and comprehensive way of dealing with the violent past of our society. A piecemeal approach to dealing with the past risks contributing to further hurt, alienation and a futile cycle of ‘what-aboutery’.  My point today is that there is a strong case for the killings in Ballymurphy to be included in the spirit and scope of the recognition and apology already offered in respect of the events of Bloody Sunday. They are materially connected.

The efficient and effective use of resources is essential to the common good. How we prioritise the use of our limited financial and other resources is an important consideration in any decision about dealing with the past. What is clear is that the past and its memory will continue to have an impact on how we live together into the future. We need to develop efficient, effective and constructive ways of supporting a genuine healing of memory and a safe disclosure of the truth in ways that contribute to peace, cohesion and reconciliation. We need to ensure that how we deal with the past contributes to the well being and quality of life of everyone in our society now and in the future.

To that end I believe the British and Irish Governments should discuss with the relevant institutions of the European Union the potential role those institutions might play in encouraging and supporting just and constructive ways of dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. Such engagement by the European Union on this specific issue would be consistent with the founding values and achievements of the European Union and contribute to deepening further positive relations between the people of Ireland and Britain.

During the coming months I hope that elected representatives, especially those who will participate in the forthcoming debate on the Saville Report in the Westminster Parliament, will give due attention to the material link between the events in Ballymurphy in August 1971 and those of Bloody Sunday. I hope that all of us together will work to find an agreed way of sharing the full truth of what happened to all those killed and injured in the Troubles in the hope of bringing peace, healing and reconciliation to our society and to those who continue to bear the painful wounds of our past.

Thank you.

ENDS

Further information
Fr Edward McGee, Media Liaison Officer, Diocese of Down and Connor, 0044 (0) 78 111 44268
Martin Long, Catholic Communications Office, Maynooth, 00 353 (0) 86 172 7678

PRESS RELEASE
30 July 2010
Statement by Bishop Noel Treanor, Bishop of Down and Connor, in St Mary's University College, Belfast, on the handing over of Church archive documents to the families of those killed and injured by the British Army in Ballymurphy between 9 - 11 August 1971 I am here today to show my support and pastoral concern for the families of those killed and injured during the tragic events of the 9 - 11 of August 1971 in Ballymurphy.

I have met representatives of the families on two previous occasions. Firstly, in May of last year and, more recently, on 10 June of this year.  At the first meeting the families asked me to establish what documents, if any, might be held in the archives of the Diocese relating to the events surrounding the death and injury of their loved ones. An initial search of the main archives in the Diocese of Down & Connor and in the Diocese of Armagh yielded no significant results. However, thanks to some very helpful suggestions from the families at the most recent meeting in June, we were able to initiate a more focused search of the archives and of other possible sources, such as parish records. This search will continue in the months ahead and may yet yield further important results.

At the meeting with the families in June, however, I became aware of just how important even the smallest piece of information can be to those who want to establish the truth about what happened to their loved ones who were killed or injured in such violent circumstances. I therefore gave a commitment to the families that I would share with them any information that subsequently emerged at the earliest opportunity.

To that end I am pleased to be able to hand over to the families today two distinct sets of documents which have since discovered since our last meeting. The first is a series of short extracts taken from the personal diary of Cardinal William Conway, at that time Archbishop of Armagh though originally a native of Belfast. While these short extracts do not provide much detail of the events of those days they do convey his personal sentiments and concern for what was happening in Ballymurphy. Most notably, he records on the opening entry of his diary for Wednesday 11 August 1971: ‘I think in a way this was one of the most unhappy days of my life… It was the feeling of hopelessness – of the great suffering in Belfast and my not being able to do much about it’. We are still in the process of checking the diary and will present a compilation of the relevant extracts to the families in the next few days. I am grateful to Cardinal Brady and the Archdiocese of Armagh for making these extracts available.

The second set of documents were discovered in the personal files of Canon Padraig Murphy, then Parish Priest of Corpus Christi Parish which includes Ballymurphy. I am very grateful to the executors of Canon Murphy’s estate for their permission to release these documents to the families.

These documents will contribute to a wider tapestry of material already gathered by the families of those killed and injured. When put together with other documents they may help to create a fuller picture of the events of those days. They may fill-in certain gaps or open-up new lines of investigation or prompt the memory of important details that have been lost in the midst of time. Some of the documents are incomplete and we will continue to search for the remaining material. Some are hand written and difficult to decipher or ascertain their full significance. Notably, the documents include:

1. An original typed copy of a ‘Report’ summarising the main findings of several eyewitness accounts of ‘the events of August 9th 1971 in the Springfield Park area of Belfast’ taken ‘about a fortnight after the incident’. The eyewitnesses cited in the Report include ‘a serving member of the British Army’, a member of the British Navy who returned to his ship shortly after the shootings and an ex Irish Guardsman. This Report was complied by a Thomas J. Glynn (M.Sc.), Edna Arthurs (B.A., Cert. Ed) and Eugene G. Arthurs (B.Sc), possibly at the request of Canon Murphy – though this has yet to be definitively established. We would be most interested to hear from anyone who might know something about these authors and how they came to be tasked with taking the evidence of the witnesses listed. It is likely that at least one of the report’s authors was a teacher. Sadly, we do not appear to have all the accompanying witness statements, though I understand some of this documentation may already be in the possession of the families.

Critically, the authors of the Report list seven ‘important conclusions’ based on the eyewitness accounts. They conclude, for example, that ‘the Army fired on two first-aid men wearing white helmets and carrying a first-aid kit’, that they fired on and killed a number of people, including Fr Hugh Mullan, who were clearly carrying a white emblem, ‘the international symbol of truce’, and that they fired on and killed people who were clearly going to the assistance of women and children fleeing a hostile mob. Critically, in the final paragraphs of the Report, the authors conclude that on the basis of the eye-witness accounts they have listened that they ‘are convinced that the British Army Units involved, whether through fear or vindictiveness unnecessarily fired a large number of rounds into the waste grounds across which innocent men, women and children were fleeing…Certainly the fatalities did not occur in a cross-fire… We feel that there is a sufficient weight of evidence to indict the soldiers on the roof of the Springmartin flats.’

This view is supported by some of the other documents we handing over today. These include:

2. An original typed copy of the statement of one eyewitness, a Mr Robert Clark of 60 Springfield Park, who was himself shot and seriously wounded as he tried to assist women and children. He records how Fr Hugh Mullan approached him carrying a white cloth at shoulder height and how Fr Hugh anointed him. He then describes how Fr Hugh was shot and killed before his eyes and how Frank Quinn was shot coming to the aid of Fr Mullan. At the end of his statement Mr Clark refers to hearing shots that ‘sounded different to the former shots’.  This may provide an important link between the Report cited earlier, Mr Clark’s statement and the hand written notes, possibly from Canon Murphy himself, which comprise the third document we are handing over today.  This hand written document of some five pages is at times difficult to decipher. It would appear to be first hand notes of an eye witness statement of events on the day. Interestingly, it is possible to determine some reference at the end of the document to a distinction between shots fired from an SLR rifle and so-called ‘303 shots’. This may suggest that the evidence is from someone with a military background and opens up the possibility of a link with the evidence given by the serving British soldier in the Report cited earlier. An address in England is also given. All of this will require closer examination to establish the full significance of this document.

3. Two other shorter documents have been discovered in the same hand writing, presumed to be that of Canon Murphy. One contains a substantial list of names and addresses of what are presumed to be known witnesses along with a few occasional comments or notes. The other shorter document seems to be some brief notes taken from a witness to the events.

4. We are also handing over a small number of newspaper clippings of reportage on the events at the time, notably in an English Catholic newspaper which is unlikely to have been easily accessible to the families at that time of since. Interestingly, the newspaper cites the following statement by Bishop Philbin, the Bishop of Down and Connor at the time. Bishop Philbin’s statement reads: ‘The circumstances of Fr Mullan’s death call for the most rigorous investigation in the interests of justice and truth and in the hope of bringing the present dreadful contagion of killing to an end.’ I repeat that call for a rigorous investigation today.

5. Finally, we have discovered some personal letters belonging to the late Fr Hugh Mullan relating to his time as a seminarian. As these do not relate in any way to the events in Ballymurphy but will be of interest to Fr Hugh’s family for personal reason copies of these will be given only to Fr Hugh’s family.

I want to repeat again that these are only the findings of our most recent search of Church records and we will continue to explore all avenues to ascertain if any other relevant information may be in the possession of the Church. I say this as an indication of my commitment, and the commitment of the Church in this Diocese, to assist the families of those killed and injured in Ballymurphy during 9-11 August 1971 in establishing the truth of what happened.

The events of those days in Ballymurphy were a disturbing prelude to the events of Bloody Sunday only six months later. Both were seminal events that profoundly influenced the future direction of the Troubles. The families of those killed and injured rightly wonder as we all do, what could have been avoided if the evidence of eye witnesses like those cited today had been treated with the importance and respect it deserved at the time. What could have been avoided if the institutions of law and order charged with the safety and care of all citizens had taken action on the basis of these reliable testimonies to ensure the Army never acted in such a reckless and indiscriminate manner again. Instead, as in Bloody Sunday, the reputations of those who were killed and injured were actively besmirched and the evidence of reliable eye witnesses was either ignored or actively discredited. This has led me to the view that the Ballymurphy killings are the unfinished business of the Saville Inquiry. Indeed the events in Ballymurphy on 9-11 August 1971 would and perhaps should have been considered the necessary starting point for such an inquiry.

This is not to say that I - or as I understand the families - are seeking an expensive and lengthy Saville style Inquiry into these events. It should be possible to find a mechanism of investigation into these and other events of the Troubles sufficiently efficient, robust and independent to contribute to a meaningful healing of memory and to a vindication of the truth for the individuals and communities involved.

It does not always require a Saville style Inquiry to provide sufficient grounds for an apology for actions that were manifestly wrong or to uphold the innocence of those who were manifestly innocent or entitled to the presumption of innocence. In the case of the Ballymurphy killings, sufficient eye witness and other evidence is available to render an efficient mechanism of investigation and assessment realistic and achievable, one which could quickly justify the inclusion of those killed and injured in the spirit and scope of the apology issued by the British Government following the publication of the Saville Inquiry.

On the basis of the eye witness testimony in these and other documents alone, it is difficult to see how any such investigation would not justify a re-echoing of the following words of that apology: ‘What happened should never, ever have happened. The families of those who died should not have had to live with the pain and hurt of that day – and a lifetime of loss. Some members of our Armed Forces acted wrongly…And for that, on behalf of the Government – and indeed our country – I am deeply sorry.’

Finally, let me say that the ongoing legacy of pain experienced by the families gathered here today highlights the need for an agreed, cohesive and comprehensive way of dealing with the violent past of our society. A piecemeal approach to dealing with the past risks contributing to further hurt, alienation and a futile cycle of ‘what-aboutery’.  My point today is that there is a strong case for the killings in Ballymurphy to be included in the spirit and scope of the recognition and apology already offered in respect of the events of Bloody Sunday. They are materially connected.

The efficient and effective use of resources is essential to the common good. How we prioritise the use of our limited financial and other resources is an important consideration in any decision about dealing with the past. What is clear is that the past and its memory will continue to have an impact on how we live together into the future. We need to develop efficient, effective and constructive ways of supporting a genuine healing of memory and a safe disclosure of the truth in ways that contribute to peace, cohesion and reconciliation. We need to ensure that how we deal with the past contributes to the well being and quality of life of everyone in our society now and in the future.

To that end I believe the British and Irish Governments should discuss with the relevant institutions of the European Union the potential role those institutions might play in encouraging and supporting just and constructive ways of dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. Such engagement by the European Union on this specific issue would be consistent with the founding values and achievements of the European Union and contribute to deepening further positive relations between the people of Ireland and Britain.

During the coming months I hope that elected representatives, especially those who will participate in the forthcoming debate on the Saville Report in the Westminster Parliament, will give due attention to the material link between the events in Ballymurphy in August 1971 and those of Bloody Sunday. I hope that all of us together will work to find an agreed way of sharing the full truth of what happened to all those killed and injured in the Troubles in the hope of bringing peace, healing and reconciliation to our society and to those who continue to bear the painful wounds of our past.

Thank you.

ENDS

Further information
Fr Edward McGee, Media Liaison Officer, Diocese of Down and Connor, 0044 (0) 78 111 44268
Martin Long, Catholic Communications Office, Maynooth, 00 353 (0) 86 172 7678

PRESS RELEASE
30 July 2010
Statement by Bishop Noel Treanor, Bishop of Down and Connor, in St Mary's University College, Belfast, on the handing over of Church archive documents to the families of those killed and injured by the British Army in Ballymurphy between 9 - 11 August 1971 I am here today to show my support and pastoral concern for the families of those killed and injured during the tragic events of the 9 - 11 of August 1971 in Ballymurphy.

I have met representatives of the families on two previous occasions. Firstly, in May of last year and, more recently, on 10 June of this year.  At the first meeting the families asked me to establish what documents, if any, might be held in the archives of the Diocese relating to the events surrounding the death and injury of their loved ones. An initial search of the main archives in the Diocese of Down & Connor and in the Diocese of Armagh yielded no significant results. However, thanks to some very helpful suggestions from the families at the most recent meeting in June, we were able to initiate a more focused search of the archives and of other possible sources, such as parish records. This search will continue in the months ahead and may yet yield further important results.

At the meeting with the families in June, however, I became aware of just how important even the smallest piece of information can be to those who want to establish the truth about what happened to their loved ones who were killed or injured in such violent circumstances. I therefore gave a commitment to the families that I would share with them any information that subsequently emerged at the earliest opportunity.

To that end I am pleased to be able to hand over to the families today two distinct sets of documents which have since discovered since our last meeting. The first is a series of short extracts taken from the personal diary of Cardinal William Conway, at that time Archbishop of Armagh though originally a native of Belfast. While these short extracts do not provide much detail of the events of those days they do convey his personal sentiments and concern for what was happening in Ballymurphy. Most notably, he records on the opening entry of his diary for Wednesday 11 August 1971: ‘I think in a way this was one of the most unhappy days of my life… It was the feeling of hopelessness – of the great suffering in Belfast and my not being able to do much about it’. We are still in the process of checking the diary and will present a compilation of the relevant extracts to the families in the next few days. I am grateful to Cardinal Brady and the Archdiocese of Armagh for making these extracts available.

The second set of documents were discovered in the personal files of Canon Padraig Murphy, then Parish Priest of Corpus Christi Parish which includes Ballymurphy. I am very grateful to the executors of Canon Murphy’s estate for their permission to release these documents to the families.

These documents will contribute to a wider tapestry of material already gathered by the families of those killed and injured. When put together with other documents they may help to create a fuller picture of the events of those days. They may fill-in certain gaps or open-up new lines of investigation or prompt the memory of important details that have been lost in the midst of time. Some of the documents are incomplete and we will continue to search for the remaining material. Some are hand written and difficult to decipher or ascertain their full significance. Notably, the documents include:

1. An original typed copy of a ‘Report’ summarising the main findings of several eyewitness accounts of ‘the events of August 9th 1971 in the Springfield Park area of Belfast’ taken ‘about a fortnight after the incident’. The eyewitnesses cited in the Report include ‘a serving member of the British Army’, a member of the British Navy who returned to his ship shortly after the shootings and an ex Irish Guardsman. This Report was complied by a Thomas J. Glynn (M.Sc.), Edna Arthurs (B.A., Cert. Ed) and Eugene G. Arthurs (B.Sc), possibly at the request of Canon Murphy – though this has yet to be definitively established. We would be most interested to hear from anyone who might know something about these authors and how they came to be tasked with taking the evidence of the witnesses listed. It is likely that at least one of the report’s authors was a teacher. Sadly, we do not appear to have all the accompanying witness statements, though I understand some of this documentation may already be in the possession of the families.

Critically, the authors of the Report list seven ‘important conclusions’ based on the eyewitness accounts. They conclude, for example, that ‘the Army fired on two first-aid men wearing white helmets and carrying a first-aid kit’, that they fired on and killed a number of people, including Fr Hugh Mullan, who were clearly carrying a white emblem, ‘the international symbol of truce’, and that they fired on and killed people who were clearly going to the assistance of women and children fleeing a hostile mob. Critically, in the final paragraphs of the Report, the authors conclude that on the basis of the eye-witness accounts they have listened that they ‘are convinced that the British Army Units involved, whether through fear or vindictiveness unnecessarily fired a large number of rounds into the waste grounds across which innocent men, women and children were fleeing…Certainly the fatalities did not occur in a cross-fire… We feel that there is a sufficient weight of evidence to indict the soldiers on the roof of the Springmartin flats.’

This view is supported by some of the other documents we handing over today. These include:

2. An original typed copy of the statement of one eyewitness, a Mr Robert Clark of 60 Springfield Park, who was himself shot and seriously wounded as he tried to assist women and children. He records how Fr Hugh Mullan approached him carrying a white cloth at shoulder height and how Fr Hugh anointed him. He then describes how Fr Hugh was shot and killed before his eyes and how Frank Quinn was shot coming to the aid of Fr Mullan. At the end of his statement Mr Clark refers to hearing shots that ‘sounded different to the former shots’.  This may provide an important link between the Report cited earlier, Mr Clark’s statement and the hand written notes, possibly from Canon Murphy himself, which comprise the third document we are handing over today.  This hand written document of some five pages is at times difficult to decipher. It would appear to be first hand notes of an eye witness statement of events on the day. Interestingly, it is possible to determine some reference at the end of the document to a distinction between shots fired from an SLR rifle and so-called ‘303 shots’. This may suggest that the evidence is from someone with a military background and opens up the possibility of a link with the evidence given by the serving British soldier in the Report cited earlier. An address in England is also given. All of this will require closer examination to establish the full significance of this document.

3. Two other shorter documents have been discovered in the same hand writing, presumed to be that of Canon Murphy. One contains a substantial list of names and addresses of what are presumed to be known witnesses along with a few occasional comments or notes. The other shorter document seems to be some brief notes taken from a witness to the events.

4. We are also handing over a small number of newspaper clippings of reportage on the events at the time, notably in an English Catholic newspaper which is unlikely to have been easily accessible to the families at that time of since. Interestingly, the newspaper cites the following statement by Bishop Philbin, the Bishop of Down and Connor at the time. Bishop Philbin’s statement reads: ‘The circumstances of Fr Mullan’s death call for the most rigorous investigation in the interests of justice and truth and in the hope of bringing the present dreadful contagion of killing to an end.’ I repeat that call for a rigorous investigation today.

5. Finally, we have discovered some personal letters belonging to the late Fr Hugh Mullan relating to his time as a seminarian. As these do not relate in any way to the events in Ballymurphy but will be of interest to Fr Hugh’s family for personal reason copies of these will be given only to Fr Hugh’s family.

I want to repeat again that these are only the findings of our most recent search of Church records and we will continue to explore all avenues to ascertain if any other relevant information may be in the possession of the Church. I say this as an indication of my commitment, and the commitment of the Church in this Diocese, to assist the families of those killed and injured in Ballymurphy during 9-11 August 1971 in establishing the truth of what happened.

The events of those days in Ballymurphy were a disturbing prelude to the events of Bloody Sunday only six months later. Both were seminal events that profoundly influenced the future direction of the Troubles. The families of those killed and injured rightly wonder as we all do, what could have been avoided if the evidence of eye witnesses like those cited today had been treated with the importance and respect it deserved at the time. What could have been avoided if the institutions of law and order charged with the safety and care of all citizens had taken action on the basis of these reliable testimonies to ensure the Army never acted in such a reckless and indiscriminate manner again. Instead, as in Bloody Sunday, the reputations of those who were killed and injured were actively besmirched and the evidence of reliable eye witnesses was either ignored or actively discredited. This has led me to the view that the Ballymurphy killings are the unfinished business of the Saville Inquiry. Indeed the events in Ballymurphy on 9-11 August 1971 would and perhaps should have been considered the necessary starting point for such an inquiry.

This is not to say that I - or as I understand the families - are seeking an expensive and lengthy Saville style Inquiry into these events. It should be possible to find a mechanism of investigation into these and other events of the Troubles sufficiently efficient, robust and independent to contribute to a meaningful healing of memory and to a vindication of the truth for the individuals and communities involved.

It does not always require a Saville style Inquiry to provide sufficient grounds for an apology for actions that were manifestly wrong or to uphold the innocence of those who were manifestly innocent or entitled to the presumption of innocence. In the case of the Ballymurphy killings, sufficient eye witness and other evidence is available to render an efficient mechanism of investigation and assessment realistic and achievable, one which could quickly justify the inclusion of those killed and injured in the spirit and scope of the apology issued by the British Government following the publication of the Saville Inquiry.

On the basis of the eye witness testimony in these and other documents alone, it is difficult to see how any such investigation would not justify a re-echoing of the following words of that apology: ‘What happened should never, ever have happened. The families of those who died should not have had to live with the pain and hurt of that day – and a lifetime of loss. Some members of our Armed Forces acted wrongly…And for that, on behalf of the Government – and indeed our country – I am deeply sorry.’

Finally, let me say that the ongoing legacy of pain experienced by the families gathered here today highlights the need for an agreed, cohesive and comprehensive way of dealing with the violent past of our society. A piecemeal approach to dealing with the past risks contributing to further hurt, alienation and a futile cycle of ‘what-aboutery’.  My point today is that there is a strong case for the killings in Ballymurphy to be included in the spirit and scope of the recognition and apology already offered in respect of the events of Bloody Sunday. They are materially connected.

The efficient and effective use of resources is essential to the common good. How we prioritise the use of our limited financial and other resources is an important consideration in any decision about dealing with the past. What is clear is that the past and its memory will continue to have an impact on how we live together into the future. We need to develop efficient, effective and constructive ways of supporting a genuine healing of memory and a safe disclosure of the truth in ways that contribute to peace, cohesion and reconciliation. We need to ensure that how we deal with the past contributes to the well being and quality of life of everyone in our society now and in the future.

To that end I believe the British and Irish Governments should discuss with the relevant institutions of the European Union the potential role those institutions might play in encouraging and supporting just and constructive ways of dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. Such engagement by the European Union on this specific issue would be consistent with the founding values and achievements of the European Union and contribute to deepening further positive relations between the people of Ireland and Britain.

During the coming months I hope that elected representatives, especially those who will participate in the forthcoming debate on the Saville Report in the Westminster Parliament, will give due attention to the material link between the events in Ballymurphy in August 1971 and those of Bloody Sunday. I hope that all of us together will work to find an agreed way of sharing the full truth of what happened to all those killed and injured in the Troubles in the hope of bringing peace, healing and reconciliation to our society and to those who continue to bear the painful wounds of our past.

Thank you.

ENDS

Further information
Fr Edward McGee, Media Liaison Officer, Diocese of Down and Connor, 0044 (0) 78 111 44268
Martin Long, Catholic Communications Office, Maynooth, 00 353 (0) 86 172 7678

PRESS RELEASE
30 July 2010
Statement by Bishop Noel Treanor, Bishop of Down and Connor, in St Mary's University College, Belfast, on the handing over of Church archive documents to the families of those killed and injured by the British Army in Ballymurphy between 9 - 11 August 1971 I am here today to show my support and pastoral concern for the families of those killed and injured during the tragic events of the 9 - 11 of August 1971 in Ballymurphy.

I have met representatives of the families on two previous occasions. Firstly, in May of last year and, more recently, on 10 June of this year.  At the first meeting the families asked me to establish what documents, if any, might be held in the archives of the Diocese relating to the events surrounding the death and injury of their loved ones. An initial search of the main archives in the Diocese of Down & Connor and in the Diocese of Armagh yielded no significant results. However, thanks to some very helpful suggestions from the families at the most recent meeting in June, we were able to initiate a more focused search of the archives and of other possible sources, such as parish records. This search will continue in the months ahead and may yet yield further important results.

At the meeting with the families in June, however, I became aware of just how important even the smallest piece of information can be to those who want to establish the truth about what happened to their loved ones who were killed or injured in such violent circumstances. I therefore gave a commitment to the families that I would share with them any information that subsequently emerged at the earliest opportunity.

To that end I am pleased to be able to hand over to the families today two distinct sets of documents which have since discovered since our last meeting. The first is a series of short extracts taken from the personal diary of Cardinal William Conway, at that time Archbishop of Armagh though originally a native of Belfast. While these short extracts do not provide much detail of the events of those days they do convey his personal sentiments and concern for what was happening in Ballymurphy. Most notably, he records on the opening entry of his diary for Wednesday 11 August 1971: ‘I think in a way this was one of the most unhappy days of my life… It was the feeling of hopelessness – of the great suffering in Belfast and my not being able to do much about it’. We are still in the process of checking the diary and will present a compilation of the relevant extracts to the families in the next few days. I am grateful to Cardinal Brady and the Archdiocese of Armagh for making these extracts available.

The second set of documents were discovered in the personal files of Canon Padraig Murphy, then Parish Priest of Corpus Christi Parish which includes Ballymurphy. I am very grateful to the executors of Canon Murphy’s estate for their permission to release these documents to the families.

These documents will contribute to a wider tapestry of material already gathered by the families of those killed and injured. When put together with other documents they may help to create a fuller picture of the events of those days. They may fill-in certain gaps or open-up new lines of investigation or prompt the memory of important details that have been lost in the midst of time. Some of the documents are incomplete and we will continue to search for the remaining material. Some are hand written and difficult to decipher or ascertain their full significance. Notably, the documents include:

1. An original typed copy of a ‘Report’ summarising the main findings of several eyewitness accounts of ‘the events of August 9th 1971 in the Springfield Park area of Belfast’ taken ‘about a fortnight after the incident’. The eyewitnesses cited in the Report include ‘a serving member of the British Army’, a member of the British Navy who returned to his ship shortly after the shootings and an ex Irish Guardsman. This Report was complied by a Thomas J. Glynn (M.Sc.), Edna Arthurs (B.A., Cert. Ed) and Eugene G. Arthurs (B.Sc), possibly at the request of Canon Murphy – though this has yet to be definitively established. We would be most interested to hear from anyone who might know something about these authors and how they came to be tasked with taking the evidence of the witnesses listed. It is likely that at least one of the report’s authors was a teacher. Sadly, we do not appear to have all the accompanying witness statements, though I understand some of this documentation may already be in the possession of the families.

Critically, the authors of the Report list seven ‘important conclusions’ based on the eyewitness accounts. They conclude, for example, that ‘the Army fired on two first-aid men wearing white helmets and carrying a first-aid kit’, that they fired on and killed a number of people, including Fr Hugh Mullan, who were clearly carrying a white emblem, ‘the international symbol of truce’, and that they fired on and killed people who were clearly going to the assistance of women and children fleeing a hostile mob. Critically, in the final paragraphs of the Report, the authors conclude that on the basis of the eye-witness accounts they have listened that they ‘are convinced that the British Army Units involved, whether through fear or vindictiveness unnecessarily fired a large number of rounds into the waste grounds across which innocent men, women and children were fleeing…Certainly the fatalities did not occur in a cross-fire… We feel that there is a sufficient weight of evidence to indict the soldiers on the roof of the Springmartin flats.’

This view is supported by some of the other documents we handing over today. These include:

2. An original typed copy of the statement of one eyewitness, a Mr Robert Clark of 60 Springfield Park, who was himself shot and seriously wounded as he tried to assist women and children. He records how Fr Hugh Mullan approached him carrying a white cloth at shoulder height and how Fr Hugh anointed him. He then describes how Fr Hugh was shot and killed before his eyes and how Frank Quinn was shot coming to the aid of Fr Mullan. At the end of his statement Mr Clark refers to hearing shots that ‘sounded different to the former shots’.  This may provide an important link between the Report cited earlier, Mr Clark’s statement and the hand written notes, possibly from Canon Murphy himself, which comprise the third document we are handing over today.  This hand written document of some five pages is at times difficult to decipher. It would appear to be first hand notes of an eye witness statement of events on the day. Interestingly, it is possible to determine some reference at the end of the document to a distinction between shots fired from an SLR rifle and so-called ‘303 shots’. This may suggest that the evidence is from someone with a military background and opens up the possibility of a link with the evidence given by the serving British soldier in the Report cited earlier. An address in England is also given. All of this will require closer examination to establish the full significance of this document.

3. Two other shorter documents have been discovered in the same hand writing, presumed to be that of Canon Murphy. One contains a substantial list of names and addresses of what are presumed to be known witnesses along with a few occasional comments or notes. The other shorter document seems to be some brief notes taken from a witness to the events.

4. We are also handing over a small number of newspaper clippings of reportage on the events at the time, notably in an English Catholic newspaper which is unlikely to have been easily accessible to the families at that time of since. Interestingly, the newspaper cites the following statement by Bishop Philbin, the Bishop of Down and Connor at the time. Bishop Philbin’s statement reads: ‘The circumstances of Fr Mullan’s death call for the most rigorous investigation in the interests of justice and truth and in the hope of bringing the present dreadful contagion of killing to an end.’ I repeat that call for a rigorous investigation today.

5. Finally, we have discovered some personal letters belonging to the late Fr Hugh Mullan relating to his time as a seminarian. As these do not relate in any way to the events in Ballymurphy but will be of interest to Fr Hugh’s family for personal reason copies of these will be given only to Fr Hugh’s family.

I want to repeat again that these are only the findings of our most recent search of Church records and we will continue to explore all avenues to ascertain if any other relevant information may be in the possession of the Church. I say this as an indication of my commitment, and the commitment of the Church in this Diocese, to assist the families of those killed and injured in Ballymurphy during 9-11 August 1971 in establishing the truth of what happened.

The events of those days in Ballymurphy were a disturbing prelude to the events of Bloody Sunday only six months later. Both were seminal events that profoundly influenced the future direction of the Troubles. The families of those killed and injured rightly wonder as we all do, what could have been avoided if the evidence of eye witnesses like those cited today had been treated with the importance and respect it deserved at the time. What could have been avoided if the institutions of law and order charged with the safety and care of all citizens had taken action on the basis of these reliable testimonies to ensure the Army never acted in such a reckless and indiscriminate manner again. Instead, as in Bloody Sunday, the reputations of those who were killed and injured were actively besmirched and the evidence of reliable eye witnesses was either ignored or actively discredited. This has led me to the view that the Ballymurphy killings are the unfinished business of the Saville Inquiry. Indeed the events in Ballymurphy on 9-11 August 1971 would and perhaps should have been considered the necessary starting point for such an inquiry.

This is not to say that I - or as I understand the families - are seeking an expensive and lengthy Saville style Inquiry into these events. It should be possible to find a mechanism of investigation into these and other events of the Troubles sufficiently efficient, robust and independent to contribute to a meaningful healing of memory and to a vindication of the truth for the individuals and communities involved.

It does not always require a Saville style Inquiry to provide sufficient grounds for an apology for actions that were manifestly wrong or to uphold the innocence of those who were manifestly innocent or entitled to the presumption of innocence. In the case of the Ballymurphy killings, sufficient eye witness and other evidence is available to render an efficient mechanism of investigation and assessment realistic and achievable, one which could quickly justify the inclusion of those killed and injured in the spirit and scope of the apology issued by the British Government following the publication of the Saville Inquiry.

On the basis of the eye witness testimony in these and other documents alone, it is difficult to see how any such investigation would not justify a re-echoing of the following words of that apology: ‘What happened should never, ever have happened. The families of those who died should not have had to live with the pain and hurt of that day – and a lifetime of loss. Some members of our Armed Forces acted wrongly…And for that, on behalf of the Government – and indeed our country – I am deeply sorry.’

Finally, let me say that the ongoing legacy of pain experienced by the families gathered here today highlights the need for an agreed, cohesive and comprehensive way of dealing with the violent past of our society. A piecemeal approach to dealing with the past risks contributing to further hurt, alienation and a futile cycle of ‘what-aboutery’.  My point today is that there is a strong case for the killings in Ballymurphy to be included in the spirit and scope of the recognition and apology already offered in respect of the events of Bloody Sunday. They are materially connected.

The efficient and effective use of resources is essential to the common good. How we prioritise the use of our limited financial and other resources is an important consideration in any decision about dealing with the past. What is clear is that the past and its memory will continue to have an impact on how we live together into the future. We need to develop efficient, effective and constructive ways of supporting a genuine healing of memory and a safe disclosure of the truth in ways that contribute to peace, cohesion and reconciliation. We need to ensure that how we deal with the past contributes to the well being and quality of life of everyone in our society now and in the future.

To that end I believe the British and Irish Governments should discuss with the relevant institutions of the European Union the potential role those institutions might play in encouraging and supporting just and constructive ways of dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. Such engagement by the European Union on this specific issue would be consistent with the founding values and achievements of the European Union and contribute to deepening further positive relations between the people of Ireland and Britain.

During the coming months I hope that elected representatives, especially those who will participate in the forthcoming debate on the Saville Report in the Westminster Parliament, will give due attention to the material link between the events in Ballymurphy in August 1971 and those of Bloody Sunday. I hope that all of us together will work to find an agreed way of sharing the full truth of what happened to all those killed and injured in the Troubles in the hope of bringing peace, healing and reconciliation to our society and to those who continue to bear the painful wounds of our past.

Thank you.

ENDS

Further information
Fr Edward McGee, Media Liaison Officer, Diocese of Down and Connor, 0044 (0) 78 111 44268
Martin Long, Catholic Communications Office, Maynooth, 00 353 (0) 86 172 7678

PRESS RELEASE
30 July 2010
Statement by Bishop Noel Treanor, Bishop of Down and Connor, in St Mary's University College, Belfast, on the handing over of Church archive documents to the families of those killed and injured by the British Army in Ballymurphy between 9 - 11 August 1971 I am here today to show my support and pastoral concern for the families of those killed and injured during the tragic events of the 9 - 11 of August 1971 in Ballymurphy.

I have met representatives of the families on two previous occasions. Firstly, in May of last year and, more recently, on 10 June of this year.  At the first meeting the families asked me to establish what documents, if any, might be held in the archives of the Diocese relating to the events surrounding the death and injury of their loved ones. An initial search of the main archives in the Diocese of Down & Connor and in the Diocese of Armagh yielded no significant results. However, thanks to some very helpful suggestions from the families at the most recent meeting in June, we were able to initiate a more focused search of the archives and of other possible sources, such as parish records. This search will continue in the months ahead and may yet yield further important results.

At the meeting with the families in June, however, I became aware of just how important even the smallest piece of information can be to those who want to establish the truth about what happened to their loved ones who were killed or injured in such violent circumstances. I therefore gave a commitment to the families that I would share with them any information that subsequently emerged at the earliest opportunity.

To that end I am pleased to be able to hand over to the families today two distinct sets of documents which have since discovered since our last meeting. The first is a series of short extracts taken from the personal diary of Cardinal William Conway, at that time Archbishop of Armagh though originally a native of Belfast. While these short extracts do not provide much detail of the events of those days they do convey his personal sentiments and concern for what was happening in Ballymurphy. Most notably, he records on the opening entry of his diary for Wednesday 11 August 1971: ‘I think in a way this was one of the most unhappy days of my life… It was the feeling of hopelessness – of the great suffering in Belfast and my not being able to do much about it’. We are still in the process of checking the diary and will present a compilation of the relevant extracts to the families in the next few days. I am grateful to Cardinal Brady and the Archdiocese of Armagh for making these extracts available.

The second set of documents were discovered in the personal files of Canon Padraig Murphy, then Parish Priest of Corpus Christi Parish which includes Ballymurphy. I am very grateful to the executors of Canon Murphy’s estate for their permission to release these documents to the families.

These documents will contribute to a wider tapestry of material already gathered by the families of those killed and injured. When put together with other documents they may help to create a fuller picture of the events of those days. They may fill-in certain gaps or open-up new lines of investigation or prompt the memory of important details that have been lost in the midst of time. Some of the documents are incomplete and we will continue to search for the remaining material. Some are hand written and difficult to decipher or ascertain their full significance. Notably, the documents include:

1. An original typed copy of a ‘Report’ summarising the main findings of several eyewitness accounts of ‘the events of August 9th 1971 in the Springfield Park area of Belfast’ taken ‘about a fortnight after the incident’. The eyewitnesses cited in the Report include ‘a serving member of the British Army’, a member of the British Navy who returned to his ship shortly after the shootings and an ex Irish Guardsman. This Report was complied by a Thomas J. Glynn (M.Sc.), Edna Arthurs (B.A., Cert. Ed) and Eugene G. Arthurs (B.Sc), possibly at the request of Canon Murphy – though this has yet to be definitively established. We would be most interested to hear from anyone who might know something about these authors and how they came to be tasked with taking the evidence of the witnesses listed. It is likely that at least one of the report’s authors was a teacher. Sadly, we do not appear to have all the accompanying witness statements, though I understand some of this documentation may already be in the possession of the families.

Critically, the authors of the Report list seven ‘important conclusions’ based on the eyewitness accounts. They conclude, for example, that ‘the Army fired on two first-aid men wearing white helmets and carrying a first-aid kit’, that they fired on and killed a number of people, including Fr Hugh Mullan, who were clearly carrying a white emblem, ‘the international symbol of truce’, and that they fired on and killed people who were clearly going to the assistance of women and children fleeing a hostile mob. Critically, in the final paragraphs of the Report, the authors conclude that on the basis of the eye-witness accounts they have listened that they ‘are convinced that the British Army Units involved, whether through fear or vindictiveness unnecessarily fired a large number of rounds into the waste grounds across which innocent men, women and children were fleeing…Certainly the fatalities did not occur in a cross-fire… We feel that there is a sufficient weight of evidence to indict the soldiers on the roof of the Springmartin flats.’

This view is supported by some of the other documents we handing over today. These include:

2. An original typed copy of the statement of one eyewitness, a Mr Robert Clark of 60 Springfield Park, who was himself shot and seriously wounded as he tried to assist women and children. He records how Fr Hugh Mullan approached him carrying a white cloth at shoulder height and how Fr Hugh anointed him. He then describes how Fr Hugh was shot and killed before his eyes and how Frank Quinn was shot coming to the aid of Fr Mullan. At the end of his statement Mr Clark refers to hearing shots that ‘sounded different to the former shots’.  This may provide an important link between the Report cited earlier, Mr Clark’s statement and the hand written notes, possibly from Canon Murphy himself, which comprise the third document we are handing over today.  This hand written document of some five pages is at times difficult to decipher. It would appear to be first hand notes of an eye witness statement of events on the day. Interestingly, it is possible to determine some reference at the end of the document to a distinction between shots fired from an SLR rifle and so-called ‘303 shots’. This may suggest that the evidence is from someone with a military background and opens up the possibility of a link with the evidence given by the serving British soldier in the Report cited earlier. An address in England is also given. All of this will require closer examination to establish the full significance of this document.

3. Two other shorter documents have been discovered in the same hand writing, presumed to be that of Canon Murphy. One contains a substantial list of names and addresses of what are presumed to be known witnesses along with a few occasional comments or notes. The other shorter document seems to be some brief notes taken from a witness to the events.

4. We are also handing over a small number of newspaper clippings of reportage on the events at the time, notably in an English Catholic newspaper which is unlikely to have been easily accessible to the families at that time of since. Interestingly, the newspaper cites the following statement by Bishop Philbin, the Bishop of Down and Connor at the time. Bishop Philbin’s statement reads: ‘The circumstances of Fr Mullan’s death call for the most rigorous investigation in the interests of justice and truth and in the hope of bringing the present dreadful contagion of killing to an end.’ I repeat that call for a rigorous investigation today.

5. Finally, we have discovered some personal letters belonging to the late Fr Hugh Mullan relating to his time as a seminarian. As these do not relate in any way to the events in Ballymurphy but will be of interest to Fr Hugh’s family for personal reason copies of these will be given only to Fr Hugh’s family.

I want to repeat again that these are only the findings of our most recent search of Church records and we will continue to explore all avenues to ascertain if any other relevant information may be in the possession of the Church. I say this as an indication of my commitment, and the commitment of the Church in this Diocese, to assist the families of those killed and injured in Ballymurphy during 9-11 August 1971 in establishing the truth of what happened.

The events of those days in Ballymurphy were a disturbing prelude to the events of Bloody Sunday only six months later. Both were seminal events that profoundly influenced the future direction of the Troubles. The families of those killed and injured rightly wonder as we all do, what could have been avoided if the evidence of eye witnesses like those cited today had been treated with the importance and respect it deserved at the time. What could have been avoided if the institutions of law and order charged with the safety and care of all citizens had taken action on the basis of these reliable testimonies to ensure the Army never acted in such a reckless and indiscriminate manner again. Instead, as in Bloody Sunday, the reputations of those who were killed and injured were actively besmirched and the evidence of reliable eye witnesses was either ignored or actively discredited. This has led me to the view that the Ballymurphy killings are the unfinished business of the Saville Inquiry. Indeed the events in Ballymurphy on 9-11 August 1971 would and perhaps should have been considered the necessary starting point for such an inquiry.

This is not to say that I - or as I understand the families - are seeking an expensive and lengthy Saville style Inquiry into these events. It should be possible to find a mechanism of investigation into these and other events of the Troubles sufficiently efficient, robust and independent to contribute to a meaningful healing of memory and to a vindication of the truth for the individuals and communities involved.

It does not always require a Saville style Inquiry to provide sufficient grounds for an apology for actions that were manifestly wrong or to uphold the innocence of those who were manifestly innocent or entitled to the presumption of innocence. In the case of the Ballymurphy killings, sufficient eye witness and other evidence is available to render an efficient mechanism of investigation and assessment realistic and achievable, one which could quickly justify the inclusion of those killed and injured in the spirit and scope of the apology issued by the British Government following the publication of the Saville Inquiry.

On the basis of the eye witness testimony in these and other documents alone, it is difficult to see how any such investigation would not justify a re-echoing of the following words of that apology: ‘What happened should never, ever have happened. The families of those who died should not have had to live with the pain and hurt of that day – and a lifetime of loss. Some members of our Armed Forces acted wrongly…And for that, on behalf of the Government – and indeed our country – I am deeply sorry.’

Finally, let me say that the ongoing legacy of pain experienced by the families gathered here today highlights the need for an agreed, cohesive and comprehensive way of dealing with the violent past of our society. A piecemeal approach to dealing with the past risks contributing to further hurt, alienation and a futile cycle of ‘what-aboutery’.  My point today is that there is a strong case for the killings in Ballymurphy to be included in the spirit and scope of the recognition and apology already offered in respect of the events of Bloody Sunday. They are materially connected.

The efficient and effective use of resources is essential to the common good. How we prioritise the use of our limited financial and other resources is an important consideration in any decision about dealing with the past. What is clear is that the past and its memory will continue to have an impact on how we live together into the future. We need to develop efficient, effective and constructive ways of supporting a genuine healing of memory and a safe disclosure of the truth in ways that contribute to peace, cohesion and reconciliation. We need to ensure that how we deal with the past contributes to the well being and quality of life of everyone in our society now and in the future.

To that end I believe the British and Irish Governments should discuss with the relevant institutions of the European Union the potential role those institutions might play in encouraging and supporting just and constructive ways of dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. Such engagement by the European Union on this specific issue would be consistent with the founding values and achievements of the European Union and contribute to deepening further positive relations between the people of Ireland and Britain.

During the coming months I hope that elected representatives, especially those who will participate in the forthcoming debate on the Saville Report in the Westminster Parliament, will give due attention to the material link between the events in Ballymurphy in August 1971 and those of Bloody Sunday. I hope that all of us together will work to find an agreed way of sharing the full truth of what happened to all those killed and injured in the Troubles in the hope of bringing peace, healing and reconciliation to our society and to those who continue to bear the painful wounds of our past.

Thank you.

ENDS

Further information
Fr Edward McGee, Media Liaison Officer, Diocese of Down and Connor, 0044 (0) 78 111 44268
Martin Long, Catholic Communications Office, Maynooth, 00 353 (0) 86 172 7678

PRESS RELEASE
30 July 2010
Statement by Bishop Noel Treanor, Bishop of Down and Connor, in St Mary's University College, Belfast, on the handing over of Church archive documents to the families of those killed and injured by the British Army in Ballymurphy between 9 - 11 August 1971 I am here today to show my support and pastoral concern for the families of those killed and injured during the tragic events of the 9 - 11 of August 1971 in Ballymurphy.

I have met representatives of the families on two previous occasions. Firstly, in May of last year and, more recently, on 10 June of this year.  At the first meeting the families asked me to establish what documents, if any, might be held in the archives of the Diocese relating to the events surrounding the death and injury of their loved ones. An initial search of the main archives in the Diocese of Down & Connor and in the Diocese of Armagh yielded no significant results. However, thanks to some very helpful suggestions from the families at the most recent meeting in June, we were able to initiate a more focused search of the archives and of other possible sources, such as parish records. This search will continue in the months ahead and may yet yield further important results.

At the meeting with the families in June, however, I became aware of just how important even the smallest piece of information can be to those who want to establish the truth about what happened to their loved ones who were killed or injured in such violent circumstances. I therefore gave a commitment to the families that I would share with them any information that subsequently emerged at the earliest opportunity.

To that end I am pleased to be able to hand over to the families today two distinct sets of documents which have since discovered since our last meeting. The first is a series of short extracts taken from the personal diary of Cardinal William Conway, at that time Archbishop of Armagh though originally a native of Belfast. While these short extracts do not provide much detail of the events of those days they do convey his personal sentiments and concern for what was happening in Ballymurphy. Most notably, he records on the opening entry of his diary for Wednesday 11 August 1971: ‘I think in a way this was one of the most unhappy days of my life… It was the feeling of hopelessness – of the great suffering in Belfast and my not being able to do much about it’. We are still in the process of checking the diary and will present a compilation of the relevant extracts to the families in the next few days. I am grateful to Cardinal Brady and the Archdiocese of Armagh for making these extracts available.

The second set of documents were discovered in the personal files of Canon Padraig Murphy, then Parish Priest of Corpus Christi Parish which includes Ballymurphy. I am very grateful to the executors of Canon Murphy’s estate for their permission to release these documents to the families.

These documents will contribute to a wider tapestry of material already gathered by the families of those killed and injured. When put together with other documents they may help to create a fuller picture of the events of those days. They may fill-in certain gaps or open-up new lines of investigation or prompt the memory of important details that have been lost in the midst of time. Some of the documents are incomplete and we will continue to search for the remaining material. Some are hand written and difficult to decipher or ascertain their full significance. Notably, the documents include:

1. An original typed copy of a ‘Report’ summarising the main findings of several eyewitness accounts of ‘the events of August 9th 1971 in the Springfield Park area of Belfast’ taken ‘about a fortnight after the incident’. The eyewitnesses cited in the Report include ‘a serving member of the British Army’, a member of the British Navy who returned to his ship shortly after the shootings and an ex Irish Guardsman. This Report was complied by a Thomas J. Glynn (M.Sc.), Edna Arthurs (B.A., Cert. Ed) and Eugene G. Arthurs (B.Sc), possibly at the request of Canon Murphy – though this has yet to be definitively established. We would be most interested to hear from anyone who might know something about theses authors and how they came to be tasked with taking the evidence of the witnesses listed. It likely that at least one of the report’s authors was a teacher. Sadly, we do not appear to have all the accompanying witness statements, though I understand some of this documentation may already be in the possession of the families.

Critically, the authors of the Report list seven ‘important conclusions’ based on the eyewitness accounts. They conclude, for example, that ‘the Army fired on two first-aid men wearing white helmets and carrying a first-aid kit’, that they fired on and killed a number of people, including Fr Hugh Mullan, who were clearly carrying a white emblem, ‘the international symbol of truce’, and that they fired on and killed people who were clearly going to the assistance of women and children fleeing a hostile mob. Critically, in the final paragraphs of the Report, the authors conclude that on the basis of the eye-witness accounts they have listened that they ‘are convinced that the British Army Units involved, whether through fear or vindictiveness unnecessarily fired a large number of rounds into the waste grounds across which innocent men, women and children were fleeing…Certainly the fatalities did not occur in a cross-fire… We feel that there is a sufficient weight of evidence to indict the soldiers on the roof of the Springmartin flats.’

This view is supported by some of the other documents we handing over today. These include:

2. An original typed copy of the statement of one eyewitness, a Mr Robert Clark of 60 Springfield Park, who was himself shot and seriously wounded as he tried to assist women and children. He records how Fr Hugh Mullan approached him carrying a white cloth at shoulder height and how Fr Hugh anointed him. He then describes how Fr Hugh was shot and killed before his eyes and how Frank Quinn was shot coming to the aid of Fr Mullan. At the end of his statement Mr Clarke refers to hearing shots that ‘sounded different to the former shots’.  This may provide an important link between the Report cited earlier, Mr Clark’s statement and the hand written notes, possibly from Canon Murphy himself, which comprise the third document we are handing over today.  This hand written document of some five pages is at times difficult to decipher. It would appear to be first hand notes of an eye witness statement of events on the day. Interestingly, it is possible to determine some reference at the end of the document to a distinction between shots fired from an SLR rifle and so-called ‘303 shots’. This may suggest that the evidence is from someone with a military background and opens up the possibility of a link with the evidence given by the serving British soldier in the Report cited earlier. An address in England is also given. All of this will require closer examination to establish the full significance of this document.

3. Two other shorter documents have been discovered in the same hand writing, presumed to be that of Canon Murphy. One contains a substantial list of names and addresses of what are presumed to be known witnesses along with a few occasional comments or notes. The other shorter document seems to be some brief notes taken from a witness to the events.

4. We are also handing over a small number of newspaper clippings of reportage on the events at the time, notably in an English Catholic newspaper which is unlikely to have been easily accessible to the families at that time of since. Interestingly, the newspaper cites the following statement by Bishop Philbin, the Bishop of Down and Connor at the time. Bishop Philbin’s statement reads: ‘The circumstances of Fr Mullan’s death call for the most rigorous investigation in the interests of justice and truth and in the hope of bringing the present dreadful contagion of killing to an end’. I repeat that call for a rigorous investigation today.

5. Finally, we have discovered some personal letters belonging to the late Fr Hugh Mullan relating to his time as a seminarian. As these do not relate in any way to the events in Ballymurphy but will be of interest to Fr Hugh’s family for personal reason copies of these will be given only to Fr Hugh’s family.

I want to repeat again that these are only the findings of our most recent search of Church records and we will continue to explore all avenues to ascertain if any other relevant information may be in the possession of the Church. I say this as an indication of my commitment, and the commitment of the Church in this Diocese, to assist the families of those killed and injured in Ballymurphy during 9-11 August 1971 in establishing the truth of what happened.

The events of those days in Ballymurphy were a disturbing prelude to the events of Bloody Sunday only six months later. Both were seminal events that profoundly influenced the future direction of the Troubles. The families of those killed and injured rightly wonder as we all do, what could have been avoided if the evidence of eye witnesses like those cited today had been treated with the importance and respect it deserved at the time. What could have been avoided if the institutions of law and order charged with the safety and care of all citizens had taken action on the basis of these reliable testimonies to ensure the Army never acted in such a reckless and indiscriminate manner again. Instead, as in Bloody Sunday, the reputations of those who were killed and injured were actively besmirched and the evidence of reliable eye witnesses was either ignored or actively discredited.  This has led me to the view that the Ballymurphy killings are the unfinished business of the Saville Inquiry. Indeed the events in Ballymurphy on 9-11 August 1971 would and perhaps should have been considered the necessary starting point for such an inquiry.

This is not to say that I - or as I understand the families - are seeking an expensive and lengthy Saville style Inquiry into these events. It should be possible to find a mechanism of investigation into these and other events of the Troubles sufficiently efficient, robust and independent to contribute to a meaningful healing of memory and to a vindication of the truth for the individuals and communities involved.

It does not always require a Saville style Inquiry to provide sufficient grounds for an apology for actions that were manifestly wrong or to uphold the innocence of those who were manifestly innocent or entitled to the presumption of innocence. In the case of the Ballymurphy killings, sufficient eye witness and other evidence is available to render an efficient mechanism of investigation and assessment realistic and achievable, one which could quickly justify the inclusion of those killed and injured in the spirit and scope of the apology issued by the British Government following the publication of the Saville Inquiry.

On the basis of the eye witness testimony in these and other documents alone, it is difficult to see how any such investigation would not justify a re-echoing of the following words of that apology: ‘What happened should never, ever have happened. The families of those who died should not have had to live with the pain and hurt of that day – and a lifetime of loss. Some members of our Armed Forces acted wrongly…And for that, on behalf of the Government – and indeed our country – I am deeply sorry.’

Finally, let me say that the ongoing legacy of pain experienced by the families gathered here today highlights the need for an agreed, cohesive and comprehensive way of dealing with the violent past of our society. A piecemeal approach to dealing with the past risks contributing to further hurt, alienation and a futile cycle of ‘what-aboutery’.  My point today is that there is a strong case for the killings in Ballymurphy to be included in the spirit and scope of the recognition and apology already offered in respect of the events of Bloody Sunday. They are materially connected.

The efficient and effective use of resources is essential to the common good. How we prioritise the use of our limited financial and other resources is an important consideration in any decision about dealing with the past. What is clear is that the past and its memory will continue to have an impact on how we live together into the future. We need to develop efficient, effective and constructive ways of supporting a genuine healing of memory and a safe disclosure of the truth in ways that contribute to peace, cohesion and reconciliation. We need to ensure that how we deal with the past contributes to the well being and quality of life of everyone in our society now and in the future.

To that end I believe the British and Irish Governments should discuss with the relevant institutions of the European Union the potential role those institutions might play in encouraging and supporting just and constructive ways of dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. Such engagement by the European Union on this specific issue would be consistent with the founding values and achievements of the European Union and contribute to deepening further positive relations between the people of Ireland and Britain.

During the coming months I hope that elected representatives, especially those who will participate in the forthcoming debate on the Saville Report in the Westminster Parliament, will give due attention to the material link between the events in Ballymurphy in August 1971 and those of Bloody Sunday. I hope that all of us together will work to find an agreed way of sharing the full truth of what happened to all those killed and injured in the Troubles in the hope of bringing peace, healing and reconciliation to our society and to those who continue to bear the painful wounds of our past.

Thank you.

ENDS

Further information
Fr Edward McGee, Media Liaison Officer, Diocese of Down and Connor, 0044 (0) 78 111 44268
Martin Long, Catholic Communications Office, Maynooth, 00 353 (0) 86 172 7678

PRESS RELEASE 30 July 2010 Bishop MacDaid urges road users to be safe and recommends prayer for motorists Bishop Liam MacDaid, Bishop of Clogher, today called on all road users, motorists, cyclists and pedestrians, to take special care of themselves and their loved ones as they travel this August bank holiday weekend, which is the busiest weekend of the year on our roads.

Bishop MacDaid said “Ahead of our August bank holiday weekend, and in the wake of the most serious Irish road accident on record in Donegal on 12 July last, I ask that we exercise particular vigilance in terms of our road safety responsibilities over the next three days.

“As individuals we have an obligation to exercise a real duty of care to other road users by improving our driver behaviour, and at a public policy level, this improved behaviour needs to be matched with effective strategic planning and greater resourcing.

“Care for one another in the community is a basic value which travels across different cultures and different religions.  This duty of care also applies to our road use and it is fundamental to the common good.”

Bishop MacDaid recommends the following dedicated prayer for motorists which they may wish to pray before driving:

Prayer for motorists before driving:
Before I take my place behind the wheel
I pray, O Sacred Heart - Guide me on my way.    
Virgin Mary, Morning Star, from every danger guide this car.
Thou dear Lord who gave it to enjoy,
Grant that its purpose be to save and not destroy.
AMEN
ENDS

Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications, Maynooth, 086 172 7678

PRESS RELEASE
25 July 2010

Bishop Liam S MacDaid’s Ordination ceremony address - embargoed until 4.30pm Sunday 25 July 2010

Your Eminence Cardinal Brady,

Your Excellency Archbishop Leanza, Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland

My brother Bishops and Archbishops,

Taoiseach Brian Cowen,

Tánaiste Mary Coughlan,

Distinguished guests,

Brother priests, sisters and friends.

Cuirim fíorchaoin fáilte roimh ár gcuairteoirí uile.  Tá lúcháir orainn, muintir na deoise, go bhfuil sibh inár measc inniu.

Courtesy binds me to offer some well-deserved acknowledgements.  For over two months, an organising committee under the direction of Fr. Shane McCaughey, and powered by the priests of Monaghan parish, have been hard at work preparing for to-day, helped by advice and assistance from the diocese of Down and Connor. They were ably supported by the Diocesan Communications Officer, Fr. Noel McConnell and the Secretarial Staff at the Diocesan Office and at St. Macartan’s College. You have all seen the excellent outcome of their work. On everybody’s behalf, I compliment them and thank them.

To-day’s Ordination Ceremony was directed by a Diocesan Liturgy Committee, chaired by Fr. La Flynn, and composed mainly of lay helpers, with Deirdre Macklin taking responsibility for Music.  Thank you for a splendid celebration.  The work of the Liturgy Team was complemented by an Artistic and Design Team led by Fr. Padraig McKenna and assisted by P.J. McCabe and Eileen Mooney.

Chuir sibh blas agus snas ar gach a bhain leis an ócáid.  Maith oraibh!

To all others who assisted on the day from the Choir, the Gardaí, members of the Red Cross and Civil Defence, the Knights of Columbanus, the Boy Scouts, Members of Faith and Light, The Floral Team, the Cathedral ushers to Clogher don Óige volunteers and students from local second-level schools – your courtesy and attention to our guests in seeing to their needs and making them feel welcome were much appreciated.

I would like to thank Cardinal Sean Brady, Principal Consecrator, for leading the Ordination Ceremony and Bishop Noel Treanor, Assistant Consecrator, for his challenging and inspirational reflections.

I have a sense that most of the faithful of our diocese would wish me to speak a word of encouragement to all the bishops present.  Our people are very much aware of the heavy burden of responsibility you have had to carry in recent years as many of you were called to imitate your Master in carrying the sins of others.  Your courage and fidelity in keeping resolutely on the road to Jerusalem in spite of all that awaited you have been admirable.  Beidh paidreacha an phobail libh i gcónaí mar thaca.

A special word of acknowledgement and gratitude is due to Bishop Joseph Duffy of our own diocese, who retires to-day with over fifty years of service as priest behind him and thirty one years as Bishop of Clogher and member of the Irish Episcopal Conference.  Ní thiocfadh liom, taobh istigh de cúpla bomaite, cur síos ar gach éacht a rinne sé.  Any list of achievements would include the enormous contributions he made nationally in the fields of Liturgy and Communications where he acted as spokesperson for the Hierarchy during many difficult years.  All the while he kept a steady hand on the wheel of the diocesan ship, encouraging, inspiring and always making himself available to his priests.  He was never afraid to take bold steps such as re-ordering this Cathedral, overseeing major developments in the diocesan colleges and encouraging new structures for diocesan and parish administration and development.  He encouraged adult faith education, the development of new norms and structures for the safeguarding of children and directed the modernisation and expansion of the Lough Derg Pilgrimage.  Tá fhios agam go bhfuil pobal agus cleír na deoise ar aon liom chomh maith leis na heaspaig uile nuair a ghabhaim buíochas leis as ucht a bhfuil déanta aige ar son beatha na heaglaise sa tír iomlán agus inár ndeoise féin.  Guímis sláinte úr agus rath Dé air anois go bhfuil deis aige a scíth a ligint.

To Bishop Michael Jackson and to members of other Christian Churches, your presence with us to-day is welcome and appreciated.  Over many years, there have been lots of initiatives to bring our members together, some from leadership down, many from the ground up.  Bishop Duffy and Bishop Jackson have established a warm and solid foundation of respectful friendship.  I will be very pleased to continue that tradition and try to hasten the day when Jesus Christ’s prayer for unity among his followers may become a reality.

Tá áthas orainn go raibh an Taoiseach, an Tánaiste agus aide-de-camp an Uachtaráin ábalta bheith linn chomh maith le ionadaithe eile polaitiúla agus poiblí.

We all seek to serve the public and the common good.  We can do that in a spirit of mutual co-operation and respect.  Jesus himself acknowledged that there is a sphere that belongs to Caesar and one that belongs to God.  But if Jesus Christ is Lord, and he is accepted as Son of God by the majority of the citizens of our country, then the welfare of our people in both jurisdictions as expressed in public legislation would surely be best served if we listen with respect to what Jesus Christ has to say about life and values.

Turning to family, relatives and friends; in his poem, ‘Memories of my Father’,

Patrick Kavanagh wrote:

‘Every old man I see

In October-coloured weather

Seems to say to me:

I was once your father.’

In another poem ‘In memory of my Mother’ he wrote:

‘You will have the road gate open, the front door ajar

The kettle boiling and a table set

By the window looking out at the sycamores –

And your loving heart lying in wait

You will know I am coming though I sent no word

For you were lover who could tell

A man’s thoughts – my thoughts – though I hid them –

Through you I knew woman and did not fear her spell.’

To-day is certainly a day for acknowledging parents, family, relatives, friends, teachers, classmates, neighbours, workmates and playmates.  We all have people in our lives who formed us, nurtured us, shared with us, taught us, cared for us, corrected us, healed us, held us, laughed with us, advised us, cried with us, inspired us and loved us.  To those who are present and to the many who are absent – go dtuga Dia grásta daoibh go léir ina bhealach féin.

Tá am tae ag brú agus roimh scarúint ba mhaith liom labhairt bomaite le pobal agus cléir ár ndeoise feín.  We are constantly reminded of terrible failures we have had to come to terms with in the Irish Church.  Human weakness and failure have been with us and documented from the beginning – Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, leaders like David and even Peter himself chosen by the Lord.  The coming of Jesus Christ himself was a response to failure, to redirect us, to save us and set us on the right path again.

Society has forced us in the Irish Church to look into the mirror and what we saw were weakness and failure, victims and abuse.  The surgeon’s knife has been painful but necessary.  A lot of evil and poison has been excised.  There comes a time when the surgeon’s knife has done what it can, is put away and a regime of rehabilitation for the patient is put in place.

We have been brought to our knees but maybe that is no bad thing. It can bring us closer to the core of the mystery.  Jesus was on his knees when he washed the feet of the disciples.  This was the last and definitive gesture he left us before he celebrated the meal which was to become our Eucharist.  There was no room for privilege, for earthly pomp or power or for lording it over anyone.  In the strength of the Eucharist and led by the Spirit of God we were to walk humbly before God and serve one another unselfishly and without discrimination.  This was to be the well where we were to be nourished spiritually in a way that would lead us to eternal life.

So while society keeps the mirror in front of us and rightly checks that we are sincere in our intentions and efforts towards rehabilitation, can I invite you, priests and people of the diocese of Clogher, to join me in a repentant return to the well of salvation. The journey will include for many facing the enormous challenge of forgiveness. Despite his intense suffering, Jesus forgave those who mocked, spat at, scourged and abused him.  One of the co-crucified could not bring himself beyond abuse and excluded himself; the other rose to embracing forgiveness and was welcomed into the kingdom. There are many painful experiences in life where only forgiveness can bring closure.

We have a distance to travel but we have the Way, the Truth and the Life to guide us.  Many years ago Patrick Kavanagh penned a poem entitled ‘House Party to celebrate the Destruction of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland’

Her book was out, and did she devastate

The Roman Catholic Church on every page!

And in Seamus’ house they met to celebrate

With giggles high the dying monster’s rage.


In far off parishes of Cork and Kerry

Old priests walked homeless in the winter air

As Seamus poured another pale dry sherry.

My dear priests and people of the diocese of Clogher there are two symbols which I wish to recall from to-day’s ceremony – the laying on of Hands (symbol of the guiding Spirit of God) and of the Book of the Gospels (the Word of God).  Let us embrace these gifts and make our way together to the well of salvation.  There we are assured we will find living water which will nourish the spirit as well as the body.  It will be water which we can safely offer our children; water which will protect our universe as well as enriching the quality of our lives and leading us to everlasting life. In the words of to-day’s Gospel, “anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

“In far off parishes of Cork and Kerry

Old priests walked homeless in the winter air.”

In selecting a motto for my crest, I chose Per Christum Dominum Nostrum.  We are the instruments, God does the work.  May God the Father bless our journey, Jesus Christ be our Model and the Spirit of God our guide.  Glóir don Athair, don Mhac agus don Spiorad Naomh, mar a bhí ar dtús, mar atá anois agus mar a bheas go brách tré shaol na saol. Amen.  Go raibh maith agaibh.

+Liam S. MacDaid
Bishop of Clogher

ENDS

Further information:
Fr Noel McConnell, Media Liaison Officer, Diocese of Clogher 00353 (0) 877860730
Martin Long, Communication Office, Maynooth, 00353 (0) 86 172 7678

PRESS RELEASE
25 July 2010
Homily of Bishop Noel Treanor, Bishop of Down and Connor, for the ordination of Right Reverend Monsignor Liam MacDaid as Bishop of Clogher - embargoed until 4.30pm Sunday 25 July "The urgent need for proactive Catholic lay activists, who are brave, committed, and informed, is fundamental to the renewal of our knowledge and appreciation of the  beauty of spiritual dynamism of the Christian faith and heritage and to the renewal of the Church in this country". - Bishop Treanor

Readings :  Is 61:1-3; Ps 39 ; 2 Tim 1:6-8,13-14, Mt 20:20-28

You have just heard, Fr Liam, that fulsome assent to your election as Bishop-Elect of Clogher. Given warmly, this assent echoes our appreciation and our gratitude that you accepted Pope Benedict XVI’s request to succeed Bishop Joseph Duffy in this ancient see.
Our assent conveys the congratulations and pride of so many of your friends : your brother, Christopher, and your relatives, friends and neighbours from  your native parish of Magh Ene (Bundoran), women and men with whom you have worked in education and in the many area of pastoral service in which you were active during four decades of priestly ministry, representatives of public life in both jurisdictions, representatives, friends and indeed co-parishioners from the Christian Churches in the diocese, friends from the days of your prowess on the Gaelic fields, fellow cognoscenti of lens, hoof and turf, the numerous individuals and families whose lives you have touched as teacher, school principal and then as pastor both in this diocese and far beyond its borders, and your former parishioners in the parishes of Aghavea-Aghintaine and my native Tyholland.
This expression of assent includes the fraternally supportive and vital voice of your brothers in the priesthood of the diocese of Clogher.  And it is embellished by the empathetic and graceful presence of members of your Maynooth ordination class, among whom you were eminent in many ways, particularly as editor of the review, Irisleabhar Mha Nuad.

On this historic Sunday in your life we, and many associated with us on stream, pledge you our support and continuing friendship. We wish you health and strength. Above all we thank you for taking on the office of bishop at this juncture in the history of salvation, at this trying point in the mystery-laden history of the Church and in an epoch of significant social, cultural and religious metamorphosis in the evolution of Irish society.
It is a genetic moment, that is, a moment of potential for growth of new life, of a church renewed through purification. If this genesis is necessarily uncharted and signally un-chartable, it is a pioneering time to assume the office of bishop in the service of the Catholic Community in contemporary society.

It is a promise-laden time to enter the Episcopal ministry in the context of growing ecumenical respect and trust between the leaders, clergy and faithful of the Christian Churches in this diocese and on the island of Ireland.

This is a time of challenge to the spirit of prophecy in the Christian community particularly, Fr Liam, in terms of a bishop’s vital role in dialogue with civic, economic, political and cultural leaders in society who must also seek to build and mould a societal context worthy of the human person. For if the paradigms of the relationship between the sacred and the secular, between Church and State, are also metamorphosing in this epoch of the history of Ireland, as they have throughout our history, in response to the Word of God and for the sake of the irreducible in each human person a prophetic voice must proclaim and remind us all that man is not his own measure. As bishop it will be your task to grow and foster that prophetic, and therefore self-critical, voice in the Church in Ireland as a leader of Christian citizenry in the coming years. In this arena, Fr Liam, you assume a responsibility today to help modulate the changing relationship of the religious and secular, whilst recognising in your role as bishop that that secular reason, the secular voice, (even if sometimes undifferentiated in its assertions about the role of religion and Church in society, as our own voice, let’s admit it, sometimes overstretches or simplifies life’s complexities), has purified the Church, is purifying it and will continue to do so in the present and in the coming years.   

As you assume the office of bishop against this background, the choice of readings you have made from the Sacred Scriptures for your Episcopal ordination sounds the signature tune of your aspiration as bishop. The figure of the servant-leader dominates. The servant image intertwines with the prayerful strophes of psalm 39 and the refrain, Here am I, O Lord, to do your will, thus proclaiming your prayerful choice to accept the mission entrusted to you.  

The lines of the first reading, a soliloquy, from Trito-Isaiah, ch. 61, vv. 1-3, pick up the motif of the suffering servant in Second Isaiah (Is. 40 – 55.13). These verses catch your understanding, Fr Liam, of the role and function of bishop as a servant-leader. They express your aspiration to pastoral leadership as service, and indeed what we all know to be the task of every bishop: to be the Spirit-anointed God-bearer, to proclaim the good news of God’s Word, to foster God’s mission of mercy and to awaken, nurture and sustain Christian hope in the community of believers and in society through the Church’s liturgy, prayer, work, charitable outreach and witness.  

The gospel text you have chosen, Mt 20:20-28, brings together a dialogue (vv.20-23) with a separate collection of sayings (from Lk 22.24-27) on Christian leadership. In the closing lines of the gospel text you have chosen, Jesus proffers two models of authority: freely exercised service and slavery. As Chancellor of the diocese you have the great advantage of having worked closely with Bishop Duffy. Having shared in his work, you know how the exercise of episcopal authority encompasses both models alluded to in this gospel text, freely chosen service and the endurance of slave-like fidelity through arduous unseen work, even betimes  as a "ransom"  as the gospel text puts it,  for the common good of the people of God.

The extract from the Second Letter to Timothy (2 Tim 1:6-8, 13-14), enunciates that the overseer of the Christian community, as you will become, Fr Liam, is entrusted “to look after something precious” (v.14).  As the Second Vatican Council distils that task, as bishop you are tasked with proclaiming the Word of God, with seeing to sanctification of life through the worthy celebration of the liturgy and sacraments and with governing the community of the Church. The lines from this Letter to Timothy  call us, and in particular they call you, as a bishop, Fr Liam, to bear hardships for the sake of the Good News (v.8,), the heart of that “something precious” that is entrusted to us.  

Exercising the ministry of bishop, as a servant-leader, my dear sisters and brothers in Jesus Christ, is a vocation. It is a response in faith and in priestly lifestyle to the God revealed in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Pursuing that vocation encompasses the pursuit of professional skills and competence, yet it requires the bishop to go beyond the realm of professional codes and to undertake a self-sacrificing surrender to God and his people under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

As ever in former centuries, yet particularly in our contemporary socio cultural context, bishops are called to be heralds and sentinels of the Holy. It is the bishop’s responsibility to ensure that the Christian community recognises the presence of the Absolute, the irruption of the divine, in human history in the historic and personal event of Jesus of Nazareth. It is a paramount responsibility of the bishop to witness to the mystery of God, the saving mystery of the divine plan of salvation, given a personal, relational dynamic through the incarnation and life of Jesus of Nazareth and continued and kept alive for us in the liturgy and sacramental prayer of the people of God, the Church. Mindful of the pivotal role[1] of the bishop from the earliest Christian centuries in presiding at the Eucharist, in caring for the celebration of the liturgy and thus assuring the communion (in Greek, koinônia)  of life in the Church, it is worth remembering that the strength and the attraction of the Church is found in the sacred liturgy. Where and when the liturgy is celebrated with fervour and in all its beauty, we experience the sources of our faith and its redemptive impulse and vision of the world. The liturgy itself is central element of evangelisation and indeed may become the lightening-rod for evangelisation in a society impoverished culturally, morally and spiritually by religious indifference.

As a bishop for and with the community of believers, as St Augustine said of himself as bishop, together with his people the bishop of today is called to apply the good news of the gospel in such a way that he is a herald of human dignity and its attendant rights and duties. Indeed it is his mission in Christ to be the sentinel of the absolute dignity of each person.  He is called to be guardian and herald of the constitutive mystery of human personal identity which cannot be reduced to, nor understood merely as an object, an ideal or an idol[2] . His it is to proclaim that each human person is a gift, a gift and a mystery to herself and himself, a gift in the image of God who also transcends our categories of knowing. Looking after that “something precious” alluded to in Second Timothy also entails heralding that enfleshed, concrete, yet mysterious, transcendence which each person carries in their body, mind and heart. This is a vital service to society as we citizens, and believers, address seminal issues of human identity and dignity in the years ahead.

In view of this vital component of the office and mission of the bishop in our global and interdependent village, the bishop has also to provide for the Church’s competent and skilled participation in public discussion of the groundbreaking anthropological and societal issues of our time. In this regard opening a new furrow of involvement on the part of Christian men and women and of groups combining religious faith with empirical and professional knowledge and insight is a sine qua non for the work of evangelisation in this country as elsewhere. The urgent need for a proactive Catholic intelligentsia – the critical voice of articulate, active, self-confident Christian Catholic women and men -  is fundamental to the renewal of our knowledge and appreciation of the beauty of spiritual dynamism of the Christian faith and heritage. It is a yeast for the renewal of the Church in this country. That voice is among us Liam, as you know. Let’s work with all to create and foster a space for its confident, free expression.

So, Fr Liam, you have graciously accepted to open a new and demanding phase in your priestly ministry.  Today is a day for celebrating God’s graciousness at work in the total mystery of your life and the generosity of your response to this His further call to you.

It is also an occasion when I and many of you, my dear friends, would wish to record our thanks to Bishop Joseph Duffy for his immense contribution to the life of the Church that is in the diocese of Clogher over thirty one years of service as bishop, spanning the closing decades of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first. His work to foster the Christian faith, ecumenical relations among the Christian Churches and communities in the decades of the Troubles, his guidance of the Clogher Historical Society, and his fostering of the arts and culture, especially religious art as exemplified in this cathedral, will occupy historians of a future generation. A bishop, charged with the oversight of a local Church, shares in the pastoral care of the universal Church.  In this arena there emerged the Clogher mission to Kitui, under Bishop Duffy’s direction and it is a joy that Fr Francis Kimanthi represents the Church of God in Kitui here among us today. For the Irish Bishops’ Conference Bishop Duffy’s work in several departments of the Episcopal conference, was influential and formative. His work for numerous years on the new and little understood interface between Christian faith and the project of European integration was pioneering and of significance for both Church and society. For all of this and much more, we thank you, Bishop Joe, and we wish you God’s blessing and many years of fruitful scholarship and research in the years ahead.

And finally, Fr Liam, as the ceremony of your Ordination to the Episcopate now continues with its centuries-old rites, we assure you of our prayers. We pray that you may fulfil and achieve your spiritual aspirations as bishop of Clogher. We pray that the Holy Spirit will empower you so that you may to be kind and supportive of the priests in the presbyterium of Clogher, so that you may  empower the lay faithful of its parishes and so that you may be granted  insight and imagination to govern wisely and well – and to do all this and more in the spirit of your motto : “through Christ Our Lord”.

1. St Ignatius of Antioch, Letters – Smyrn, VIII,2; Magn. VII ,2; Philad, IV,1
2. For the background to some of these thoughts I am indebted to addresses given by the philosopher Jean-Luc Marion and Mgr Claude Dagens, members of the Académie francaise on 21 January 2010 on the reception of the former as a member, cf  La Documentation catholique, no 2442.

Further information:
Fr Noel McConnell, Media Liaison Officer, Diocese of Clogher 00353 (0) 877860730
Martin Long, Communication Office, Maynooth, 00353 (0) 86 172 7678

PRESS RELEASE
23 July 2010
Homily of Archbishop Neary for Reek Sunday Mass on Croagh Patrick - embargoed until 10:30am Sunday 25 July Jesus had a reputation for taking to the mountains.  For many modern people this is not actually hard to understand.  He met every day with terrific and endless human need. He experienced endless demands from people in great distress looking for miracles. Day after day he would give health to the chronically ill, give sight to the blind, give life again to wasted limbs and give reassurance to those who felt broken with sin. Is it any wonder that he would go into the solitude of the mountain to put things in a proper perspective and to seek direction from the Father?

This morning, we come here with our own personal struggles – financial difficulties, the illnesses of our loved ones, and our own private pain. In the storm and stress of current controversies, and with the struggles of the Church to adjust, we come to this sacred mountain to get things in their proper perspective and seek the guidance of God.  The Ireland of today is not the nation of yesterday.  We are happy that the days of abject poverty have been replaced by days of sufficiency even if dole queues have recently appeared again after our days of plenty.  For all that, old certainties, in the sense of broad social agreements, have gone. Many have lost faith in the Church, in political promises, in the stable institutions of the past and we are not sure where our solid ground lies.  Even the God of our past is a hide and seek God who is not the centre of our lives as in days gone by; yet with the Psalmist we say: “I lift up my eyes to the mountain, from where shall come my help?  My help shall come from the Lord who made Heaven and Earth …. The Lord will guard your going and coming both now and forever”.  We need that reassurance in these days of confusion, anxiety and doubt.

What is interesting is that the divisions, different lifestyles and beliefs in our society today are not unlike those at the time of Jesus.  They may have different names today, but the tendencies represented by, for example, the Pharisees, Sadducees and others are still with us.  These groups, however unintentionally, help us to highlight the distinctive way of life proposed by Jesus and proclaimed by his followers today.  

In his teachings, and especially in his Parables, Jesus used a very effective “mirror” technique, holding up a mirror before the people, enabling them to see themselves, their reactions, their prejudices and their fears in the lives of others.  For example, in depicting the Pharisees Jesus was putting his listeners on their guard against falling into a similar trap of self-righteousness, hypocrisy, harsh judgement of others and lack of compassion.  He was effectively stating that these are a perennial temptation even for those in the best of faith.  As individuals, as Church leaders and members of the Church we acknowledge the powerful temptation to succumb to that mentality.  It is so easy to criticise and condemn rather than empower and encourage.  Perhaps in the past we have been preoccupied with fault-finding, failing to appreciate the heroic struggle of men and women to make ends meet, rear their families and provide an education for them.   Today, I think we listen more willingly to witnesses rather than to preachers.

We have great admiration for those who identify with others, especially the oppressed and downtrodden, those who work to remove oppressive relationships of one person or group over another.  In our society, as we speak, many people are working quietly but very effectively to liberate others from any kind of fear, refusing to condemn them or imprison them in their negative experiences or their sinful past.  It is always so life-giving to witness men and women who work to provide people with a new future and a hope that brings life, enabling them to oppose what is untrue and has no future.  In his own day Jesus stood in stark contrast to the religious groups of the time, breaking out of the traditional legal straitjacket.  In doing so he liberated people, challenged them to question the way things were and move forward to build a new society based on love, forgiveness, hope and compassion.

If we lose contact with Jesus Christ we deprive ourselves and others of the powerful source of healing and liberation.  We are all familiar with books and articles which analyse what is wrong with the world, with society, with the Church.  We are frequently the analysts of evils, the diagnosticians of disaster.  The truth of past pain is certainly coming to the surface.  But this is good news. We should embrace the truth even though this can be a painful task. However, we should also be aware of the dangers contained in what some have called a “culture of blame”.  We seek out the negligence of doctors, the health service, bankers, the Church or the school.  Maybe this makes it easier to deal with our own shortcomings, the neglect and indifference of others and the tyranny of blind chance.  Yet, even in righteous anger, the temptations of the Pharisees present themselves again, as subtle and powerful as they were two thousand years ago. Christ did not encourage us to imprison people by their human failings. Instead he taught us the way of forgiveness.

As followers of Jesus Christ we are commissioned to announce good news, gospel.  There is no gospel in simply telling people what is wrong.  A major question after all is not “what is wrong”? But “what can we do to put it right”?  We don’t find Jesus indulging in any prolonged analysis of the evil he saw around him. He knew the arrogance, the cruelty, the pride in the human exercise of power. He saw every day the suffering, the illness, the greed, the hostility that were to him quite contrary to the will of God.  What he was concerned with was not an endless diagnostic discussion but a liberating cure.  There is a world of difference between a paralysed, or even merely prurient, fascination with human evil and the insight that leads to freedom.  If we omit God, then there is nothing but endless analysis of our evil and our problems.  If our evil is indeed a dark and inscrutable shadow on a life we know to be full of promise and endless hope, then we can either wallow in despair or begin an active, inspired life of positive choice and direction.  

The Gospels are rich in the stories of Jesus’ understanding, compassion and love for the sinner.  He never turned away the man or woman immersed in sin because they might cause him embarrassment.  The sense of compassion is completely immersed in the love of God.  That compassion and forgiveness makes our lives and our parishes rise above the tragedies and devastation of today, transforming sadness into joy, despair into hope, and death into life.  Jesus does not ask us to be hammers of judgement or seekers of condemnation but to be the leaven, the yeast in our own parish so that, in our small ways, we may make God’s love rise among us.  The essence of faith is not a grim recognition of our guilt, but the reality and certainty of pardon.

For years people have said that we Catholics have gained a reputation for dwelling on sin and guilt along with the idea of a vengeful God. Yet the God of the scriptures is slow to anger and his nature is always to have mercy.  History is stained with the vendettas of tribes, religions and states that nourish perpetual hatred.  There is only one way to break the vicious cycle that tortures the human race – that is the way of forgiveness.  Once we have seen this we know why it is that Jesus put this in the forefront of our prayers; “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”. The acceptance of the forgiveness of God only becomes real for those in the forgiveness of others.  In the words of St Gregory of Nyssa “Lord, from you flows true and continued kindness, you have cast us off and justly so, but in your mercy you forgave us.  You were at odds with us and you reconciled us.”

In all of this, we need to accept that God is independent of our limitations.  When someone once said to Padré Pio “I don’t believe in God anymore”, he smiled and replied: “But God believes in you”.  God has put his faith in you this morning, reminding you in the words of St. Teresa of Avila: “I have no hands but your hands, no feet but yours, no eyes but your eyes and no heart but yours”. On this morning of pilgrimage we remember the men and women who have climbed the generations before us and are with God.  We ask them to guide our feet in the difficult terrain of today’s world and to bring us to a place founded on forgiveness.  As you leave the mountain top today an old Irish blessing seems appropriate; “may Christ, the gathering of hope, the bringer of spring time, the brightness of the seasons be upon you as you set forth today”.

Notes to editors

• Croagh Patrick, (c.2,510ft/765m) Ireland’s holy mountain, dominates the landscape of southwest Mayo both spiritually and physically. The Croagh Patrick pilgrimage is associated with St Patrick who, in 441, spent 40 days and nights fasting on the summit, following the example of Christ and Moses. The name ‘Reek Sunday’ comes from Patrick’s ability to Christianise many pagan customs including the festival of Lughnasa, which previously had heralded the start of the harvest festival honouring the ancient pagan god Lugh, whose name is encompassed in the Irish word for August: Lughnasa. This festival’s tradition became absorbed into the new Christian beliefs and locally become known as Domhnach na Cruaiche (Reek Sunday).
• This pilgrimage has been carried out uninterrupted for over 1500 years. Croagh Patrick has over 100,000 visitors annually with up 20,000 people expected this weekend.
• In 2008 in excess of 20,000 pilgrims climbed Croagh Patrick.  For the first time in the history of the Reek, Mass was televised live from the summit and broadcast on RTÉ television and on the world-wide web.
• For Reek Sunday 2006, Archbishop Neary and other pilgrims were accompanied by Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.  As successor to Saint Patrick, Cardinal Brady was the first Archbishop of Armagh to climb the Holy Mountain since Saint Patrick.  In 2005, Archbishop Neary unveiled a plaque to mark the centenary of St Patrick's Oratory on the summit.
• Mass will be celebrated at the summit at 8.00am and every half-hour thereafter until the last Mass at 2.00 pm.  The 10.00am Mass will be celebrated in Irish and Archbishop Neary will celebrate Mass at 10.30am.  Pilgrims may avail of the Sacrament of Reconciliation on the summit from 7.30am to 2.30pm.
• All those who intend to climb are asked to come prepared for the current weather conditions, to bring suitable warm/waterproof clothing, good footwear, a walking stick/staff and water, and to be mindful of the safety of themselves and other pilgrims.
• For the third year in succession the Tuam Diocesan Vocations Committee will organise a marquee at the foot of the mountain to promote vocations and distribute some of the new literature (www.onelifeonecalloneresponse.com). Some members of the Vocations Committee will be present, along with some of the seminarians and two members of the Diocesan Youth Council.
• Further information on Croagh Patrick, and a virtual tour of the mountain, can be viewed on the website of the Archdiocese of Tuam www.tuamarchdiocese.org
• See www.catholicbishops.ie for a special feature on Reek Sunday, including highlights from the 2008 RTÉ television broadcast, and an audio interview with Archbishop Neary about Croagh Patrick
• The website of Westport parish www.westportparish.ie also contains additional information about the Holy Mountain

ENDS

Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678
Brenda Drumm, Communications Officer 087 310 4444

PRESS RELEASE
19 July 2010
Homily of Bishop Donal McKeown for the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association National Pilgrimage to Knock, Sunday 18 July 2010 It is now 112 years since the foundation of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association in 1898. The message then was welcome and unwelcome in equal measure. It was praised by many as a serious attempt to muster spiritual energy and enthusiasm in the face of alcohol abuse that thrived amid a people whose spirit was crushed in many ways by poverty, urbanisation and lack of self-respect. It was laughed at by those who thought that nothing could be done in the face of widespread social problems and the associated human degradation – and that all we could expect of life was to eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow or the next day or some day we die. Those early members of the PTAA believed that people were capable of great acts of generosity and heroism. They believed that things could be changed. That is reflected everywhere from the title of your Heroic Offering to the courage of so many who still try to escape the painful claws of addiction that have so damaged their self respect, their relationships, their health and their hopes.

The fact that numbers of Pioneers in Ireland have fallen over the last years is perhaps a sign, not of your irrelevance but of the need that we have for your witness. After all, the Irish drinks market is estimated to be worth about €5bn per year. That means €100m per week is spent on intoxicating drinks. That is a huge part of our national budget. Not surprisingly we have the highest percentage of heavy under age drinking in Europe. Figures I saw recently suggested that 25% of 15-16 years olds in this country get drunk at least three times a month. It is estimated that 50,000 children get drunk every weekend in Ireland. The actions of intoxicated adults and some young people’s own inability to have control of themselves would imply that many children are being physically, emotionally and sexually abused across this country on a daily basis – and especially at weekends. I am not scaremongering when I suggest that frightening numbers of children are being physically abused because of addiction and that many under 18s are being sexually exploited each weekend – often in the name of harmless freedom and craic. But an abused child is an abused child whether they are in care or in a pub.  That is a national disgrace and we seem unable to acknowledge it. It affects not just people living somewhere else. It seeks to insinuate itself in to all families and all social strata. That is the dark underbelly of the image of the happy carefree Irish who enjoy socialising. Somebody pays the price and too often it is battered wives and abused children who pay the biggest toll. Too often it is our hospital and emergency staff, who have to pick up the pieces or defend themselves against intoxicated patients. Too often it is communities and key people like clergy, who have to try and deal with the effects and consequences of this dark secret that lurks in the corner of every part of this country. In a particular way, young people are both the beneficiaries and the victims of our new culture. But they are rarely the architects of it. However, if we dare criticise the situation, there are those who will say we are exaggerating or that Church people are trying to deflect attention from the evils of the past. To them I say that the price of repentance for the past is not silence about the present.  Practising self-denial for the greater glory and consolation of the Sacred Heart, abstinence in an age of over-indulgence is a powerful and uncomfortable counter-cultural sign. You might not be popular for it – but never let yourself be ashamed of it.

One key element in your daily Heroic Offering is making reparation for sins of intemperance. Many criticised the Holy Father when, in his letter to the Catholics of Ireland, he spoke of the need to do penance and proposed that Friday should be kept as a weekly day of penance. Some commentators dismissed that as asking the ordinary people of Ireland to do penance for the sins of clergy and bishops – and they couldn’t understand that idea. But all Christians come from the strange belief that Jesus is the innocent One, the Lamb of God that took away the sin of the world. Our secular society – that so often likes to locate sin and repentance only in individuals rather than accepting the possibility of corporate responsibility – cannot easily comprehend the idea of doing penance and making reparation for others. But Pioneers and all Christians can. Making reparation for ourselves and for others is at the heart of being a Pioneer and a part of what all Christ’s followers are called to do. In fact St Paul takes up that theme in our second reading. He is, he says, happy to suffer for the Colossians, doing what he can in his body to make up for what still has to be undergone by Christ for the sake of his body, the Church. Of course, that should never be a smoke screen for a failure of church leaders to do penance for their own sins and the sinners of departed colleagues. It can never be an excuse for not instituting the necessary reforms. But in the Body of Christ, we share both a story and a hope. When one rejoices, we can all rejoice. When one is diminished, we are all diminished. The shame of child abuse is a shame for us all. But it would be great if the powerful who lead the new secular hierarchy in our country could accept that they too share responsibility, not just for righteously punishing offenders, but also for the addiction and crime of so many across our country – and learn the need for shared reparation because of the dangerous world that we have created for too many of young people.

And the wisdom of the PTAA goes further than that. You believe that sin and the powers of the Devil cannot be overcome merely by prison sentences or fines. Evil can be overcome only by grace and by spiritual warfare. The defeat of sin and of its destructive consequences is part of a spiritual warfare in which we are all involved. Sin cannot be overcome by human effort alone – that is the core of the Gospel message about Jesus’ death and resurrection. He absorbed sin and it crushed him. But his resurrection was a divine statement that even the worse that human do was not able to destroy God’s dream for the world. For he loved that world so much that he sent his only son that we might have eternal life. That is a statement that – as members of the Body of Christ - we can all become channels of God’s healing for ourselves and for others, even without knowing it. Christ, St Paul tell us, is not out there somewhere, a strange God. The God of Jesus is one who is among us, our hope of glory. As Abraham and Sarah discovered in the first reading, God’s presence is woven in and out of the daily fabric of our lives. Christ walks with all those who take up their cross to follow him. If doing penance, making reparation for others, was good enough for St Paul, it is good enough for all of us who bear witness to the love of God, revealed in the image of Christ’s Sacred Heart.

Do not be afraid or ashamed to encourage reparation for the sinful abuse of children and adults that has happened in Ireland and that continues to afflict so many. Do not be afraid to make reparation for the victims of alcohol and drug abuse. We have to keep highlighting past and present evil without being trapped in it or crushed by the truth. Continue to do penance for the sins of those Church personnel who abused children. We have all been diminished and humiliated by what they did. And never forget that any discomfort we feel is nothing compared to the lives ruined and scarred by the terrible abuse of trust and power that they suffered. They suffered a loss of dignity, of power, or peace of mind that has stayed with them day and night for decades. You know that because there are people here today who have been abused by people they trusted. And some will have sought comfort in alcohol or other substances. So any criticism we might utter about alcohol abuse is tempered. Perhaps we ought also to focus less on the victims of our society and more on the strong who take advantage of the young and the weak. That happened then – and it still happens across this land. In a strong church we were terribly blind to our sins. Our new society is equally capable of culpable self-deceit today. In a society where it is dangerous to be young and male and where self control, chastity and moderation are mocked as out-dated, you proclaim that we are capable of great things. In a society where self-indulgence is seen as a virtue, you proclaim that there are other ideals. In a culture that says we must obey our thirst and ‘just do it’, you say that the human heart yearns for love and meaning rather than just for another pint of ice-cool lager that promises everything and delivers nothing. That theological and psychological truth will win out in the end.

And where do we get the strength to be faithful to that rocky road that leads via Calvary to resurrection? In the Gospel Jesus tells Martha that doing is not everything. Jesus ultimately does not ask us to do things for him but to be with him. He is the one who leads. He is the one who tells us what is the best way to spend or time. He is the one who invites us to table with him where he can break bread and break the word of God with us. The PTAA is a spiritual movement, not just a social reform group. Focus on spiritual development of your members. It is remarkably easy to succumb to the temptation of being too busy for God. Jesus says that we need also to be quiet with God. Otherwise we will exhaust ourselves seeking to please God rather than be nourished by letting God feed us and share his dream with us. Jesus is not impressed even by years of abstention from alcohol. What pleases the heart of Jesus is that we allow that heart to enfold us, as Mary did. Only then can giving good example, practicing self denial and making reparation be a response to God’s righteousness rather than a hollow expression of our own self-righteousness.

We come to the shrine of Mary the mother of the Lord. We ask that she will help us know the love of her son’s Sacred Heart through the eyes of her maternal heart. And we pledge ourselves to work for an Ireland where we can all celebrate because we know love - rather than party because we fear silence. And we commit ourselves to be used as channels of healing to renew the wounded face of this country.
ENDS

Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678

PRESS RELEASE 16 July 2010 Bishop John McAreavey welcomes Holy See update on Norms on serious crimes Bishop John McAreavey, Bishop of Dromore and co-chair of the Bishops’ Council for Communications welcomed yesterday’s publication by the Holy See of the new Normae de Gravioribus Delictis (Norms concerning the most serious crimes).

Bishop McAreavey said “The Catholic Church has a body of law, canon law, to help promote the common good and for the consistent governance of the Church throughout the world.  Yesterday’s publication of the new Norms strengthens parts of the Church’s law and covers all of the breaches of law considered to be exceptionally serious.  I very much welcome this comprehensive and updated publication which will help us deal with the very serious crime and sin of child sexual abuse.

“Yesterday’s Norms updated and reformed the 2001 Vatican publication Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela (Safeguarding the Sanctity of the Sacraments) which did not just deal with child sexual abuse, but also contained a number of serious offences relating of the Sacraments of the Church.  These new Norms develop and add to these offences.

“I welcome in particular the fact that the new Norms refer to sanctions against abusers of vulnerable adults, including those with special needs of any age.  By placing this abuse on a par with the abuse of children and young people, the Church wishes to highlight the dignity of those with special needs and its desire to keep them safe.

“I also welcome the making explicit of the crime of paedophile pornography relating to the ‘acquisition, possession or disclosure’ by a member of the clergy.   In this way the Church wishes to highlight the horrendous degradation of children used in the production of pornographic materials.

“However some media interpretation of yesterday’s publication attempts to draw an equivalence between the ordination of women and child sexual abuse.  This is unfounded.  The former offence relates to the sacraments, the latter to immorality.  The fact that a variety of issues are dealt with in one document does not imply in any context that all these issues are equivalent.

“Yesterday’s publication is not the end of the matter, rather it reflects the Holy See’s ongoing commitment to addressing the very serious issue of child abuse.  The Holy See is working on further instructions for bishops, so that the directives it issues on the subject of sexual abuse of minors, whether by clergy or in institutions connected with the Church, may be increasingly rigorous, coherent and effective.”

In conclusion Bishop McAreavey said “Earlier this year the Holy See published a guide to understanding Church procedures concerning sexual abuse allegations which said that the civil law concerning the reporting of crimes to the appropriate authorities should always be followed.  This has been the policy in the Irish Church since 1996.”
ENDS

Notes for Editors

Please see the ‘Responding to Abuse’ section on www.catholicbishops.ie to access links on the Vatican website for the following texts published yesterday:

• Norms
• Letter to the bishops of the Catholic Church and to the Ordinaries and Hierarchs, regarding the modifications introduced in the Normae de gravioribus delictis
• The norms of the Motu Proprio “Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela” (2001): Historical introduction
• A brief introduction to the modifications made in the Normae de gravioribus delictis, reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
• The significance of the publication of the new "Norms concerning the most serious crimes". Note by Fr. F. Lombardi

Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678