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Two of Northern Ireland's best-known clergymen - Rev Harold Good and Father Alec Reid - who played a pivotal role in the Northern Ireland peace process, were today honoured by Queen's University. At this morning's graduation ceremony, the two churchmen - who acted as witnesses for the decommissioning of IRA weapons, were awarded honorary Doctorates of the University for services to the community. Queen's Professor of Politics Richard English, who delivered the citation, said: "It is clear that both Father Reid and Reverend Good have made important and distinctive contributions to the development of peace in Northern Ireland. The most publicised instance of this came in 2005, when the two men were asked to verify - as independent witnesses of recognized integrity - the decommissioning of IRA arms. "They have both, in their own ways, been lastingly and impressively committed to ending political violence in Northern Ireland. They embody a strand of Northern Ireland's recent past which will, I believe, come to be more and more recognized as the histories of those bloody years come to be written in ever-more detail: namely, the Christian contribution, amid difficult and bloody conflict, towards reconciliation, dialogue, and the sincere pursuit of peace." Father Reid, who was born in County Tipperary, entered the Redemptorist Order in 1950. Ordained a priest in 1957, he spent almost 40 years at the Clonard Monastery in Belfast. He has, more recently, joined the Redemptorist community at Marianella in Dublin. Professor English said: "During his years in Belfast, he made an immense contribution to the life and welfare of those whom he encountered. He helped facilitate the process of shifting militant Irish republicans from their ‘armed struggle' towards more peaceful and conciliatory politics in the North of Ireland. This was a vital contribution. He was trusted and respected by people from various wings of nationalist Ireland, and his talks with a range of bodies and individuals played a key part in Northern Ireland's movement from violence towards peace." Reverend Harold Good was born in Londonderry and ordained a Minister of the Methodist Church in 1962. His distinguished career - which included Ministry in the Shankill area of Belfast - culminated in his election as President of the Methodist Church in Ireland for 2001-2. He has also served as Director of the Corrymeela Centre for Reconciliation, and as a member of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. He was awarded an MBE in 1970, and an OBE in 1985. Following his retirement from the ministry in 2002, he has lectured both in Edgehill College and at Queen's University. Professor English said: "Through all of this, he has been impressively committed to the process of reconciliation between the divided communities of Northern Ireland. His well-deserved reputation here rests in part on his having experienced first-hand - like Father Reid - some very grim aspects of what has occurred in this part of the world during recent decades. He has remained committed to reconciliation none the less and, like Father Reid, he has remained committed to dealing directly with paramilitaries as well as their victims, in the belief that this has been a necessary part of a Christian ministry devoted to making peace." |
