Today is the ninth anniversary of the death of Fr Gerry Reynolds. While my biography of Fr Gerry was published as Unity Pilgrim: The Life of Fr Gerry Reynolds CSsR in 2019, other stories of his witness continue to emerge.
Two such stories have been told in books published this year, In Good Time by Rev Harold Good and Finding our Voice by Rev Neil Glover. Both books are well worth reading in their own right (and a panel discussion about In Good Time is planned for this Tues 3 December at the Church of St John the Evangelist on the Falls Road).
But for today I want to share their stories of Gerry.
Prayer
In Rev Harold Good’s memoir, In Good Time, Gerry’s prayerful presence appears in an exchange between Rev Good and Fr Alec Reid after a conversation they had with Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness in Clonard Monastery, prior to IRA decommissioning (p. 140). Good says:
“I found myself deeply conscious of the moment and of the trust invested in us. When Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness had left that room in Clonard to just the two of us, in a moment of uncharacteristic piety I suggested to Fr Alec that we might pray together. ‘Oh dear,’ said he with a mischievous smile, ‘You are just like Fr Gerry [Reynolds]. He always has to pray about everything!’ But pray we did. And not for the last time.”
I have in fact also written an academic article inspired by Fr Gerry’s prayer, ‘Praying for Paisley – Fr Gerry Reynolds and the Role of Prayer in Faith-Based Peacebuilding: A Preliminary Theoretical Framework.’
Prayer is an under-studied and often overlooked aspect of faith-inspired peacebuilding.
“I’ve Been Thinking …”
The other story is detailed in Finding our Voice: Searching for Renewal in the Mainline Church by Church of Scotland Rev Neil Glover. Glover was a youth minister at Fitzroy Presbyterian in Belfast in the early 2000s. Fitzroy and Clonard had a long-standing partnership, led by Fr Gerry and Fitzroy’s Rev Ken Newell. Glover writes (p. 67-69):
“When not celebrating Mass in his own parish, Father Gerry would often attend our services, including a particular all-age service in 2001.
All-age services had had a vexed history in our congregation and everybody dreaded them: adults found them banal, children were rarely engaged, and with dozens of unfocused ideas they often lasted an age. Chastened by previous liturgical disasters, I had worked hard to put together the perfect all-age liturgy: energetic, fun, insightful and held together by a non-negotiable timetable. This service would not drag: the benediction would be pronounced at 11.50 am precisely!
Up until 11.40 am we were doing splendidly. Then at 11.41 am it seemed that God spoke to Father Gerry who, during the next song, moved out of his pew and began walking towards the front of the church. Even as Gerry walked, I had a sense of what might be about to happen: Gerry would want to speak and my schedule would be ruined. He may have been a living saint and hero of the peace process, but at this precise moment (now 11.43) I was furious with him.
‘Neil, I’d like to say a few words, if that would be okay,’ he asked. How could I say no? This was Father Gerry. ‘Okay, Father,’ I muttered, hoping he would pick up on my reluctance.
Gerry moved to the lectern, and began to speak …
‘I’ve been thinking,’ he announced in his thick Limerick accent.
‘I’ve been thinking,’ he repeated (again!).
‘I’ve been thinking about the Trinity.’
‘Oh no!’ I thought. ‘This is a disaster, abstract theological speculation in the middle of an all-age worship which needs to finish in six minutes’ time.’
‘I’ve been thinking about the Trinity, and how it is that the Father is the Father for the Son, and the Son is the Son for the Father, and the …’
‘He’s going to go round the whole of the Trinity!’ I inwardly protested.
‘Hurry up, Gerry, get going, we get the point!’
‘… and the Son is the Son for the Spirit, and the Spirit is the Spirit for the Son, and the …’
We were not going to finish in five minutes.
‘…and the Spirit is the Spirit for the Father, and the Father is the Father for the Spirit.
‘And I’ve been thinking, that the one is different from the other, for the sake of the other. Their difference is the gift they offer to each other.
‘And I’, who am Catholic, am Catholic for you, you who are Protestant.
‘And you who are Protestant are Protestant for me, me who is Catholic.
‘The difference we are to one another is the gift we give to one another.
‘And this is rooted in the very being of God.’
I cannot remember any other thing about that service. I can only remember what Father Gerry had said: that the difference we are to one another is a gift we give to one another, and this is rooted in the very being of God. This was not taught as an abstract theological truth but spoken in a city which had been torn apart by violence, and by a priest who had given his life for the cause of peace. When receiving the International Pax Christi award in 1999, Father Gerry Reynolds said these words:
“We are learning that the destiny of Christians in Northern Ireland is to help make an end of the Reformation conflict. We discover that those we used to call ‘outsiders’ are truly ‘brothers and sisters’ in Christ and that we hold our traditions not against but for one another. We are learning that ‘Love one another as I have loved you’ is a call to us not only as individual persons, but also as congregations and communities of the church … it has been said that ‘divided churches cost lives.’”
In Protestant mainline churches our diversity may have cost us growth, but to give it up would cost us even more – it would cost us our very selves. And when faithfully discerned, we will continue to discover that our diversity is not a burden, but a gift, leading us into the very being of God.”
Of course, Glover further develops his thoughts on mainline church renewal throughout the book, which reminds me of Fr Gerry’s other frequent prayers. While writing his biography I had access to his diaries. They were filled with prayers not only to saints of the Catholic Church, but to Reformers like John Calvin and John and Charles Wesley.
Fr Gerry asked these Protestant saints to help his Protestant sisters and brothers to complete their reform, for the benefit of all.
Today these stories remind us to join Fr Gerry in that prayer.