In June there was a formal launch of Clonard Monastery’s new ‘Unity Pilgrim’ resources, which are now freely available for use in churches and among young people.
Shannon Campbell, Director of the Catholic Chaplaincy at Queen’s, was the main speaker. In her contribution, she observed that ‘the past is not a place wo which we would wish to return’ and commended the resources as tools to engage people -especially young people – with peacemaking. Her remarks are reproduced below.
Shannon Campbell on the Unity Pilgrim Resources
Good evening everyone. Thank you for having me here this evening. My name is Shannon, and I work as Director at the Catholic Chaplaincy at Queen’s. Part of my role in the Chaplaincy is to facilitate a school retreat programme, Project Gratitude, in partnership with Clonard Youth Ministry. I’m very much looking forward to making use of these wonderful new resources as part of our programme.
When Gladys asked me to provide some words of reflection this evening, I was honoured, although slightly anxious. But when she informed me that the theme of these new resources was peace and unity, I was delighted, and instantly felt at peace myself. What a beautiful theme for this new resource, and how fitting for these troubled times.
The significance of a resource such as this must not be undermined, and ought to be promoted, highlighted and celebrated, as we’ve all gathered here to do this evening.
There is no doubt that there is still work to be done for peace in Northern Ireland, to build upon the legacies of Fr Gerry and Fr Alec, both of whom played such pivotal roles.
(Image: Fr Alec Reid, from the Quiet Peacemakers exhibition by Susan Hughes)
What struck me about the resource was the emphasis placed upon the importance of peace, even with disagreement. The two are not incompatible – we can agree to disagree, and we can peacefully agree to disagree.
BBC Radio 4’s ‘Beyond Belief’ recently ran with a feature on ‘The Good Friday Agreement generation.’ Just months old when the agreement was signed, and now engaged in young adult faith formation at the Queen’s University Chaplaincy, I was invited to offer my thoughts on how faith had contributed to the making of Northern Ireland as I know it.
I was struck by the predetermined narrative that both producers and presenter appeared to have fixed on; one which suggested that religion in our context was a problem to be solved, rather than a vital contributor to the national conversation. Putting people in boxes doesn’t quite work anymore.
Everyone taking part in the panel discussion who was of my generation was at pains to stress the positive impact that faith had had in their own lives and personal stories. The presenter seemed confused, almost perplexed, that this should be the case.
The notion of predetermined narratives and their helpfulness is being challenged increasingly these days, and rightly so. None of us fit neatly into the boxes people and groups would put us. For him, when it came down to peace and disagreement, it was either or, not both and. For me, and I think for all of us here this evening, it is both and. To quote from the resource:
“it can be very easy to write off someone else’s viewpoint. However, how strange or incorrect or unacceptable it might seem to us, there is a reason why they believe what they do.”
Take me as a case and point. I was born to a Catholic father, and a Protestant mother. Not an easy start in life when you’re born in Portadown, at a time when the Garvaghy Road dispute was raging. I went to an integrated primary school, and was taught alongside children of all faiths and none. I progressed then to St Catherine’s College in Armagh, and it was there that my first real encounter with Catholicism happened, in a very natural, unobtrusive way.
Interestingly, it was the influence of my Grandmother, who is a devout Anglican, and who brought me to Church with her on Sundays, that made me open and positive to religion generally, and made possible my embrace of Catholicism as a teenager.
I received instruction from the Jesuits in Portadown and have marked all of the usual milestones of faith that children in Northern Ireland take for granted, during my late teens and early adulthood. After qualifying from St Mary’s University College Belfast as a religion teacher for the Catholic Maintained sector, I am now working as Director of Campus Ministry at the Catholic Chaplaincy at Queen’s.
My Anglican grandmother – who we wouldn’t change for the world – remains my greatest faith friend and was delighted to join the Chaplaincy community at Christmas time. Her only concern was that she might say the bit at the end of the Lord’s Prayer that we Catholics insist on leaving out! I know that my story is in no way unique, in fact, it’s repeated in a variety of permutations in families across Northern Ireland.
These are the stories which don’t make newspaper headlines, or the pages of solemn history books, but which have, and continue to contribute to the making of peace and reconciliation in this small patch of our world.
In the Catholic Chaplaincy where I work, we were recently gifted a collection of portraits by local artist Susan Hughes from her 2014 exhibition ‘Quiet Peacemakers.’ They feature people of Christian faith who in quiet, unassuming ways, operated under the radar during troubled times, working to bring communities together. Not least, Fr Gerry Reynolds and Fr Alec Reid, whose lives and work are the catalyst for this evening’s conversation.
(Image: Fr Gerry Reynolds, from the Quiet Peacemakers exhibition by Susan Hughes)
The portraits were gifted to us at a time when riots were breaking out on our streets over the Northern Ireland protocol. Those taking part in the civil unrest, using the slogans of the bad old days, were of a generation that has only known peace.
They are the unknowing beneficiaries of the labours of quiet peacemakers who have gone before them and who know, from painful experience, that the past is not a place to which we would wish to return.
Those paintings now hang in the Chaplaincy’s cloister, overlooking our garden, which is itself an oasis of peace at the heart of the University campus. It is hoped they will serve as a timely reminder to a younger generation of the lessons of history and the role that faith can have in making (and keeping) peace. And that is exactly what a resource like this will do, and more.
The fact that this resource is the result of focus group conversations with young people, youth ministers and others – already the process which has delivered this resource has provoked important conversations amongst a new generation coming through who have no memory of how bad things were, but who very much need to learn the lessons of history, lest it repeat itself.
Just 6 weeks ago, were privileged to meet with Pope Francis in person as part of our student pilgrimage to Rome, celebrating 50 years of the Catholic Chaplaincy at Queen’s. He shared with us some memories of his time as a student in Argentina. He also offered us words of wisdom as young people of faith in Northern Ireland. He said:
“If we truly believe in Jesus, we must do what Jesus does: encounter others, encounter our neighbours, in order to share with them the saving truth of the Gospel.” He said, “The Christian faith is fundamentally about an encounter with Jesus Christ” He noted that building a culture of encounter in the service of God’s kingdom is “personally demanding”, but at the same time exciting, as “it allows us to weave a web of relationships which can make our lives together ‘a genuine experience of fraternity, a caravan of solidarity, a sacred pilgrimage’.
He continued, “Building a culture of encounter is not simply about seeing, but looking; it is not about hearing, but listening; it is not about just meeting or passing people by, but stopping to engage with them about the things that really matter.”
I was struck when I had a look at this resource for the first time, which happened to be whilst I was still in Rome, by how the sentiments that the Holy Father expressed to us that morning are echoed throughout.
This resource encourages young people to promote a culture of encounter within whatever environment they find themselves, thus, as Pope Francis said that day, contributing “to building up Ireland’s noble traditions of hospitality, reconciliation, fidelity to the Gospel and steadfastness in the pursuit of holiness”.
Christianity has to find new, creative ways of connecting with people to share with these eternal, life-giving truths, and ultimately contribute to peace in our world and the transformation of society, and I have every confidence that these resources will do just that.
These methods of new evangelisation call for more than a crude count of bums on pews in church. What I am certain of is that now, perhaps more than ever, young people need to be reassured that life does make sense, that there is a God who loves them, and that in the end, all will be well.