The ministries of Fr Gerry Reynolds and Fr Alec Reid, Redemptorists at Clonard Monastery in Belfast, have been recognized as vital to Northern Ireland’s peace process.
Nearly a quarter-century after the Good Friday Agreement, their work of peace remains unfinished and requires new activists.
New ‘Unity Pilgrims’ resources, launched in June 2022, are freely available for use in churches and among young people.
The resources are supplemented by this short video guide:
They can be downloaded:
Unity Pilgrims: What Does it Mean to Practice Christian Unity
This resource explains the purpose and practice of the Clonard Unity Pilgrims, a group of Catholic Christians who regularly visit services of other Christian denominations – an initiative developed by Fr Gerry. The aim of the booklet is to encourage other followers of Jesus (from all denominations and traditions) to adopt the practice of visiting other faith communities as part of their communal worship.
Print copies may be collected from Clonard.
Resource for School Retreats and Youth Groups
This resource is currently used by Clonard Youth Ministry and includes reflective activities for school groups (and other groups) of various ages, often fitting into a segment of a retreat day. It includes guidance for activities across four age groups: key stage 2 (8-11); key stage 3 (12-14), GCSE (15-16), and A-level/Young adults (17-18+). It could be used in other youth settings.
The resources were produced after focus group conversations with young people, youth ministers, and people who have been involved with the Unity Pilgrims. Financial support for the focus groups and the production of the resources and videos was provided by a Queen’s University impact grant, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (UK). The project was rooted in my 2019 biography of Fr Gerry, Unity Pilgrim: The Life of Fr Gerry Reynolds CSsR.
The aims of the resources are to:
- Raise awareness of Fr Gerry and Fr Alec’s lives and ministries, inspiring others to sustain or create faith-based initiatives focused on peacebuilding and/or ecumenism.
- Introduce Fr Gerry and Fr Alec’s lives and the Unity Pilgrims model to younger generations as a means of equipping them for peacebuilding and ecumenical activism.
- Support the creation of new groups of Unity Pilgrims (or other initiatives) in both Catholic parishes and Protestant congregations.
It is Clonard’s hope that these resources: the video and guides for young people, and for parishes and congregations (both Catholic and Protestant), will help people think creatively about how inter-church activism can contribute to the transformation of our society today.
#Redemptorists #Peace #Unity #ClonardMonastery
