Archbishops call for Christians to commit to ‘ministry of reconciliation’ in 2024 Easter message

Archbishop Eamon Martin, Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, and Archbishop John McDowell, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh, said the work of reconciliation was an ‘essential duty and service’.

“This time last year, when we marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the signing of Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, we asked people to remember what a significant and gracious achievement that was.

“Among its many virtues it carried the message of reconciliation and held out the promise of a truly reconciled society in Northern Ireland and within ‘the totality of relationships’ across these islands.

"One year on, rather than simply re-emphasising the message of reconciliation, we prefer - in all humility and admitting our own failings - to call Christians, and all people of goodwill, to the ministry of reconciliation. Reconciliation is not merely an optional extra to the work of peace-making; it is an imperative - an essential duty and service,” they said.

The church leaders said that within our ‘own broken society’ the 1998 peace agreement held out the challenging ‘message’ of reconciliation.

"However it will only be put into effect if we commit ourselves to the ‘ministry’ (i.e. the service) of reconciliation. Christian people have a particular calling to this work of service, knowing ourselves to be indebted to God in a way we can never repay. We have been forgiven much and are called to love much.

"Meaningful reconciliation here is the unfinished work of peace. We all have a part to play in the service of building a reconciled society: governments, in the framing of policy and legislation and in the rebuilding of relationships at the highest levels; civic society, in fulfilling their varied tasks with competence and honesty; individual citizens, in remembering that great societies are those which take into account not only their debt to the past, but also their obligations to those yet to be born,” the Archbishops stated.

They concluded: “We are thankful these days for having recently witnessed in Northern Ireland ‘a little resurrection’ of certain institutions, which in themselves are necessary but which in reality are impotent things without the ministry of reconciliation which we each hold in our hands.”

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