The Fighting Irish and Christian non-violence - building true peace

It was the eminent Swiss psychologist, Carl Jung, who died in 1961, who spoke about “the shadow and the light” within each person.

The dark shadow is where the fear, the guilt and the anger abide. The light or Kingdom of God within, to use Christ’s phrase, is where love, peace and joy abide.

Good counselling, if desired, allows love to overcome fear, peace envelope anger and joy replace guilt. Do we really want such good counsel? Do we have, like John Hume had, the firm belief in the strength and worthwhile justice emanating from non-violent action?

I suspect many have that level of faith. It is not a mere passive attitude of not being violent. It is the hard work of active non-violence in seeking equality, fairness and mutual respect that calls for dedicated lives led fully like that of John Hume, Martin Luther King, Ghandi and latterly Nelson Mandela.

Was it Chief Seattle that told a young native American brave, about the black violent wolf and the white wolf of peace that live in the soul of each of us, “They are in conflict” “Which wins the conflict?” asked the young brave. The Chief said, “the one you feed the most”.

We Irish like the title “The Fighting Irish”. We sing such emotionally charged rebel songs as the “Four Green Fields” by Tommy Makem and read Dan Breen’s “My Fight for Irish Freedom”, both of which promote violence as the way.

Yet Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, like John Hume, A Nobel Prize winner also says this: “Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence. Any man who has once proclaimed violence as his method is inevitably forced to take the lie as his principle.”

The question is locally, are we too tired after over thirty years of violence to come to our senses as men and women of Derry and Ireland and build a truly active non-violent citizens’ movement that will not be infiltrated or bullied by those with other agendas.

If we are to build on the achievements of the Good Friday Agreement, it is surely by promoting TRUE Peace and Justice.

The peace we have enjoyed since the Loyalists’ and Republicans’ ceasefire has been an uneasy peace. It has been the absence of violence for which we are thankful. The peace which promotes and fosters true and lasting trust for the future however involves much more.

It is a change of heart whereby both sides help each other. As the Good Samaritan story says, we are invited to cross the road and help heal and even pay for the other’s wellbeing and recovery.

This surely would be to build on the legacy of John Hume, who’s life we celebrated. It would be to build our House on Rock and on the Gospel values and life of Jesus Christ. Are we ready to say ‘yes’ to that?

Let me finish with a text that enabled Liam McCloskey, a hunger striker of 55 days, to decide to opt totally for non-violence.

In Musgrave Park Hospital, during recovery Liam read from the Book of Revelations 3:16 “I would that you were either hot or cold. Because you are lukewarm, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

It’s time for the people on this island of Ireland, North and South whether we call ourselves Irish or British to stop hopping from side to side and opt for true peace born of non-violence.

Fr Neal Carlin

Columba Community of Prayer and Reconciliation,

Queen Street, Derry.