In Northern Ireland, the Gospel Makes Christians out of Protestants and Catholics

With its long history of sectarian violence, Belfast, Northern Ireland, isn’t a popular site for international conventions. But it was the city chosen by Prison Fellowship International (PFI) for its symposium on prison ministry.

PFI Chairman Charles Colson called Belfast the ideal setting for the July meetings.

“Belfast provided a backdrop and set a tone that could never have been realized in a secluded Caribbean setting,” he said. “After all, it is in a wounded, messed-up world that we must plant the kingdom. Belfast has become identified with sectarianism and hostility. Out of repentance and brokenness in that context can come genuine reconciliation.”

In the week prior to the Belfast symposium, a BBC reporter told Colson that his name was on the “hit list” of the IRA (Irish Republican Army), presumably because of Prison Fellowship Northern Ireland’s activities among inmates. The symposium passed without incident, but the alleged death threat was symptomatic of the strife that continues in Northern Ireland.

In the midst of that strife, reconciliation is taking place in Northern Ireland’s prisons. Many of the inmates have been jailed for terrorist activities or involvement in outlawed organizations.

Reconciliation has been especially evident during the past two years in prisons where Catholic and Protestant partisans have been converted. Such conversions were illustrated at the symposium by the presence of two prisoners, Liam and Jimmy, who were on a week’s pass from Magilligan Prison.

Liam, 26, was one of the IRA prisoners involved in the “dirty” protests in which inmates smeared their own excrement on the walls of their cells. He also took part in the 1981 IRA hunger strikes that took the lives of Bobby Sands and three others. Liam joined the hunger strike for 55 days, temporarily losing his sight.

Now a Christian, the former IRA terrorist said the answer to Ireland’s problems involves individual and social reconciliation through Jesus Christ.

Liam attended the symposium with Jimmy, 23, a Protestant inmate who had been sympathetic to illegal paramilitary activities. Jimmy became a Christian in prison and renounced violence.

Asked how they would have responded if they had met prior to their conversions, Liam said they would have tried to shoot each other.

Ministry to the inmates is being carried out largely by a dozen or more committed volunteers who faithfully visit the prisoners. Glennis Blackburn, an elderly prison visitor, has made a profound impact on inmates. In spite of the filth of the “dirty” protest, she persisted in visiting the prisoners to present a Christian witness.

Another volunteer, Bill Holley, conducts a weekly Bible study that attracts some 20 inmates, both Catholic and Protestant, in Magilligan Prison. Holley is a former medical officer at Magilligan who is now retired.

Christians who minister to the prisoners include Protestants and Catholics. The Rev. Neal Carlin, a Catholic priest and a Prison Fellowship Northern Ireland board member, has led several inmates to the Lord in the Maze Prison. Overseeing the work of Prison Fellowship Northern Ireland is Executive Director James McIlroy, a Protestant.

Much of Prison Fellowship’s work involves organizing volunteers on the outside of prison walls. In Northern Ireland, Catholics and Protestants have formed groups to pray for particular prisons. They also form groups to provide fellowship and support to inmates who are released from prison.

Carlin helped establish a program in Derry (Londonderry) to help inmates successfully reenter the community. Called Columba House, the ministry provides Bible studies, fellowship, temporary lodging, and assistance in finding employment.

The reconciliation that is taking place among prisoners is spilling over into the churches and cities of Northern Ireland. In Downpatrick, a Protestant mother told a congregation of Catholics and Protestants about the events that followed her daughter’s shooting. On her way home from church last year, the woman’s 18-year-old daughter was shot in an IRA ambush. The young woman died 10 days later.

Liam, the former IRA member who became a Christian in prison, heard about the shooting. He wrote to the mother, expressing his concern as a fellow Christian.

The mother wrote back, and the two began corresponding. They met for the first time in Downpatrick, where the mother took Liam’s hand and told the congregation: “Only Christ can heal our troubled land.”

LESLIE K. TARRin Belfast

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