THE Anglican and Roman Catholic Archbishops of Armagh — the Most Revd John McDowell and the Most Revd Eamon Martin— have reflected together on the Northern Ireland Executive’s draft Programme for Government 2024-27, published in September.
In a joint article within the Belfast Telegraph and The Irish News this week, they consult with the mandate given to the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive three years ago, which has resulted within the programme to assist Northern Ireland to “come good”.
Broadly interpreting that as equating with “the common good”, they describe the optimistic tone of the programme as “a welcome change to the usually stagnant and stultifying rhetoric that characterised political commentary here while the Assembly was suspended”.
The Archbishops commend the programme for “daring to dream” of “opportunity”, “hope”, and “partnership”, with priorities given to “people”, “planet”, and “prosperity”, underpinned by a “cross-cutting commitment to peace”.
“The challenge facing all of us is to make sure that our kids and young persons are educated and cared for in a way that not only gives them opportunities within the job market but which also deepens their humanity and their desire for wisdom,” they write.
“Caring for the sick has all the time been a vital touchstone of a very civilised and compassionate society. The most tangible and reassuring way of progress on this front could be in shorter waiting lists and meaningful value and respect each for the carers and the cared-for.”
They also write of the support needed for those nearing the tip of life, “whose value as producers or consumers could also be deemed to have ended long since, but whose intrinsic human price and dignity are as great and as sacred as ever”.
Reflecting on the fragility of confidence within the rule of law, they declare: “There is not any place for vigilantism or intimidation in a civilised society. The most legitimate concern we are able to hold is for the protection and equality of our fellow human beings.”
They describe those working within the voluntary and community sector as “the “glue of society”, without whom the federal government’s key priorities would never come good or bear fruit: “These are individuals who make an actual difference, especially to probably the most disadvantaged amongst us, by daring to dream with their eyes open and feet on the bottom.
“In recent years many such groups and organisations have needed to suspend their activities or have struggled to survive because their contribution is so taken as a right that they find themselves competing with one another for the funding scraps left over.”
Christians’ task, they suggest, is “to not wallow in disillusionment or cynicism but to do our bit to encourage work and pray for ‘the approaching good’ . . . There are certain ‘goods’ which only good once they are held in common. Are we a individuals who respect and acknowledge the humanity of each other sufficiently to rise up for one another’s well-being? Can our institutions rise to the big challenges of envisaging a recent kind of society or are they resigned to be a slow motion re-run of the past?”
Ordinary residents, they conclude, “should have the boldness in ourselves and within the leaders of political and civic life to offer them space to take risks and to dream dreams”.
The eight-week public consultation period on the programme ended on Monday.
