Paul KeenanBishop Noel Treanor of Down & Connor has condemned a vandal attack on Jewish graves in Belfast as a “shameful” act.
Delivering a homily in St Peter’s Cathedral, Belfast, after the discovery of 13 smashed headstones at the City Cemetery off the Fall’s Road, Bishop Treanor called on all to “reflect on the destruction” in the context of inter-community relations.
“These actions have been condemned by many and rightly so,” he said. “These shameful acts are a blemish on our society. Condemnation of such actions, necessary as it is, does not suffice. As citizens and as a society we cannot take solace in condemnation alone nor indeed merely in appropriate penalisation for such crimes.”
Pointing out that Northern Ireland is no longer “a binary society made up of broadly nationalist and unionist traditions, nor of Christians who are Catholic, Anglican and Protestant”, Bishop Treanor said all of Northern Ireland had been “enriched by the presence of many peoples of diverse nationalities and cultures who live and work here and contribute greatly to the fabric of our society”.
“What a tragedy and blemish then that the long-present, beloved and treasured Jewish families of our community should suffer yet again such actions of disrespect, violence to the memory of their beloved dead and the regrettable outworking of a latent xenophobia that stalks the minds of some.”
Issuing a call for everyone to work against racism and xenophobia, the bishop insisted that “as Christians and citizens of a society that is inspired by Christian insight and human rights values, a determined commitment by each one of us …is urgently required to scope our deepest attitude to difference and diversity and to ensure that it is positive, appreciative and respectful of diversity.
As a society, as neighbourhoods and communities, we must honestly consider if we harbour attitudes that are negative to those whom we too easily classify as ‘foreigner’, rather than see them as sisters and brothers in Christ and in humanity.”