OBE for Dr Michael Paterson
Drumbo Parishioner, Dr Michael C. Paterson received the OBE at Buckingham Palace from the Prince of Wales on Friday 28th November.
Michael spoke at this years' Bishops' Bible Week at the end of August on the theme of "Keeping the Faith in Hard Times". Neil Brittain from UTV Live Sport interviewed Michael, a former RUC Officer who sustained severe injuries, including the loss of both of his arms following a rocket attack on his vehicle in the early 1980's, at Bible Week in Willowfield Parish Church. Michael has since used his experiences to help others in ‘hard times' and explained how he felt God had used his situation for the better.
The following is an excerpt from the BBC News (NI) Website;
In September 1981, that Dr Paterson lost both arms in an IRA rocket attack in which his colleague Alexander Beck was killed. It was to be a defining moment in a path of life that now leads to Buckingham Palace.
Dr Paterson has since carved out a career as a clinical psychologist and it is for his work in helping those who have suffered severe trauma that he is being honoured.
"I was detailed as an observer on the day of the attack," he said "Alexander Beck had been detailed as the driver and it was him who was killed. It was my first week with Woodburn police station in west Belfast. On the other days of that week I had been driver or in the back of the vehicle. Whenever I was in hospital after the incident I could never have contemplated where I would be now.
"The experience was an unpleasant one and one I would not like to go through again, but enlightening too because of the understanding of what people who experience serious trauma go through."
Dr Paterson had only been married to his wife Hazel for three weeks, when he was injured in the rocket attack. "I was keen to get out of hospital and experience married life," he said. "I had to get used to life as a married person and without arms. Basically everything had to be done in a different way. My wife was a great support, but she didn't mollycoddle me."
A meeting with a psychologist provided the stimulus for the then policeman, who left school with two O Levels, to embark on his new profession.
He gained A Levels, before eventually securing a place at the University of Ulster, where he graduated with a first class honours in Psychology in 1987.
Dr Paterson is now a consultant clinical psychologist, and holds two doctoral degrees from Queen's University. Another important theme in Dr Paterson's life has been his quest for political reconciliation in Northern Ireland. This has included an appearance on the BBC Series Facing the Truth with former IRA man Tommy McCrystal in 2006, and one experience far removed from the luxurious surroundings of Buckingham Palace.
"I had already met previously with people from the IRA and UVF in 2002 and spent five days in the bush in South Africa with them," he said. The trip was through the Glencree Centre for Reconciliation in County Wicklow and they invited me and other people. We were relying on each other to stay alive in the bush, so at night one of them was keeping guard and another night I kept guard. There was a former prison officer on the trip who had guarded these guys when they were in the Maze Prison and now they were guarding him.
"It was a wonderful experience, it allowed you to see them as people first of all. In the bush, all the trappings of modern society are stripped away and you are down to basic humanity."