Archbishop Clarke addresses WW1 Commemorative Service
The outbreak of World War One was remembered at a poignant centenary service in St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, last night, Monday August 4.
It was one of a number of services marking the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War, and Her Majesty the Queen was represented in Belfast by His Royal Highness The Duke of York KG.
Northern Ireland’s First Minister Peter Robinson and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, The Right Hon Theresa Villiers MP, also attended.
In his address, the Most Revd Dr Richard Clarke, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, said: “We can create easily monuments of hatred (it takes no effort at all), or we can painstakingly and even painfully build monuments of beauty, even to a horrifying past. We can allow the ruins of what others have made of our hopes and longings to stand there, bare and broken, as a symbol of our hatred. We can build monuments to darkness, and it is only too easy to do. We can, and it is by far the more painful option, seek to restore beauty and even restore relationships, and allow light to shine in the darkness. It requires faith, courage and patience.
He continued: “And as we come into God’s presence here to recall and memorialise the beginnings of the Great War one hundred years later, it should be to lay before God’s feet all the fusion of emotions that there should be – sadness at the loss of so much life, young and old … pride in the unselfish actions of many people … horror at the inhumanity always accompanies war, and to this day … and determination that if this Great War was most certainly not a “war to end all wars”, nevertheless you and I will strive to bring God’s peace and light into God’s world.”
Download the full transcript of the Archbishop’s address here.