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The Church of Ireland Gazette in its issue of August 21,
by editorial and article Panorama: Nemesis Now?, has things
to say about the Orange Institution and advice to offer it.
The editorial appeals to the Order to separate religion from
politics and at once displays an ignorance of the history
and practice of Orangeism since its inception in 1795. The
cause for that was the determination of the Protestants in
the Diamond area of Loughgall, Co. Armagh, to maintain their
religious and political freedom when confronted with a Roman
Catholic force – the Defenders which threatened them.
It was after the Battle of the Diamond, when the two sides
confronted one another that the Orange Order came into being.
It was for the defence of the Protestant religion and for
the way of life compatible with it, that Protestant men bonded
together in common cause. The Orangemen at the beginning were
members of the Church of Ireland, with a few notable exceptions,
and Church of Ireland clergymen were in membership from its
earliest days. (cp the recently published. The Clerical Presence
in Orangeism, 1795-1900,’ by S.E. Long.) The ritual of
the Orange Order has its basis in the Book of Common Prayer,
and the early history of the Institution has accounts of services
and sermons for Orangemen. The obligations to be taken by
candidates for membership are only meaningful when seen in
the Christian Protestant context. The often declared philosophy
of Orangeism is Christ-centred, Bible based and with its faith
and practice that of the Early Church and the Protestant Reformers.
It is clear in its objective which is to defend the Christian
faith by lip and life against all who would question its veracity,
and value, in the lives of people. It determined, too, to
do all it can to care for their material well-being, and that
has always meant an involvement in what affects them socially
and politically. The Orange Order is holistic in its estimate
of people as creatures whose needs are spiritual and material
at once. To suggest that we can be one or the other is a nonsense
to those of us who are making an effort as human beings to
recognise the reality and necessity of faith in God in our
lives. And that faith requires that the Christian voice and
presence be heard and seen in everything that matters to people,
and that has to be in the whole of life for in it politics
play a crucial part. With that intention there can be no separation
of religion and politics. The annual Orange Order Twelfth
resolutions are on the Crown, the Faith and the State. Orangemen
have made their considerable contribution to life in this
society as churchmen, politicians and people with a social
and political conscience. While this applied from the beginning,
and Orangemen were in national and local government, it became
most pronounced in the controversy over Home Rule and the
large Orange Order participation in the campaign to prevent
it being forced on unionist people. Because all of this historical
data has been published, and by Orange historians, too, it
is necessary only to refer to it, and its availability in
bookshops and libraries. It is apparent that some writers
who express their opinions on Orangeism need to go to some
trouble to study and understand better its history and philosophy.
It is an indictment of them that they do not read the statements,
resolutions and publications of the organisation. They display,
then, an ignorance of the aims, aspirations and attitudes
of Orangemen, and that is entirely unnecessary for in Orangeism
nothing is hidden. The support of Orangemen for Unionism,
and the reason for it, has been well documented. To them the
Union is important for in it they express kinship with the
people of Great Britain, and accord with British attitudes
to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They do not
want a united Ireland. Why should they when they recall what
has happened to Protestants in the Southern state? At its
beginning there was 20 per cent Protestants in the population,
now it is three per cent, and their minority policy is “keep
your heads down”. With partition and the setting up of
the state of Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister and government
to a man, were Orangemen. It is apparent now that they showed
a tolerance to the minority dissimilar to that of the then
Irish Free State, for they were anxious to have cross-community
sharing, only to be rebuffed by Roman Catholic and nationalist
and republican leaders, who thought of a short-lived Northern
Ireland in which they wanted to play no part. In education,
alone, had Lord Londonderry’s policy of state education
for every child been pursued, with religion for home and church,
integrated education would have been the norm here. The controversy
over education has also been so well written up that a reference
to it here should suffice. Nemesis Now by Cromlyn in the Church
of Ireland Gazette is an examination of Orange Order attitudes
on Drumcree, and using an article by the Rev. Brian Kennaway,
which appeared in the Irish Times, he expresses a view on
discipline in the Institution. The thrust of which is that
when Orangemen are caught on camera, acting riotiously only
a public and immediate punishment of them is appropriate.
While we can understand the feelings of revulsion at such
conduct, and we have shared totally in the condemnation of
it, the organisation has its way of dealing with misconduct
and indiscipline in the membership. In that it is no different
from other fraternal organisations who pass judgement on members
guilty of some misdemeanour without publicly declaring it.
That Orangemen – proved guilty of riotious behaviour,
will be punished was a promise made to be kept. The police
with the television pictures of the rioters at hand have the
evidence to arrest and prosecute them. An Orangeman convicted
of a criminal offence is by it expelled from the Institution.
As the intention in this article is to speak to the points
raised in the Gazette we refer readers to what we have said
on other occasions on the root cause of the troubles at Drumcree,
preventable as we see it, for what has happened since 1996
could have been avoided had there been a persuasion on the
Garvaghy Road residents not to stop a seven minutes traditional
march from the church to the town on one day in the year.
No one need look any further than that one fact for what caused
the scandal of Drumcree and the horrific consequences that
make it a discredit to this society.
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