26 THURSDAY DECEMBER 11 2008 Religious Affairs Correspondent: William Scholes Faith matters tel: 028 9033 7544 email: [email protected]

■ CONSULTATION: Alan McBride from the Wave trauma centre withjunior ministers JeffreyDonaldson, left, and ,right, following the announcement of aconsultation on anew strategy for victims and survivors PICTURE: Mal McCann

“You have to let peoplemake theirown journey andlet them go at their ownpacebut you can’t let them holdup progress towards reconciliation”

Alan McBride Lessonsfromalongand hard journey towardsreconciliation

Dealing with the past help carry the coffinofthe Shankill interest in voluntaryworkwith death followed the naturalorder of huge part in fuellingthe conflict and bomber,. young people belongingtothe Boys’ things,whileSharon was only 29 and keeping it going. Iknow there were and the legacy of the However,the comments of the IRA and Girls’ Brigades. we hadbeen married for just sixor moreideological reasons why some Troubles remains man sitting in the “moved me to Describing himself as coming from sevenyears. peoplegot involved butthe very aplaceIhad never been before”, Mr atraditional evangelical background, “The lessonIlearnt from that was heartofitfor me was that therewas one of the biggest McBride said. his faith was to be sorelytested by that everyone’ssituation is different this divided society wheresectarian- issues facing “It was oneofthose stellar mo- the despairthat enveloped him after and you needtowatch what you ism was fuellingand fanning the ments in my lifebecauseheac- the Shankillbombing. say whentalking to people who are conflict.” NorthernIreland. knowledgedwhat had happenedto He said:“The weeks andmonths grieving.” In 1998 he said he would voteyes Alan McBride, whose me was wrong and didn’t tryto thatfollowed the bombwereex- Around this time,hebecamein- for the , in justify it.” tremely difficult. Icouldn’tgonear a volvedwith Families Against Intimi- spiteofhis reservations overthe wife waskilled in an Mr McBride, who works for Wave, church at all.” dation and Terror.Hesays the earlyreleaseofparamilitaryprison- the cross-community organisation Instead, he spent much of his time organisation, wherehespent two ers which formed partofthe agree- IRA bomb in 1993, supporting victimsofthe Troubles, walking around the slopes and sum- yearsasavolunteer, provided him ment. Tenyearson, Alan McBride tells Noreen Erskine met the two former paramilitaries mit of the CaveHill area overlooking with an outletfor his anger. feared the recent political impasseat while attendingaconference in Edin- as he struggledwith his grief. “I wasangry. Iwas neveraviolent Stormontwas threatening to draw about his own hard burgh on post-traumaticstressdis- His first visit intothe city centre person,soIwas never going to joina Northern backwards. journeytowards order many yearsafter the bombing. severalweeks later,todosome paramilitary organisation but I Speaking before the announcement In turn, he listened to the two men’s Christmasshopping with his daugh- wanted to do something with my that the executivewould resumeits reconciliation stories of why they each became in- ter Zoe,then aged two, was also to anger,” he said. meetings on November 20, he was volved in theNorthernIreland con- prove adifficult time. “I gotinvolvedinquite alot of high- critical of both Sinn Fein and the DUP LAN MCBRIDE’Slife has flict whichclaimed more than3,600 profileprotests highlighting the concerning the five-month stalemate taken many unexpected lives. abuse of human rights by terrorist over the of policing and turns since he losthis wife Mr McBridespoke of their en- “It’snot about organisations,including when Gerry criminal justice powers. and father-in-lawinthe counteratarecent seminar in Ar- Adams was given the right to Although he has married again and AIRA ShankillRoad bombin magh which focused on dealing with apportioning blame, fundraise in America. found renewed happiness at aper- Belfast 15 years ago. the past. The seminar was organised or what-aboutery. “This was an affronttome, as my sonal level, the memoryofthose Yethis decision to have adrinkin by the Hard GospelProject, which memoryofhim was of him carrying dark days after the Shankillbombing an Edinburgh pub with an ex-UVF life- the set up to com- It’sabout showing the coffin of the guy who murdered remains adriving forceinAlan’s sentence prisoner and aformer IRA bat and racism. my wife.” quest to help buildashared future. man led to what he calls“one of the The event took place as the some understanding His campaign included writingase- “The focusmustbeonreconcilia- stellar moments” of his life. Consultative Grouponthe Past, of theother side riesofletters to the Sinn Fein presi- tion,”hesaid. He told them of howhis 29-year-old chaired by Lord Eames and Denis dent. He saysmost went unanswered “It’snot about apportioning blame, wife Sharon and her father John Bradley,preparestopublishits re- andallowingpeople but that did replytohis or what-aboutery. It’sabout showing Frizellhad been among the 10 people portearly next year recommending thespace to tell last two letters, one of whichAlan, some understanding of the other killed in the fish-shop bombing on a the bestway to tackle the legacy of who doesn’t speak Irish, wrote“in side andallowing peoplethe space to sunny Saturday afternoon in October the past. theirstories” pidginIrish”with theaid of an Irish tell their stories. 1993. During the seminar,MrMcBride re- AlanMcBride dictionary. “One of the main learning points in After he stopped speaking, he says called his childhood in the Westland Duringthis time Alan wasalso writ- my storyisthat no twopeople are the IRAman touched hisarm and housingestateinnorth Belfast, aloy- ingletters to his wife, as wellasmak- the same. Youhavetolet people lookeddirectly intohis eyes. He then alist enclavesurrounded by predom- ing frequent visits to hergrave. make their own journey and let them admitted the attack was wrong, say- inantly nationalistand republican While there, he metawoman Within two yearsofher death,hehad go at their own pace but you can’t let ing he was sorry it happened. communities. whose elderly father haddied afew written threethick volumes to her. them hold up progress towards This was notthe first time republi- At the time of the Workers weeks earlier. Initially they wereabout how much reconciliation.” cans have apologised for the bomb. Strikein1974, when he was just10 She told him she understood ex- he was missingher but later he Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams did years old,his father joined theUDA actly what he was going through. began reflecting in them on his up- ■ The ChurchofIrelandestablished so shortlyafter the explosion. and helped man “She was trying to be nice but with bringing andwhy had the HardGospel Project in 2005 to His remarks –that the bombing was erected at the end of his street. the best will in the world, she had no come about. tackle sectarianism andracism and wrongand could not be excused – Amember of his local Baptist idea of what Iwas going through,” he “I started to askquestions about to face the challenges of historic werelargely drowned out by the out- church,hemet his futurewife, said. it,” he said. difference in the Ireland of the 21st crywhich followed his decision to Sharon,therethrough their shared “Her father was an old man and his “I do believe sectarianism played a century.