” “Church and conflicts, what lesson from the experience of Northern Ireland? "The first lesson is that violence can never be the grounds for peace. That violence can sometimes manage to rule over others, but it can never earn consensus or the involvement of a given community": these are the words of the archbishop of Armagh, Sean Brady, Primate of all Ireland, as he spoke in the last few days at the annual assembly of the Peace and Justice Commissions of the European Bishops Conferences, held for the first time in Ireland, Belfast. About 60 delegates, coming from every European country. Mgr. Brady specified that "a common mistake" is "to believe that the conflict in Northern Ireland is basically a religious conflict", while instead it is "the result of an intricate mixture of history and politics, culture and identity, tensions about lands and resources, the fear of those who are different". "As shown by the experience of Northern Ireland said mgr. Brady , once the first violence has been committed, for defence or for aggression, the original reason for the use of violence gets quickly lost in a deadly circle of hatred, revenge and misunderstanding that inevitably ensues from it. This is the reason why the promise of short wars or quick revolutions can hardly ever be kept".” “
