THE Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Richard Clarke, has led
warm ecumenical tributes to the late Fr Alec Reid (above), the
Redemptorist priest who was instrumental in the conclusion of the
Northern Ireland peace process.
With the then-President of the Methodist Church in
Ireland, the Revd Harold Good, Fr Reid oversaw the decommissioning
of the IRA's arsenal. Dr Clarke praised the way that Fr Reid, who
died last week, aged 82, "accepted that his obedience to the call
of Christ would lead him on a sometimes dangerous and lonely path
to building peace".
One of the most enduring images from the Troubles was
a photograph of Fr Reid administering the last rites to two British
soldiers murdered by the IRA during a Belfast funeral procession in
1988.