THE BISHOP of Derry, Dr Séamus Hegarty, yesterday defended his decision not to sign a petition calling on the leadership and members of the INLA, the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA to end their campaigns of violence.
The petition was organised by community workers in nationalist areas of Derry following the murder of Emmet Sheils, the pizza delivery man who was shot dead in the Creggan area of the city last month.
Almost 600 people have so far signed the petition, but none of the priests in the Derry diocese has signed the petition.
Among those to have signed are Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, SDLP leader Mark Durkan, former DUP mayor of Derry Drew Thompson and several loyalist community workers, as well as many republicans.
However, in a statement Bishop Hegarty said he had turned down an invitation to sign the petition because he believed it was both restrictive and defective.
“I have not done so as my concern goes well beyond the call contained in that petition,” he said.
“You cannot have lasting peace without truth . . . Promoting truth and supporting mutual agreement requires very wide and comprehensive understanding. That objective has not yet been reached,” the statement said.
One of the organisers of the petition, Séamus Heaney, said that Bishop Hegarty had shown a lack of leadership by failing to sign the petition.