Of major interest at the Church of Ireland General Synod, which begins in Dublin this morning, will be discussion on the church's Sectarianism Education Project. It will examine how the issue is handled at parish level throughout the island.
There will also be a further attempt at Synod structural reform. Many find a representation of 600 unwieldy. A bill this year proposes a reduction in the number of clerical representatives. But by far the greater number of bills before this year's General Synod deal with liturgical issues.
Once more, Drumcree gets scant mention in the reports for this year. Indeed, this running sore on the church's reputation has received little attention since the Drumcree standoff began seven years ago.
However, last February the church's primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, did challenge the British government on its determination to resolve the impasse. He questioned its sense of urgency on the matter, but one could say this reflects the church's own position.
The 1999 General Synod requested that the rector and vestry at Drumcree decline to extend an invitation to Orangemen to attend the service there if they did not agree to three pledges. The Orangemen ignored the pledges, and the rector and vestry at Drumcree ignored the General Synod. Nothing happened.
The same General Synod carried a resolution denying authorisation to fly flags other than the cross of St Patrick or that of the Anglican communion from its churches. That, too, has been ignored at Drumcree and throughout the North, where the union flag is flown from steeples in July each year, again without consequence.
Church leaders have attributed their impotence to a tradition of "dispersed authority" within the Church of Ireland. Then we see how effectively and quickly dissident clergy such as Dean Andrew Furlong are dealt with.
This abdication of responsibility, moral and otherwise, for Drumcree has had very serious consequences. Apart from the eight people dead directly as a result of the impasse, there is evidence it has further polarised communities in the North.
Last January Dr Peter Shirlow, a senior lecturer in geography at the University of Ulster in Coleraine, presented findings from a survey carried out in Belfast involving 4,800 households in 12 neighbouring estates. It showed there was less integration than 10 years ago.
Prejudice was so marked among 18- to 25-year-olds that 68 per cent had never had a meaningful conversation with anyone from the other community. A mere 5 per cent of the workforce in areas dominated by the Protestant community is Catholic, and 8 per cent of Protestants had jobs in Catholic areas.
After the 1994 ceasefire, 3,000 families moved into areas dominated by the other denomination in the belief that a new era was beginning.
By 1996 the trend had reversed. Since then 6,000 families have moved back into areas dominated by their own denomination.
