MANY members of the Orange Order were "horrified" by what happened at Drumcree last year, the Church of Ireland Primate, Dr Robin Eames, said yesterday.
Speaking at a press conference in advance of the Church of Ireland Synod in Dublin, he said that he and leaders of the other churches had been "extremely active" over recent months in attempting to avert such an occurrence this year.
He said a considerable number of Church of Ireland members were in the Orange Order, and he would have "quite a few, quite strong, things" to say on this in his presidential address to the synod next Tuesday.
In his own diocese they have already established ground rules for parades.
The choice of preacher at parade services would be made by the local rector. The sanctity of the place of worship must be respected, and a differentiation had to be made between the act of worship and the behaviour of those outside. The church's leadership was moral but it did not have legislation with which to enforce it, he said.
The Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Rev Walton Empey, believed there was a danger in setting a precedent of banning people or organisations from church grounds. That was to embark on "a very slippery slope", he said.
He had visited Drumcree following last year's events and noted that seven Orange parades had been stopped by the time the parade there had taken place. "Their right to express their culture had been stopped," he said, "and the unfairness (of that) had to be taken into account."
He suspected the Orange Order would find it "very strange" to hear the Archbishop of Dublin speaking on their behalf, and he remarked on the "huge struggle" within the order, between those representing the Spirit of Drumcree and those who wanted to exercise their rights.
Earlier, Dr Eames had described sectarianism as "the real sickness of Northern Ireland". A motion on sectarianism will be debated at the synod. It affirms the church's opposition and calls for an examination of church life "at all levels" to identify ways "in which the church may be deemed to be accommodating to sectarianism".
