Prayer Groups Seen As Ray Of Hope In Ulster

The Ann Arbor News, Saturday, June 15,1974   p. 7

Prayer Groups Seen As Ray Of Hope In Ulster

By Glenn Gilbert
(News Religion Editor)

Small Protestant-Catholic prayer gatherings in Northern Ireland are being called the only hope for ending the strife in which 1,000 people have died in the last five years.

"I have no interest in what's happening politically in the Northern Ireland," said Larry Kelly, who lives in Belfast. "So many things have been tried and failed. I don't have much hope for the plans of man. The only hope is that God will break down the barriers."

Kelly is a Catholic laymen who is among three men from Ireland who stopped in Ann Arbor this week before heading for the 1974 International Conference on the Charismatic Renewal which started Friday at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend Ind. and ends Sunday.

Thomas Flynn and Fr. Martin Tierney, both of Southern Ireland, also were visiting Ann Arbor this week as guests of the local Word of God charismatic community.

Kelly say says there are about a dozen charismatic prayer groups in Ulster which each have between 50 and 70 participants and gather weekly. They began meeting about two years ago.

Cardinal William Conway, primate of Ireland, called the new prayer movement, which was developed over the last three years throughout the country, one of the most astounding things he has ever seen, Fr. Tierney said in an interview.

"There is not active hierarchical support," said Fr. Tierney. "But gradually things are being written in the papers about the movement," he said.

"There's a lack of information for clergymen about the movement," said Flynn.

"That's the problem."

The three will be leading a workshop on the charismatic movement in Ireland this weekend at Notre Dame.

Charismatic Christians believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit as outlined in 1 Corinthians 12 are for this age. They include healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues and others. Because of its huge Word of God community, Ann Arbor is considered one of the international centers of the charismatic movement.

Kelly said he feels "no bitterness whatsoever,” even though Catholics have been persecuted in Ulster. "Whatever bitterness there was has gone in the last two to three years."

There are four to five predominantly Catholic prayer groups in Belfast in which Kelly estimates at least 20 per cent of the participants are Protestant.

Of the charismatic movement in Ireland as a whole, Fr. Tierney says:

“The growth has been extremely rapid. Other ecumenical meetings have just been window dressing. This is the only place where people are praying together and finding tremendous unity. Barriers are being broken down through prayer which cannot be done politically."

"This is not just something where people are saying let's change," said Flynn. “God is making this power available. This is the only thing that will change this tangled political situation."

"This grassroots thing is much different than two bishops saying let's get together,"' Kelly said. "These prayer gatherings are more ecumenical than any other attempt. You find great love among Christians and many touching stories of how Protestants and Catholics had been reconciled.

"This is deep, deep healing. Once, a bomb went off outside during one of the meetings. This didn't disturb the unity and love."

Ulster’s provincial government of moderate Protestants and Roman Catholics collapsed in May, toppled by a two-week general strike of Protestant militants who refused to retreat before the British army. London began direct rule of the province in March of 1972 in a solution to problems of the province.

This is Kelly’s first visit to the United States. Flynn and Fr. Tierney have been to the U.S. previously.

All three men had words of praise for the Word of God community here, which is characterized )>y a communal style of household living. Each received a first-hand taste of this style of life.

Kelly, who is a civil servant, has been staying in a household of eight single men headed by Charles Christmas.

Flynn, his wife, Ann. and I son, David, have been staying in a household headed by Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Martin. Martin is a coordinator of the Word of God community. There are 13 members of the Martin household, including two other married couples. Flynn is managing director of a food manufacturing company.

Fr. Tierney is staying in a household headed by Mr. and Mrs. Chris Graulich with three single girls and two single men. Fr. Tierney is chaplain to the staff at Dublin airport.

"I am very. impressed with the households," said Fr. Tierney. There is an obvious harmony which is so impossible without a superior power.

It is so hard to have such obvious generosity and sacrifice.”

Though a convenant which Word of God members are asked to enter into has been criticized by some church leaders, Fr. Tierney says, “I think the convenant is the only way. In our main meeting (in Dublin) we have up to 600 people and we don't ask for that kind of commitment. I'd like to see that in Ireland, however.”

Flynn said the three men have been observing the strenghts and weaknesses of the Ann Arbor arrangement, "but not that we would do the same thing in Ireland. Ann Arbor is unique in many ways because of its community.

“God has done something really special, unique and powerful in Ann Arbor. This is a very singular thing. That's why so many are turning to Ann Arbor," Flynn said.

"Every major development in the Catholic Church has occurred in Europe," said Fr. Tierney. "This is the first specific thing to happen in the New World.

Flynn said church history was being made in Ann Arbor.

Ralph Martin will be the main speaker as the Notre Dame conference closes on Sunday. Organizers of the conference say up to 50,000 may attend from various charismatic immunities throughout the world.

"Catholics first began meeting in Pentecostal-type prayer groups in 1967," says a statement form organizers of the conference. "Since then the movement - a blend Catholic faith, evangelical fervor and social awareness - has influenced members of every major Christian demonination in the United States."

Among the groups participating will be the Alleluia community from Augusta, Ga. Members will explain why they decided to sell their houses and pool their resources to purchase a city block of duplex apartments where members of the community now live.

PHOTO. Fr. Tierney (Left), Flynn And Kelly In Living Word Bookstore At Harris Hall