A Fordham university professor, Fr. Bryan Massingale, challenged the sixth annual assembly of Priests gathered in Atlanta, June 19-22, to retrieve a crucial insight of Martin Luther King Jr. — the need to “redeem the soul.” According to Massingale, “We are in a struggle for the soul of America.” To heal a fractured society is not just a quest to overturn racial or other discriminatory laws. There is a far deeper reality to redeem — the soul. The soul is a set of meanings and values that informs a way of life.
“What does President [Donald] Trump’s election reveal about us as a nation?” Massingale asked. The ministerial challenge we face is “us.” Trump has found a way to tap into people’s fear of the stranger. Deep-seated emotions like racism, anti-immigrant sentiment, or homophobia, for example, cannot be combated politically because they are rooted in soul sickness, a profound warping of the human spirit.
Removing Trump is not the answer, he maintained. Sooner or later another will arise as long as we have soul-sickness. Massingale called for a reclaiming of King’s vision to counter soul-sickness by visualizing a great world house in which all people live together and learn to live in peace.
There is truth in these assertions for us in Ireland. There is a challenge for us in the north-east and those who are trying to advance the peace process on the basis of justice, equality and respect. We are in a struggle for the soul of Ireland.
The recognition that the Irish language community is seeking is about retrieving the soul of the nation which has been so badly damaged by centuries of colonial rule and deprivation. “Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam” we often heard. Recovering our native Irish language is a critical element in redeeming the soul of the Irish nation. A revival of a sense of nationhood is dependent on a revival and recognition of the Irish language. Perhaps, that is the reason the DUP is resisting the introduction of Acht na Gaeilge. It makes no sense to link it to Ulster-Scots. That is just another colonial dialect. It is also why the two main nationalist parties are insisting on it being implemented. They have been made aware of how crucial it is to gain official recognition for the Irish language. There is a lot at stake here. Those who do not care about the spirit of the nation and the soul of the nation do not understand the deep feelings of those of us who regard ourselves as Irish.
It is such a pity that our Irish sisters and brothers in the DUP, who are also Irish, do not appreciate the importance of the Irish language for everybody living on this island. It is a pity that some in the DUP see the Irish language as a threat rather than as a treasure.
Exactly, Father Joe.
In today’s IrishNews, Gregory Campbell is insisting that Irish be incorporated into a minority languages Bill and be placed on the same legal footing as Polish and Mandarin.
His assertion is certainly not based on any love for newly arrived strangers to our shores but derives directly from an inability to acknowledge Irish as native to this land and deserving of special recognition.
The DUP do not have it in them to accept Irish language or culture as being part of ‘our wee country’.
This attitude must go if power sharing is to re-established.