| St. Patrick visits Loyalist area
RESIDENTS of a Loyalist area of south Belfast staged a St. Patrick’s
Day celebration for the first time in decades.
An ecumenical service to celebrate the life of Ireland’s patron
saint was held at St. Aidan’s Church in the predominantly Protestant
Sandy Row area.
Local children paraded with a banner to the service last Friday and there
was a St. Patrick’s hooley in the local Orange hall later that night.
The events were organised by the Sandy Row Residents’ Association
and are being supported by the City Council.
Anna McEvoy — a voluntary project worker with the Residents Association
— said she had been teaching children in Sandy Row that St. Patrick
should belong to both communities in the North of Ireland.
She said: “Young parents at a history project we organised believed
St. Patrick had nothing to do with them, that he was of the other faith.
“I have been telling the story of St. Patrick to schoolchildren
so they see that St. Patrick is as much a part of our tradition as anyone
else’s and it’s time we started to celebrate him. It’s
good fun.”
Ms McEvoy said she remembered celebrating St. Patrick’s Day when
she was a girl but that the children of today had a totally different
image of him.
She said: “I asked them how did they imagine him and one of the
reactions was ‘was he not a Pope?’
“I told them he was actually a young boy when he came to Ireland
and he brought Christianity — he didn’t bring any specific
type of religion. Then they started to get interested in him.”
Friday’s service was led by the Rev Terence Kerr and he expressed
a desire to see St. Patrick used as a force for unity.
He said: “Many people see St. Patrick as belonging to one side of
the community.
“Sandy Row Residents’ Association has asked me to raise awareness
that St. Patrick should be remembered by both sides of the community as
the one who brought Christianity to Ireland.
“The service celebrating the life of St. Patrick has received widespread
support from the residents of the Sandy Row.”
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