July 19, 2005
by Ray McMenamin
Ecumenical News International

DUBLIN – During July, the sound of marching drummers and flutes in Northern Ireland towns is music to the ears of some residents and a detestable provocation to others.

People from the Roman Catholic community in Ardoyne, north of Belfast, attacked police on July 12 with grenades, gasoline bombs and other weapons to express fury over marches organized by the Orange Order, a Protestant group that holds parades across Northern Ireland.

Similar riots have taken place in years past when the Orange Order sponsored marches.

In July, marching men wearing bowler hats, white gloves and orange sashes can invoke the ire of the Catholic community in the British-administered part of Ireland.

The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, was formed in 1795 and has religious, cultural and political dimensions. It describes itself as a "fundamentally Christian organization" whose members are "pledged to uphold Protestant faith and liberty under the law."

The movement is a fraternity with members around the world, primarily in Commonwealth countries. The institution believes that "civil and religious liberty (should be) maintained in Ulster (in northern Ireland), that the Christian faith, reformed and Protestant, be preached and taught." It also believes that Northern Ireland should remain part of the United Kingdom, and says it is "at the forefront of preserving and promoting the unique culture of our people."

It takes its name from William III, a onetime Prince of Orange (a title still held by the heir-apparent to the Dutch crown) who later was King of England. The commemoration of King William's victory over his uncle (and father-in-law) and predecessor as monarch, Catholic King James II, at the River Boyne in Ireland in July 1690, is the most important event in its calendar. Events from this era redefined the relationship between the monarchy and its subjects and barred any future Roman Catholic succession to the British throne.

The order outlines its religious basis this way: "Our trust is in God and our faith and dependence is in Jesus Christ. ... Our purpose is to maintain the Christian faith by word and deed, to propagate and defend that faith which we have received from the church of the New Testament through the faithfulness of the Protestant reformers. The Orange Institution is set for the defense of Protestantism."

Citing its reasons for the parade, the Orange Order says: "The founding fathers decided that parades were an appropriate medium to witness for their faith and to celebrate their cultural heritage. The parades are a glorious display of pageantry."

But that's not how it looks to political representatives of the Catholic community. They feel that parades commemorating events of 315 years ago are triumphalist and offensive. Gerry Kelly, a spokesperson for the Sinn Fein, a political movement that supports a united Ireland, contends that parades amount to "unionist and loyalist demands to dominate nationalist neighborhoods by forcing unwanted sectarian anti-Catholic parades through them."

Presbyterian News Service