Orangeism should go back to its basic teachings and make sectarian bigotry a thing of the past, the Co Armagh Grand Chaplain, the Rev William Bingham, told a meeting of Catholics and Protestants yesterday.
Mr Bingham was speaking at the 12th Evangelical-Roman Catholic Theological Conference, at St Clement's Retreat House in Belfast. He shared the platform with the historian Dr Eamon Phoenix in a seminar on "Jesus Christ and the Experience of Orangeism".
Mr Bingham spoke of the founding principles of "ethical Orangeism", which had love of family, community, the monarchy and the Reformed faith at its core. He said Orangemen's commitment to his religion did not mean hatred of Catholics.
"Surely you can hold true to your principles without beating someone because they believe differently? That is the essence of what Protestantism is all about. I love the Orange Order. I love the principles that it stands by. No quarter should be given to sectarian bigotry. That must be over and gone for ever," he said.
Dr Phoenix, a senior lecturer in history at Stranmillis College, said this analysis of opposition to loyal order parades ignored the historical antipathy among Catholics to them. Marching was not just a short walk to church, he said. He quoted an official history of the order published in 1967 where the authors wrote that ". . . where you could walk you were dominant and the other things follow".
The ritual of intensifying drumming outside Catholic churches was a sign of supremacy and gave Catholics the idea that marching and supremacy went hand in hand, he said. "From the 1920s until the 1960s, Northern Catholics had formed a state within a state and, while there was widespread opposition to Orange marches, it was suppressed in face of political realities," Dr Phoenix said.
He said mutual respect could be built on both sides. The positive comments of Mr Bingham had led some nationalists to a different view of the Orange Order and if some small steps could be taken between Orangemen and Catholic organisations, joint philanthropic ventures, for example, then the beginning of a rapprochement was possible.