The following is the text of a statement issued yesterday by the Redemptorist Order and signed by Father Brendan Callanan, Provincial Superior.
Today's Sunday Tribune and Sunday Business Post carry reports, sections of which could be interpreted to mean that the Redemptorist Peace and Reconciliation Ministry Team promotes the agenda of a particular political party and also tried to influence the policy of the Irish News. As Provincial of the Redemptorist Order in Ireland I reject both of these possible interpretations as they would be false and misleading. The Redemptorist Peace Ministry Team is non-political, i.e. it does not purport to support, nor does it in fact support, the position of any political party. At no point has the Redemptorist Peace and Reconciliation Team ever tried to influence the policy of any newspaper.
The benchmark for the Redemptorist Peace and Reconciliation Team is the call of the Gospel to seek out ways and means of developing and promoting a more peaceful, a more reconciled and a more just society. This ministry team abhors violence in all its forms.
Mr Jim Fitzpatrick and Ms Mary McAleese were invited to join the Peace Ministry Team precisely because they share these convictions. Their contribution to the peace ministry in association with us has been a valuable one. It is deplorable that because of this ministry they would be in any way slighted.
Whilst it is true that various members of the team have had contact, over a number of years, with a large number of parties right across the political spectrum in Northern Ireland, it does not promote the point of view of any one of them.
Dialogue with representatives of the other Christian Churches is another part of the Redemptorists' Peace and Reconciliation work.
This dialogue takes place in the context of a shared Christian tradition, and has no objective other than to promote the Gospel values of peace and reconciliation in a divided society.