King Claudius comes to mind. "My words fly up, my thoughts remain below; words without thoughts never to heaven go," he prayed as Hamlet hovered behind, knife at the ready. Claudius at prayer was not unlike many Christians in Ireland today.
"Some people have now sadly questioned and, even worse, doubted the point of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. That is nothing less than a tragedy," said the Church of Ireland Primate, Dr Robin Eames, recently. He was giving his church's response to the Vatican's Dominus Iesus document at the Irish Inter-Church Meeting in Dundalk last month.
Our frozen ecumenism is as much a political as a religious issue. Because, as with Claudius, there remain in Ireland men of violent intent lurking in the background.
Tonight at 8 p.m. the Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Down and Connor, Dr Anthony Farquhar, will preach at the service inaugurating the Week at Abbey Presbyterian Church on Parnell Square in Dublin.
It is a pity the Presbyterian Church, the largest Reformed denomination in the North, cannot yet see its way to inviting a Catholic representative to its annual General Assembly in Belfast. As recently as 1999 it voted not to extend such an invitation to representatives of the Catholic Church.
Tomorrow night there will be an Irish-language "unity service" in the Church of Ireland's Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. It could not be a service with Communion. That would cause embarrassment as, since the One Bread One Body document issued by the Catholic bishops of these islands in September 1998, Catholics are banned from receiving Communion in all Reformed Churches.
On Saturday evening there will be prayers for unity at the Greek Orthodox Church in Dublin's Arbour Hill. There will be no Communion there either, as only Orthodox Christians may receive Communion in Orthodox churches. All others are refused, even Catholics, who are allowed by Rome receive Communion in Orthodox churches.
Add to these strictures the Dominus Iesus document published last September by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and one has to wonder about the value of week's such as this at all. It told Reformed churches they were not proper churches and that they could only be proper by becoming Roman Catholic. Even Orthodox Christians were found to be in imperfect communion with the true church.
"What is the vision for ecumenism that underlies Dominus Iesus, if it is not simply to be a case of returning to the Roman fold?" asked Dr Eames at the Inter-Church meeting last month.
And, to add further insult, Cardinal Ratzinger, prefect of the CDF, wrote to Catholic bishops "advising" them not to refer to Reformed Christian communities as "sister churches".
Yet, let some comfort be taken from those who remain committed to reaching across these seemingly cherished divides.
Besides having the support of many laity in the Reformed denominations, a great swathe of Catholic faithful are following their own consciences. Many of their priests approve. Some bishops too, although privately. On this island ecumenists far outnumber exclusivists.
Father Gerry Reynolds of the Clonard monastery in Belfast, who has done so much for peace on this island, wrote about ecumenism in the Irish News following Dominus Iesus. "Sometimes the leaders of the churches make it harder. The way Cardinal Ratzinger speaks about the Church in Dominus Iesus makes it seem as if we, Roman Catholics, have learnt very little in the shared worship, common witness and theological dialogues that have gone on since the Second Vatican Council ended 35 years ago," he said.
And in words that should be repeated aloud by every church leader on the island, he said: "The destiny of Christians in Ireland is to help make an end of the Reformation conflict. We are discovering that those we used to call `outsiders' are truly `brothers and sisters' in Christ." There can be "no excuse if we pass on a divided Church to the first generation of the new millennium", he said.
In his New Year message Pope John Paul recognised there were growing hopes that relationships between people would increasingly be inspired by the ideal of a truly universal brotherhood. As if thinking of Ireland, he acknowledged "Humanity is beginning this new chapter of its history with still open wounds". He urged "believers in Christ, together with all men and women of goodwill" to engage in dialogue.
Speaking at a World Day of Peace Mass in Booterstown, Co Dublin, on January 1st, Father Donal O'Mahony said: "Christians who detach themselves from the cultural milieu in which they live can fall victim to a museum mentality which freezes culture in a particular time period and encourages romantic views of ways of living in the past." He spoke of a continuing "exclusion" in the world which often "is accompanied by structural, spiritual and physical violence".
In Ireland this "exclusion" and "museum mentality" put us on a road to further conflict. That is why ecumenism here ought to be a civic duty. Many would also suggest it should be a Christian duty.