Ireland Pilgrimage exposes students to ‘the troubles’

It looked like the entire city was on fire. The midnight sky, usually pitch black, glowed a brilliant shade of orange until the early hours of dawn. Piles of smoldering embers littered the streets and the smell of damp fire lingered until midday. Taxis continued their daily commute and people headed back to work. In Belfast, there was little indication of the previous night's events- a concept that has become eerily acceptable in Northern Ireland.

A time of political hostility and social unrest does not plague the minds of many young Americans. The thought of being gawked at for personal religious beliefs, taunted by discriminatory jeers, and the ultimate manifestation of religious persecution- being pelted with rocks and garbage for walking on the wrong side of the street. What sounds like the scene of a war zone or something straight out of a motion picture was the brutal reality for the group of Misericordia students and chaperones just weeks ago.

While on a Mercy pilgrimage to Ireland this past August, students and faculty members spent time touring in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Students Jessica Harper, Ryan Hassick, Candice Levanavage, Chelsea Mixon, Sarah Munley, Elizabeth Murdock, Grace Riker, and Andrew Roccograndi, and faculty members Amy Lahart, director of the Student Success Center, and Dan Kimbrough, assistant professor of Communications, spent four days in the city most popularly known as "The Home of the Titanic." However, in recent years, Belfast has been plagued by ongoing religious conflict and political turmoil, a time period that local Liam Stone refers to as "The Troubles."

Stone, an advocate for positive communication between Catholic Nationalists and Protestant Loyalists in Belfast, met with the Misericordia group in Ireland and gave them a walking tour that focused on numerous massacre sights and peace murals. Buildings that had been obliterated during the days of heightened civil disobedience have been transformed into peace gardens and places of quiet. Hundreds of colorful murals cover the sides of buildings across the city, serving as a reminder of the loss of life over the past 40 years. "These are not just names; these are people," Stone said as he explained a memorial site to the students.

Stone was an active Catholic Nationalist at the peak of the brutality. He was shot during a protest in his late teens, and attributes his involvement in protests at a young age to a culture that he was raised in. Although the most active years of sectarian violence span from 1969 to current day, Stone said this political and religious unrest has been going on since the English usurped Ireland centuries ago.

After the Irish War of Independence ended in 1922, the island was split into two separate Dominions. The southern 26 counties seceded from British Rule, becoming a self-governing body now known as Ireland. The 6 counties of Northern Ireland remained a part of the United Kingdom.

According to Stone, this is when the people of Northern Ireland no longer identified themselves as citizens, but as either Nationalists or Loyalists. The Nationalists, an Irish military group known today as The Irish Republican Army, fought against the British forces in the War of Independence. Stone said the Nationalists commonly identify with the Irish culture and Catholicism; whereas the Loyalists associate themselves with the Royal Crown and Protestant beliefs.

The day the students toured the city marked the 14th anniversary of what was arguably the bloodiest execution of civilians in Northern Ireland's history- The Ballymurphy massacre. According to the BBC, "The Ballymurphy killings took place during the Army's Operation Demetrius, the arrest of those who would be interned on suspicion of involvement in paramilitary activity. The troops claimed they opened fire, after being shot at by republicans. The victims included a Catholic priest, Father Hugh Mullan and a mother-of-eight, Joan Connolly." Members of the group were truly moved by their experience with Stone. "We got to walk in the steps of a veteran of the struggle and experience the fighting vicariously through his stories," said student Andrew Roccograndi, "It was very moving."

As the group toured the sites with Stone, people began to congregate and helicopters were buzzing overhead. People were building bonfires and children were running wild through the streets. This is when the students got their first taste of what Stone calls "The Marching Season." Stone explained to the students that although the violence had diminished in recent years, it was not over. During the summer months in Northern Ireland Protestants and Catholics have demonstrations and protests on days that mark important events in their military histories. As Stone walked the students over to a structure known as a peace wall, the group had to duck for cover when people began throwing sticks and rocks at them. "It was a real eye opening experience," said Candace Levanavage. "It showed me just how real the conflicts are. It was hard to comprehend that being Catholic or Protestant meant I would have to walk on the other side of the street."

During the tour the group got to experience a part of the city that was reminiscent of post-war Berlin. A wall, nearly 40 feet high and miles long stood between the Catholic and Protestant territories of the city. Atop the wall sat another twenty feet of fencing, garnished by barbed wire. Cutting through backyards and alleyways, the wall protects citizens on each side from acts of hostility from the opposing side. The only way to cross over is to go through check points, which are no longer manned- another sign that the violence has lessened in recent years. On the weekends, large steel gates are put in place at the checkpoints to deter interaction between the two communities. Student Ryan Hassick was startled by the current state of the city, "I was not surprised by its current existence but I was taken aback by the severity of it. In the US we only hear about what the news media wants us to know about. I did not know that the conflict was still ongoing."