The Faithful Tribe
The following excerpt
from the Belfast Telegraph is a well written view from a Roman Catholic,
Nationalist who did her own research.
All copyrights are
the property of their respective owners.
We should not
blacken the
Orangeman
Exclusive extracts
from a controversial new book by
Loyal Institutions, what they think, what they do and the road that led to Drumcree
I SPRING from a
southern Roman Catholic, nationalist tradition myself, but over the decades,
I have become aware of my tribe's effrontery and laziness of mind where
Northern Protestants,
particularly Orangemen, are concerned.
'Why doesn't the
British government stop those dreadful bigots from strutting through
nationalist
areas?' is the cry from people who've never met an ordinary Orangeman.
And with the next
breath they say that unionists have no culture worth talking about.
During the past few
years, as I researched my book, I have met hundreds of members of the
loyal institutions; the Apprentice Boys, the Orange Order and
the Royal Black Institution.
I have never known a community as misrepresented and traduced.
In their
inflexibility, though, they have certainly given plenty of ammunition to their
enemies.
But then the
qualities that enable people to endure a life under siege are not those that
make
for intellectual nimble-footedness and a talent for public relations.
Most members of
the loyal institutions are ordinary, decent people, many of whom have
endured extraordinary fear and suffering without becoming bitter.
Many are among the finest people I have ever met and live lives that are an inspiring witness to their faith.
And others, of course, are very bigoted and nasty.
Why they join
SAM: "It's part
of us. My father and my grandfather were in the local lodge. As a little
boy, the Twelfth of July was a big day. I had bands singing in my ears. It was
something that
was just part of your
culture. It was almost like Christmas when you were a kid."
BRIAN: "I
resisted it for a long time after I became a Christian in 1954.
I saw conflict between principle and practice. But having thought about it and
realizing I believed in what the institution stood for,
I saw a parallel between the church and the Orange Order."
"The Church is
imperfect; the institution is imperfect. So I realized I should be
inside."
"Even in the
days when I was critical of the Orange Order from outside it, when I saw an
criticism of the Order to him. I chose his lodge."
"So you see, the
ways people live their lives speak louder than anything else."
"This is why I
feel strongly that as an institution we don't need a professional PR person; we
simply need Orangemen on the ground, faithful people with
integrity, for that speaks volumes."
CHRIS: "There's
an element of father to son, but there would be a lot of people in our
lodge whose parents would never have been involved; people who just feel a need
to identify themselves.
"As a kid I
always wanted to be an Orangeman, because of what was happening with the bands.
I loved the bands.
"My father was
first in the family to be a member of the Orange Order. He joined much to the
chagrin of the entire family, who thought it was a lot of crap.
"There was a
sort of a left-wing fundamentalist Protestant element in my family. Grandfather
was
a Cooneyite;
they didn't even believe in churches."
WILLIAM: "I
joined because some of the folk who were a little older than me that I
respected a lot were in the
"They were folk
who were working within the community, part of community life, and I thought,
well, they're older, they're mature and they believe it's important and has
something to give.
"I did it
undoubtedly primarily for the sake of history and identity with the Protestant
people
throughout the generations. My forefathers were in it, my grandfather was in
it, certainly I was
going to keep the lifeline so to speak. "And I stayed with it
through thick and thin
because I believe that when you look through its qualifications and its
principles, if men can live by
it, it gives them a good foundation of life and it holds on to principles that society
is losing at this
stage, like the importance of family life and respect for elders.
"If you sit in a
lodge meeting and the 89-year-old speaks everybody's quiet and gives him
respect
and listens. And that isn't happening generally in society."
"They tend to
separate the young, the middle-aged and the old - even the Churches
tend to separate them. I think that's very important..."
TO Alf, who was 90
when I met him and who had been a member of his lodge for 72 years, his
involvement with the Orange Order was a matter of the greatest pride.
Early in our
conversation he pulled out a copy of its Law and Ordinances and read to me, his
voice trembling with emotion:
'Basis of the institution: The institution is composed of Protestants, united
and resolved to the utmost of their power to support and defend the rightful
Sovereign, the
Protestant religion, the Laws of the Realm, and the Succession to the Throne in
the House of Windsor,
being Protestant and united further for the defence of their own Persons and
Properties, and the maintenance of the Public Peace.'
It is exclusively an
Association of those who are attached to the religion of the Reformation, and
will not admit into its brotherhood persons whom an intolerant spirit leads to
persecute, injure or
upbraid any man on account of his religious opinions. They associate also in
honour of KING
WILLIAM III, Prince of Orange, whose name they bear, as supporters of his
glorious memory.
Alf is one of many Orangemen who cannot see how anyone could find such a
statement
objectionable; the principle of religious tolerance is for them an imperative.
Over and over again,
people like him spoke to me of the importance of respect for those of different
religious persuasions...
Anyone wishing to
join the Orange Order will be told of 'The Qualifications of an Orangeman', to
which he is expected to live up.
'The qualifications
show what the commission is and what's expected of people,' said another
Orangeman. 'And people fall short of what's expected.'
They fall short of
what's expected from their respective churches too, but it doesn't mean to
say the whole Church is entirely wrong because of that. And the same applies to
the
institution.'As Orangemen frequently and plaintively
point out, the organisation is not a
secret society but a society with secrets, and very few of them at that.
How can an organisation be secret they ask, when its members parade openly in groups with banners declaring where they are from and what they stand for?
"The only secrets the
"There has to be
something mysterious to make you want to join and find out. That's what creates
the male bonding.
"The fact that
we know what the ladder stands for on our sash may not be earth shattering, but
it matters to us."
His father is in the same lodge; his mother refers to what they do in the lodge
as 'playing silly beggars.' They don't take offence.
"Sure it's
childish. That's why we don't want to do these things in public. It's not because
they're bad, but because they're stupid."
The Faithful Tribe By Ruth Dudley Edwards is published by Harper Collins on
Price £17.99