Father Alec Reid

A native of Tipperary in the Republic of Ireland, Alec was professed as a Redemptorist priest in 1950, and ordained seven years later. For the next four years, he gave Parish Missions in Limerick, Dundalk and Galway (Esker), before moving to Clonard Monastery in Belfast, where he would spend almost the next forty years. The Redemptorist Monastery at Clonard stands on the interface between the Nationalist Catholic Community and the Protestant Shankill Road ^[1]

In 1987 he delivered the last rites to two Signals corporals murdered by the IRA, the 'Corporals killings', after they accidentally drove into a Republican funeral. The photograph of him being one of the enduring images of the troubles. The corporals killings is the name commonly given to the Irish Republican Armys execution/murder of two British army personnel, corporals David Howes and Derek Wood, on March 19, 1988. ... The Troubles is a term used to describe two periods of violence in Ireland during the twentieth century. ...

In the late 1980's, Reid facilitated a series of meetings between Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams and SDLP leader John Hume, in a preliminary move towards the Good Friday Agreement. Reid then acted as their contact person with the Irish Government in Dublin during the leadup to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, between the British and Irish governments and the political parties in Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin (in the Irish language ourselves or we ourselves; not as sometimes incorrectly translated, ourselves alone) is an Irish political party. ... Gerry Adams Gerry Adams MP, MLA, (Irish: Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948) is an Irish Republican politician and abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for West Belfast. ... The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP — Irish: Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is the smaller of the two major nationalist parties in Northern Ireland. ... John Hume John Hume (born January 18, 1937) is an Northern Irish politician, and co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, with David Trimble of the UUP. He was the second leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, a position he held from 1979 until 2001. ... The Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement and, more rarely, as the Stormont Agreement) was signed in Belfast on April 10, 1998 by the British and Irish Governments and endorsed by most Northern Ireland political parties. ... Dieu et mon droit (motto) (French for God and my right)2 Northern Irelands location within the UK Main language English Other recognised languages Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Hain MP Area  - Total Ranked 4th...

More recently, Reid has moved to Dublin and has been involved in peace efforts in the Basque region of Spain. In January 2003, he was awarded the Sabino Arana 2002 “World Mirror” prize, by the Sabino Arana Foundation in Bilbao, in recognition of his efforts at promoting peace and reconciliation.

Reid along with a Methodist minister, the Rev. Harold Good announced that the IRA had decommissioned their arms at a news conference in September 2005 ^[2].

Reid was involved in controversy in November 2005 when after comments he made during a meeting in Fitzroy Presbyterian Church concerning the Unionist community in Northern Ireland. Fr Reid said: "You don‘t want to hear the truth. The reality is that the nationalist community in Northern Ireland were treated almost like animals by the unionist community. They were not treated like human beings. They were treated like the Nazis treated the Jews" ^[3]. The word Unionist, simply meaning one espousing a union, has a number of connotations, depending on context: Unionists are people in Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales who were historically in favour of uniting their nations into a United Kingdom, or who in modern times wish their nations to remain part...

References

1. ^ Father Alec Reid C.Ss.R. by Brother Brendan Mulhall, Redemptorists Denver, 17 May 2006.
2. ^ Maintaining belief in peace aided N. Ireland transformation By Kevin Cullen, The Boston Globe, 27 September, 2005.
3. ^ Irish priest provokes fury with unionist 'Nazi' jibe Breaking News.ie, 13 October, 2005.