Father Alec Reid, C.Ss.R. is an Irish priest noted for his facilitator role in the Northern Ireland peace process. Born and raised in Nenagh, County Tipperary,[1] Reid was professed as a Redemptorist in 1950, and ordained a priest seven years later.[2] 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.[3]
In 1988 he delivered the last rites to two Royal Signals corporals killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), the 'Corporals killings', after they drove into a Republican funeral. A photograph of his involvement in that incident became one of the enduring images of the Troubles. In the late 1980s, Reid facilitated a series of meetings between Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams and Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader John Hume, in an effort to establish a 'Pan-Nationalist front' to enable a move toward renouncing violence in favour of negotiation. Reid then acted as their contact person with the Irish Government in Dublin from a 1987 meeting with Charles Haughey up to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. In this role, which was not public knowledge at the time, he held meetings with various Taoisigh, and particularly with Martin Mansergh advisor to various Fianna Fáil leaders.
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 and a Methodist minister, the Rev. Harold Good, announced that the IRA had decommissioned their arms at a news conference in September 2005.[4]
He was involved in controversy in November 2005 when comments he made during a meeting in Fitzroy Presbyterian Church concerning the Unionist community in Northern Ireland. 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".[5][6] In an interview with CNN, Reid claimed that "The IRA were, if you like, a violent response to the suppression of human rights".[7]
On 4 July 2008, Fr Reid was made an Honorary Graduate of the University of Ulster and made a Doctor of the University (DUniv) in their Summer Graduation ceremonies, in recognition of his contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process.[8]
On April 19, 2009, Fr Reid was awarded the Reflections of Hope Award by the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum.
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