r/northernireland • u/spectacle-ar_failure • 19d ago

MEGATHREAD Drumcree/Garvaghy Road [Megathread]

This Megathread has been retired please check this Megathread for further discussion

Following some feedback on the previous Megathread about the number of comments to wade through, this shall be a new Megathread for use.

Due to the amount of engagement on the subreddit following developing news about the ongoing Drumcree/Garvaghy Road situation, and to keep the subreddit from ending up with multiple posts related to the same issue, we're using a Megathread.

Continuing on from the previous one and for the foreseeable, this thread is to be used for any Garvaghy Road/Drumcree related discussion, news, memes etc.

This frees up the subreddit for business as usual posts, so they will not to be drowned out.

Otherwise?! Complaining? This thread.

Enjoying? This thread.

Meming? This thread.

LARPing, as Bryant or otherwise? This. Thread.

-----

Some posts can be given exemptions, e.g. big news, but this will be up to mod discretion if you feel your post deserves an exemption please contact us via modmail rather than replying here. Thank you!

66 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

4.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

85

u/ConsistentFeed8829 17d ago edited 17d ago

Drumcree Parish Church posted last night as part of a wider post “Despite what people think about Drumcree, the inside of the 4 walls does NOT reflect the outside. We love our community and we love our neighbour. Come and worship and pray with us”

Then closed their church hall doors to the orange order.

And then shared this image, which now unionist pages are livid about, saying they are being intolerable and accusing them of not following Christ’s teachings in their preferred hierarchy! (Will include images below in comments)

YOU COULDNT MAKE THIS UP! 😂

-2

u/[deleted] 17d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/connorjosef 17d ago

Can a religious organisation statement being generated by AI be counted as heresy?

16

u/Gemini_2261 17d ago

Why are men who are Presbyterian, Free Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and other denominations attending services in an Anglican Church? Is there really a "service" at all?

6

u/No_Ring_3348 17d ago

This is a really long story and boring story that can be summed up as such: Anglicanism was once the only show in town, Calvinists and the rest of the nutters were considered one small step above Catholics and not allowed churches etc. Wesley was only allowed because Methodism is just Anglicanism with extra steps.

11

u/anotha-one11 17d ago

  Then closed their church hall doors to the orange order.

We haven’t have a credible source that this happened. Loyalist slop Facebook pages ain’t it. Hope it did happen tho**

Also you’re potentially reading what you want to read from that poster -  Note how part of it is talking about doors being open and welcoming to all. That’s the way they seem to have talked since the 90s, saying that they wouldn’t close their door to anyone, including the OO, and let them continue 

13

u/ConsistentFeed8829 17d ago

There’s a comment further up here linking to Facebook post here from Barry Johnston which may have triggered the closure if you want to read https://www.facebook.com/share/1DrBy4AuW7/?

On his page too he says: There seems to be important distinction between welcoming people to worship and permitting church property to be used as a base for a civil or political protest.

That distinction was documented by the Church of Ireland in the aftermath of earlier Drumcree disputes. In particular, the 1999 General Synod resolution called upon the Rector and Select Vestry at Drumcree to seek undertakings from the Portadown lodges including:

“the avoidance of the use of all church property or its environs in any civil protest following the service”.

3

u/anotha-one11 17d ago

Forgive me I don’t know who Barry is, but I haven’t seen him claim he’s got a response or that it has been closed. It’s still not someone credible saying it has been.

Again I hope it is, and all the points he made in his comments are of relevance to why - however, those resolutions are from the 90s, and still to this day the church has facilitated the march, with that same open to all terminology 

2

u/ConsistentFeed8829 17d ago

I’ve no idea who he is either I was just sharing interesting information that someone else shared about him as he has written to the parish with - he may never get a response for all we know but him highlighting their own documentation, hosting the OO beyond a service goes against this

1

u/anotha-one11 17d ago

Yes it’s definitely interesting, knew they had said some things before but not the resolutions etc. However is worth highlighting they had these attitudes they have today back in the 90s and continually facilitated them, and the post today reaffirms what they said back there about their door being open to anyone

2

u/ConsistentFeed8829 17d ago

Yes but door being open for anyone to worship is different from being open to people to utilise the premises for civil or political protest

1

u/anotha-one11 17d ago

What the poster says:

  We declare that our church is open and welcoming to all... regardless of community, culture, tradition or background.

What is said in 1998 

  In 1998, the then Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Robin Eames, emphasised that the Orange Order attended a normal Sunday service rather than a special "Orange Service" , and insisted that the church's doors were open to all.

My point is this wording hasn’t really evolved from what they said in 1998, after which they have continued to facilitate the parades ever since. It’s not a change of stance in and of itself, perhaps until we have proof of alleged events like locking doors. It’s just the same thing they have said for 30 years 

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/2-october/news/uk/anglican-and-rc-archbishops-call-for-calm-in-drumcree

1

u/ConsistentFeed8829 17d ago

Ah. Yeah - get you.

10

u/JabbatheEwok 17d ago

Robin Eames told the lodges at the time

"will have taken themselves beyond what can reasonably be expected of the Church of Ireland by way of extending to them Christian hospitality or a Christian welcome". and

He added that the Church would not accept "the association of the worship of Almighty God in a church of the Church of Ireland with the scenes we have witnessed on the hill at Drumcree".

5

u/1eejit Portstewart 17d ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/northernireland/s/Rcp2Px4sEU

Interesting comment on the subject here

3

u/ConsistentFeed8829 17d ago

Comment says: I came across this post on the Garvaghy Rd community FB site. Posted by Barry Johnston.
Wonder if timing is a coincidence or related to the above? the https://www.facebook.com/share/ 1GkJuLesTL/?

24

u/Icy-Narwhal-902 17d ago

Is this what serotonin feels like

11

u/Dodecaheadwrong 17d ago

To be fair, that parish hall must resemble a honking HMO by now.

21

u/FcCola 17d ago

This is truly beautiful

29

u/ConsistentFeed8829 17d ago

24

u/gitgood Belfast 17d ago

Christ famously said "antagonise the fuck out of your neighbours as frequently and loudly as possible". Sure the lad that stabbed him on the cross was called O'Stabhigan

19

u/PunkDrunk777 17d ago

It’s not a fucking lodge. Fucking premier inn 

27

u/Shenloanne 17d ago

Didn't have this on my bingo card.

18

u/the_red_guard Belfast 17d ago

Becuase if anyone is all about the teachings of christ, it's the PUL community.

17

u/ConsistentFeed8829 17d ago

5

u/Belfast90210 17d ago

Founded on biblical principles, cemented in sectarianism