For almost ninety years the bell of Clonard Church has sounded as clearly in the Shankill as in the Falls calling to mind God's presence among us and his many blessings. Pro Tanto Quid Retribuamus. People on both sides remember with gratitude how during the air-raids of 1941, Catholic and Protestant sheltered together in the vaults of the Church.

An annual series of talks in Clonard Church during the month of November began in 1948 and continued until the mid 1960s. These talks and ensuing discussion were in their time a pioneering encounter between Protestants and Catholics in Belfast. Their aim was to clear up the misunderstandings of Catholic doctrine which deepened sectarian divisions.

In 1973 the Clonard Charismatic Prayer Group began to bring Catholic and Protestant people together in prayer each Monday evening. In the mid 1970s Fr Christopher McCarthy formed the Thursday Bible Study group in which Catholics and Protestants met weekly in the Monastery. In the early 1980s this group organized ecumenical prayer services which brought together large congregations from both traditions in Clonard Church during the annual Universal Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Gradually over the years Clonard has come to be a special kind of reconciliation centre for the divided community. Preaching in Clonard Church on Jan 1st 1983 Bishop John Baker of Salisbury acknowledged this role of the monastery:

"This church of Clonard is to me one of the holy places of the world. Every pew, every brick seems soaked in prayer, in the longing for grace to love God and Man, to live in forgiveness and peace with all our neighbours ......

How wonderfully God draws us here to the Falls Road to learn more of what it means to be a Christian and to pledge ourselves - Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Anglican - to live out our Christianity together. To come here is to come home, for home is where Christ is, where his Spirit makes us one."

Since the mid 1980s the Redemptorist Community at Clonard Monastery has intensified its involvement in the work of reconciliation through the following initiatives:

1. Reconciliation Work in the Shankill-Falls area in association with the members of Cornerstone Community:
   a) through assigning a member of the community, Fr Gerry Reynolds, to be a member of Cornerstone Community.
   b) through supporting and sharing in the local reconciliation projects of Cornerstone Community.
2. Reconciliation Work in Clonard/Fitzroy Fellowship - an association of about 25 people who worship in Clonard Church and about 25 members of Fitzroy Presbyterian Church. This fellowship has developed links between the Clonard Catholic congregation and the Fitzroy Presbyterian congregation through building confidence in "single identity" meetings, and an annual programme of joint meetings, including a week-end retreat together. Members of the fellowship - both Catholic and Presbyterian - have visited other congregations of the Church to share our experience of this model of the reconciliation process with them as one which is very suited to the "culture of learning" of Church members.
3. A Ministry of Welcome at Clonard Monastery for individuals and groups, particularly clergy and leaders of the Protestant tradition. This ministry involves arranging a dialogue with members of the Redemptorist community and with local people for the development of mutual understanding. Often these meetings include a meal in Clonard Monastery. The result is liberation from stereotype thinking and deep-seated fears. Reconciliation, just like an army, marches on its stomach.
4. A Ministry of Visiting local Protestant churches, particularly on Sundays to share in their life and worship and enabling Catholic people who worship at Clonard to take part in such visits. These visits generate great warmth and thus help to transform sectarian attitudes. They are also very suited to the "culture of learning" of church groups.
5. Theological Reflection
   a) Organizing of annual Theological Conferences for Clergy and Church Leaders as a way of exploring different views and attitudes.
   b) Monthly study meetings with members of the ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the role of Mary in the Church so that the admiration and love of her which is shared by all the Churches may become a path and a rallying point for growth in mutual understanding and fuller communion of life.
6. Political Dialogue Being "a sanctuary place" (Tearmon in Gaelic), in which programmes of political dialogue between the two sides of the political conflict here can be planned and carried through. This involves recruiting persons from both sides, keeping in regular contact, setting up meetings, drawing up agendas and organising larger conferences at regular intervals.