Cardinal Brady meets the UDA

Representatives of Northern Ireland"s major outlawed Protestant paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association, have pledged to stay on the road to lasting peace following their first-ever meeting with the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, including Cardinal Sean Brady. Five men from the group"s legal political wing, the Ulster Political Research Group, spent two hours at the private home of Cardinal Sean Brady, leader of Ireland"s four million Catholics, in the ecclesiastical capital of Armagh. 'There will be no going back. We are here to build a new future,' the group"s leader, Frankie Gallagher, told a news conference after his delegation. Among them former UDA gunmen shook hands with the cardinal, two Catholic bishops and a priest. In a statement Cardinal Brady called it 'a highly significant meeting. It read: 'We appreciate and are greatly encouraged by the assurance given by the UPRG today that there is no going back to the past, that together we are building a new future. All those present agreed to build a better future. It is vital to liberate our society from the scourge of drugs, alcohol abuse, racism and criminality, which compound social disadvantage and destroy hope.' In recent weeks the UDA frontmen have been reaching out to Catholic politicians to reassure them that the organisation no longer poses a threat, despite its continued refusal to disarm. Catholic leaders, in turn, have lauded the UDA, which killed more than 300 Catholic civilians in vengeance for IRA violence, for remaining calm in response to last month"s surge in attacks by IRA dissidents. UDA members have violated their 1994 cease-fire in the past. Gallagher said Catholics were understandably worried that UDA members would respond violently to the IRA dissidents. 'We hope that today"s meeting has gone some way in alleviating those fears.' Twittering back to prayer Meanwhile, at an event in Mayo last weekend, Cardinal Brady urged Christians to pray via technology in an effort to overcome these difficult economic times. He appealed to 'every Christian in Ireland' who sends texts, twitters or uses e-mails to think about setting up prayer groups using these modern means of communication. 'Make someone the gift of a prayer through text, twitter or e-mail every day,' Dr. Brady said.He made the call at the unveiling in Attymass, Co Mayo, of a statue of Fr. Patrick Peyton, the 'Rosary Priest'. At ceremonies yesterday in Attymass, near Ballina, where Fr Peyton was born in 1909, Dr. Brady said: 'Fr. Peyton had a great gift for using the most up-to-date means of social communication. He was pioneering in his use of television to communicate the gospel and the power of prayer through the rosary.' 'He attracted the support of many famous film stars along the way. I am sure if there had been mobile phones in his day Fr. Peyton would have been big into texting and twitter. He would rejoice in the power of the internet and e-mail to join people together in prayerful solidarity instantaneously and across the world,' added Dr. Brady.