Mar 15th, 2003
No 5 Monthly

Worldwideloyalists
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Teaching Right From Wrong
This happened in the town where I live and teach last year at this time.

The Catholic students start going to their confirmation classes at the local Catholic Church every year at this time...this happens when they are between 13 and 15.

Well, two students of mine boyfriend (Catholic) and girlfriend (Presbyterian) tell me this story.  The boy asks the priest during his confirmation classes why his girlfriend does not have the same kind of confirmation issues at her Presbyterian Church.  The Priest said it did not matter because she was not part of the True Faith.  So these two students who are darling kids and close to being all A students come to me all upset about this.  The wee lassie is upset because her boyfriend thinks she is going to hell and he is upset because he is dating a heathen that he is in love with.

Being the nice teacher that I am I said I would talk to the Priest and sort this out.
 
I got the name of the Priest and told him who I was and explained to him I was Presbyterian. I felt he should know my background.  In our discussion,  I asked him to show me where in the King James Version of the Bible where it says that my students have to be Catholic to go to Heaven.  He said according to Catholic Doctrine this is our belief, I told him that as an important and influential leader in the community you have no right to tell children they are going to hell. Then I asked him if he had told the  kids that the Catholic Church is the only Church that has it's own Bible even though that all other Christian religions believe in the same Bible.


 
I asked him if he also told the children that no where in the Bible does it say a man has to live celibate or woman for that matter of fact to love and worship God.  He said I believe this is a calling from God.  Then I said so all these Priests who rape kids had a calling from God?  He went silent, then he said I can not answer for them. I realize I went over board but did I really? This man was trying to take away two young kids friendship over an issue of acceptance into a Church and the fact that they were of different religions. Ask yourself in my place. I know I did right.
 
I said I would answer for the kids who have been raped.  If you ever tell any of my students again that they are going to hell because they are not Catholic, I am going to the local paper then maybe a larger paper.  Then I might consider suing you for slander.  You are slandering other Church’s and other religious beliefs.  Then I said I would start a protest in front of his church to boycott a place that tells children they are going to hell.
 
Little did he know that I could not act out like this because of my job, in a small town that would have made me too controversial of a person.  The school system would have put a lot of heat on me and pressured me into stopping my pursuit.  But he did not know that.
 
To this day I have not heard any of the kids tell me that he has said this again.  I have purposely asked kids who talk confirmation classes to ask him what happens to kids who are not their religion, and he has told them that he can only speak about the Catholic religion.
 
I am not ashamed of my stance. I am not ashamed of supporting Kids who are just learning to become good human beings. I am a teacher and it is my job to protect, to educate and to teach right from wrong.
 
I don’t need the Clergy from any faith to show what is right from wrong. It is in our upbringing. it is also our right to defend all the religious faiths. That much I was taught.

Tiptoe Through the Tulips:
A Brief Look at the Political Framework of Northern Ireland



For many Americans, at first glance, the political scenery of the United Kingdom looks very familiar. After all, Americans are taught at school that their political and legal system is based upon that of the English. The UK has a bicameral government, the Parliament being made up of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, which Americans roughly equate with the House
of Representatives and the Senate. The similarity takes a fork in the road when Americans realize that the House of Lords also acts as the highest court in the land, as if the Senate were the Supreme Court of the United States.  This is enough to get American heads shaking, and the confusion sets in.

Add to the mix the recent devolved powers given to Wales and Scotland, and until recently, to Northern Ireland, and the once clear picture begins to cloud.

However, an understanding of the political workings in Northern Ireland is key to understanding the issues of the day, and a brief history of the devolvement of powers lends a framework to the political workings now going on.

In 1998, voters in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland were faced with a vote on what has become known as the Good Friday Agreement, or GAFF. The GFA set out the basis for devolved powers in Northern Ireland. The vote for the passage of the GFA was an event that was several years in the works.

The declaration of ceasefires by the major paramilitary organizations of both Republicans and Loyalists were recognized as "all party talks" began in late 1997. Talks in fact had been ongoing through out the 1990's, both in public, and as has recently been revealed, privately between the IRA and the British
Government. ( At the height of the IRA bombing campaign on the Mainland, the British Government was engaged in secret talks with the IRA about ending its violence in Ulster). SF/IRA had left the talks tables before, when they perceived things that were not going their way, and breached a cease fire by bombing a commercial centre in London on the Isle of Dogs. This happened on February 9, 1996. Two men were killed in this IRA bombing.

However, the British government announced that all party talks would be held June 10, 1996, and from that grew the structure of the proposed Good Friday Agreement. The Good Friday Agreement is seen by some as a well constructed compromise, and by others as the ultimate sell out by the British Government to the threat of bombs from the IRA in London, and a betrayal of the Protestant people in Ulster who themselves have been the victims of SF/IRA
bombs.

The governmental structures and devolved powers set up in Northern Ireland by the GFA collapsed once again, and perhaps for the final time in mid October, 2002. This was the fourth time that the Northern Ireland Assembly had been suspended. Amid a dramatic raid in Stormont and revelations of spying by SF/IRA, Loyalists and Unionists applauded the suspension of the Assembly.
 

It remains suspended today.

American Special Envoy Richard Haas is currently visiting with government officials in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and England to determine if there is any ground to re-start the power sharing assembly.  There must be a review of the GFA, and its implementation, when it has been suspended. However, unless there is common ground, there is no basis for re-starting the Assembly, and this may at last be the final gasp of the GFA.

Unionist and Loyalist supporters of the GFA, who voted "yes" in 1998, generally feel betrayed by the way that the GFA has been implemented, and have indicated in overwhelming numbers that they would vote "no" or against the GFA were it to come up for a vote again today. With little backing in the Protestant community for the GFA and the Northern Ireland Assembly to re-start, it is unlikely that it will be reinstated any time soon, despite
the manoeuvring of politicians.

Recommended Reading
Recommended Reading on Northern Ireland:
 
Many Americans and Canadians might be eager to learn more about Northern Ireland by reading books on the subject. However, a trip to the bookstore reveals a rather dismal selection of books that offer anything than a biased, one sided Republican view of both history and current events.

A few books, however, present themselves as presenting at least a neutral view of events. One of these, " Northern Ireland Protestants: An Unsettled People", by Susan McKay in fact does anything but, and presents the same well worn view offered of Northern Ireland and Ulster Protestants as the Republican influenced books on the shelf.


 
Some notable exceptions to the usual formula, however, are worth reading.

"A Faithful Tribe" by Ruth Dudley Edwards gives a view of both the current Orange Order and the historical events which led to its formation.

"A History of Ulster" by Jonathon Bardon gives an academic view of the long history of Ulster, but presents the information in a highly readable and thoughtful manner. This is a long book and not one which you would sit down to read cover to cover on a rainy day, but rather something to be approached in smaller bites.

"Loyalists" by Peter Taylor is part of a three part series which reviews the IRA, the British Army and Loyalists in Ulster. Again, this book is not pro- Ulster Loyalist or Protestant, and may fall a bit shy of the neutral mark, given the history of its writer, but it does present a history of Loyalism, and interviews with influential Loyalists, and is not overtly marred in promoting a SF/IRA agenda to its readers.
A Family Story-Presbyterian Heritage.

My father and mother have been married for 48 years, this July 14.  They are in love as much today as they were back then.  I must say I had the most proper upbringing a wee Scottish/Irish lassie can have.  My parents are good Christian people, my father is a Past Master of the Masonic Temple in Detroit , Michigan and my mother belongs to the Eastern Star in Warren , Michigan (Protestant) organizations.

 

My mother was Catholic. Yes you read that right.  Her people are originally from Ireland .  My mother and father met several times before they started dating under unusual and unexpected circumstances.  She was 17 when they started dating and he was 21.  They fell in love, but my father let my mother know that if they were to be married, she would have to convert to the Presbyterian Church. My mother never had a problem with that because she was always in trouble with the Catholic Church and the Priests (she thinks they were glad to see her leave school because she could never live with the Catholic Churches ideals).

 

 So now this lead us to the night before their wedding.  The local Priest came up to my mother's house and told my mother if she insisted on marrying my father she was going to hell.  He also told her that all of her children would be “BASTARDS” in the eyes of God and that we would all go to hell.  Now, my mother only being 18 had a lot of guts to answer the threatening Priest in this way.

 

“ You should be no judge of love, you should be no judge of who goes to hell or not and further more God will love my children as much as any Catholic children if not more.”

 

He threatened her all the way to the door as she put him out.

 

My Mums father hated the Catholic Church because when he was a wee lad he stuttered (stammered as they say in Scotland ), the Priests and the Nuns made fun of him. So my grandfather would not step foot in a Catholic Church but he PROUDLY WALKED MY MOTHER DOWN THE ISLE OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.  My father's mother hated my mother because she never felt she was good enough for my father.  So my father and mother put up with a lot of family infighting because she loved my father.  She took us to the Presbyterian Church and learned everything she could about the Protestant religion and raised us like she had never been Catholic. 

 

They have now been married for almost 48 years.  My oldest brother who is 46 is a CEO and has several degrees in Business Management.  He is also a Mason and has been married for 21 years, has three beautiful children who are all involved in the Presbyterian Church.  I have a sister who is 44 years old; she is a Charge Nurse and Education Coordinator and has worked at the same hospital for 22 years.  She is married to an Italian man who converted to the Presbyterian Church 20 years ago when they got married.  They have two extremely beautiful children who are both extremely gifted and bright (in spite of their father being a Catholic at one time) I have a younger brother who is 36 who is an Engineer, he has been in charge of an Engineering Firm for 14 years.  He has been married to a Lutheran Woman for the past 13 years.  They have three children 12, 10 and a 1-year-old baby.

 

All of us were born in Scotland .  My father being a humble carpenter and my mother being a housewife and seamstress decided they wanted a better life for their children.  So in there thirties, with very little money, just a dream and some hope brought us to the United States .  We have turned out very successful and are all-special in our own way.  THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS WE HAVE SO MUCH LOVE IN OUR FAMILY, WE LOVE THAT WE ARE SCOTTISH/IRISH, WE LOVE EACH OTHER AND WE ARE NOT EVEN FIRST GENERATION AMERICANS.

 

If my mother had listened to the Catholic Priest, our family Legacy would not have lived on as it is now.  If it was not for my Catholic grandfather hating the Catholic Church my mother might have buckled under the guilt being a lassie of only 18 years old when the Priest was threatening her.

 

I went to the Presbyterian Church every week as a child.  I know the Bible like the back of my hand or as much as I know about history.  So I know each one of us is going to heaven (the Priest was so wrong).  I know God loves me, with all of his heart, soul and might.  I know my parents and all of my family is going to heaven, because they are such good people.  I know God does not threaten, I know God did not invent rosary beads or bigotry in the name of a Church, plastic statues, ashes on the forehead and celibacy in place of family love. 

 

The Moral of this story is:  The Priest that day before my Mums wedding day was so wrong. I and my brothers and sister turned out to be good members of society. We will do that thanks to the freedoms given to us so many years ago by those Protestants who fought and died for each one of us.

 

Another Protestant Testimony.

 

My next story will be about my run in with the IRA in Ireland in 1998.  I am still alive to tell the story about this and I know it is because God loves and watches out for me.
War on Terrorism

Some of you might have read that President Bush has refused to meet with Gerry Adams prior to this year’s annual St. Patrick day’s parade. Interesting development in the war against terrorism, is it not?  Only this time last year Bush was very willing to meet with the Sinn Fein leader. I seem to remember him shaking Adams by the hands and giving him a small embrace. 

So what happened to the support of the White House for terrorism, PIRA style? Is President Bush the knight in shining armour who will eradicate global terrorism? Will Prime Minister Blair join President Bush in condemning the Sinn Fein, the PIRA, the OIRA and all the republican terrorist groups that exist in Ulster today? 

We have all witnessed the worldwide protests condemning President Bush on his stance on Iraq. We all know in our hearts of hearts that he fully intends to invade Iraq and ensure that Saddam Hussein leave office, either by force or by his own free will. Many of us are concerned about the issue of war and how that will affect innocent lives. Certainly the last thing the world needs is pictures of innocent men, women and children being killed in bombing raids or attacks on Cities, towns and villages. 

Ulster on both sides of the divide knows only too well the effect of terrorism has on the community. The lose of live in the six counties has reached almost every family, many not involved in the troubles. Almost 40 years have past since the IRA began to arm and the Loyalist UVF began their struggle to defend Ulster. And yet there seems to be no solution. 

President Bush may be a villain to many, many may say he is pushing his own family agenda, some may say he lacks intelligence and compassion, others have likened him to Hitler and many have identified him as stubborn and insensitive. One thing we must admit is that he fully intends to wipe out terrorism. In any form. His refusal to meet with Gerry Adams was a change in USA and White House policy. One that we never thought we would see. Our only dream can be, is that they stick to their fortitude on this issue, maybe teaching the Irish Republican Movement in the USA that they will no longer be tolerated either. 

This stance by the White House is even more interesting in fact. It flies in the face of Tony Blair who has openly courted Adams and McGuiness, to the point of being seen with them at dinners and the likes. The question remains is what is Blair up to, will he stand beside his terrorist friends by using the excuse that the majority of the British Government and people are against the war in Iraq or will he realize that he has made many mistakes in the past and stand by President Bush and America. 

Time will tell. But we can be assured that the American Government will not go easy on any Terrorist. The Irish Republican Movement has been warned. Or have they? You might ask how a known terrorist is still allowed to enter the country. In the end the White House has veto power over who can come in and out of the country. Adams is being let in. So though they have been warned the war isn’t over.

Contact all you know to support President Bush in his war against terrorism. Especially the Irish Republican Movement.
Book Review
Roy Garland had his book on Gusty Spence published in 2001. The book is published by Blackstaff Press and is called simply Gusty Spence.

Roy Garland was born in Belfast’s Shankhill district in 1940. He has been involved in Loyalist Politics all of his life. In 1969 he became an officer of the TARA, a Loyalist paramilitary group. He is currently a member of the UUP and lectures at the Lisburn Institute of Further and Higher Education.

His very good friend is Gusty Spence. Gusty Spence is one of the most famous figures of the Ulster Conflict. He was a member of the Loyal Orange Institution before he joined the Ulster Volunteer Force in 1965, during a time of Loyalist concern that the IRA were about to arm to begin the era we now know as the Troubles.

In 1966 he was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years for the murder of a Catholic barman, a charge he has always denied. His imprisonment was the start of the slogan “his only crime was Loyalty, a well know slogan” He was banned from the Orange Order for being a member of a Paramilitary Organization although his Lodge continued to walk by the Crumlin Road Jail, against the orders from the Grand Lodge, on the days of the Walks to let Gusty know he would never be forgotten.

Gusty Spence went on hunger strike on two occasions, while in the Crumlin Road Jail. His stand was to get better conditions for Loyalist and Republican prisoners alike. His aim was for the British Government to recognize that both sets of prisoners were Political and not common criminals. It is important to note that he was the first of the Political prisoners to go on the hunger strike, well before the Republicans and Bobby Sands did.

In his time in prison, he attempted to educate the Protestant Prisoners. He not only encouraged debate with republicans but also ensure that the Loyalists read Irish History. He understood all to well that to defeat your enemy, you must know their history, their culture, their language and what makes them tick.

Gusty led the UVF in both the Crumlin Road jail and later in Long Kesh. In 1977, as the UVF commander, he issued a message supporting reconciliation and attacking violence as counter productive. He was released from Long Kesh in 1983 and from that time onward, still loyal to Ulster he played a significant role in developing the peace process. In 1994 at a combined Loyalist Military Command press conference, Gusty announced a Loyalist Ceasefire.

Many in the media and in the history books suggest that the British Government and the PIRA initiated the peace process. This is simply not true. The Protestant people of Ulster, who maintain they are part of Britain and who have often been let down by the British Government and in some cases the British people, realized that the world was changing. They want no part of a United Ireland but at the same time have realized that the time for the rule by gun is over.

Gusty Spence met IRA men who he could relate to. He found that through education the two people could share Ulster, as long as both sides gave respect.

On the 15th April 1972 Gusty Spence wrote a letter to the widow of Joe McCann, an IRA Volunteer who had helped Gusty in a UVF/ ORIA conflict. He quoted Patrick Pearse.

   They suffer in our coming and in our going.
   It is they who have the most courage.

We can all sit back and wait. Or we can decide to act for the good of our religion and our culture. Gusty Spence did both through both violence and in peace. Let there be no doubt the call to arms must be a last resort.

In 2000 Gusty was not at home when his house in the Shankhill was attacked and fire bombed. Not by republicans but by Loyalists. A new wave of terror and intimidation. To take over his house for like minded Loyalists who are not interested in the furthering Ulster’s cause, only their own.

Gusty is controversial figure and his ideas have shocked and surprised most in Northern Ireland, he has nevertheless remained one of the more important figures of the Ulster conflict.
 
Editorial

I have to say that I am surprised that the North American Loyalist struggles on a monthly basis to find contributors to send in articles. Is life too easy across here? Or has the American work ethic left us little time to remember what made this Nation so great? I have to say as one of the contributors that if I can find time to write an article or two then so can all of you.

The Scots Irish built this land and we seem to be letting them down. Maybe someone out there can let the NAL know what is happening, why we have forgot our roots, and maybe what we have to do to defend our faith. By the responses it seems that the Brothers and Sister over here have decided to wage a war of silence. It’s not just in this paper, it appears throughout the nation. An apathy. Hard for me to understand. 

Look living in America is very easy. Yes you can complain, but in this society you really don’t have to worry about bombings, or sectarianism or religious strive. Or do you? 9/11 taught many American something.

This nation is not all it is made up to be. There are wee cracks in the armour. The pending war in Iraq has only taught us that we are a nation together but so divided. And on cultural and religious lines more than politics and attitude. 

America and Canada have a large population that allows us to hide. Yes hide. In Britain whose population is one twentieth of the North American continent, you might find a friend or too, who shares the same believes. But in North America, our cause and our religion is a dying trade. 

So much so that those of us who are still willing and able need to stand up and fight for our Cause.

Relating it to the upcoming war, which I have mixed feelings about, I know the stance that President Bush is making, its in his opinion for the good of the nation. I only wish that the Ulster Scots in this country could stand up to be counted in defence of Ulster and our way of life in the this country, the way that President Bush has defended his nation.  Maybe he learned something along the way that we have all forgotten. 

One day all nations will be free. All religions will be allowed to worship in the way the Covenanters wanted it. No matter colour or creed. But if we don’t all of us rise up and be counted we will have no say in the making of freedom. Which is what we are brought up to do. And if we don’t rise, the answer is tyranny for our kids and their kids. A life that we need to be aware of. 

Oh so easy in America until your son or daughter turns into a Fascist. And only because you didn’t stand up to be counted. Lots of money made, the land of bread and honey, but in the end, one day we all go to meet our maker. The question at the Pearly gates is—Did you defend the cause, did you treat each and everyone you met in the way that you were taught and did you realize when you did wrong. 

Heavy discussion, but the NAL ask each and every one of their readers to think upon this issue. 

Up to you all. It’s not about being Protestant or Catholic, Jew or Muslim, it’s about realizing where you are right now, what your history was, understanding and then acting in a way that would make your fore fathers and mothers proud. 

Take the low road. This organization intends to make you take the high road. But its up to you all. . Time for you all to get it together.

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Spirit of Orangeism

The Spirit of Orangeism in the USA

In the United States, a multitude of ethnic groups and members of different religions and social classes live together in relative peace and harmony in a multicultural society. In general we do not have the sectarian friction which afflicts many other countries. Many different religious beliefs and modes of worship coexist peaceably in our society, and the Orange Order fits into this mosaic. Therefore, while we share the same basic principles, there are significant differences between how these principles are worked out in the United States and how they may be applied elsewhere. To a greater and lesser extent, this is also true for all Orange jurisdictions. One of the glories and strengths of Orangeism is how it has been adapted locally to suit the cultures of a diverse and worldwide following. 

The Orange Order in the United States is a religious and patriotic American fraternity. The Grand Orange Lodge of the United States was organized in 1868, less than eighty years after the formal institution of the Orange Fraternity in Loughgall, Northern Ireland, in 1795. However, the spirit of Orangeism was planted in the United States as soon as the first groups of Ulster immigrants began arriving in significant numbers after 1719. This stream of pioneers, arriving as soon as thirty years after the Battle of the Boyne, brought with them the knowledge that they owed their very existence to Prince William of Orange. Their first settlement was in Londonderry, New Hampshire. Fresh arrivals throughout the 1700s spread quickly along the frontier and left their mark on the American landscape with hundreds of places named after towns and regions they had left in Ulster. At a very early stage these immigrants from Ulster were given the name Scotch-Irish. While they had embarked on ships leaving ports such as Larne and Derry, it was obvious to the colonial authorities that they were not Irish. So they were called Scotch-Irish, and this name is proudly borne by Ulster-Americans to the present day. 

Some of these early settlers were known as Hillbillies because of their veneration and respect for William of Orange. So far as we know, the Hillbillies did not have organized lodges, but lodges began to appear in the United States in the early 1800s and resulted in the formation of the Grand Lodge of the USA in 1868.  

Over the past 150 years of independent growth, the formative experiences of United States Orangeism have been different from those elsewhere and this can sometimes be confusing for new members who have been active in foreign Orange jurisdictions before coming to the United States. The Loyal Orange Institution of the United States is an independent entity making its own rules and setting its own standards: it is not an overseas branch of any other Grand Lodge.

Friendly fraternal communication and consultation with foreign Grand Orange Lodges is maintained through our affiliation with the World

Orange Council.

Charity For Kids

The Charity for Kids is underway for this year.

Jim Morrison, my good friend,  has put a web site together showing all the details of the items to be auctioned.

The web site speaks for itself and better than I could say.

But if I have a word or two to say,  I can say is that Protestants and Rangers Supporters need to stand up and act as we were taught. No guns, no bombs, no singing of FTP, and no selling of drugs. Look to the future but also to the past.

Faith Hope and Charity. That is what we were taught. And to care and love each other in our cause of Freedom.

Please pass this web site along. Thanks to Jim everyone can see the items we are auctioning. Thanks to all that donated their time, their shirts and their thoughts. Also thanks to Dougie and Gill for the
sponsored walk. Need more to get into it by the way. You can e-mail me on the site if you want to join the walk for charity.

If we really truly are Protestants then we have an obligation to support those less fortunate than ourselves.

I will say that over $500 was raised last year (out of $2000) by people who just wanted to help out. No religion and no fitba was brought to the forefront. Dougie will tell you of that.

I know you all are behind us. If last year we raised $2000 maybe this year we can beat it.

Auction closes the beginning of June



Alan. Dougie and Gill

The website
Charity For Kids

Site of the Month.
This site has been along time in coming, for far to long the Scotch Irish/Ulster Scots have been ignored and there many achievements forgotten. Simply put others have distorted the historical record and we don't know our history, of what we do know we don't understand.

We should be proud to be Scotch Irish, the impact we have had on the world is to say the least monumental and also disproportionate.

By far our greatest achievement has to be the fact that we with a few others can lay claim to being the founders of the greatest nation on earth, the United States of America.

We also made Northern Ireland what it is to day and so with in this site we have tried to cover in as much detail as possible, the history and achievements of the Scotch Irish or Ulster Scots in the USA and Ulster.

Its not a site for academic's or historians its from a more modern and populist view but for those with an interest and those who simply haven't a clue and want to learn then this sites for you.