Synopsis
After 25 years of bloody conflict, the two communities of Northern Ireland have still to agree their future. Catholics have been associated normally with a nationalist position and they now face some very radical challenges if they are to contribute constructively to a settlement, without allowing their own identity and culture to be ignored or devalued. This work sets out the author's view of the major challenges facing nationalists at this juncture, and presents a reading of the scriptures in the light of this situation. Arising from this, it identifies a series of principles which must be applied by Christians, and then moves on to show how these principles might help to shape the response of Catholics, both as Church and as individuals in society, to their various tasks in the formation of a agreed future for Northern Ireland.