- [Dale] Saint Patrick may bethe patron saint of Ireland,
but he did much of hisministry in Northern Ireland.
So much so, that he evenasked to be buried here.
(bagpipe music)But the view of who Patrick is
and what he stands for
is as divided today in Northern Ireland
as the wall that stilldivides part of Belfast.
While many nations celebrate
Saint Patrick's Day enthusiastically,
in Belfast, it's complicated.
At least for many of thecity's British protestants,
who see Patrick as havingbeen hijacked by Catholics.
- I think that Saint Patrick means
probably two different things
to two different groups of people.
- [Dale] Johnny McKee is lead pastor
at New Life City Church,
which sits squarely onBelfast's dividing line.
Part of its building in catholic Belfast,
part of it in protestant Belfast.
- The protestants don't celebrate him
because even they viewhim as green, as Irish,
(bagpipe music)as Ireland, as catholic.
And the Catholics, again,unwittingly celebrate him
as catholic, even thoughhe was neither, for me,
catholic nor protestant.
- This is the Shankill Road in Belfast.
And local legend has it that Saint Patrick
walked this road during his ministry.
But later, it would become a symbol
of blood shed and destruction
during the time known as the troubles.
30 years of fighting between Catholics
who wanted to join Ireland
and protestants who wanted to stay British
left 3,500 people dead.
A peace agreement wasfinally signed in 1998,
and Northern Ireland is healing,
but still has a ways to go.
Because all of Ireland was once a part
of the United Kingdom,
that red x-shaped cross in the Union Jack
is actually the cross of Saint Patrick.
But that doesn't seem to impress
the protestant British here.
- We would like to thinkthat what Patrick stood for
could be a great unifierwithin our communities.
But we politicized him and we made him
into a religious icon.
- [Dale] Jack McKee, seniorpastor at New Life City Church
walks with the cross onsome of the same roads
that Saint Patrick used.
He walks for peace and reconciliation
between the communities.
He walks with former terrorists,
now born-again believers whoused to fight each other,
and today, worship together.
- His message was one oflove, was one of hope.
People on both sides would accept that.
But, if you wanna be here today,
then you can be sure that both sides
would want to drag him into their camp
and that, perhaps, even both sides
wouldn't genuinely want tohear what he has to say.
- Patrick landed on thecoast of Northern Ireland
in county down in the fifth century.
It's near the cathedral at Downpatrick
where his remains arebelieved to be buried.
So, is Patrick buried here?
- He's not buried rightunderneath that stone,
but he's on this hill.
If you can imagine this, centuries ago,
was just one of several hills of down.
He was brought here in 461,and buried on this site.
- [Dale] Patrick, whoministered to violent tribes,
would have had a heart for modern Belfast.
Parts of which, remain plagued by hatred,
drug abuse and broken families.
(bagpipe music)But, how would Patrick
be received if hereturned to Belfast today?
Pastor Jack has tried carrying the cross
on Saint Patrick's Day,and felt the hostility.
- As I walk on past with the cross,
one of them shouted outyou're an effing idiot.
And I thought to myself, that's so ironic,
that on Saint Patrick's Day,
the idiot is the one carrying the cross.
- [Dale] So, like parts of the new,
peaceful Northern Ireland,
Patrick still waits to be rehabilitated,
to become not onlymeaningful to Catholics,
but to protestants as well.
- As far as I'm concerned,Patrick was a fully-committed
follower of Jesus Christ.
Whether we call him evangelical,
whether we call him born again,
his message to all the people,
regardless of what camp thatthey find themselves in,
regardless of what kingdomthat they identify with,
his message to the people was Jesus Christ
as a savior for humanity.
- [Dale] Dale Hurd, CBN News, Belfast.
