Founder of the Witness for Peace movement in Northern Ireland is emigrating to Canada with his family.
Rev Joseph Parker, a senior chaplain at the Mission to Seamen in Belfast and his wife Dorothy lost their fourteen year old son Stephen on 21 July 1972 when the IRA (Irish Republican Army) set off twenty two bombs planted around Belfast without warning. Nine people were killed and 130 others seriously injured on this day that has become known as Bloody Friday.
Rev Joseph Parker subsequently founded the Witness for Peace movement. While he garnered much public support north and south, his crusade for peace has been a lonely one. Most of his fellow clergymen did not agree with his work, and he and his family suffered social isolation.
The decision to leave his community in Belfast and exit Witness for Peace has not been easy. He describes it as ending,
The greatest pilgrimage of my life, which began with the death of my child.
Rev Joseph Parker has been heartened by recent news that church leaders have launched a peace campaign. He would like to see more being done by everyone on the island,
This is a time for great acts of faith in Ireland.
Dorothy Parker is very disappointed by the way her husband has been treated,
The place you expected to find the support from, it didn't come.
The next post for Rev Joseph Parker will be as Senior Chaplain at the Seamen's Mission in Vancouver.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 28 January 1975. The reporter is Forbes McFall.
