A Northern Irish Presbyterian minister has said that as many as 30 families left his church because of his friendship with former IRA leader and politician Martin McGuinness.
Rev David Latimer of First Derry Presbyterian Church said he had reached out over a decade ago, to the former deputy first minister for Northern Ireland when he wanted help protecting his church from attacks, according to BBC News.
He told BBC's The View: 'There are people who carry heavy burdens because their loved ones were murdered by the IRA and some of those people find it difficult to accept that I, as a church minister, got friendly with an IRA leader.
'Attendances on a Sunday could be 40 or 50 people down on what it was at the peak before I reached out, and that is disappointing, but if I had to do it all over again I would not do it any differently because we cannot live in isolation of each other'.
Nine members of the church, who were part of armed security forces, had been murdered by the IRA. Latimer said he'd been accused of 'dancing on victims' graves' and 'shaking hands with a man whose hands were stained with blood' for his relationship with McGuinness.
McGuiness later visited First Derry church to address the congregation at a service.
'It was a big step by Martin McGuinness to come into the church, and it was a big moment for this church to remain seated while he was in the building – nobody walked out,' Latimer said. Some congregants, even those who had lost loved ones to the IRA, were able to welcome McGuinness, and supported Latimer's efforts at wider reconciliation.
Latimer has now pastored the church, now with a congregation of about 200, for 30 years. However, he still receives incensed criticism for his attempt at reconciliation.
'I could never have appreciated the price you have to pay for engaging in peace would be so high,' he said.
'I have only been trying to engage in the type of work the man I follow was involved in.'
McGuinness retired shortly before his death on March 21, 2017. At his passing several political leaders praised a committed, 'complex' republican who turned from violent aggressor to peacemaker, and was instrumental in the reconciliatory 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
