Atonement and forgiveness in Belfast

JUDE WHYTE’S mother Peggy was a devout Catholic and part-time taxi driver, well-known in the market district of Belfast. In 1983, a member of a Protestant paramilitary group tried to bomb the family home and injured himself horribly in the attempt. She nursed him as he lay in the street. Her son thought this kindness might spare the family further attacks, but a year later the same group attacked the house again, this time killing Peggy and a policeman.

Yet Mr Whyte, a social-work lecturer, says that if he knew the name of his mother’s killer, he would not tell the police. He sees no benefit in incarcerating a man who would now probably be around 60, like himself, and can hardly have understood the conflict in which he was involved. “In my mother’s name, I forgive him,” he says, explaining that although he has not inherited his mother’s faith he tries to emulate her empathy.