The Church of Ireland primate, Dr Robin Eames, has spoken of the need for new courage in the North to walk new and untried paths.
In his Christmas Day address at the cathedral church of St Patrick in Armagh, he said: "There are deep scars of mistrust, community division and above all sectarianism which must be buried if we really are to move forward." Memories of the past must not be ignored but "we must move forward. We must push back the darkness," he said. "1999 must be a year of achievement based on courage and justice for all."
The Roman Catholic primate, Dr Sean Brady, in his Christmas sermon, said: "We have walked through some dark and dismal days during the past year." Speaking at St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh he reflected that it was hardly surprising "that we, who live in a world weighed down by unbelief should sometimes be afraid even to believe and to hope. We need to to renew our faith that the promise contained in the Good Friday Agreement will be fulfilled."
He continued: "Jesus came to calm fears and to strengthen faith in the midst of uncertainty and doubt. We need help to dispel our doubts about whether the troubles are really over and about whether people are really prepared to move and to change."
In his Christmas homily at the Pro-cathedral in Dublin the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Connell, defended the right to silence in criminal prosecutions.
He referred to St Thomas More who, at his trial, pleaded human law could bind only a person's words and actions. "A person's thoughts were between him and God, a matter of Divine Law. Therefore he had the right to silence without any appropriation of guilt. Once we violate this right we attack the dignity of the human person and deprive of their rights not only the guilty but the innocent as well."
At Christ Church Cathedral, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Walton Empey, in a tribute to the defence forces, praised their 40 years service with the UN as "a remarkable record". "During the year the deafness claims provided most of the media coverage of the Defence Forces and many snide and cheap jokes were passed at their expense," he said. "I wonder how many of those armchair critics ever observed at first hand the extraordinary courage, skill and humanitarian actions of successive battalions in the Lebanon for example?"
He spoke of his own "great privilege" in having done so.
