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Ulster Project
"Ulster Project Founder Calls Program Complete Success," Arlington Morning News, July 9, 1999, A1.
By WILL POTTER
The Rev. Kerry Waterstone, founder of the Ulster Project, admits he's no expert on peace-making.
"I was a boxer at the university, and boxers don't specialize in peace," he told Ulster Project parents during a reception this week at St. Peter and St. Paul Episcopal Church in Arlington.
"Who would have ever though an Anglican priest from Southern Ireland would be running a peace program in Northern Ireland?" he said. "It just doesn't make sense. It must be pure fate."
Arlington is the Rev. Waterstone's first stop on a three-week national tour that includes 16 of the 25 Ulster Project host cities. The 25-year-old program brings Protestant and Catholic teens from war-torn Northern Ireland to live with host families in the United States for a month.
Despite his hectic schedule, the Rev. Waterstone has visited Arlington five of the past six years. He returned to Arlington this year to plan the Ulster Project International Conference, which the city will host Oct. 27-30. The conference, held every two years, will attract approximately 250 people, 50 of whom will come from Ireland.
During his visit, the Rev. Waterstone also will fulfill his promise to Irish parents that he would check up on the teens, said Linda Shaughnessy, Arlington's Ulster Project president.
The Rev. Waterstone met with the 16 Protestant and Catholic teens from Ireland, along with their American counterparts, Thursday afternoon at the Adventures in Achievement ropes course in Alvarado.
"It's amazing that one person can do something so big," said David Maxwell, a 15-year-old from Belfast. "I met the Rev. Waterstone at our first meeting in Ireland. His sense of humor really made us feel welcome."
The teens are participating in everything from community service projects to pool parties during their U.S. stay. The Rev. Waterstone's visit reminded some of the importance of the project and what he has done.
"I think it's really cool that he had the initiative to start this," said Kate Loveless, a 15-year-old from Arlington. "I'm impressed anyone can have so much energy."
The Rev. Waterstone though of creating the Ulster Project after visiting the United States with his wife, Edie, and their two sons in 1974.
"America blew our minds," he said. "We had never been in a pluralist society where nobody cared what religion you were."
When the Rev. Waterstone returned home, he received a letter from two U.S. clergymen, asking what they could do to help end the conflict in Northern Ireland.
"I wrote back that our only hope for the future lies in the younger generations," he said.
In Northern Ireland, Protestant and Catholic teens don't have opportunities to socialize with each other. Social standards don't permit it. But by allowing them to worship, work and socialize together without pressure, the Rev. Waterstone hoped they could see their similarities.
So far, the program has been 100 percent effective, he said. Since it began, none of the nearly 4,000 participants have joined a paramilitary group when they returned home, he said.
Ulster officials know this, the Rev. Waterstone said, because Irish clergy have a close relationship with their churchgoers and keep in touch.
Some families were initially reluctant to participate in the Ulster Project, he said, but its reputation and the quality of host families relieved some of their fears.
"Nobody would ever send their 14-year-old child to a strange country for a month," he said. "But they know we are sending them to good, religious households."
