Applications are being accepted for the role of Sexton for the parishes of Sandford and St Philip’s.
Please send your CV to: The Revd S. Gyles, The Rectory, Sandford Close, Ranelagh, Dublin 6 or sandford@dublin.anglican.org
Closing Date: 5 pm, Thursday 15 October, 2015
Further details at www.sandfordandstphilips.dublin.anglican.org
Pupils from St Andrew’s National School in Lucan went back to school in September with an extra bounce in their step. They started the new school year in their brand new building.
The new building opened on September 2 and it represented the beginning of the next phase of its growth. The school currently has 344 pupils on its role and it will have a full pupil population of around 450 in four years’ time.
The opening of the new school marks the end of a 20 year campaign for a new building. The old school on Chapel Hill opened in 1972 and could no longer cater for the children of the parish. The school looks forward to enjoying the new surroundings and with the parish looks forward to further growth.
Church of Ireland register records escape from slavery in Africa and baptism in Ireland of George Ellis Bernard Freeman, 1855
The RCB Library in Dublin is custodian of over 1,000 collections of Church of Ireland records which have been transferred from the parishes where they were created to the library’s safe custody.
Within each collection are various categories of records, the most widely–used of which are the registers of baptism, marriage and burial. These document the lives of millions of people – when and where they were born; who their parents were; who they married; details of their spouses’ fathers and occupations; and ultimately if and when they received a Christian burial.
Occasionally in the course of their work, library staff come across more unusual pieces of information of lives lived and long forgotten, and this month’s Archive of the Month focuses on one such story – the extraordinary survival and migration of a child from ‘the interior of Africa’ who was saved from slavery and brought to Ireland after his family and ‘all his tribe had been killed in war’. The story is recorded as an annotation in the entries of baptism for the parish of Kilbrogan, county Cork, which centres on the town of Bandon.
Instead of the standard pro–forma information of who the child’s parents were and where they lived, this entry records his fortuitous escape from slavery. The record states that on 15th April 1855 the rector of the parish, Revd Charles Bernard baptised a child ‘aged about 7 years’ with the Christian names ‘George Ellis Bernard’ and presumably surname of ‘Freeman’. The entry further fleshes out his story: that he was the son of an African chieftain from the interior of Africa, whose tribe were killed in war and as a result he was ‘sold as a slave’.
Since the British slave trade had been abolished in 1807 (and slavery itself was abolished in the British Empire in 1833) we can assume that he must have been sold as a slave in the internal African trade, he was found by ‘Capt. Ed. Ellis’ – master mariner from Bandon – who, as the register entry continues to narrate, had been ‘trading up the river Gaboon and Cameroon’ in the 1850s, and ‘made [the child] free’ by bringing him to ‘this country for education and religious training’.
The use of the middle names of Ellis on the one hand and Bernard on the other may be a tribute or connection to the man who rescued the child in Africa, and the rector who baptised him in Ireland. Neither man appears to have adopted him, or at least that information is not recorded in the baptismal register, and he does appear to have received the surname Freeman.
The online presentation explores the background to this unusual entry and speculates what might have happened to George and the influences in Ireland giving him support. To date, no further information about what became of him has come to light. However, by putting the story on public record, the hope is that it may spark further interest and feedback from members of the public.
You can view the Archive of the Month at: http://ireland.anglican.org/about/128
This year’s Focus Ireland ‘Shine a Light’
campaign will take place in the grounds of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on Friday October 16. The cathedral’s Dean, the Very Revd Dermot Dunne, will once again be taking part and will sleep out to help highlight the plight of homeless people while raising funds for Focus Ireland.
The Focus Ireland ‘Shine a Light’ campaign invites corporate leaders from across the country to engage in the sponsored sleep–out. Dean Dunne aims to raise €5,000 before the sleep out and is appealing to parishes and individuals across the dioceses to support his fundraising efforts.
“We are all aware of the increasing numbers becoming homeless at this time and we share a need to do something about it. Last year I was overwhelmed by the generosity of people who gave so much to the campaign. I am relying on the same generosity this year and hope that I can reach my target,” he stated.
The night is Focus Ireland’s flagship corporate event and since 2012 over €1 million has been raised from Shine A Light Night with over 200 business leaders taking part in the sleep out to date. These funds have been vital to ensure Focus Ireland services have been able to cope with a 43.75% rise in the numbers seeking support since 2012. In 2014 alone, Focus Ireland helped over 11,500 people compared to 8,000 in 2012 who were either homeless or at risk.
To donate visit www.focusireland.ie or donate directly at the cathedral.
The Season of Advent begins on Sunday November 29, and so starts a new liturgical year and a fresh cycle of daily Scripture readings. Church of Ireland Publishing has announced that Sunday and Weekday Readings 2016 is now available.
This annual booklet is compiled by the Revd Ken Rue, who says: ‘Sunday and Weekday Readings is designed to help worship planners and lesson readers know the appointed readings for Sundays and weekdays. It is also beneficial for those who wish to follow a personal course of Scripture readings tied in with the Church calendar.’
It may be obtained from Richard Ryan at the Book Well, Belfast (email: info@thebookwell.co.uk; mobile: 07581143596), or from Heather Jestin, Church House, Rathmines (email: heather.jestin@rcbdub.org; telephone: +353 (0)1 412 5621). The price is unchanged from previous years at £3/€4 per booklet.
For further information on Church of Ireland Publishing, visit www.cip.ireland.anglican.org
Saint Patrick’s Cathedral is a popular destination for tourists visiting Dublin. The Cathedral is steeped in 800 years of history and hosts a number of permanent and temporary exhibitions, as well as a renowned choral foundation and rich musical tradition. Almost 500,000
people visit Saint Patrick’s each year and the Cathedral is keen to ensure adequate and appropriate pastoral care is offered to those visiting this ancient house of prayer and pilgrimage.
Saint Patrick’s is establishing a chaplaincy programme for its visitors. The Cathedral invites applications from all people, either lay or ordained, who wish to volunteer by regularly spending some time in the Cathedral interacting with visitors and responding to their enquiries and pastoral needs. Chaplains will also help to witness to the cathedral’s essential vocation as a church, and will be able to explain to visitors the story and life of the Church of Ireland.The chaplains will be available to those visiting the cathedral and will offer an additional ministry to those already offered at Saint Patrick’s. It is hoped that this service will enhance the visitor’s experience.
Ideal candidates should be passionate about people and sensitive to people’s needs. Training will be provided for all those wishing to serve as chaplains, and support will be available to continuing volunteers.
If you are interested in becoming a chaplain at the cathedral please email Eimhin Walsh at community@stpatrickscathedral.ie or telephone him at 01 453 9472 who can give more information.
A new book featuring a selection of Irish Times columns written by former Archdeacon of Dublin, Gordon Linney, was launched yesterday evening (October 1) by the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Diarmuid Martin. Thinking Anew – Faith in a World of Change and Doubt is published by Columba Press and contains just some of Archdeacon Linney’s popular Thinking Anew articles from the last 10 years which seek to highlight the connections between life and faith. The royalties from the book will be donated to the Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice.
Launching the book, Archbishop Martin said that the title could be seen as an agenda for the future of all Churches. “One of the big challenges that believers and Church institutions must ask themselves today and even more so in the future, is precisely the question about ‘faith in a world of change and doubt’,” he stated.
The Archbishop said that faith was not about regurgitating perennial certainties but about perennially having the capacity to think anew within a rapidly changing world, being challenged to doubt but coming out facing in the right direction rather than “the non–direction of entrenchment in a past which seemed secure but may never have existed, but in renewed thinking which generates renewed optimism and renewed faith”.
Speaking of his attendance last week of the celebration on family life led by Pope Francis in the United States, Archbishop Martin said that his dominant impression of the Pope was his abounding energy, both physically and in the alertness of his thought. He also highlighted his ability to challenge established wisdom and say things in a different way. He said this upset some Catholics who found it hard to accept that in challenging accepted wisdom the Pope was actually enhancing it.
The Archbishop said people were often angry and unsettled by change but said he realised that the Church had made them like that. “We created a climate around faith which generated scruples and failed to free people and give them an experience of a Jesus who liberates us from entrapment and who is there with his mercy to free us once again from entrapment when we fail,” he stated.
“Godon Linney’s book is an example of someone who never allowed change and doubt to prevent him from thinking anew and expressing that new thinking through the medium of a secular newspaper. His thinking anew was not thinking angrily out loud. It was thinking anew which spurred his readers on to reflect on how faith can interpret and enlighten events of the day,” he added.
CEO of the Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice, Sharon Morrow, highlighted the work of the organisation which provides palliative care for children with life limiting illness. They provide respite care, end of life care and crisis care and recently added Laura Lynn in the Home to their range of services. She thanked Archdeacon Linney for his donation and said it was generosity like his which enabled them to continue their vital service.
Gordon Linney thanked everyone who had helped with the publication of the book and those who had facilitated the launch in St Paul’s Parish Centre in Glenageary. The book is dedicated to the memory of his wife, Helen, and he thanked everyone who supported them over the 22 years of her illness. He also thanked the Irish Times who had given him the privilege of writing the column every second week for 10 years.
He said that the book had a very simple aim – it was not just him thinking anew but thinking aloud of the connections between life and faith and encouraging people not to give in to secularism which he said took away but gave nothing back. “Secularism is a spiritual desert. The simple answer is, if Churches all disappeared tomorrow, the spiritual questions would remain – who am I? What is the purpose of my existence?” he stated.
The forward to the book is written by the Revd Olive Donohoe, Rector of Athy. She concludes it by saying: “Gordon Linney has an eye for the great saints and heroes of our world, and is effortlessly able to distil the wisdom of seemingly disparate groups including theologians, philosophers, scientists, thinkers and commentators in a stimulating and accessible way. The clear, unambiguous writing style, in a language that speaks clearly and courageously to the issues of the day, of our day, is very appealing… Let me end with a fervent prayer: Thank you God, for the sheer pleasure of books such as this, books which we can treasure, books which we can hold in our hands, keep on the bedside table, share with our families and give to our friends as gifts! Amen.
Photo Captions:
Top – Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Archdeacon Gordon Linney and Sharon Morrow of the Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice.
Bottom – The Revd Olive Donohoe and Archdeacon Gordon Linney.
Leading Environmental Theologian, Dr. Martin Hodson, will give a lecture on ‘Climate Justice’ in Zion Parish Church on Wednesday October 28 at 8.00 pm.
Climate change will most adversely impact the world’s poorest. Dr Hodson (pictured) will consider climate justice and what this means for the church, offering a clear biblical foundation for caring for creation though ethical living, practical action and advocacy.
Dr Martin Hodson is Visiting Researcher in Environmental Biology at Oxford Brookes University, and Associate Member of the Institute of Human Sciences at the University of Oxford. He is Operations Manager for the John Ray Initiative (JRI), a charity looking at the interactions between science, faith and the environment.
Dr Hodson has published widely in the area of theology and climate change, his books include Cherishing the Earth (2008), Climate Change, Faith and Rural Communities (2011), The Ethics of Climatic Scepticism (2015) and A Christian Guide to Environmental Issues (2015).
Churches have a lot of ethical and theological thinking to do before next year’s commemoration of the 1916 Rising.
Members of the Dublin Council of Churches were treated to a deeply thought provoking talk at their annual forum day last week. The Revd Dr Johnston McMaster urged churches to do more in 2016 than merely commemorate the past –
they must look to the future. He suggested that in a secular society churches could write a proclamation of hope as their contribution to the commemoration.
Dr McMaster also highlighted the central role of the theologically based ideas of redemptive violence and blood sacrifice in the foundation of the State and asked how faith communities should confront this.
Dublin Council of Churches held their annual forum day in the Quaker Meeting House in Rathfarnham. The theme was Memory, History, Faith and the Future and 40 people from 10 denominations gathered to tease through the issues raised by acts of commemoration, their various interpretations and their cultural, political and religious implications. The keynote speaker was Dr Johnston McMaster, renowned peace–activist, educator, and staff member of the Irish School of Ecumenics. The morning was facilitated by Geoffrey Corry, a specialist in conflict resolution, facilitation and mediation in a number of settings: the peace process in Ireland, family mediation, workplace and community disputes, restorative justice and the environment. He is also a member of the Methodist Church in Dublin.
Among the questions explored were: Can the churches provide their own critique of the myth of redemptive violence and blood sacrifice? What might we be able to contribute toward articulating a new ‘Proclamation’ of life and hope in the Ireland of 2016?
In his opening remarks, Dr McMaster said that the events of 1912 to 1922 have shaped Ireland. It would be a great mistake to cherry pick our way through the decade as each event led to the other and our memory will be skewed unless we grasp the connections between the events, he stated. He said the framing event was the Great War which took 15 million lives, 35,000 or more of whom were Irish. Without the Great War there would have been no Easter Rising, the foundation event of the Republic of Ireland, he stated.
He reminded participants that in 2016 there would be two centenaries: the 1916 Rising and the Battle of the Somme. In Dublin the Rising would be commemorated while in Northern Ireland the Battle of the Somme would be remembered. ‘Dublin and Belfast will have to recognise that without the Great War there would be no myth of origin for either and there would have been a very bloody civil war without the Great War. Because of the Great War many of those Irish men went to fight and die together,” he said.
He added that there were ethical challenges for the churches: what do the churches do with the politics of the commemoration and memory? What do faith communities do with blood sacrifice – a theologically rooted idea?
When churches consider their role in 2016 they must consider that now churches are losers, he contended. Citing Professor Diarmuid McCullagh who said that the Great War killed Christendom [as an established religion in support of and supported by empire], he said: “We are not where we were a century ago. Rather than complaining of secularity, we might come to terms with it. We might be losers for our own good”.
Dr McMaster explained the differences between addictive memory and liberating memory. He said it was possible for any society to develop an addictive memory or a fixation with the past. This could lead to hyper sensitivity where the complexity of the past and plurality of the narrative could cause offence. Society gets locked in a siege mentality creating garrisons of identity politics and exclusion.
He asked how much of Unionists’ identity was bound up in the extreme sacrifice of so many at the Somme. How much was Nationalist and Republican identity dependent on the martyrdom of 1916. He was not talking of the ethics of war but identity politics.
“Remembering, memory and commemoration are not the problem. The problem is our motive that drives the remembering, memory and commemoration. Memory may have more to do with psychological needs feeding on historical fiction than an acknowledgement of historical facts,” he commented.
He took the example of post Rising Ireland where Sinn Fein, who had nothing to do with the Rising which was instigated by the IRB, created a Sinn Fein narrative. After the Somme Unionists created a narrative, he suggested, sometimes giving the impression that only the 36th Ulster Division was at the Somme.
“Next year the identity politics of the Rising and the Somme will be commemorated rather than what actually happened in
1916,” he stated. “With every narrative and dogma we do well to exercise a hermeneutic of suspicion… In 2016 we can either indulge in addictive memory,
historical fiction or liberating memory.”
Dr McMaster said that we could refuse to live in the past, refuse to be addicted to memory. It was not about forgetting, he explained, but about refusing to be bound by history.
Turning to the role of religion in the 1916 Rising, Dr McMaster pointed out that the theological component of the Rising is often denied because it is deemed embarrassing in 21st century Ireland. A devout Padraig Pearse said that without the shedding of blood there could be no redemption for Ireland. He believed his death would be like that of Robert Emmet, for a divinely ordained purpose, a sacrifice for Ireland like Christ on the cross.
Similarly, Ulster Protestants held the same theology which formed the lens through which the sacrifice at the Somme made sense, he said. It ratified partition and the Unionist State and showed their loyalty. Their blood sacrifice had the same medieval roots.
The myth of redemptive violence has underpinned the memory of domination and ruling and still forms the basis of defence policies, Dr McMaster stated. It has its roots in the theology of the ancient Babylon myths where violence and war begets peace. Violence and redemptive violence were present at the foundation of the State and Northern Ireland.
“We have some ethical thinking to do between now and next Easter and July. We can’t change the past but we can change the future. Churches approach 2016 in Ireland as losers because Christendom has died. But therein lies our liberation. We are not tied to the State or in bed with political power. We can revision God, reimagine Jesus as peace, reread the Bible as a book of resistance and the core idea of peace. Faith communities can become communities of hope, grasped in the here and now in God’s ultimate dream for peace and life,” he said.
He suggested that, in the end, Pearse, McDonagh and Connelly did have eschatological vision. They underlined civil and religious liberty, equality and inclusion in the Proclamation. However, the ethical problem posed by the Proclamation was that the vision of equality and social inclusion and freedom was to be achieved by trust in God and physical violence. The myth of redemptive violence lies at the heart of the Proclamation. The same myth is at the heart of the 1912 Northern Proclamation.
He said the key to 2016 would be hope. “A faith community could not be content with a commemoration that merely looked back… Whatever churches do in 2016 has to be more than commemorating the past. They must look to the future. The past did not bring hope and liberation and peace. Because Christendom is dead, the language of hope is possible – seeking peace and pursuing radical social justice. As the holy losers who are now viewing things from below and at the edge, churches might bring life and hope to 2016 and together we might write a new proclamation of hope,” he concluded.
Photo captions:
Top – Geoffrey Corry, Chairman of Dublin Council of Churches Fr Damien McNeice and Johnston McMaster.
Bottom – The participants in Dublin Council of Churches’ Forum.
Two new Dignitaries were installed in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, yesterday (Sunday October 4). Canon Peter Campion was installed as the cathedral’s Precentor in succession to the late Canon Robert Reed. Canon Niall Sloane was installed as Chancellor in the place of Canon Patrick Lawrence who has retired.
The service of Choral Evensong was sung by the cathedral choir with members of the Past Choristers’ Association. The Dean, the Very Revd Victor Stacey, presided.
The preacher was Canon Desmond Sinnamon, former Chancellor of the cathedral and former Rector of Taney where both Canon Campion and Canon Sloane served as Curates.
In his address Canon Sinnamon outlined the roles of Precentor and Chancellor in assisting and supporting the Dean in the cathedral. He also introduced the two new Canons. Canon Peter Campion had been Precentor in Christ Church Cathedral and is also Chaplain at the King’s Hospital School. Canon Niall Sloane had been a minor Canon of St Patrick’s and is Rector of Holy Trinity, Killiney. He welcomed them both to their new roles in the cathedral.
Canon Sinnamon also spoke of the role of the cathedral as being a place of embassy and hospitality. He said all who enter the cathedral go out as ambassadors of faith and said that all involved with the cathedral had a role in welcoming others.
Photo caption: Canon Niall Sloane, Dean Victor Stacey and Canon Peter Campion.
The annual New Law Term Service took place in St Michan’s Church, Dublin 7, this morning (Monday October 5). Archbishop Michael Jackson presided with the Archdeacon of Dublin, the Ven David Pierpoint. Also in attendance was the Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, the Very Revd Victor Stacey and the sermon was preached by the Dean of Armagh, the Very Revd Gregory Dunstan.
The large congregation included Chief Justice Susan Denham and the Northern Irish Chief Justice, the Rt Hon Lord Justice Gillen as well as members of the Irish Judiciary, An Garda Síochána, the Defence Forces, the Diplomatic Corps and many from the legal profession. There were also visiting judges from Northern Ireland, Scotland and England and Wales. The choir was from The King’s Hospital School.
In his sermon, Dean Dunstan focused on Romans 15:7: ‘Welcome one another, therefore’. The Dean said that through this passage Paul had provided the grammar with which to address questions which test the identity and cohesion of community. In relation to human sexuality, he said that two positions, founded on the interpretation of Scripture, had reached opposite conclusions but Paul’s ‘welcome one another’ restored to its place the commandment of love and committed us to living together in courtesy and consideration until Christ leads us through.
He suggested that Paul’s words could guide us through relationships with those of differing religious traditions. He said that while the differences between the religious traditions should not be denied, in history judging and despising had led to terrible things. “Yet the theological imperative of the one God and the realities of our interrelationships in the Twenty–First Century compel us to welcome one another if we are not to live in separation but flourish together. If we address with Paul’s reasoning a Europe fearful of Muslim immigration, Christian compassion compels our welcome. But those whom we welcome are also enjoined to ‘welcome’ the societies to which they come – to make their home in them, play their part in them and contribute to them,” he stated.
Dean Dunstan also examined the contemporary European state which he described as secular, culturally diverse and bereft of the unifying influence of any dominant religious tradition. “Can Paul’s ‘welcome one another’ hold even where its theological foundation is eclipsed? It must, because the law, prescribing and proscribing, cannot do it all. We cannot relate by regulation. Nor will we make progress if our key relationships are the subject only of endless arm–wrestling. We will thrive only if we can welcome one another graciously. For again, on this Island, conflicting truths are held with conviction. Terrible things have been done. No easy resolution is available. And there are conflicting interests in the life of any state. But to flourish together, we must learn to welcome one another across the differences that divide. If we do, we may find them not quite so divisive after all,” he concluded.
The Revd Adrienne Galligan has been appointed a Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. Adrienne is Rector of Rathfarnham and is the Rural Dean of Taney. She is married to Canon Paul Houston.
She has been appointed to the Chapter of the Cathedral in succession to Canon David Moynan who resigned in September.
Announcing the appointment, the Dean of Christ Church, the Very Revd Dermot Dunne, said it was a delight to welcome the Revd Adrienne Galligan to the Chapter. “She brings to this foundation a rich and varied experience in ministry. Her commitment to promoting Gospel values and the development of a lived faith will deepen and enrich the life and ministry of the cathedral. A woman of independent mind and intelligence, Adrienne will bring these and many more gifts to the Chapter which is sure to be an enhanced body by her presence. A native speaker of our mother tongue, I look forward to Adrienne using this talent for the benefit of our services in the Irish language. I wish her every blessing in her ministry with us,” he commented.
Archbishop Michael Jackson congratulated Adrienne on her appointment. “The Reverend Adrienne Galligan contributes to the life of the United Dioceses from a position of personal humility and deep spiritual life. Her work in two parishes has not only commended itself to the parishioners but has enabled them and her to engage with the community with a sense of witness and adventure combined. I have every confidence that Adrienne’s faith in God centred on neighbour and community, parish and prayer will add substantially to the daily life of our diocesan cathedral. I offer her my congratulations and commend the Dean and Chapter in this appointment,” he said.
Adrienne said she was honoured by the appointment and looked forward to this new phase of her ministry. “Christ Church Cathedral was a place of worship for me personally for many years before I moved to Wicklow town and subsequently began training for ordained ministry. But apart from my personal enrichment as a member of the congregation in those years and since, the reach of the Cathedral is vast given its pivotal role in the Dioceses, and also to its many visitors, in nurturing faith and presenting all that is excellent in worship. While its history is remarkable, its intentional advocacy on behalf of the marginalized is both visionary and missional. I am enormously honoured that Archbishop Jackson and Dean Dunne have offered me this canonry in Christ Church cathedral and I look forward very much to serving the Lord and His church in this new sphere of ministry,” she stated.
Christ Church Cathedral continues its series of lunchtime lectures marking the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta on Tuesday next. The series features four leading Irish thinkers who will consider its relevance in contemporary society.
The lectures will take place at 1.15pm each Tuesday until October 27. Admission to the lectures, which will be held in the Music Room at Christ Church Cathedral, is free of charge.
The first speaker was Dr Peter Crooks, Assistant Professor of Medieval History in Trinity College Dublin, whose topic was ‘An Introduction to Magna Carta’
The second speaker of the series will be Senator Ivana Bacik (Reid Professor of Criminal Law in Trinity College Dublin) who will be discussing ‘Women’s Rights’ on October 13.
Next will be Archdeacon Gordon Linney, whose lecture will be entitled ‘Free to Believe’ and will take place on October 20.
Finally Dr Alice Leahy (Director and Co–Founder of homeless charity TRUST) will speak about ‘The Right to a Home’ on October 27.
Bernie Murphy, Managing Director of Christ Church Cathedral, gave the background to the lecture series. “Magna Carta is arguably one of the most important documents ever written, and we can still see its influence on modern–day democracy. It is certainly something to celebrated – particularly on this its 800th birthday – so we at Christ Church wanted to do just that by arranging this series of lectures with these great Irish intellects,” she said.
Magna Carta, meaning ‘The Great Charter’, is one of the most famous documents ever produced as it established for the first time the principle that everybody, including the king, was subject to the law. Originally issued by King John of England in the 13th century, Magna Carta to this day is still considered the cornerstone of modern–day democracy. Most famously, Magna Carta established the principle that all ‘free men’ had the right to justice and a fair trial.
The Church of Ireland Theological Institute was represented at a general audience with the Pope recently. The Revd Nigel Pierpoint and Daphne Metcalfe conveyed greetings from the Church of Ireland and the Archbishop of Dublin following the general audience with Pope Francis in St Peter’s Square at the end of August.
Back in November 2014 it was decided that the Church of Ireland Theological Institute would undertake a field and study trip to Rome in August of this year. Nigel, who was then senior student (he is now Intern Deacon with Taney Parish in Dublin), spoke with the director of the Institute, Canon Maurice Elliott and Archbishop Michael Jackson asking them if it would be appropriate and acceptable to write to the Vatican requesting an audience with Pope Francis.
Nigel then corresponded with the Vatican Offices, the Papal Nuncio and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, enquiring as to the possibility of attending a general audience with the Pontiff in St Peter’s Square. This request was facilitated by the offices of Archbishop Martin in Dublin and Monsignor John Kennedy in Rome.
Unfortunately the group was not scheduled to arrive until after the general audience so Nigel and the secretary to CITI, Daphne Metcalfe, travelled to Rome ahead of the main group.
On the day of the audience, Monsignor Kennedy met the duo at the gates of the Vatican offices and escorted them through the private offices of the Pontiff providing a commentary as they progressed to their seats beside the dais. Following the prayers and Papal address Pope Francis met a small number of invited guests, including Nigel and Daphne.
Nigel conveyed Christian greetings from Archbishop Jackson and from the Church of Ireland. Pope Francis was very pleased that members of the Anglican Church in Ireland were present at the audience and asked Nigel to pray for him. Nigel replied that he would pray for him and asked in return that the Pope pray for us in the Anglican Communion, to which he readily agreed. His Holiness thanked Nigel and Daphne for being present and wished them every blessing.
The Revd Nigel Pierpoint and Daphne Metcalfe are pictured with Pope Francis.
Communiqué of the Anglican–Oriental Orthodox International Commission
The Anglican–Oriental Orthodox International Commission has held its fourth meeting from the 5th to 10th October 2015 at Gladstone’s Library, Hawarden, Wales.
The Commission greatly appreciates the welcome to his diocese given by the Right Reverend Gregory K Cameron, and the hospitality offered by the staff of the Library.
The Commission is also grateful to the members of St Dyfnog’s Church Llanrhaeadr yng Nghinmeirch, Canolfan Dewi Sant, Abergele, and St Abba Eskhairon Coptic Orthodox Church in Llandudno, and the Dean and Chapter of St Asaph Cathedral, for their warm welcome, as well as to Bishop Gregory and Mrs Cameron for inviting the members of the Commission to their home, and for their kind and generous hospitality.
A new publication containing the Agreed Statement on Christology of the Anglican–Oriental Orthodox International Commission 2014 was launched during Vespers in St Asaph Cathedral by the Co–Chairs of the commission, the Rt Revd Gregory K Cameron Bishop of St Asaph, and His Eminence Metropolitan Bishoy of Damietta, in the presence of the Rt Revd Dr Geoffrey Rowell, former Co–Chair of the Commission and co–signatory to the Statement.
The Commission completed its work on the Procession of the Holy Spirit, agreeing on the omission of the Filioque clause that had been appended to the Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed in the Latin Western tradition. The Co–Chairs signed an Agreed Statement on the procession of the Holy Spirit, which is Part A of our ongoing work on our theological understanding of the Holy Spirit. A detailed discussion of the action of the Holy Spirit in the Church followed, including a discussion of the four marks of the Church, namely: oneness, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity. The Commission has designated a drafting group which prepared a preliminary draft and will continue to work on Part B of our theological understanding of the Holy Spirit.
The Commission discussed the present situation of Christians in the Middle East and heard reports on the difficulties facing Churches, particularly in Syria and Iraq. There was a consideration of the most practical ways in which the Anglican Communion in its various countries could respond effectively to the refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe.
Members of the Commission continue to pray for the Middle East, for the victims of war, for refugees, and for all hostages. We also pray for our fellow Christians, and especially the two kidnapped Bishops of Aleppo: Metropolitan Mor Gregorios Youhanna Ibrahim of the Syriac Orthodox Church, and Metropolitan Boulos Yazigi of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, of whom there is still no word.
The Commission also marked the Centenary of the Armenian Genocide. The connection between WE Gladstone, former British Prime Minister, and the Armenians whom he defended during their sufferings in the 1890s was commemorated in St Deiniol’s Church, Hawarden. The Revd Dr Patrick Thomas gave a presentation on his book, Remembering the Armenian Genocide 1915, which was appreciated by the Commission.
The fifth meeting of the Commission will take place in Antelias, Lebanon, from the 24th to 29th October 2016, hosted by His Holiness Catholicos Aram I.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the Commission thanked the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for the mutual understanding and friendship that was experienced and shared, and looks forward to continuing its work.
Present at the meeting in Hawarden 2015
Anglicans
The Rt Revd Gregory K Cameron The Church in Wales
(Co–Chair)
The Revd Canon Dr John Gibaut Anglican Communion Office 2015
(Co–Secretary)
The Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson The Church of Ireland
The Rt Revd Dr Geoffrey Rowell The Church of England
(Consultant)
The Very Revd Dr Samy Shehata The Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East
The Ven Dr Edward Simonton OGS The Church of Canada
The Revd Stephen Stavrou The Church of England 2015
The Revd Canon Dr William Taylor The Church of England
The Revd Dr Patrick Thomas The Church in Wales
The Revd Neil Vigers Anglican Communion Office
Not able to be present
The Revd Christopher Edgar The Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East
Oriental Orthodox
Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria
His Eminence Metropolitan Bishoy Egypt
(Co–Chair)
His Grace Bishop Angaelos England
Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch
His Eminence Polycarpus Augin Aydin The Netherlands
The Very Revd Fr Roger Akhrass Syria
Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church – Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin – Armenia
His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian USA
The Very Revd Archimandrite Shahe Ananyan
Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church – Holy See of Cilicia, Antelias – Lebanon
His Eminence Archbishop Nareg Alemezian Cyprus
The Very Revd Fr Housig Mardirossian Lebanon
(Co–Secretary)
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
The Revd Fr Dr KM George India
Not able to be present
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
His Grace Archbishop Abba Gabriel Ethiopia His Grace Archbishop Abba Yacob South Africa
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
Metropolitan Geevarghese Mor Coorilos India
Statement from the Archbishop of Dublin following this morning’s fire in Carrickmines, Dublin:
The devastation caused by the tragic fire on the Glenamuck Road, Carrickmines, has left everyone shocked and saddened for those who now mourn the loss of loved ones and friends whom they never expected to lose in such circumstances.
The prayers and solidarity of members of the Church of Ireland community in Dublin and Glendalough are with those who are traumatised by grief and loss.
Our prayers and solidarity are also with all members of the emergency services who came to the scene of sadness and human devastation.
I encourage all those who conduct worship tomorrow, Sunday, to remember in prayer those who carry loss and grief in their hearts.
Archbishop Michael Jackson
Saint Patrick’s Cathedral has launched a new leaflet entitled ‘Exploring Faith’. The leaflet sets out the key teachings of Christianity and is intended for visitors and those living in the Cathedral’s community. It was launched on Culture Night when all 2,500 visitors to the Cathedral received a copy.
‘Being both a church and a tourist site gives the Cathedral a wonderful opportunity for mission,’ explains Dr Eimhin Walsh, the Cathedral’s Civic Engagement and Outreach Officer. ‘There is so much confusion about what Christians believe, and the leaflet is an attempt to help enquirers know what really lies at the heart of Christianity.’
The leaflet focuses on the themes of being, becoming and belonging and invites its readers to join the journey of discovering the transforming power of God. It is part of a broader initiative at Saint Patrick’s of encouraging visitors to explore the Cathedral’s rich history and the tradition that it testifies to. This initiative includes a new ‘Discovery Space’ and several interactive displays throughout the building.
The Dean of Saint Patrick’s, the Very Reverend Victor Stacey, commented that ‘In the past we took for granted that people know what Christianity is all about, but increasingly we are finding that we cannot assume theological literacy. Resources like this new leaflet explain the building blocks of faith in straightforward language.’
A digital version of the leaflet is available on the cathedral’s website: www.stpatrickscathedral.ie
Dublin and Glendalough Diocesan Synod 2015
takes place this evening, Tuesday October 13, in Taney Parish Centre. Synod begins with a celebration of Holy Communion in Christ Church, Taney, at 4.00 pm during which the Archbishop will deliver his presidential address.
The business of Synod will begin in the adjoining parish centre directly after the service. During the meeting members will hear the reports of Diocesan Councils and the Diocesan Board of Education. Reports will also be heard from the Diocesan Committee of the Church’s Ministry of Healing, the Diocesan Council for Mission and the Diocesan Committee for Social Action. There will also be a presentation on the Charter of Dignity in Church Life.
Synod is due to draw to a close no later than 10.00 pm.
Dublin and Glendalough Diocesan Synod 2015
is taking place this evening, Tuesday October 13, in Taney Parish Centre. Synod began with a celebration of Holy Communion in Christ Church, Taney, at 4.00 pm during which the Archbishop delivered his presidential address.
The business of Synod got underway in the adjoining parish centre directly after the service. During this evening’s meeting members will hear the reports of Diocesan Councils and the Diocesan Board of Education. Reports will also be heard from the Diocesan Committee of the Church’s Ministry of Healing, the Diocesan Council for Mission and the Diocesan Committee for Social Action. There will also be a presentation on the Charter of Dignity in Church Life.
ARCHBISHOP’S ADDRESS
In his address, Archbishop Michael Jackson, examined the impact of the Holy Spirit. He said there were three components of Spiritual being and Spiritual activity: communication, community and communion. He suggested that communion brought respect for difference and respect in difference. Church relationships required both if the spirit of the Spirit was to shine through us to others, he stated.
“This is the invitation to spiritual maturity, living beyond party politics and pretensions and living also on the other side of competing church–person–ships at every level of our church life. What is not of God cannot flourish; what is of God needs constant attention, encouragement and creativity if it is not to wither. These are the gifts of the Spirit. All of this I firmly trust we can do – together. It is the expression of the life to which God is inviting us in the hope that we are ready to hear the calling of the Spirit to love, joy, peace in the time of our lives, today and tomorrow,” he said.
COME&C PROJECT
Turning to the dioceses’ Come&C initiative, the Archbishop recalled that the Come&C Report was launched at last year’s Synod. The initiative celebrates the lives of people and parishes in churches and communities and connects people and parishes in friendship with one another. At the Come&C Day in September over 200 people gathered in the High School, Rathgar, to explore future possibilities.
“So, what is Come&C? It is the voice of the people in the parishes shaping the vision and witness of the dioceses. It is the commitment of the people in the parishes voicing a shared future with the community and with their neighbours. It is the combination of this voice of energy with the Five Marks of Mission of the Anglican Communion in shaping the range of voices that will, of course, be both the diversity and the riches of a diocese which encompasses over one and a half million people even if there are no more than forty–six thousand Anglicans officially and, on our own admission, fifteen per cent of us attend church. You can either be as small as you decide you are or as large as you want to be,” Archbishop Jackson stated.
JERUSALEM PARTNERSHIP
The Archbishop also highlighted the growing partnership with Jerusalem. The Prepare a Place project began in Advent 2014 and the diocesan family responded generously in support of Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City. “I should like to thank members of the United Dioceses on what would seem to be a first strictly united diocesan missionary initiative for a very long time. I should like to thank you for a generosity of giving from the heart that amounts to well into six figures. Already the Diocesan Councils have unanimously endorsed the next stage; that is a formal partnership through Us with The Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East,” he said.
He said this was the opportunity of a lifetime for the dioceses to connect in friendship with people who are Anglican, Christian and human beings, like us but in “excruciatingly difficult circumstances”. He added that it also connects us to the theatre of war from which people are fleeing as refugees. Primarily it connects us to the roots of our faith and belief in God, he stated.
WELCOMING REFUGEES
Concluding his address, the Archbishop called on the Church of Ireland to connect to “caritative altruism” – the invitation to think of others when making decisions for ourselves. “It has to do with the response in dignity to those who are our neighbours in a different type of on–going crisis. We have a housing crisis already. We have a Direct Provision crisis already. We have a new crisis for a fresh and different group of people for whom there is no housing and no dignity and no future. And we call them: immigrants, as if they have any option but to flee their own country. People have said to me: Charity begins at home … and my only response can be: We never know how far it will take us and, in any case, Ireland will be the only home that these particular refugees can possibly call home,” he said.
The text of the Archbishop’s address is reproduced in full below:
Dublin and Glendalough Diocesan Synod October 13th 2015
Address by the Archbishop of Dublin and Bishop of Glendalough
… the Spirit of God in the time of our lives …
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace. If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit! (Galatians 5.22)
INTRODUCTION: FRAMED BY ASH WEDNESDAY AND PENTECOST
Every synod, every where gathers people who want to meet each other within the love of God the Holy Spirit. The Dublin and Glendalough Diocesan Synods 2015 are one of those focused and energetic events. And we have gathered today for this very purpose. A significant, busy part of the Christian Year lies between Ash Wednesday and Pentecost. Both of these tent pegs are formed, framed and fashioned by God the Holy Spirit. Ash Wednesday points us to the Scriptural statement that, after the Baptism in the River Jordan: At once the Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness, and there he remained tempted by Satan. (St Mark 1.12,13). Pentecost, again as Scripture tells us, made possible for the disciples gathered in Jerusalem communication and connection through the wonderful deeds of God to individual after individual, group after group, nationality after nationality: Surely these people who are speaking are all Galileans! How is it that each of us can hear them in his own native language? (Acts 2.7,8). This is the response.
The impact of the Holy Spirit is a formative and a lasting one: it is built up out of defining moments in the earthly life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; and defining moments in the life of the church on earth as a response to the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. This Spirituality is the shape of our own lives within and without the church. Such interconnection of hope and life, of individual and community, of God and world was well voiced by Pope Francis, long before his sustained utterances on ecology and climate change, when he wrote Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel): ‘Thanks to our bodies, God has joined us so closely to the world around us that we can feel the desertification of the soil almost as a physical ailment, and the extinction of a species as a painful disfigurement.’ It is into this physical and spiritual desert that the Holy Spirit comes every time we invoke that same Holy Spirit to cleanse and to revive, as the Service of Holy Baptism reminds us. The Spirit gives life again and again, and in Pope Francis’ wonderful word, deals directly and definitively with: desertification.
THE SPIRIT OF GOD
It is important to note what we are told of the Holy Spirit. In some ways, the Spirit might be misunderstood as the deposit box or even the toy box of all the nice things we should like other people to do, without having to bother setting them in motion or watering them and feeding them ourselves; things like love, joy, peace, as outlined in Galatians. It simply does not work like this either then or now. Behind and within these three lie three components of Spiritual being and Spiritual activity. They are communication, community and communion. And all of them need to be connected with that much less domesticated and perhaps more violent side of the Spirit: earthquake, wind and fire.
Communication: (clarity): In Acts 2, whatever the people gathered in Jerusalem heard, they heard it each and all in their own language. They wanted to listen and, having heard, they were keen to be part of something bigger than themselves. Having heard, they could do no other than move forwards. They found themselves caught up in the energy of something beyond themselves and they were the better for it. Intention; wanting to do something; longing for something different to happen; being open to contributing and to participating in something beyond one’s own horizons; open indeed to guidance and to listening and to instruction and to acting in situations that can be different, dangerous and difficult – these are qualities and gifts of a Spiritual life and of a Spiritual response.
Community: (connection): Instantly, these individuals become a community of people defined by the same story in two interconnected ways, the people of God. The first is that their personal story has changed by their being together in the one place with one another in Jerusalem; and secondly, the story of Jesus Christ becomes their story in living ways. They are a very early synod, a coming together, of people in the Spirit of God and in the spirit of faith. Because something significant has changed for them, they have also become a community of dialogue, of engagement and of interaction. The subsequent history of the Christian Church has taught us that honest dialogue is in the longer term more fruitful than cosy consensus and yet dialogue requires patience, forbearance and the parking of frustrations and personal agendas firmly outside the door. Humility and obedience form the basis of response and action. Love, joy, peace begin to sound and to feel rather more demanding than the contents of an ecclesiastical toy–box.
Communion: (compassion): The importance of communion within this inter–relationship of communication and community is that it is itself a relationship whose quality transcends both division and negativity. This is the greatest gift of the Spirit throughout history and the hardest to accept in our individualized and competitive culture where celebrity is given an almost ridiculous prominence. Increasingly, each and every one of us wants the ground in front of us for ourselves. Ever more reluctantly, we make space for others with whom we agree and disagree; it hardly seems to matter; they are where we have decided that we want privacy, freedom, headspace, whatever we like to call it. More and more today people to whom I talk find that others are in their way. Communion not only transcends division and negativity and prejudice; it also binds us into a relationship with one another, with the whole of the Trinity and therefore with the whole of creation.
Communion pulls it all together. It is more than a federation and it is more than a club. It has to do with being part of something and someone larger than ourselves, not controlling this: belonging to God the Father and through God to our neighbour. It has to do with remembering and with forgetting, in a spirit of reconciliation of divisive differences, and with having the wisdom to know the difference between differences that are destructive and differences that are creative: belonging to God the Son and through God to our enemy. It has to do with the sharing of past, present and future as places of hope. This is a sharing that comes from acceptance of The Other as someone to whom and for whom we have a responsibility: belonging to God the Spirit and through God to the people whom we have not yet met. This is the glorious invitation of living in and belonging to communion rather than living, for example, in parochial isolation or personal loneliness or provincial silos.
Our neighbour, our enemy, the people we have not yet met: this is an interesting and unlikely combination. This is why synods are so important and so exciting and so life–giving. They bring together people who would not otherwise meet. We are people of a common purpose; we are people of a common Saviour. We need to meet in communion and in synod in order to be a people of a common vision and a common strategy. If we fail to do this, the common purpose and the common focus can wander. We do not choose communion; communion chooses us. And this is because God first chose us and loved us into being and into that greatest communion of all: the body of Christ. It is a mutuality of respect for difference and of respect in difference; the first can point us in the direction of tolerance; the second can point us in the direction of affection. We can turn away from both. Both are what we constantly need to work at in church relationships, if the spirit of the Spirit is to shine through us to others. Others transfigure us and they transfigure our relationships. This is the invitation to spiritual maturity, living beyond party politics and pretensions and living also on the other side of competing church–person–ships at every level of our church life. What is not of God cannot flourish; what is of God needs constant attention, encouragement and creativity if it is not to wither. These are the gifts of the Spirit. All of this I firmly trust we can do – together. It is the expression of the life to which God is inviting us in the hope that we are ready to hear the calling of the Spirit to love, joy, peace in the time of our lives, today and tomorrow.
COME&C
Last year at Diocesan Synods we invited Mr Sam Harper, Lay Honorary Secretary of the General Synod, to launch COME&C. As you are all aware, this is the fruit of a survey offered to all the parishes of the United Dioceses with a 79% take–up. Its purpose was and remains to enable us to celebrate our life as people and parishes in churches and communities. The thinking behind it is to connect us in friendship with one another. It was to the end of exploring future possibilities of this initiative that over two hundred people generously gave the full day on Saturday 12th September for a COME&C Day in The High School, Dublin. This was a wonderful gift and sacrifice on the part of each to other. I wish publicly to acknowledge the generosity in time and creativity that a Small Group convened throughout the first part of 2015 with me gave to this diocesan project. Their contribution in prayer and practicality has been incalculable. So, what is COME&C? It is the voice of the people in the parishes shaping the vision and witness of the dioceses. It is the commitment of the people in the parishes voicing a shared future with the community and with their neighbours. It is the combination of this voice of energy with the Five Marks of Mission of the Anglican Communion in shaping the range of voices that will, of course, be both the diversity and the riches of a diocese which encompasses over one and a half million people even if there are no more than forty–six thousand Anglicans officially and, on our own admission, fifteen per cent of us attend church. You can either be as small as you decide you are or as large as you want to be.
Our COME&C Day has not only brought us together as self–confident Anglicans with a deep sense of ecumenism and a strong sense of community. It has, I trust, gone some way to addressing the principled concern given voice last year in the diocesan cathedral at the Diaconal Ordination by the rector of Glenageary: ‘Is the Church of Ireland at last ridding itself of the perception that it is little more than a private members’ club?’ I imagine that at this stage he speaks for the overwhelming majority of clergy and laity in the United Dioceses. He has pointed up the bankruptcy of private treasure in the custodianship of the gifts of God. He, however, alone had the courage to say it publicly, to give it voice. It is not pretty but it is honest. He has indeed done the Dioceses some service. The connecting of our sense of community with the Five Marks of Mission enables us to envision something that has always been close to my heart and something I call: old church done better alongside: new church done beautifully. I am sure that, like me, you eagerly look forward to the day when COME&C becomes GO&TELL.
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH JERUSALEM …
In the Season of Advent 2014 the United Dioceses partnered with The Bishops’ Appeal and with The United Society (Us/USPG) in a project entitled: PREPARE A PLACE. This was a simple idea. It focused on encouraging people in the dioceses to lay a place at their Christmas Table for someone from Gaza they would probably never see or meet and on having that person there spiritually. The simple invitation worked itself out in the most amazing and inventive of ways. Young and old were extremely creative in the ways in which as a diocesan family we responded to the crying need for friendship, solidarity and support in Gaza and in particular in the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City. I should like to thank members of the United Dioceses on what would seem to be a first strictly united diocesan missionary initiative for a very long time. I should like to thank you for a generosity of giving from the heart that amounts to well into six figures. Already the Diocesan Councils have unanimously endorsed the next stage; that is a formal partnership through Us with The Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East.
For us in these Dioceses this is an opportunity of a lifetime. First, it connect us in friendship with people who are Anglican like us, who are Christians like us and human beings like us – but in excruciatingly difficult circumstances, significantly un–like us. Secondly, it connects us with the whole of the theatre of war from which people are fleeing as refugees to Europe and to Ireland, however tardy our response may have been and continues to be. The Diocese covers Israel, Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon. We see people like us from these countries on TV every day of the week and it gives face and focus to our prayer and our practical response. Thirdly, it enables us to work through, with the resources of everyday living, the connections and the contradictions across World Faiths with people with whom we can make and develop contact and understanding. It enables us to be people of Inter Faith understanding in a Multi Cultural world. But, first and foremost, it connects all of us with something dear to our hearts: the roots of our faith and of our belief in God. To the Diocesan Council for Mission, to the Bishops’ Appeal and to Us, I offer my thanks and gratitude.
PUBLIC BENEFIT
As part of the implementation of the Charities Legislation, the churches are being required to take into their rhythm of life the idea of public benefit. The Church of Ireland is a charitable body, each diocese and each parish are charitable bodies and alongside this we have many institutions and organizations whose work is charitable. It is our concern to enable the people who act in a voluntary and in a paid capacity to enjoy their involvement in charitable administration for the benefit of those who are rightful recipients. Not only is this an opportunity to comply with good governance. It is an opportunity to regulate and celebrate the range of interests and concerns that are our responsibility and that lie within our custodianship. But the invitation is even greater and I should like these United Dioceses to be in the forefront of this initiative. And it is the initiative that you have taken in COME&C that makes this possible. It is the application of the principle of public benefit as such to the spelling out of the role of the Church of Ireland in contributing to and framing the common good in Irish society and beyond.
We all know that the common good is a concept that has all but become submerged as we as a nation have grappled with austerity and righting an almost capsized fiscal boat. There are other boats capsizing daily in the Mediterranean Sea and they are full of men, women and children – and more and more of them are not surviving. The common good seems to have gone off our national and ecclesiastical radar over the last half–decade as we have struggled to claw back the irresponsibilities of a casino–style approach to money; and money, after all, is part of creation and not to be misused or abused. It takes a very short time for habits shaped in crisis to become tradition. It takes a very short time for parsimonies once essential to become unalterable policies. And the poor always become poorer. We in the Church of Ireland need now to connect afresh with the big canvas of what I have long called: caritative altruism. If this sounds like a mouthful, it actually isn’t any such thing. It is the invitation to think of others as we make decisions and to put the care of them to the forefront of our decision–making. Self–preservation is entirely admirable. Think only of the instruction any time you are sitting on a plane: Put on your own oxygen mask first before helping others with theirs. But caritative altruism is equally urgent in the world of today. The two situations are radically different. It had to do with the response in dignity to those who are our neighbours in a different type of on–going crisis. We have a housing crisis already. We have a Direct Provision crisis already. We have a new crisis for a fresh and different group of people for whom there is no housing and no dignity and no future. And we call them: immigrants, as if they have any option but to flee their own country. People have said to me: Charity begins at home … and my only response can be: We never know how far it will take us and, in any case, Ireland will be the only home that these particular refugees can possibly call home.
PROSPECT
In church life we will never fully move out from concepts like maintenance, ministry and mission. Nor should we! Where we need to be extremely careful is that we do not play them off against one another and that we do not play them together off against other words that take us beyond the confines of our tired selves and of our tired institutions. We in D&G are fortunate to have embraced both the letter and the spirit of COME&C and PREPARE A PLACE and to let God the Spirit lead and guide us. Already compassion, embassy and enterprise are taking us to the next stage of maintenance, ministry and mission. Already compassion, embassy and enterprise are embedded in our diocesan self–understanding as principles of faith and principles of life – caring for other people and going out to meet other people, to speak with and for them in the things that matter in their lives. And we do it because they and we are children of God and children of the world. We have no option, as disciples of Jesus Christ, but to pray and work to make the connection of these two things with people on the outside of church life. They do not make sense apart from each other to anyone in distress or need. Far too much of our church life is internalized and inarticulate around the things of God. We need to recognize this as a gaping spiritual hole in our witness. The Public Benefit and the Value Added for us come to the fore and come together in the reward of service itself, service of others in ways where we set aside our own preoccupations for a time and let God serve us through our serving our friend, our neighbour and the people whom we have not yet met.
St Mark 10.45: The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.
We are living in a time of unprecedented change and we must be on our guard against planning for situations that are already changing. This was the warning issued by Dr Kenneth Milne while proposing the report of Diocesan Councils at Dublin and Glendalough’s Diocesan Synod in Taney Parish Centre yesterday evening (October 13). He said this year’s report of Diocesan Councils highlights the awareness of the need for change and developments where the dioceses can be seen to be grappling with enormous challenges.
“Society has always been in a state of flux and change. What is unprecedented is the scale of change in our time, and the rapidity with which it is happening. Probably most people would accept that such is the case. I think we must likewise accept that it would be unrealistic to expect that somehow we can avoid fairly uncomfortable change in matters relating to the Church, if we are to serve society,” Dr Milne stated. “We have constantly to bear in mind the danger of planning for a future that is fast becoming the past.”
He said that the most influential change to take place in recent years was in the area of education. Enormous expansion had taken place in third level education and this was reflected in the number of third level chaplaincies mentioned in the report, he said. He also focused on the work of the Sunday School Society and children’s ministry. Dr Milne welcomed the cooperation of the Young Adults Ministry with the Office for Evangelisation and Ecumenism of the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.
Revolutionary changes in communication were also highlighted. “The assertion that today’s revolution in communications is equivalent to the invention of the printing press [may be a cliché]. We know the impact that printing made to religious life, when as literacy spread, every man and woman could read for themselves. We live in a situation today, when every man and woman can be their own publisher and disseminator of ideas. Open to abuse the social media may be, but so is the print media… No task for today’s Church can be more urgent than to take advantage of what is happening in communications, not least the social media,” Dr Milne stated.
A wide range of issues was raised during the debate on the report. Diocesan Children’s Ministry Advisor, the Revd Baden Stanley (Bray), said he was in the process of visiting all the Rural Deaneries in Dublin and Glendalough to get to the heart of what was happening in children’s ministry in the dioceses. He thanked all who were involved in the organisation of the Diocesan Kids’ Summer Camp and highlighted the resources provided by the Sunday School Society and the Church of Ireland Children’s Ministry, including the Building Blocks Conference which will take place on November 14 in St Andrew’s College, Booterstown.
Canon Niall Sloane (Killiney) heralded the appointment of Eric Denner as Diocesan Youthwork Coordinator saying that he brought a wealth of experience to the role. He added that the Dublin and Glendalough Youth Council hoped parishes, through Rural Deaneries, would avail of the devolved funding of just over €25,000 in 2016 to promote youth ministry.
Geoffrey Perrin (Rathmichael) praised the varied work done by Greg Fromholz and the Ministry to Young Adults. He singled out for mention Paradoxology at Electric Picnic during which Greg and his team welcomed 2,500 people to their sacred space tent and had hundreds of conversations with young adults about faith.
Mary White (Kilternan) said she was sorry to hear numbers at the Diocesan Kids’ Summer Camp were falling and suggested that attendance was something that should be encouraged.
Canon Horace McKinley (Whitechurch) spoke of his suggestion at the Taney Rural Deanery Come&C Meeting at which he proposed that the dioceses consider a five year funding appeal plan to renovate or build a property to accommodate some homeless people. Additional funding could be sought from the department and a partnership with a homelessness charity could be forged. The Revd Adrienne Galligan (Rathfarnham)
said there had been a groundswell of support for this suggestion. She added that there were many vacant houses and asked members of synod to consider raising the issue with election candidates who arrived at their doorsteps in the coming months.
Carol Revington highlighted the work of Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise and said there were many resources for parishes that wished to enrich their worship through Irish.
Judge Catherine McGuinness (Councils) spoke of the need to safeguard children, not just within the care of the Church but throughout the community. She urged members to remind election candidates of the work of Tusla (the Child and Family Agency) which she says has far to few resources to protect children.
Dr Paul Hillis (Councils) suggested that a breakdown of how money contributed to Bishops’ Appeal was spent would be useful and lead to increased giving.
Dr Michael Webb (Glenageary) praised the enormous amount of work done by clerical and lay people on Diocesan Councils throughout the year.
The report of councils was received by Synod and the auditors KPMG were reappointed.
Photos:
Top – Dr Kenneth Milne
Middle – Synod delegates
Bottom – Judge Catherine McGuinness
