Busloads of people made their way to the north coast on Friday 27th May for the opening day of the ‘Lord, for the Years’ Flower Festival in Christ Church Castlerock. The visitors travelled from far and wide to see a floral display that celebrates what the Rector, Rev Chris MacBruithin, called a “belated 150th anniversary”. The festival had originally been conceived three years ago, but plans had to be put on hold because of the Covid pandemic.
The ‘Lord, for the Years’ Flower Festival was Christ Church’s first such festival in quarter of a century. The church was transformed for the occasion by the festival’s artistic director, the renowned floral artist and national demonstrator, Alan Beatty, who was assisted by James Burnside. The festival was project managed by Castlerock parishioner Evelyn Conn. All proceeds are going towards church funds. Among the first there to see the flowers were Hazel and Archie Thompson, who are members of the same Mid-Ulster Flower Club that the artistic directors belong to.
In his sermon, at the opening Service, the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Rt Rev Andrew Forster confided that he had had an unpleasant close encounter with a display of lilies at a different flower festival a number of years ago. “Lilies and me don’t agree,” the Bishop said. “I could feel my nose beginning to tingle a bit. Then I started to sneeze, and I carried on. And then my eyes began to water and by about minute four or five I was a blubbering mess. I then tried to move over to the lectern to continue the sermon, but we just had to give up. Now, in about four or five minutes” – the Bishop said, to peals of laughter – “you will maybe be hoping that I’ll have to give up again, but I’m feeling very safe at the moment.”
Bishop Andrew said the floral displays in Christ Church were stunningly beautiful. “In some ways, in the world that we live in – that seems to revolve around bad news and difficult news and sad news – to appreciate again the beauty of creation can ground us in the love of God and in the good purposes of God. And we have the joy and the privilege of living in a corner of God’s creation that so many people come to see because of its beauty, because of its landscape, because of what we see around us.“
Unfortunately,” the Bishop said, “whenever we’re caught up in this downward spiral of news, our eyes can be blinded to the beauty around us, and an event like this helps us to open our eyes again to beauty, to open our eyes again to the intricacy of the creation of almighty God, because what you see today is God as the artist – the artist of the beauty in the world around us. And doesn’t it say so much about the art of our God, doesn’t it say so much about the ingenuity and creativity of our God that every flower in this building is different; that every colour is different; that every leaf is different; and that every person here is different; and yet we are made in the image of God?”
Bishop Andrew talked to the congregation about the evocative power of scent: the bouquet of flowers, the smell of coffee, the scent of baked bread, and the fragrance of perfume, could awaken in us powerful memories. “In 2 Corinthians, St Paul says of you and me that we are to be ‘the aroma of Christ’, so that in our lives, in our witness, in the people that we are, there’d be that scent of the beauty of Jesus, and in the way we live our lives, the aroma of Christ would be evident. Let’s be those people who take our part in God’s creation, who celebrate beauty and creativity, who build for new generations, and that in this village and far beyond people will recognise in us the aroma of Christ himself.”
The Bishop of Derry and Raphoe has paid tribute to parishioners of Glendermott – past and present – who, by sharing their talents and gifts, have helped build the kingdom of God in their parish.
Bishop Andrew Forster was speaking during a Service, on Tuesday evening, in Babington Hall, opposite Glendermott Parish Church, during which the hall was re-dedicated following an extensive renovation, and memorial gifts bestowed by families of people who had worshipped in Glendermott or socialised in the hall, were also dedicated.
The Rector, Rev Canon Robert Boyd, led the service of worship. He was assisted by the Curate of Glendermott and Newbuildings, Rev Iain McAleavey, and by Bishop Andrew, who preached the sermon.
Canon Boyd outlined a brief history of Babington Hall, which was built in 1893 in memory of the first Rector of the parish, Canon David Babington, and his wife. Canon Babington came as Curate, on St Patrick’s Day 1848, to what he described as “a dingy and dilapidated little church”. At the time it had a congregation of 38. By the time of his death, the church was regularly filled to capacity – with more than 500 attending – and the newly-built sister church of All Saints Clooney was also filled.
Canon Babington had described his own preaching as “good, rough, strong, country preaching” and over the years, Canon Boyd said, his predecessor turned the parish around. Canon Babington dedicated his life to the poor and needy, and, after his death, his grateful parishioners built the parish hall in thanksgiving for Mr Babington’s 41 years of work in Glendermott.
In his sermon, Bishop Andrew said he was happy to be in Glendermott to celebrate the “generosity of the people of God”. He thanked them for their kindness and for being, what he called, Kingdom-builders in the building of God’s Church.
The reading at the service came from Nehemiah, Chapter 3, which recounts the repair and rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls and the rebuilding of its gates. Bishop Andrew said the reading helped us see our part in the building of God’s Kingdom. Nehemiah had been heartbroken, Bishop Andrew said, that what had once been a structure that stood to the glory of God was in ruins. Nehemiah got permission from a King to return to his homeland and rebuild the walls. When he got there, he was overcome by the scale of the task that lay in front of him.
“Sometimes for us,” Bishop Andrew said, “in the world that we live in, the role and the task of the Church in a secular society almost seems too much, almost seems too difficult, now, whenever faith is denigrated, whenever God’s word is ignored, and the place of the Church put way down the pecking order. Sometimes the role of building the Kingdom of God, today, seems too much for us.
“It was too much for Nehemiah, but God led him through difficult times – through times of political turmoil, led him through times of famine, and led him through times even of pandemic – to do great things for his saviour. And for you and me, I think the story of Nehemiah, and the story of this parish, should encourage us, as the people today, never to underestimate what God can do through those who are committed to his plan and path for their lives.”
Bishop Andrew noted that the names of those who had helped Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls were never mentioned again in the Bible. “They were never heard of again. You know why? Because they were normal, ordinary people called to do great things for God…Such great things that these names – that are never mentioned again in Scripture – all these years later, we read them out tonight in the Babington Hall in Glendermott Parish and celebrate ordinary people who did extraordinary things for God. Tonight, what I celebrate, are the ordinary people of Glendermott Parish who are prepared to do extraordinary things for God.”
The music for Tuesday evening’s service was provided by Mrs May Boyd, on the piano. Among those in the congregation were Rev Canon Derek Creighton, who had been Rector of Glendermott for 16 years until his retirement six years ago. After the service, the families who donated gifts joined clergy and other parishioners for supper in the adjoining Canon Kelly Hall.
The parishioners of Camus-Juxta-Bann enjoyed a memorable day, last weekend, at the Macosquin 400 Jubilee Fete. The festivities were a double celebration of 400 years of St. Mary’s Church and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
The festivities took place in the rectory garden, beside St Mary’s Church. Many thanks to all those who helped organise the fête and to the hundreds of people who came along, including the Lord Lieutenant for County Londonderry, Mrs Alison Millar.
There was a very pleasant surprise in store for the scores of families and friends who descended on picturesque Oakfield Park, near Raphoe, on Saturday morning for the first Diocesan Family Fun Day since the start of the Covid pandemic. The all-aged gathering was blessed with warm and dry conditions, allowing umbrellas and raincoats to remain out of sight.
The fun day had been organised jointly by SEEDS Children’s Ministry and the Diocesan Mothers’ Union whose hearts must have been buoyed by the sight of dozens of children using the playground, family groups picnicking in the award-winning gardens, and chattering groups waving and laughing as they were transported round the park – past the castle and around the reeded lake – on a busy miniature train.
There was, of course, a significant spiritual element to the day. Proceedings began with prayers, just after arrival, led by our Diocesan Children’s Officer Kirsty McCartney, with music provided by Rev Johnny McFarland. Bishop Andrew Forster was there, to share a few words of welcome. These were followed by a joyful and comedic rendition of “the whole Bible story” by the drama duo ‘Play It by Ear’, which enthralled and amused both young and ‘young at heart’.
The park’s ‘Fairy Tree’ was transformed for the day into a prayer tree, upon which parishioners of all vintages were invited to hang prayers which they had been encouraged to write and then commit to God.
Members of the Aghanloo, Balteagh, Carrick and Tamlaghtard Group of Churches pushed the boat out, in a manner of speaking, with a parish outing to Rathlin Island, on the Feast Day of St Matthias last weekend. More than 40 members and friends of the parish churches accompanied the Rector, Rev Rhys Jones, on Saturday’s daytrip.
The venture was organised by ‘The Parish Trekkers’ – a walking club made up of church members – and participants were rewarded with a calm sea for the six-mile return voyage to Northern Ireland’s only inhabited offshore island. Reverend Jones saw the trip as an opportunity for worship and fellowship between members of his four churches and those who joined them.
The party set off from Ballycastle, onboard the Spirit of Rathlin, on the 10am sailing and after embarking at the harbour walked the short distance to St Thomas’ Church of Ireland for a Service of Thanksgiving and Praise. The Rector welcomed the congregation with a carefully constructed ‘Call to Worship’.
“The world is filled with the glory of God.
The very stones cry out your glory.
“The oceans and its depths sing out your praises,
Let us worship God’s wondrous name.
“From one end of the earth to the other
You inspire our worship and praise.
“As the harbour walls protect these island waters
Surround us, Father, with your presence and love.”
Rev Jones was assisted in the service by Diocesan Reader Brian Robinson. The Rector drew the congregation’s attention to the words from the Epistle Reading (Acts 1: 15-26) in which the apostles sought God’s guidance before casting lots and choosing Matthias as Judas’ successor. Matthias was, the Rector said, the first apostle appointed by God’s church before the coming of the Holy Spirit. “In other words,” he said, “this is the Church of Christ reaching out to God to help and assist the appointment of those who had been called by God. Which one of you is under the impression that you haven’t been called to the apostleship of Christ?”
Rev Jones wondered whether anyone in the pews was experiencing “that sense of God’s call” in their life in some capacity or other – not necessarily to stand at the front and teach and preach – but perhaps to lead, perhaps to guide, perhaps to nurture, and to lead others to Christian maturity. “The truth is,” the preacher said, “Matthias is each and every single one of us. And it’s wonderful to think that in that short journey across – that we shared together this morning as church, as God’s people – it’s a metaphor really for the journey of discipleship itself. Sometimes those waters upon which we travel are without storm; sometimes it’s plain sailing and everything’s fine; and sometimes we hit that little rocky patch. The question for you is the one that faced the disciples as they sought to replace Judas: who, Lord, have you called to a specific role? And I know there are some among you whom God’s now calling.”
Rev Jones expressed thanks to the Rector of St Thomas’, Rev Patrick Barton, for facilitating worship in “this beautiful house of prayer”. While in church, a birthday cake was produced for one member of the congregation who had particular cause for celebration (and whose husband joked that he’d promised her a cruise for her birthday).
After the service, members of the congregation went their different ways to enjoy the splendid sunshine and the attractions that Rathlin Island has to offer. For fitter members of the party, that meant walking the four miles to the Kebble nature reserve, to see the island’s birdlife, including its celebrated puffins; others preferred to complete the journey by bus.
By the time the parishioners arrived back in Ballycastle, around teatime, all were agreed that the trip had been a huge success, and some hoped that it would become an annual fixture in the Balteagh Group’s calendar.
The Parish of Donagheady (Donemana) is to get a new incumbent later this year. Rev Capt Richard Beadle has been appointed to succeed Rev Dr Robin Stockitt, who retired almost a year ago.
The news was shared this morning with worshippers at St James Church in Donemana and parishioners in the Manorhamilton Group of Parishes, in the Diocese of Kilmore, which Rev Beadle has been overseeing as Bishop’s Curate since his ordination in September 2017.
Rev Beadle has been an active Church Army Officer since 1998 and before being commissioned had worked in the Employment Service in the UK. His work as a Church Army evangelist took him to parishes in Nelson, East Lancashire; St. Matthew’s on Belfast’s Woodvale Road; and the rural Swanlinbar-Kildallon Group of Parishes in the Diocese of Kilmore.
“I am excited that my family and I will be coming to Donemana,” Rev Beadle says. “Exploring Donemana with the nominators has been a privilege and blessing, and we have clearly sensed God’s hand. We pray God will use our gifts fully to make a lasting contribution as we seek to share the wonderful news of Christ. We greatly look forward to getting to know our new parish and diocese.”
Moments such as this can be bitter-sweet for clergy. “After 14 years,” Richard says, “leaving Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh Diocese is not easy, yet we are enormously grateful for our time and friends there.”
Richard, and his wife Pauline, will now be making preparations for their move to the Church of Ireland’s northernmost diocese. Pauline is a midwife by profession. She loves cooking and her happy place could be any kitchen. The couple have three children: Ruth, who is at Lancaster University, and twins Alicia and Asher who are studying for A-levels in England.
When time allows, Rev Richard indulges his passions for tennis and nature photography – he was interviewed on BBC Radio Ulster recently about the plight of the curlew – and he describes himself as “a rare Crystal Palace fan”. A date has still to be arranged for the new Rector’s Service of Institution.
There was loud applause for the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Rt Rev Andrew Forster, on day two of the General Synod in Belfast when he called on the UK government to “step up to the mark” in its response to the refugee crisis which has arisen as a result of the war in Ukraine.
During consideration of the Report of the Church of Ireland’s Standing Committee, the Bishop compared the responses of smaller countries like Ireland to that of the UK. Out of 66,000 visa applications [from Ukrainians], he said, only 11,000 had been settled in the UK. “Now, what’s happening with the visa applications is that you may have a mother with three children, and two of the children are getting an application and the mother doesn’t get it – and families [are] to be split up. I can’t understand whether that is incompetence or cynicism, to be honest with you.“
The fact that our response in the United Kingdom to this refugee issue with people has been huge – many people have signed up for ‘Homes for Ukraine’, and so on – and then [when] they get to the second part of the process, it is nothing but frustration. Smaller countries like the Republic of Ireland have led the way in saying for the moment we’ll forget about visas because this is a crisis that needs an immediate response.“
The UK government has supported in different ways, we know, in the conflict, but I think it has to be said that the response to the refugee crisis is found wanting and terribly wanting. And, for us as Christians, with open hearts for refugees – because we worship one who was a refugee – can I urge you to lobby your local MPs for this and on this issue. I have done, and I’ve had a very open response to that, but I think we need to be speaking out the cause of the oppressed within this. Bishop’s Appeal is helping us [to] do that but the government needs to really step up to the mark in its response to this refugee crisis.”
The Church of Ireland has announced a Clergy Assistance Programme to help to improve mental health among leaders in ordained ministry. It will be provided by Health Assured, the UK and Ireland’s largest independent provider of programmes of this type, as part of the Church’s mental health promotion project, MindMatters COI. The programme was announced at the General Synod, on Thursday, by the Bishop of Meath and Kildare, Most Rev Pat Storey, who chairs the initiative.
Bishop Storey told delegates: “For those who lead and pastor us, it is vital that there are enough resources to keep them healthy and well. It is to this end that the MindMatters project launches its Clergy Assistance Programme for church leaders, focussing on good mental health and well–being. It is hoped that, in response to the MindMatters survey, clergy will feel more adequately supported.
“As with many professions,” Bishop Storey said, “clergy too have felt isolated and powerless throughout the pandemic – many feel that their very raison d’être was removed. The Clergy Assistance Programme seeks to give clergy a place and a space to explore their own well–being and is intended to supplement and not to usurp the pastoral care of a diocesan bishop. We hope that this will be a successful contribution to better support and care for those who watch over us.”
This service will be available free–of–charge to all Church of Ireland clergy for three years thanks to generous financial support from the Benefact Trust (previously known as Allchurches Trust). Key features will include:
telephone helplines – available 24 hours a day and seven days a week – offering practical information and emotional support; a medical information helpline – available on weekdays, between 9am and 5pm; up to six face–to–face counselling sessions, per issue, per member of the clergy, including with applied cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques; up to six structured telephone counselling sessions, per issue, for a member of the clergy, or their spouse, and dependents (aged between 16–24 and in full–time education); crisis management and critical incident support; an online health and wellbeing portal at www.healthassuredeap.com; and a monthly well–being newsletter.
The Clergy Assistance Programme has been put together in response to surveys of Church of Ireland clergy and lay members in May–June 2021, which were commissioned by the Church to document understandings of and attitudes towards mental health. In responses to the clergy survey, 28% of clergy disagreed (and 18% strongly disagreed) with the statement that the Church of Ireland provided them with good support for their own mental health; by comparison, 20% agreed and 1% strongly agreed.
MindMatters COI is a three–year project to raise awareness of, and respond to the mental health needs of communities across our island, and was launched in October 2020.
Further initiatives from MindMattersCOI:
Dioceses and parishes are currently being invited to submit applications for seed funding for local mental health promotion initiatives to address one of the following four themes emerging from the project’s research:
Stigma – there is a significant level of stigma in relation to mental health issues;
Connections – connections play an important role in positive mental health;
Supporting clergy to support others – clergy may benefit from additional training to support parishioners experiencing mental health issues and can feel unsupported in relation to their own mental health; and
Faith as a support for mental health – as faith and prayer are important to the mental health of members of the Church.
Mental health training is being rolled out to clergy and pastoral carers, free–of–charge and delivered online by Action Mental Health. The training lasts no longer than two hours and provides the participants with a broad overview of mental health, identifies the most common mental health conditions, teaches the participants how to sustain good mental health and emotional well–being, and provides them with relevant resources available in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The Church is also seeking to recruit mental health champions/advocates as part of the project, who will help promote positive mental health in the Church of Ireland and in communities across the island of Ireland. The plan is to match champions’ skills, interests and time availability to the countless opportunities that exist to promote positive mental health in the Church of Ireland and the wider community. Anyone can be a mental health champion, whether they have personal or professional experience in the area of mental health or not.If you have a query or would like to express your interest in training or becoming a mental health champion, please email the project team at mhp@rcbdub.org or fill out the contact form on the home page of its website: https://mindmatters.ireland.anglican.org
Although in the past two years I had begun this address by saying how strange it was to be meeting online, it now feels very strange to be meeting in person; strange do be doing for the first time in two years what we had been doing for 150 years. I suspect though it won’t be strange for long, as we get back into the swing of normal synodical business.
What is not strange is the warm feeling of meeting together again, seeing old faces and making new friends. In my first Presidential Address in 2020, I had talked about changing from being an Archbishop-Elect to being an Archbishop-Virtual. Today I can say with my hand on my heart for the first time in two years I feel like the real Primate of All Ireland. It is good to be in a place where Ballymena can kiss Blarney again. And it is in that frame of mind that I want to thank all of those in the Church who have prayed for me and for others who have had the task of trying to steer us through what has been a very difficult and potentially hazardous period.
We are in the year of grace 2022 and I would hope that this Synod and this address will be about the future, but I do want to say a few words about our experience since March 2020. You know at the beginning it was very difficult to know what to do. Today we are all now used to making judgements in the light of public health statistics and a range of both political and medical information that comes our way. Back then everyone was feeling their way through a fog of half-understandings and very erratic claims and predictions.
And in those circumstances I can honestly put my hand on my heart and say “we did our best”. Contrary to what many people believe the Church is not some vast bureaucracy which can draw on limitless human and financial resources in the face of a unique set of circumstances. Taking what we could from the advice being given by public health authorities in both jurisdictions a very small group of people (some staff and some bishops) put together our Protocols and rolling guidance. What we came up with may not have been perfect, but it worked, in the sense of keeping people safe and (by and large) sane and providing some solid ground on which the set our feet.
Beyond that small group who drafted and revised there were the many hundreds of volunteers in parishes, who refused to be daunted or overwhelmed and who made the rough tools they had been given work in their circumstances. Everyone on Select Vestries up and down this island got a baptism of fire into what it meant to be charity trustees, with a heavier weight of responsibility than normal. (and heaven knows the statutory weight of governance is more than heavy enough). That, together with our trust that the Church of God is an anvil which has broken many hammers, has seen us through to a place of much greater security. Even if we can’t quite be optimistic yet, we can at least be positive, and it is a great privilege for me to be able to stand here “in person” to thank everyone here and those who have worked so hard to get us to where we are now, from that rather gloomy place we found ourselves in during the Spring of 2020.
There has been much suffering on the journey, for some far more than for others, particularly the old and the vulnerable. Mistakes and costly misjudgements have been made, but I hope we, along with our governments and public health authorities can learn together from our experiences. The best of what we achieved as a society, was achieved together and as we try to dig deeper into what was not done as well as it might have been, I have confidence that it will be recognised that the closer the co-operation and trust that existed between civic society, governments and public health authorities, the better the outcomes have been. In one form or another it has been a lesson in how to do and how not to do participative democracy.
And that brings me nicely to the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special of 1977. One of the sketches in the show had Eric and Ernie dressed as Roman senators. Ernie asks Eric “Brutus, have you the scrolls” and Eric replies “No, it’s just the way I’m standing”.
However, it’s not the feebleness or otherwise of the joke that’s important; it’s the fact that the programme was watched by over twenty-three million people, and almost all of us who watched it (and yes I was one of them) would have laughed our heads off. We would have got the joke.
The programme was shown at a time when in most democracies in western Europe, social capital was high, institutions were strong and there were many shared national stories. In today’s world even any public commentator would be hard put to name any public figures from the past about whose virtue broad agreement could be reached.
And of course social media is the single biggest contributing factor to this atomisation of the public space. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say that social media is largely to blame following the turn it took when it became less about people connecting with other people, and more about people performing for like-minded people – dissolving social capital, chronically suspicious of institutions and (to use the jargon) refusing any meta-narrative.
The effect has been, as one commentator has put it, to turn nations into ungovernable protest movements. That in turn has led to governments even in some democratic countries, to choose, to manage these divisions by deepening them rather than by healing them.
And it is important, in fact vocational, for a number of reasons, that civic society, including Churches, contribute to public debate on these matters.
The first reason is that politics is about the art of living. Ultimately the subject matter of politics is everything that happens in individual and social life and, in a properly functioning democracy, all citizens are themselves political actors to a greater or lesser degree. In addition, from a Christian point of view, there is no aspect of my life over which God does not say“that is mine”.
Successful parliaments and governments are those who become both the source and the expression of that creative social and spiritual interaction. If I could borrow a phrase from Professor Anna Rowland’s lecture in the Jesuit Church in Gardiner Street a couple of weeks ago, they will create “… participatory and genuinely co-created social bodies … guided by a vision of human dignity and a just distribution of the earth’s goods … ”.
And that leads me to my second point, if Professor Rowland’s description is to become a social reality, governments need middle bodies – an engaged civic sector, including the Church – who will not only rage and lament, but will encourage and struggle for the common good in partnership with those who govern. “Who,” as a friend of mine says, “will let the good things grow”. We may not have much agency around the just distribution of the earth’s goods, but we do have the ability to sharpen a vision of human dignity.
However for the Churches to achieve this or to contribute to it we must once again become properly and truly trans-generational bodies, who have the patience and humility to learn from those who we have marginalised in the past, particularly the young.
It would be easy to miss the hinge moment which it seems is facing much of the western world including Ireland. Will the door to a sane and sustainable future swing open or slam shut? In five years’ time will it still be the case that four out of ten young people are afraid to have children because of how they envisage the future. Are we really prepared to say to them: “Sorry, but that’s the best we could do for you”?
Creation Care
In last year’s General Synod Address I mentioned that we hoped to sponsor and organise a Conference on Creation Care in the Spring of 2022. With the assistance of the Church and Society Commission (CASC) and some money from the Church Fabric and Development Fund, but mostly through the enthusiasm of Canon Andrew Orr and Mr Stephen Trew, the event was held inDromantine Conference Centre in April. It was a remarkable event and a remarkable success. There were many very lively and helpful speakers, but for me there were two stars of the show, who in their own way helped me to begin to see the way forward for us as a Church.
The first was a young woman called Hannah who is a Church of England ordinand, a climate activist and a very popular blogger. Among the questions she posed to the Conference were these:
“How will young people know that the Church loves them?”
“How will the Church become a holy people in the world again?”
Of course the answers to the two questions are linked and have a lot (although not everything) to do with creation care.
The second star of the Creation Care Conference was not an individual but a group of young people from the parish of Mullingar who are part of a much larger group of young people taking part in an environmental project called ‘Lighten Our Darkness’. In many ways they answered Hannah’s second question, because not only were they well-read in the theology of creation, but they were out in their communities rewilding church graveyards and glebe land, and showing the world that holiness is not wordy and aloof, but is the involved goodness of God’s people in God’s creation. They had dirt under their fingernails.
Last year the General Synod noted the extraordinary achievements of the RB Investment Committee and Investment Department Staff in divesting, ahead of schedule, from companies who invest in fossil fuel extraction, and to “continue the positive work of collaborative engagement, increasing investments in renewable investments and reducing exposure to fossil fuel producers, so that by 2022, companies where more than 10% of turnover is derived from fossil fuel extraction, will be excluded.” The investment professionals will continue to do their excellent work on our behalf.
But the rest of the task is over to us. If we are to be true to ourselves and also begin to answer the questions around how we show love to our people and become a holy people in the world again, we need to do what that group of young people from Westmeath are doing.
That is, to work on ways of inspiring and equipping parishes to do everything possible to contribute to net zero targets, and to get creation care into our church culture. However in doing this and in asking others to help us achieve it, we need to bear two other linked matters in mind.
The first is that the backbone of the Church of Ireland throughout this island is the rural parish. Farmers and what they do are very visible and because of that can carry the can for the sins of others, in retail and in agri-food. Any leadership or initiatives which we explore as a Church, especially as they trickle down to parish level need to recognise that our method is always to understand, to learn and to persuade.
In fact the only leadership which we in the Church can exercise in any sphere is in the literal Christian sense moral. And by that I mean it is an authority that is part of the Gospel itself. It is not even a set of principles derived from the Gospel, but an integral part of the Gospel. It reflects the character of God in Christ in its absolute respect for human freedom. It is not the authority of the law (which two parties were ever reconciled in the sense of a restored relationship, in a court of law?), it is the authority of grace, which accepts its defeats and limitations, because it is all too well aware that to love with Christ’s love is always a victory, often despite appearances.
It is easy to criticise that sort of leadership but it’s a method based on humility but is also only made possible by having wide sympathies; and its very essence is trust in the Holy Spirit who leads the Church.
The modern sense of the word leadership in one way says too much but in another way says too little about the how we become a holy people in the world again. Too much in the sense that there is nothing of the command and control of an army about it; nor of the pitiless, grinding millstone of the modern bureaucratic state.
But too little because in the servant leadership of the Christian Church, we are called to proclaim the Lordship of Jesus Christ over the whole of mankind, while at the same time illustrating that Lordship by serving others for Jesus’ sake.
It is only by holding the two together that either can be rightly fulfilled. To preach creation care or the cure of souls and not to serve is not really to preach at all: for it is distinctive of Christ’s religion that it requires a harmony of word and deed. Jesus and he alone could offer his own conduct as an illustration of his teaching, summing up his moral demand in the words “Follow me”. And it is a moral demand because, first and foremost, it is an appeal not to the intellect or even to the will, but to the conscience.
If we would be worthy of our calling there must be congruity of life and doctrine. To preach a Lordship of Jesus which is not expressed in loving service of his people is a certain recipe for failure. As the Article asserts, it is indeed true that “… the unworthiness of the ministers hinders not the effect of the sacrament …” but it is no less true that people will not long consent to receive the sacrament from the hands of ministers whose hands offends them. People are very quick to spot a counterfeit whether in the pulpit or in the public square.
And that is particularly true of a small close-knit society in Ireland where people are still able to judge by St Paul’s measure: “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal”.
Indeed, as I speak I am wearing a pair of bamboo socks which I was kindly given as a gift for participating in the Creation Care Conference, and I’m prepared to show them to anyone who’s interested for a small consideration.
Mothers’ Union
You will remember that at last year’s General Synod, as part of the report from the Church and Society Commission, we had a presentation from the Mothers’ Union about the importance of addressing-both in our communities and in our churches – the appalling scourge of gender-based violence, and in particular domestic abuse. Throughout the year the MU have used every opportunity to reinforce that message, particularly through the Global Day of Action which occurs annually during the 16 Days of activism.
They have also, as a body and as individuals, responded to a number of government consultations. In Northern Ireland the MU response to the consultation on a new Domestic and Sexual Abuse Strategy and an Equally Safe Strategy were submitted as the Church of Ireland’s official response as was their work on the Third National Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Strategy in the Republic of Ireland.
A new online resource, developed in association with the help of Bishops’ Appeal and Tearfund –
called ‘Equipping the Church to Take Action to End Domestic Abuse’ – is being piloted at present and will be launched in the Autumn. It will provide us with a real opportunity to make a difference at parish level and I commend it whole heartedly to you.
Ethnic Diversity Project
You may remember that last year I mentioned a piece of research into ethnic diversity, inclusion and racial justice in the Church of Ireland that I had commissioned. The research project was designed by Dr Lucy Michael (a member of this Synod for the Diocese of Dublin) and in collaboration with a small group of clergy and readers from a range of ethnic backgrounds.
The results of the research survey have been written up over the past week or so and will, I hope, form the basis of some practical work closer to the ground which will be planned and rolled out in the coming year. As I have said repeatedly in General Synod and elsewhere, any family (and the Church of Ireland is a family) derives its vigour and interest, not from the family resemblances of its member’s, but from the differences that exist between them, including differences of ethnicity and colour.
The results of the survey show that we are indeed a welcoming Church, but also that we are hesitant about what to do after we’ve said “hello”. To generalise from what I have been able to take in from the hard data of the survey, it seems we are more likely to go on to say “I hope you are able to enjoy the riches we have on offer”, rather than “tell us about your experience of God and your thoughts about his Church and his World”, much less “how can you help us deepen our experience of these things?”.
I think the results of the survey show that we recognise the benefits of inclusion, but are uncertain about how to turn that recognition into meaningful participation. We need to do some work on that.
Although perhaps not the finding of the survey with the most far-reaching implications, the one which stands out most prominently is around an insufficient acknowledgment by the Church of our entanglement in the past with slavery. As far as I can tell it’s not a statue-destroying militancy, but a heartfelt desire for an understanding based on accurate facts and an appreciation of the legacy that the gruesome reality of slavery has left. Nor is it about the “enormous condescension of posterity” (there is also an appreciation of the part the Church played in the abolition of the slave trade) but an appeal for clear-eyed appreciation of our actions and inactions in the past, and a willingness to address them.
Up until now this project has been something of a personal initiative of my own but the aim is to embed it much more widely throughout the Church of Ireland. This work is important for a number of reasons, not least perhaps in helping us explain to ourselves why, in a world of migration, the numbers of people of different race and colour, are very low in the Church of Ireland. It is true that many may not be Anglicans when they come to Ireland. But it is known that migrants are much more likely to “shop around” for a spiritual home when they arrive in their adoptive country. It might be useful to know why people have popped their heads around our shop door and decided “it’s not for us”.
But it’s important for a much more fundamental reason, which is that, regardless of numbers, Christian pastoral ministry is about the spiritual well-being of every individual. And to do that we need to make the effort to see what other people see and hear what other people hear. It is not only the Anglican Communion that is held together by bonds of affection, but each parish and faith community. And in this instance, as I’ve said repeatedly, it means that we can credibly consider ourselves as fully part of the Catholic Church.
As disciples of Jesus Christ we are not free to satisfy all of our appetites but we have a vocation to satisfy the desire for knowledge and understanding which the survey reveals. I look forward to the work which we can do in the year ahead to make this more of a reality.
Reconciliation
In my first General Synod Address I had talked about a need for an emphasis on reconciliation, and although not mentioning the word itself, reconciliation has been at the heart of what I have been standing here saying for the past twenty minutes or so.
However in order to earn the right to take part in the work of reconciliation we, as a Church and as individuals need to acknowledge that we too share a similar burden as political leaders in that we are associated with institutions which have, at least historically, benefited from the reinforcement of distinctions between social groups. And, as with political leadership, these differences are connected in some way with conflict.
A friend of mine was a student at the Polytechnic of the South Bank in London in the 1970s where he studied political science and sociology. Apparently there were more members of the Communist Part of Great Britain in the Sociology Department of that Polytechnic than there were in the whole of the rest of GB added together. At his first seminar he found himself sitting beside a very intense young man who introduced himself by saying: “I’m a libertarian socialist veering towards anarcho-syndicalism. What are you?” My friend said: “I’m a Methodist”.
Not as daft, or as provincial as it might seem. No doubt as individuals we will each have views across a whole range of public policy issues which will differ widely, and will have the same validity as any private citizen’s view on whatever subject is under discussion.
However our distinctive contribution to reconciliation is as disciples of Jesus Christ, and I think we should remind ourselves of that very often.
It is in the light of that primary, comprehensive and conclusive allegiance that we should find most of our analytical tools and our vocabulary to address any subject matter, including reconciliation.
The Christian experience of reconciliation is not transactional. It is not a case of me bringing my change of heart to God, which he then is almost obliged to reward by forgiveness and reconciliation. It is the presence of Jesus that creates my change of heart and I am his debtor for my repentance as for everything else in those transforming experiences and encounters.
Christian reconciliation is dependent on Christ and mediated through him. But Christ Himself and all the reconciling virtue associated with him are themselves mediated to us in numberless ways. As disciples we might consider how we can mediate that reconciling virtue by engaging, encouraging and exemplifying.
Engaging, not only with ourselves and our faith traditions (although that is vital and will be a good barometer of our effectiveness and sincerity) but with other agencies and groups in civic society.
Encouraging those, particularly in the sector who seek to bring wholeness to lives that are very damaged and usually overlooked. voluntary
Continuing to exemplify, by acknowledging that we remain captive to many sub-Christian influences and are struggling towards what might be called a more repentant ecclesiology. The hope would be that in doing so we help create the environment or platform in which self-examination can take place and where the virtue of self-suspicion is valued.
It has been our own experience that God treats us better, much better, than we deserve. And to remember his example, when as in the field of reconciliation is often the case, that our victories will be in private but our humiliations will be in public.
Ukraine
Unless it is to go on forever, an address of this sort cannot hope to cover everything that is on our minds or even which will be the subject of discussion during this Synod. Indeed it shouldn’t try to, as there are many able presentations and speakers yet to handle these matters over the three days we are together.
However, I want to conclude by saying a very few words on what is, for most of the world, the great matter of the day; the invasion and desecration of Ukraine by the Russian military and the Russian regime. When historians look back they will no doubt find it to be a war with many causes but with no justification.
I know that many of you will have responded to the needs of the Ukraine as individuals in a variety of ways already; through offering accommodation, or making donations of one kind or another. As a Church we have also made our modest contributions through the Bishops’ Appeal, and there are diocesan initiatives to provide housing and a place of worship in Dublin.
And I hope this Synod will agree with me in demonstrating our solidarity with the government and people of the Ukraine by joining with me in prayer as I conclude. You know, for all the weaknesses and faults that make us vessels of clay, we are still one of the few institutions which can act as custodians of the big long-term questions of our world, especially in the face of a relentless short-term electoral cycle. And there is nothing which requires that long-term care more than the rules-based order which emerged in the wake of the last world war.
And when we pray we are not suggesting to God something which otherwise would not have occurred to him. When we pray we are bringing his presence into whatever the situation might be, whether it is personal tragedy or an international conflict.
But before I pray, the other action which I hope we can take as a Synod is to send a message to our brothers and sisters in Christ in the Russian Orthodox Church and especially to Patriarch Kirill. When one part of the Body of Christ is wounded, even when those wounds are self-inflicted, the whole body suffers.
We live in an age when calls are made for resignations of those in public life for the most trivial reasons, yet no-one can say sorry for the most egregious failures. That should never be the case for Christian leaders.
So we appeal to the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus’ to think again about what lies behind this conflict and to use the grace given to him by the Lord of the Church, the Good Shepherd, to help bring this barbarous war to a just end.
Almighty God, from whom all thoughts of peace proceed: kindle we pray you, in every heart the true love of peace: and guide with your pure and peaceable wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth: that in tranquillity your kingdom may go forward, till the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Honours were shared between Bishop Andrew and Rev Paul Lyons when they came face-to-face in a special ‘cook off’ in St Mary’s Church Parish Hall in Macosquin. The ‘Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook’ event was the brainchild of Select Vestry member, Lilian, Davis, and was organised as part of the Parish of Camus-Juxta-Bann’s 400thanniversary celebrations, which are taking place throughout this year.
The scores of parishioners and friends who crammed into the hall were treated first to a culinary masterclass by the renowned celebrity chef, Jenny Bristow, who made the preparation and cooking of a soda bread-Ulster Fry combination and a savoury tart look very easy. Regrettably, the Rector, Rev Lyons, and his Bishop followed soon afterwards and showed, very quickly, how difficult cookery can be.
Jenny – a native of Macosquin – had set their clergymen the task of making and baking a soda bread scone, followed by baked Alaska. Egged on by their enthusiastic audience, the would-be chefs threw themselves into the challenge wholeheartedly. At one point, word came through from the kitchen that one of the loaves of bread was a tad overdone but it didn’t put either man off his stroke.
Bishop Andrew was ‘up’ for the challenge. ‘He’s an awful nice fellow,” he said of his rival,”but he’s not much of a baker.” The Bishop was soon made to eat his words.
At the end of the cook-off, braver members of the audience had a chance to sample the fare before the hall voted to decide who had won. The result was a triumph for diplomacy, with the Rector coming out tops in the soda bread contest and Bishop Andrew ‘taking gold’ with his baked Alaska.The evening ended with a short reflection by Bishop Andrew about the staples in our lives – the things that matter most in our lives: food to eat, families who love us, homes to live in, job security. “It’s interesting that whenever Jesus comes into the world,” the Bishop said, “one of the messages that he tries to share with all of us is that the staple for life – the everyday necessity for life, the thing that sustains life, that blesses life, that enriches life – is being close to God. That’s what matters. The one thing that Christians say is unchangeable, unshakeable, unconditional, is God’s love for us. As one writer says, there’s nothing we can do to make God love us more, and there’s nothing we can do to make God love us less. He loves us. And it strikes me that whenever we go ‘off staple’, whenever we go off what really matters in life, that’s when we end up running into problems and into difficulties.”
