L-R: Sean O'Boyle (Columba Press), Dean Houston McKelvey, Alan Acheson

Why the Whistle Went: A Memoir by Alan R. Acheson was launched by the Dean of Belfast, the Very Revd Dr Houston McKelvey; while Clergy of Meath and Kildare.

L-R: Bishop Richard Clarke, Sean O'Boyle, W.J.R. Wallace

Biographical Succession Lists, compiled by Canon J. B. Leslie and revised, edited and updated by W. J. R. Wallace, was launched by the Bishop of Meath and Kildare, the Most Revd Dr Richard Clarke.

Both books are available from bookshops including the Good Bookshop, Belfast and on www.columba.ie .

Information on both books:

Why The Whistle Went
A Memoir

With a career path spanning ordinand, soldier, headmaster, chief executive, caregiver and author, Alan R. Acheson writes his memoirs. He also spent 44 years as a referee in Ulster club rugby during the final phase of the game’s amateur status.

Alan Acheson comments boldly on the contexts in which he has lived, whether social conditions in the 1940s and the violence of the 1970s as they affected the Protestant community in Northern Ireland, bureaucratic corruption and obstruction in many spheres, or contrasting national characteristics in Australia and Canada.

Uniquely, the author depicts two very different all-Ireland scenes: religion and rugby football. His long engagement with the Church of Ireland highlights issues of churchmanship, inter-Church dialogue, and the General Synod, to which he was first elected in 1970 and again re-elected in 2008. Although unlicensed, Alan Acheson has preached in several Anglican Cathedrals, including Canterbury.

Two singular achievements stand out. Acting with Fr Philip Fogarty SJ, Headmaster of Clongowes Wood College, the author twinned Portora with Clongowes in 1980. A year later, he led the Anglican Consultative Council in an initiative that issued ultimately in the Roman Catholic-Anglican agreed statement, Salvation and the Church.

Alan Acheson is a graduate of Queen’s University, Belfast: BA 1959, Ph.D 1967. He was a British Army officer 1964-72, later Headmaster of Portora Royal School and The King’s School, Sydney. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management. He has taught church history in Trinity College, Dublin. He is the author of A History of the Church of Ireland, 1691-2001. He was elected to the General Synod in 1970; though living in Canada, he was again re-elected in 2008.

Why the Whistle Went, A Memoir is priced at €14.99 (paperback)

Clergy of Meath and Kildare
Biographical Succession Lists
Compiled by Canon J. B. Leslie and revised, edited and updated by W. J. R. Wallace

The Dioceses of Meath and Kildare have been united since 1976 but their histories before that date were very different. Meath had always been independent; indeed it is the premier diocese after the two metropolitan sees. Kildare was linked to Dublin for a large part of its history, first when the bishops were also the Deans of Christ Church Cathedral and later when the Archbishops of Dublin were also Bishops of Kildare. This volume lists the cathedral and parish clergy of the united dioceses from the Middle Ages to the present, with biographies where possible.

This volume is based on the work of Canon James Blennerhassett Leslie, Rector of Kilsaran, Co Louth from 1899 to 1951 and Chancellor of the Diocese of Armagh from 1934 to 1943. He published succession lists for several dioceses and left other lists in manuscript in the Library of the Representative Church Body. Two of those manuscripts form the basis of this volume: Clergy of Meath and Clergy of Kildare. The lists have been brought up to date to 2008 and include several thousand biographies of the clergy, as well as brief historical notes on the parishes and churches in the dioceses.

W. J. R. Wallace was educated at The King’s Hospital and Trinity College, Dublin, where he read Modern History and Political  Science. Now retired, he taught History and English at The High School, Dublin for many years. He has published Clergy of Dublin and Glendalough (2001) and Faithful to our Trust: A History of the Erasmus Smith Trust and The High School, Dublin (2004).

Price:  €50 / £45 (Hardback)

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SERMON PREACHED BY THE RIGHT REVEREND TREVOR WILLIAMS,

BISHOP OF THE UNITED DIOCESES OF LIMERICK, ARDFERT, AGHADOE, KILLALOE, KILFENORA, CLONFERT, KILMACDUAGH AND EMLY

I John 4.21 ‘The commandment we have from Jesus is this. Those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.’

There are effective ways of building a strong community. If you believe that Hitler’s troops, or communist forces, or the other sort from down the road are about to invade your area and destroy your community, you will have no trouble recruiting Dad’s army or whoever else you may need to protect the homeland. Fear of the enemy can build community; marking out who belongs to ‘us’ and who belongs to ‘them’. We know this, on both sides of the border.

But the Christian community is a complete contrast.  It is not formed by fear of the other, or limited by the boundaries between ‘us’ and ‘them’ it is defined by the person of Jesus: moulded by his character and motivated by his love. So Jesus speaks to us in today’s Gospel and says “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” When our wishes are framed by the person of Jesus, our Church will fulfil its purpose.

During the past three years of the Hard Gospel Project we have been learning what kind of Church God wants us to be.  Loving God, and our neighbour as ourselves.

But it’s the way Jesus understands the word neighbour that is scandalous.

The perfect neighbour in Jesus’ story is not the Jewish priest, or the pious Levite, it was a hated and heretical Samaritan. Being a Jew was to hate the Samaritans. Jesus, in calling us to abide in his words, to love our neighbour as ourselves, is saying that the Christian community is not defined by hatred or fear or rivalry of the other, it is defined by indiscrimate deeds of kindness, which includes loving the unlovely, crossing social boundaries, breaking social taboos of acceptability; being scandalous in the view of many around in our love for those who do not belong to us.

We have had three years of a Hard Gospel Project. I believe it has pointed us towards the heart of our calling as Church. We could produce an efficient Church, successfully organised and well run.

But if our church doesn’t enable us to love our enemies as Jesus told us, his words are not abiding in us. And like a branch, if it is unconnected to vine, it will be no more than a withered twig.

The Hard Gospel project has brought this message home to us. The question now is, are we going to respond to this call from Christ. Are his words going to abide in us, are we going to align our Church structures, our parish programmes, and our personal priorities around the words of Jesus, Loving God and our neighbour as ourself.

Are we going to live the Hard Gospel?  This is our task for the years ahead. Let us not turn back.

ENDS


Full text of Cardinal Brady’s Response:

RESPONSE BY CARDINAL SEAN BRADY, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH AND PRIMATE OF ALL IRELAND

·        Understanding fully what it means to love God and neighbour means becoming actively involved in working towards building peaceful communities, based on understanding of difference and mutual respect

·        The last millennium saw great divisions in the unity of the Church – the Body of Christ.  Many now dare to hope, and I am one of them, that this millennium will see the great healing of those wounds

May I, first of all, welcome all the members of this General Synod of the Church of Ireland back to Armagh.  It is a real joy to have you back in the City of St Patrick.  I hope you have had a very successful and fruitful meeting.

Recently the St Louis Post-Dispatch journalist Colleen Carroll spent a year asking more than 500 young people what was drawing them to Orthodox Christianity.  The results of her findings are published by Loyola Press in her book, The New Faithful.  Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy.

Asked why young people are so spiritually hungry she responded “The hunger comes from a lot of different places.  If you feel you weren’t fed growing up, then you’re going to have intense hunger.”    Later on in the interview she says “Kids are craving the ‘hard Gospel’.”  Obviously the St Louis Post Dispatch has been keeping an eye on recent developments in the Church of Ireland.  Let us hope that the Gulf Stream will bring, not the Mexican flu, but that same spiritual hunger to all young people of these islands very soon.

Thank you, Bishop Trevor, for your challenging words about a very challenging project – the ‘Hard Gospel’.  I am grateful for the opportunity to offer this response to your homily and to express publicly my admiration for all those involved in the “Hard Gospel” initiative. It was not just important for the Church of Ireland.  It was important for everyone on this island who looks to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as their rule of life.

I had heard many references, over the years, to the Hard Gospel.  Is it true that the title comes from the comment “The Hard Gospel is that you love God and love your neighbour – end of story”?  But, of course, it is not really the end of the story – Hard Gospel – hard questions:

·        Who is my best model of one who loves God?

We would all love to think that it is Jesus.  Unfortunately, there have been times in history when the behaviour of Christians towards one another seemed more inspired by Joshua in Jericho rather than by Jesus in Tyre and Sidon (Mt 15: 21-28).

Love your neighbour as yourself for me begs other hard questions:

·        In what ways have I been trained to love myself?

·        Have I ever been discouraged from loving myself?


And, possibly the hardest question of all:

·        What if the change of heart preached by Jesus were to demand a move from self interest to the interest of my neighbour, a change from exclusivity to inclusivity?

Of course understanding fully what it means to love God and neighbour means becoming actively involved in working towards building peaceful communities, based on understanding of difference and mutual respect.

I am very grateful to the Church of Ireland for deepening the understanding of all of us of the concept of difference and for addressing, not just sectarianism, but such things as North/South difference, ethnic, social, political and theological difference, as well as relationships with other faiths, and attitudes towards such matters as disability and age.

I salute your courage in addressing key strategic issues in relation to the legacy of conflict in an increasingly multicultural Ireland.  The independent review of the whole initiative concluded that the projects on immigration and Loyalists communities are at the cutting edge of contemporary diversity and inclusion issues in Ireland today.  My own limited experience of contact with the Loyalists communities, in recent times, would lead me to the same conclusion.

The ‘Hard Gospel’: a shared challenge

As the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, I do not approach the ‘Hard Gospel’ initiative as a detached bystander.  I cannot.  I am also challenged by it.  It raises important questions for me and for the Church to which I belong.  I expect that is what it was intended to do: to raise difficult questions.  It will take some time to unpack those questions and to come up with realistic answers.

What I do know is that we all share the same challenge. What I do know is that sectarianism, racism, prejudice and the instinct to exclude are odious viruses which threaten all our traditions.

Sectarianism is a shared problem - not an exclusively Protestant one.  Racism is a human problem not an exclusively Loyalist one.  It is just as likely to manifest itself among Catholics across this island as it is among any other group.  I say this, aware that some Catholics do not believe this, which, in itself, indicates the extent of the problem.

As Dr David Stevens, Leader of the Corrymeela Community reminds us “Christian faith challenges all exclusive claims of tribe, tradition and political commitment.  The Gospel invites us into the space, created by Christ, and to find there … a view of wholeness, justice and living in right relations”.  It is a view “Which sees the whole world as potential brothers and sisters – a nourishing and fulfilment of the human” (Inter-Church Relations, p. 194).

The Hard Gospel echoes this challenge.  It sets out signposts to those spaces and places where we can encounter each other in a way which challenges us.  The Project deals with what Dr Stevens calls the “Janus Face of Religion!”  It looks both inwards and outwards at the same time.  It reflects on the critical link between what goes on within a Church community and how this affects the way that community relates externally.  It acknowledges that faith communities can be, at one and the same time, contributors to conflict and healers of conflict.

Most importantly, the Hard Gospel envisages new horizons of inclusion and practical action.  Indeed, it created new and important opportunities for such action.

Improving Practical Collaboration between Churches

One of the main findings of the independent evaluation of the Hard Gospel project is that it “was successful in developing a series of new collaborations and partnerships with other churches” (p5).

Since we gather today as Christians, united in prayer, let me focus on the relationship between shared actions and the specific challenge of Christian unity.  The Hard Gospel of ecumenism calls us beyond good relations to the intimacy, even to the challenges of being a family, of being sisters and brothers in the one Lord.

This reminds me of something Pope Benedict XVI said following his first Mass after having been elected as Pope.  He declared that the primary commitment of his Papacy would be to “work tirelessly towards the reconstitution of the full and visible unity of all Christ’s followers.”  He went on to say “expressions of good feelings are not enough.  Concrete gestures are required to penetrate souls and move consciences.  As the First Letter of St John has it “Our love is not to be just words or mere talk but something real and active” (1Jn. 3:18).

Interior conversion, change of attitude, is perhaps the hardest Gospel of all.  It involves walking the extra mile with and towards the other.

I am conscious that your generous invitation to be here at this service for the closing of this Synod is exactly such a ‘concrete gesture’.  It has its own historic and symbolic significance.  I want to express my gratitude to Archbishop Alan, to Dean Patrick and to all involved in that generous invitation.  It is a privilege to be here.  It is a joy to be among sisters and brothers in Jesus Christ who are so clearly committed to Him and to His word.  It is a grace to be united with all of you in the presence of the Risen Lord.  He promised to be among us when His word is shared and where two or three gather in His name.

The Risen Lord is powerfully present in His word spoken to us today.  The story of the vine and the branches presents three themes that I think are particularly relevant to the message of the Hard Gospel.

Patience with the Ecumenical Journey

The first is the image of the vine and the branches itself.  It reminds me of my days in Italy.   In the nice crisp, frosty days of winter in the Alban Hills, you would often see people busy at work pruning the vines.  I came to appreciate how important the vine is in the life of that community.  It gives food in the form of grapes and drink in the form of wine.  It also provides firewood and leaves that fertilise the soil as well as shade which protects from the sun.  I also noticed that the vine-dresser is very patient.  He patiently tills the soil and prunes the branches to just the right degree, confident that – in time – ripe and luscious fruit will appear.

Someone who claims to know more about good wine than I do told me recently that the best wines are produced by planting the vine in the rockiest soil in the vineyard.  By having to struggle harder and dig deeper to find the nutrients in the soil, the vine is strengthened and the taste of the grapes becomes more vibrant.

On the journey to the full visible unity of Christ’s followers - patience is a critical virtue.  The temptation is to want to get to the end of the journey, without having to walk the sometimes difficult and winding paths which take us there.  However the experience of the journey together and the patience to endure its twists and turns will, eventually, make for stronger unity.  To use show-jumping parlance, rushing the fences, namely the difficult issues, can eliminate time-faults but can still cost vital points for fences down at the end.

I believe we are, at present, experiencing the end of one phase and moving into a deeper, more honest phase of the ecumenical journey.  By its very nature it will require more patience but the fruits of this new stage of our journey together will, I believe, be richer and more lasting.

And this brings me to the second dimension of our Gospel this morning.  St John speaks to us of being ‘pruned by the word.’

The Importance of Meditating together on God’s Word

In October last I had the privilege of attending the Synod of Catholic Bishops in Rome on The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.  It was attended by a wide range of representatives from other Churches.  During the Synod it was acknowledged that the improved access to the Scriptures, promoted by the Reformation, was something good from which all Christian communities have benefited.

There was also an earnest reflection on the words of St Gregory the Great who said “Frequently, many things in the Sacred Writings, which I was unable to understand on my own, I came to grasp while in the presence of my brothers” (Homiliae in Ezechielem, II,2, I: PL 76, 948-949).

The final proposition of the Synod declared that the “The Bible is truly a privileged place of encounter among the diverse churches and ecclesial communities.  Listening together to the Scriptures helps us live together in a real communion” (Relatio post disceptationem, 36).

Pope Benedict XVI made the same point when he said “Listening together to the Word of God, practicing together the Lectio Divina of the Bible … constitutes a path to walk for reaching the unity of faith, as a response to hearing the word” (Discourse of Benedict XVI, Jan. 25, 2007).

It seems to me that these words clearly affirm the general proposition of the Hard Gospel initiative. Within the guidelines indicated for the ecumenical journey, there are many opportunities for shared reflection on the word which unites us, and for joint action.

The Shared challenge of a Secular Culture

The message of today’s Gospel about the importance of remaining part of the vine could not be clearer.  As disciples of Jesus, we are all part of that vine.  We draw from the same source of life.  We have been washed in the same waters of Baptism.  It is the same grace which unites us with Christ and to each other.

The call to remain part of the vine therefore is a call to remain part of each other.  In the verses which follow John draws this out in terms of the importance of friendship and our relationship to the world.  We have to accept that if we are faithful to the Gospel there will be times when we have to stand against some of the most popular trends.  As Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity said recently “Christians are never saved by adapting to the world”.  As St Paul says “Do not adapt yourselves to this world but be changed and renew the way you think” (Roms 12:2).  Jesus was not afraid to allow people to walk away.  He had many ‘hard sayings’.  Being faithful to the less popular aspects of the message of Jesus is also part of the ‘Hard Gospel’.

Conclusion: Opening the doors of friendship

I shall always be grateful for the friendships I have made here in Armagh over the last fourteen years.  I am especially thankful for the friendships made through the Inter-Church meetings, meetings of the Four Church Leaders and other meetings with individuals and groups from widely different backgrounds.  They have taught me that real friendship allows people the space to be different.  Real friendship commits us to seek, at all times, the genuine good of the other person in spite of widely different views.

I would like to think that I have been personally enriched by all of this.  I can honestly say that I have grown in my understanding and empathy with others in all of this experience.  The call is to move beyond our comfort zone and deepen and widen our friendships.  It is also part of the Hard Gospel.

Last Wednesday I celebrated Mass in Arbour Hill, Dublin and blessed the graves of executed 1916 leaders.  Tomorrow I hope to preach at the Service of Thanksgiving and Commemoration in the College Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin.  Today I am here at this Eucharist to mark the closure of the Church of Ireland Synod.  To some people all of that seems an impossible combination.  But what it does suggest, perhaps, is that we live in remarkable times.

The last millennium saw great divisions in the unity of the Church – the Body of Christ.  Many now dare to hope, and I am one of them, that this millennium will see the great healing of those wounds.  The last millennium also saw great divisions and conflict on this island of Ireland and between Ireland and her nearest neighbours.  Again many dare to hope that those conflicts can now be resolved, once and for all.

Today the cause of religion is faced by the opposition of secularism in this country as never before.  Nevertheless, I believe this island – North and South – is a deeply religious island.  So I see the present moment as a wonderful kairos to play our part in trying to heal, once and for all, the hurts of the past.   I salute the efforts of those who have already courageously undertaken this task.  But we all have our part to play.  Now is the time to pray that God’s power, working in us, may do infinitely more than we can ask for or imagine.  The great test of the Hard Gospel, for all of us, will be the task of reconciliation.  May God grant that all of us may prove adequate to the test.  Without Him we can do nothing but we can do all things in Christ who strengthens us.

In conclusion, let me echo the words of Dr David Stevens “At their centre, Churches have a narrative of forgiveness, reconciliation, new possibilities and new identities which, if it was really believed and acted upon, could be transforming.  The challenge now is to believe and act” (p 201).

The ultimate Hard Gospel – is probably ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us’.  My prayer today is that we all may be given the grace, the strength and the generosity of spirit to grasp the new possibilities for forgiveness and reconciliation which are being offered to all of us here and now.  May God, who has begun this good work in us, bring it to completion.

AMEN so be it.

ENDS

For further information on Cardinal Brady’s Response:
Martin Long, Director of Communications (086 172 7678)

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Bill No. 2 , in the name of the Archdeacon of Glendalough and the Bishop of Cashel and Ossory seeks to bring our Marriage liturgies into better harmony with the changed civil law of marriage in both jurisdictions. The Bill was passed.

Bill No. 3 , in the name of the Archdeacon of Cork, Cloyne and Ross and Canon Lady Sheil, seeks to increase the rates of members and parochial/diocesan contributions to the Clergy Pensions fund. The Bill was passed.

Bill No. 4 , in the name of the Dean of Ferns and Mr W.F. Baker concerns the disbanding of the Commission on Church Buildings. The Bill was passed.

Bill No. 5 is a response to a resolution of last year's Synod, seeking to make provision for the payment in certain circumstances of clergy in the Auxiliary Ministry. The Bill was passed.

Bill No. 6 , aims to tidy up an inconsistency in the Constitution as it pertains to St Patrick's Cathedral Dublin, seeking to restrict appointments of ecumenical canons to those resident on the island of Ireland. The Bill was passed.

Bill No. 7 , in the names of the Dean of Belfast Cathedral and the Archdeacon of Belfast seeks to appoint ecumenical and honorary lay canons to Belfast Cathedral. Canon Lady Sheil added one grammatical amendment which was passed by Synod and the Bill in turn was duly passed by Synod.

All seven Bills were therefore passed unanimously.

Runner Up: Taney Parish, Dublin (Click here)

Diocesan Websites
Winner: Down & Dromore Diocese (Click here)

Runner-Up: Dublin & Glendalough Diocese (Click here)

Other Websites
Winner: Summer Madness' Ignite website (Click here)

New Technologies
Winner: Canon Patrick Comerford's blog (Click here)

Runner Up: Summer Madness' SMS Bible Texting Service (Click here)

Proposing the report of the Standing Committee, Rev Canon John McCullagh (Glendalough) said, 'As a church we are privileged that the Archbishop of Dublin is one of those who have been striving to quarry out a statement, a covenant and code of practice to which, it is hoped, all Anglicans can commit in renewed fraternity. The Standing Committee has given much thought to the mode of reception of the proposed Covenant and has suggested how it might best be formulated with a "focus on conciliation" while providing for "effective mediation".'

Much of the debate concerning the Anglican Communion is associated with inter-Anglican views on human sexuality. During the report of the Standing Committee, under the section of the Hard Gospel Project, there was a debate by a number of members on gay and lesbian issues. In response, Canon McCullagh said 'we recognize that we need to go forward respecting the range of views that exist, and dealing with one another with respect and dignity'.

As well as inter-Anglican affairs, the Standing Committee has been working to devise ecumenical canons for the Church of Ireland Constitution and it has also engaged with the report Interchangeability of Ministry and Episcope: Key Issues for the Churches, concerning Church of Ireland and Methodist ministry.

Seconding the Standing Committee report, Mr Peter Hamill (Connor), commended the work of the Priorities Fund, saying 'In times of financial hardship it is encouraging that churches are showing new initiative and are not afraid to seek funding. We may have less money to work with but that should not stop us working at all'.

The issue of Children's Ministry was raised at the General Synod 2008. It is intended that the Honorary Secretaries will hold an initial exploratory meeting with the various interested parties on 26 May 2009. Commenting on this Mr Hamill said, 'We must find fresh resources and ideas to support children's ministry and enable our churches to be child-friendly places of worship, and communities that promote family life.'

There were also two motions put forward by the Standing Committee. Motion No 9 sought to implement the proposal, Restructuring Proposal: Social Theology in Action, which seeks to amalgamate the three social care structures of General Synod. The Bishop of Down and Dromore, Right Reverend Harold Miller, added one query, asking whether the amalgamation of Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland social care bodies would be effective. The motion however was passed by Synod.

Motion No 10, in the names of Rev Maria Jansson (Ferns) and the Bishop of Limerick, Rt Rev Trevor Williams, proposes a Code of Duty and Conduct for ministering in the Church of Ireland. Rev Jansson outlined the motion saying, 'Many churches in the Anglican Communion have developed Codes of Duty and Conduct for ministers, we do not have one and that is simply not acceptable in this day and age'.

Responding to the motion, the Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross warned that such a task would be a very big job. Bishop of Connor, Right Reverend Alan Abernethy said 'we don't need to re-invent the wheel, because there are a number of models out there already'.

Lady Sheil and Honorable Justice Catherine MaGuinness raised questions about the legalities of the proposal, to which Rev Jansson replied that the proposals were 'soft law'.

The motion was passed by a majority of Synod members