| Friday 2nd April, 2010 You are here: Home - 2nd April 2010 Index Page |
Primate expresses deep regret over planned consecration of Bishop-elect Mary Glasspool
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| Archbishop Alan Harper |
Following a request to the Church of Ireland for comment on the US Episcopal Church’s plans to proceed with the consecration of the openly gay Canon Mary Glasspool as a Bishop Suffragan in Los Angeles Diocese (Gazette report, last week), the Archbishop of Armagh has told the Gazette of his serious concerns about the matter. In a statement issued to us, Archbishop Harper recalled that the Windsor Report of 2004 had recommended "that the Episcopal Church (USA) be invited to effect a moratorium on the election and consent to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate who is living in a same gender union until some new consensus in the Anglican Communion emerges".
Good Friday And Easter
In his book, A Whisper of God, Bishop Richard Clarke writes: "Christ’s teaching is undoubtedly a call to sacrificial love. But it is more than this. Christ also calls his followers into a relationship with God which involves specific beliefs; the call to righteousness is far more a call to be in a relationship with God, than the demand to do certain right things." Bishop Clarke goes on to point out that good behaviour is not the preserve of Christians and that it would be patronising to take such a view. Full Text
Home News
Preparations under way for visit of South African farmer and evangelist
An information evening was held recently in the Jethro Centre, Lurgan, Co. Armagh, to enable people to hear about the forthcoming visit to Northern Ireland of the South African farmer and evangelist, Angus Buchan. In keeping with Mr Buchan’s background, he will speak at the aptly-titled ‘Maize ’n Grace’ event at the Ecclesville Equestrian Centre, Fintona, Co. Tyrone, over three evenings from 10th to 12th June. This venue was specially chosen to enable the maximum number of people to have the opportunity of hearing him; it can hold up to 3,000 and is accessible from all parts of Northern Ireland.
Cork event focuses on growth in family worship and faith
Designed for those wishing to involve all their family in worship or looking for new ideas in children’s work, ‘Messy Church’ is holding a training day in Carrigrohane Parish Centre, Cork, on Saturday 24th April, from 9.45am to 3.00pm. The day is being organised by the Cork, Cloyne and Ross Diocesan Council for Mission. Lucy Moore, who developed ‘Messy Church’ in Portsmouth in 2004 and has published several books on the topic, will be running the event.
Public meeting on RoI Protestant schools’ funding reduction
In recent months, the Gazette and the national press in general have contained many reports of the shocked reaction of Church of Ireland people in the Republic of Ireland to the government’s savage reduction in the funding of their schools. Protest meetings have been well attended and support for the non-state, non-Roman Catholic schools has come from many quarters, including the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin. In response to this, Catalyst, a Belfast-based, Church of Ireland ‘think tank’, is about to publish a collection of three articles on this topic.
Belfast Cathedral organist meets choral ‘rockstar’
Philip Stopford, Director of Music at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, was privileged to be invited to speak about his compositions to the Southwestern American Choral Directors’ Association’s recent conference in Denver, Colorado. The highlight of his visit was an opportunity to meet choral ‘rockstar’, Eric Whitacre, and watch him direct performances of his own music in front of adoring fans.
Renowned bishop/scientist to lecture in Belfast and Dublin
Christians in Science Ireland has announced details of the next in its series of ‘God and Science’ lectures. The lecture - entitled ‘Gene Therapy: Playing God or Being Human? - will be given by the Rt Revd Dr Lee Rayfield, Bishop of Swindon, on two successive evenings later this month. The first lecture will be held in St Bartholomew’s church, Stranmillis Road, Belfast, on Monday 26th April, at 7.30pm, and the second on the following evening, 27th April, in The Exchange, 50 Gardiner Street, Dublin.
Derry and Raphoe Mothers’ Union Festival Service
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Pictured following the Derry and Raphoe Mothers’ Union Festival Service and Commissioning in Christ Church, Londonderry, are (left to right) Canon Robert Clarke, Mary Good, Ruth Mercer (All Ireland President), Kay Clarke (Derry and Raphoe President) and Bishop Ken Good.
Institution
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The Revd Alan Rufli (right) is seen following his institution as rector of Clondalkin and Rathcoole, Diocese of Dublin, with Archbishop John Neill and Cllr Robert Dowds, Deputy Mayor of Tallaght, who is a parishioner of Clondalkin.
Parishioners campaign for better global sanitation
By Annette McGrath
Parishioners of Belvoir parish, Diocese of Down, recently completed their morning worship and then joined a queue with a difference - the world’s longest toilet queue. They joined citizens from around the world in a Guinness World Record attempt to highlight the global sanitation and water crisis.
Healthcare chaplains accredited in Cork
The first unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) recently concluded at St Luke’s Home, Mahon, Cork. CPE is the prime methodology for training and accrediting healthcare chaplains in Ireland and beyond. The course was run as an extended unit over 20 weeks, rather than the more traditional full-time one which takes place over 12 weeks, thus allowing participants to continue their ministry in their work environment. In some cases, placements were augmented and the Revd Daniel Nuzum and the Revd Brian O’Rourke acted as mentors.
Newtowngore, Diocese of Kilmore
Originally created from a part of Carrigallen parish, Newtowngore in Kilmore Diocese is now one of the six churches administered by the rector of Swanlinbar. This large group is on both sides of the Cavan/Fermanagh border. Carrigallen is in Co. Leitrim, beyond Lough Garadice, which is east of Ballinamore. Within its bounds are the ancient ruins of Moy Abbey and, some four kilometres from the village, what remains of Longfield Castle; the latter was occupied by Major Martin Armstrong following the Battle of Cavan.
World News
Assassination attempt on El Salvador bishop
The Episcopal Church in El Salvador has denounced an assassination attempt on Bishop Martín Barahona and two of his closest colleagues. An unknown man, without saying anything, shot at them. However, the Church reports that only the bishop’s driver, Francis Martínez, was hospitalized.
Communists guided Bulgarian Church role in WCC, says book
Bulgaria’s communistera régime guided the Bulgarian Orthodox Church’s participation in ecumenical organizations, such as the World Council of Churches, the Christian Peace Conference and the Conference of European Churches, a new book asserts. In his book, Between Faith and Compromise, Bulgarian historian, Momchil Metodiev, who has authored a previous book on his country’s communist-era State security apparatus, claims that under communism the State sought to subvert the Church and, later, to get it to cooperate in spreading propaganda for the communist system.
Sunday ‘free of work’ EU campaign
Last week, more than 70 organisations, including Churches and trade unions, as well as organisations from civil society, met in the European Parliament in Brussels for the first European Conference on a work-free Sunday. Together with more than 400 conference participants, they launched an appeal to the heads of states and of governments who were meeting in the European Council. They called for a Sunday free of work for all European citizens: "The protection of a work-free Sunday is of paramount importance for workers’ health, for the reconciliation of work and family life, as well as for the life of civil society as a whole. This common weekly day of rest serves to strengthen social cohesion in our societies, a cohesion so severely undermined by the current economic crisis."
Anglican Communion appoints new Director for Communications
The Secretary-General of the Anglican Communion, Canon Kenneth Kearon, has announced the appointment of Jan Butter as the Communion’s new Director for Communications. Mr Butter comes to the Anglican Communion Office after more than eight years at one of the world’s largest relief, development and advocacy organisations, World Vision. Most recently, he was Head of Global Advocacy Communications for World Vision’s international office. Previously, he spent several years working at the organisation’s UN Liaison Office in New York, and at its offices in Sri Lanka and the UK. He was a journalist for several newspapers, including the Western Mail in Cardiff.
Letter to the Editor
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Eucharistic hospitality Full Text
by the Most Revd Alan Harper, OBE, Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland and Metropolitan, on the confirmation of the election of Canon Mary Glasspool to be a Suffragan Bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles
The Most Revd Katherine Jefferts Schori, in a letter to the Primates of the Anglican Communion, informed them that a majority of the "bishops with jurisdiction" of The Episcopal Church have confirmed the election of Canon Mary Glasspool to be a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles. Canon Glasspool is a woman in a partnered gay relationship. The Presiding Bishop also informed the other Primates that she would herself preside at the consecration of Canon Glasspool at an Ordination to take place on May 15th.
In her letter, the Presiding Bishop declared that "this is not the decision of one person, or a small group of people. It represents the mind of a majority of the elected leaders in The Episcopal Church, lay, clergy and bishops, who have carefully considered the opinions and feelings of other members of the Anglican Communion as well as the decades-long conversations within this Church".
The Windsor Report of 2004 recommended "that the Episcopal Church (USA) be invited to effect a moratorium on the election and consent to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate who is living in a same gender union until some new consensus in the Anglican Communion emerges" [Section D subsection 134, bullet point no 3].
That request was reiterated at the Primates’ Meeting in Dar es Salaam and followed at the Primates’ Meeting in Alexandria with a request for ‘gracious restraint’. The decision of The Episcopal Church in respect of the confirmation of an election and subsequent consecration of a partnered gay person to the episcopate has clearly signalled the end of ‘gracious restraint’. This is a development which I deeply regret. Whatever may be ‘the mind of a majority of the elected leaders in The Episcopal Church’, it does not reflect the mind of a majority of those in positions of leadership in the Anglican Communion and it is bound to create even greater stresses within the Communion at a time when consultations on an Anglican Covenant are at an advanced stage.
The action of The Episcopal Church also has implications for another serious issue that has strained the bonds of affection within the Communion, namely extraterritorial interventions by other provinces in the life of The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. A moratorium on such interventions and also on the authorization of public rites of blessing for same-sex unions was requested by the Primates at Dar es Salaam. In neither of these cases has "gracious restraint" been wholly exercised. In particular, extraterritorial interventions have been sustained. They have now been added to by the setting up of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), an overtly extra-territorial province- in-embryo, embracing the national integrities of both the United States of America and Canada. The ACNA is now seeking recognition within the wider Anglican Communion.
It is very hard to see how these developments may shape the future of the Anglican Communion. The position of the Church of Ireland in respect of the Churches with which it may be said to be ‘in communion’ will be determined, first and foremost, in light of the provisions of the Preamble and Declaration prefixed to the Statutes of the Church of Ireland passed at the General Convention in 1870. It will also be governed by the response of the Church of Ireland to any future Anglican Covenant.
Focus on Faith and Politics
‘Future Tense?’
A recent address by Dr Martin Mansergh, TD, Minister of State, at Trinity College Chapel
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| Dr Martin Mansergh |
If we are to believe the Old Testament, I Samuel 8: 7, the Almighty was not best pleased at having to bow to the will of the people of Israel by providing them with a king, like other peoples. He confided to Samuel: "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all they say to thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them." Although Saul was chosen with divine sanction, which successive rulers also claimed - some of the Caesars claiming to be gods themselves, down, indeed, to our own Constitution, which begins ‘In the name of the most holy Trinity, from whom is all authority’ - the Samuel story is actually one of God bowing to the will of the people, rather than the people to the will of God: in other words, the beginning of a long journey from theocracy towards democracy.
Soap
Down at St. David’s
By Ted Woods
The weeks before Easter were a bit of a blur for Steve and Jonathan. Eva Jackson had landed Steve with casting the Passion Play and on top of all the contacts that that entailed, there were private communions, Holy Week addresses to be prepared and, to cap it all, Denis McKeever’s funeral, which also became the memorial service for his wife, Ruby. The retired bishop, Bill Grace, preached and spoke movingly of Denis and Ruby and their time in St David’s. Priscilla was also there and a large contingent of diocesan clergy.
Popular Culture
Not a tragedy
Gareth Higgins
In the film, A Prairie Home Companion, one character responds to the passing of another with the phrase: "The death of an old man is not a tragedy". In a culture that seems often obsessed with immortality, at least of the cosmetic kind, this thought seems discordant. While death, it seems to be saying, is, of course, distressing, when the right time comes, it should be experienced neither as a surprise nor an injustice. If, as St Ireneaus said, the glory of God is a human being fully alive, then the latter part of life must be capable of an ever-deepening expression of our nature as a little lower than the angels, rather than the increasing sense of uselessness or troublesomeness that our culture ascribes to the aged. In other words, there may be no more human/divine encounter than when an older person is living even more than they were when they were young; or, to invert the idea, there may be nothing more sad than an old person full of regret.
Life Lines
Where are you on Easter Sunday?
Ron Elsdon
A young family whom I know have made a very important decision about where they are going to be on Easter Sunday. Tenerife? Mallorca? Ibiza? Costa del Sol? No, none of these places. Both parents are hardworking and have demanding jobs. They’ve decided that on Easter Sunday they should be with their Christian community, celebrating the greatest event the world has ever seen. More than that: hard-working dad will be in the team of men cooking breakfast for some 60 members of that congregation! This family is really bucking a trend. We’ve worked hard all winter; the kids are off school; let’s fly away to the sun for a few days - we deserve it ... except that if they’ve booked on British Airways this year, they might not get there.
Book Reviews
Pioneer Ministry and Fresh Expressions of Church
Author: Angela Shier-Jones
Publisher: SPCK; 148pp
Prepare for Exile: A New Spirituality and Mission for the Church
Author: Patrick Whitworth
Publisher: SPCK
News Extra
Church needs to embrace ‘all types of searchers’
By Garrett Casey
Speaking recently in the Chapel of Trinity College Dublin, the Revd Clare Herbert, of Inclusive Church, cautioned that "one of the things that can destroy our ability to become ambassadors for Christ - as Paul urges us to be - is that we in our turn start to become self-righteous in our liberalism." Ms Herbert, who is a priest in the Church of England, is in a same-sex civil partnership. She is programme director of Inclusive Church, a charity within the Church of England which works for the full inclusion of women as bishops; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people; black and minority ethnic people; and those affected by poverty or disability.
‘Cultural voyage’ photographic exhibition launched in Christ Church Cathedral
St Patrick’s Day saw the launch of a photographic exhibition inspired by Irish history and pre-history in Christ Church Cathedral Dublin. The work of Dr John Bradshaw, the speciallymounted black and white photos include natural and man-made features illustrating events and periods in Irish history from the Ice Age to the present day. Launching the exhibition, Professor of Archaeology, George Eogan, said that the display "takes us on an extended cultural voyage [highlighting] the range and diversity of elements of the culture which have survived the ravages of time."
‘Appalling behaviour’ in church grounds condemned
A Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim, councillor, Alderman Nigel Hamilton, has condemned what he described as the "appalling behaviour" of anti-social youths who have been constantly drinking in the grounds of the Church of the Evangelist, Carnmoney, Diocese of Connor. Whilst no serious damage has been done, the youths were said to have caused annoyance and left a trail of empty drink bottles, cans, boxes and glass littered throughout the church graveyard.