Press Releases
BISHOP SPEAKS OF ROLE OF CHURCH OF IRELAND TODAY
Please find enclosed extracts from the Presidential address to be given by the Bishop of Meath and Kildare, the Most Reverend Richard Clarke at his Diocesan Synod at Wilsons Hospital, Multyfarnam, Co Westmeath on Saturday 20 September 1997.
Turning now beyond the internal affairs of the Diocese (although, as you will gather, I do not believe that anything we do can ever be 'just for us'), I am sure that many will agree that, whatever the future may bring to this country, a wonderful chapter has come to a conclusion with the departure of President Mary Robinson from that office. She has given us hope in ourselves, and in Ireland. She has made us look beyond ourselves, and she has also made us ask the awkward questions of ourselves, the questions which we have been frightened to ask, for far too long.
We wish her well in the new and vital position she now takes up. She will no doubt do our country proud there, as she has done here for the past seven years.. We must hope and pray that whoever is elected to take her place will bring the same energy, distinction, dedication, and openness of heart and mind to the task.
Looking outside ourselves.. I have spoken of the appointment of Revd. William Ritchie as one marker in seeking to build bridges and to further understanding with christians of other traditions, in a more organised way. But even within our Anglican fellowship, we need to look beyond our own limited horizons. The link with the Diocese of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is one which has served this diocese extremely well for some time, both in exchange of people and, hence, of ideas. I am very happy that we should continue with this relationship, certainly until Bishop Paul Marshall and I have put at least one shared Lambeth Conference behind us.. On the other hand, this should not exclude the possibility of another link - perhaps with a Diocese closer at hand, one with another celtic voice (albeit a different accent). I will ask the Diocesan Council to give this some thought, and I will also talk it over with some of the other bishops in Scotland and Wales.
The asking of awkward questions is also something for which we would praise Mary Robinson. As a Church and as a Diocese can we do the same for ourselves - ask the awkward questions which we fear:
- What are we here for, as a Church?
- Would the country be any worse if we ceased to exist? Why would it be worse off?
- What are we doing to ensure that our young people, and all those many people in this country who have lost their faith, can find something of value in the Church of Ireland?
- And what can we do to further the uneasy and unsettled peace process?
If the answer to any of these questions is either "Don't know or, worse again, "Don't care", let's hold the furneral for the Church of Ireland now and be done with it.
When it comes to the peace process - certainly the most critical of all political questions in this country at this moment - we must, here in the south, accept our own price-tag for peace... As I have asked before, what price-tag are we really prepared to accept? What would we be prepared to sacrifice of ourselves so that others may know peace in their lives throughout this country? How much extra cost to our tax-bill to carry the burden of an economy which has been so damaged by years of wanton destructiveness? How much cost to our own cherished political ideologies which may have to be modified or even jettisoned? How much cost in convenience ( and who knows, perhaps even to our safety). to visit and to listen to men and women in Northern Ireland who long for peace, and for their own position to be at least heard with courtesy?
As far as the Church of Ireland is concerned, I do not for one minute believe that we in the south should be bullied into silence on the grounds that we "dont' understand' and are 'only making things worse', but nor do I believe that we have any right to comment if we expect peace to be progressed without its cost to us in our cosy setting...
So, brothers and sisters, pray for this country every day - pray for those who are agonising over decisions they must take, and attitudes they must change.. And pray for those who would cynically and violently disrupt the process if they cannot get their way.
Pray that wisdom and love may somehow both find their place at every table - they were at the Lord's Table this morning when together we celebrated the Eucharist. But may wisdom and love also find their place at the negotiating tables of our country, at the committee tables of our diocese, and at the meal tables of our homes.
Further information from:
THE CHURCH OF IRELAND PRESS OFFICE
Church of Ireland House
61 - 67 Donegall Street
Belfast BT1 2QH