Dear friends in Christ, we meet in his name,
as the pilgrim people of God, to do the work of his Church in this
Diocesan Synod of Cork, Cloyne and Ross – my sixth as Bishop!

This will be the last session of this Diocesan Synod in this
triennium, and so I thank you for your voluntary commitment as
Synod members throughout this period.

Remarkable Generosity – Thank you

As we begin our work today I wish to highlight the generosity
of commitment of two members. Last month Canon JLB Deane completed
50 uninterrupted years as a member of Diocesan Council. Like Mr
George Stoney he has completed it – not, we hope, as an endurance
test – but as an act of self-offering and lay ministry in
the Church. Likewise, The O’Donovan recently retired as Diocesan
Treasurer and as a co-opted member of the Representative Church
Body. We thank him for all his generous offering of time and ability
for the work of Christ’s Church. At the end of this address
it will be my pleasure to make a presentation to each of them,
but I know you would wish to thank and salute them.

Deployment – Changes, Welcome and Farewell

Also as we begin our Synod, I congratulate those who, in the
last year, have new appointments in the Diocese; those who are
new among us in the ordained ministry, and I thank those to whom
we have said farewell:

• the Reverend Andrew McCroskery was appointed to Youghal Union
• the Reverend Hazel Minion was ordained deacon


• the Reverend Stella Mikhail and the Reverend Joy Ferguson
  were ordained priest


• the Reverend Catherine Snyder Gibson has begun Ministry in
  Fermoy Union


• the Reverend Bruce Hayes is the new incumbent here in Abbeystrewry


• in August we look forward to welcoming the Reverend William
  Olhausen to Carrigrohane Union; and in October the Reverend Helene
  Tarneberg Steed will come from Sweden to the position of Dean’s Vicar
  at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral;
• as anticipated at last year’s Synod we said farewell
  to the Very Rev. Trevor Lester who headed to Waterford as Dean


• to the Reverend Sue Watterson who is in Dublin heading up
  the Church’s ministry of healing


• and in February the Reverend Francis Rutledge left to go to
  the Diocese of Clogher

we thank them and say Good Bye – God bless.

R.I.P.

In sympathising with all who were bereaved since we last met
year also we were saddened by the deaths of fellow pilgrims, and
today I mention former members of this Synod:

• Mrs Olive Walls who also served on Diocesan Council and was
  noted for selfless involvement in the Skiddys’ Charity.


• Canon Jerram Burrows who served the bulk of his ministry in
  this Diocese as Headmaster of the Cork Grammar School.
• The Venerable Brian Snow who was only here a short time, but
  served his first curacy in Christ Church.


• Most recently the Reverend John Haworth, whose vocation was
  nurtured in the Christ Church context, served in many parts of
  the Church of Ireland; in this diocese in Kinneigh and in Fermoy
  and who, in retirement, volunteered his ministry generously and
  selflessly, travelling great distances, in order to sustain ministry
  where it would not otherwise have been sustained.

We offer our sincere sympathy to all their families, particularly
to Rose Haworth in the midst of such recent bereavement.

The Familial Diocese

I make these personal remarks at the outset this year to emphasise
and draw attention to our sense of ourselves as a familial diocese.
We are like a family. That is what a diocese ought to be.

The Diocese

Broadly speaking a diocese is a territory under the spiritual
leadership and oversight of a bishop and governed by a representative
assembly – in our case, the Diocesan Synod, itself governed
provincially by the General Synod. It is an established principle
of both Anglican theology and Anglican Law that when we speak of
the local Church we are referring not to the parish (as some have
come to think), but rather the diocese.

As Anglicanism unfolds through its current controversies, we
will, I believe, become increasingly conscious of this fundamental
point. I believe before too long I will be reminding you that I
have made this point; and the outworking of it will become ever
more obvious and relevant.

Having said that, technical descriptions do little justice to
the human reality of interdependence and mutual regard we experience
here in Cork, Cloyne and Ross. This is a family. We should not
take that for granted. Like all good relationships it is something
that requires work. What do we build on?

• our faithful pilgrimage in community with God the Holy Trinity,
  Father, Son and Holy Spirit


• our opting in to the Church of Ireland as a framework for
  belonging and expression of that belief


• mutual understanding
• respect for diversity of opinion


• loyalty


• and openness

We also have to cultivate the maturity that enables us to know
how to live with difference: difference in believing; in belonging;
in lifestyle; in expression; in choices made and principles held.
When someone says to me “This is a principle for me,” I
say to them “Go gently; the person you say that to has principles
as well.” In the area of belief this can be uncomfortable,
but it is an inevitable part of the dialectic that goes with community
life, especially within an inclusive faith community such as Anglicanism

In his book - Counting People In - Richard Thomas (Director
of Communications for the Diocese of Oxford) sets parameters for
what I am trying to articulate:

“So does it matter what you believe?” he asks. “Absolutely.
The search for truth is at the heart of the gospel. And will anything
do? No. Clearly the search for truth takes us on a pilgrimage of
faith, where the search for an authentic experience of the divine
mystery leads us to exclude false, misleading or just plain bad
religious understanding and practice. Faith is not an irrational
acceptance of the illogical or impossible. It is, at heart, a way,…of
making sense of reality because reality, for the Christian is truth,
and truth reveals God’s creative, forgiving energy and love.
Thus the search for reality, for truth, for authenticity, is an
important test of a genuine religious pilgrimage. Christians should
not be afraid of the enquiring mind: we should celebrate it, even
when the search takes us into uncomfortable territory….The
ability to live with those who disagree with you has at least as
much to do with your level of emotional maturity as it does your
spiritual maturity; in fact the two may be closely linked.”

Census 2002

Counting People In was an opportune “read” for
two reasons. First, the results of Census 2002: I tread carefully
when it comes to statistics, mindful of Paul Brodeur’s counsel

“Statistics are human beings with the tears wiped off”

I believe we can make some fundamental statements about religion
in Ireland on foot of Census 2002:

Religion - albeit in many guises - is still important to the
people of Ireland.

Christianity, expressed in many ways, is still hugely significant.

The expression of Christianity is more diverse, more varied than
we have ever known before in Ireland.

The number of people not espousing religion has increased hugely,
to the point of being the second largest grouping in this section
of the Census.

While that is significant it ought not to be overplayed, because
at the same time all but one Christian denomination grew in numbers,
some very significantly; the single largest percentage increase,
albeit on a small starting number, being among Orthodox Christians.

So, for many churches such as ours, probably because of net migration,
we are coming to terms with a surprise: increased numbers, in the
Church of Ireland’s case by over one-fifth.

For us locally, we are told of an additional 5000 people we didn’t
know about, so that presents local responsibilities. Which brings
me to my second reason for valuing Richard Thomas’ book:
Canon JLB Deane has painstakingly prepared a paper for us providing
local analysis which has been circulated to you. What can we infer
from it? He will give us some specific insights from his study.
For my part I ask some general questions:

How are we to include and welcome these people? What changes
do we need to make within our churches and as and between the now
established ecumenical relationships between our churches to draw
them in? What are our relationships with new groups of Christians
and new churches in Ireland?

I have a very graphic illustration of this recently when representatives
of the sizeable Orthodox community now living in Cork came to The
Palace on a courtesy call. Sadly within two weeks I was worshipping
with them at the funeral of a young Russian student at Ashton School
who had died in a car crash.

Most important, arising from the census: who are these people
and where are they?

Why are there such gaps between the Census 2002 figures and the
parochial census figures?

Let me suggest a reason – it’s something I have been
harping on about for years: we take a too narrow view of who belongs.
In spite of our clichés about evangelism; and our assertion
that we are inclusive; and our syntax about outreach we still have
what Richard Thomas calls a “participant” model of
membership.

Participants are those who belong by participating in the organized
life of a church. We recognise them readily because we see them;
they sign up; they pay in; they help out. “The there are
those who may not come, even irregularly, to worship. They will
not be found on lists…But if asked, they will state quite
firmly that they belong.” These are associates.

‘Participating’ Christians are far outnumbered by ‘associates’;
those seldom if ever attending church, but claiming allegiance – who
belong by believing. Thomas looks at ways the church can advance
their pilgrimage, helping them understand the faith they hold,
and guiding their spirituality. The medieval parish system isn’t
tuned, he points out, to the modern culture of mobility, independence,
literacy and communication technology.

A key question for us has to be how are we to minister to such
people? How does the church communicate with those who have a belief
in God but who do not find the Church an essential part of that
belief?

When we articulate this theology of belonging we need to work
it out not only in terms of narrowly defined membership of the
Church, but against the yardstick of the incarnation which draws
us beyond the church into the community in which the Church is
set, embracing the most fundamental of all Christian doctrines,
that of creation itself.

Confusing Times

These perspectives challenge us greatly and may even make us
hugely uncomfortable. Living through a cusp era, such as this one,
rapidly changing,

Last month the results of Behaviour and Attitudes Marketing
Research were presented under the heading “High Anxiety:
Keeping up with the Jones in Modern Ireland.” Some of the
outcomes were hugely interesting and I am grateful Hugh St Leger,
Marketing Manager of Statoil Ireland (a son of this diocese)
for this information:

The general thesis of the paper is that, while Irish people are
increasingly better off they are not necessarily happier or more
content and also.

That they are finding new things to believe in.

Church Attendance figures:

A key conclusion was that we as people are seeking new things
to believe in.

Moving forward

In this sort of scenario we are coming to terms with the sort
of Christianity exemplified in the European Values Studies undertaken
as recently as 2000 and articulated in the catch phrase coined
by Grace Davie sociologist of religion: “believing without
belonging.”

There is a measure of uncomfortable (ideological) chaos and fear,
pessimism even, about the times in which we live. This presents
dangers and attractive traps that some, I believe are falling into.
At this juncture they will do nothing, in the longer term view,
for our mission and calling. I speak of

a new and vigorous fundamentalism: a retreat to a literalism
that not only tries to fly in the face of rationalism; but also
castrates the sense of mystery that is such an inescapable part
of existence, by peddling a cheap certainty;

Also, I speak of a neo-McCarthyism which instead of being a red
scare, tries to disarm diversity of opinion and practice in favour
of standardisation. It’s a type of neo-totalitarianism that
tends towards crossing the boundary between the public and the
private in people’s lives; interfering in private concerns
in order, supposedly to attain a perfection ecclesial society.

This is an old Fourth Century heresy in a new guise: donatism – the
suggestion that only those living a blameless life may belong in
the church; and, therefore, in the case of clergy, that the validity
of any sacrament depends upon the personal worthiness of the priest
administering it.

These insidious trends in some sections of the Church will do
nothing to meet the evangelistic challenges of our time.

What sort of Church?

That being the case what sort of Church do we need? I’ve
already said that we need to move beyond our participant model
of membership. For more insight I turn paradoxically to the world
of the secular detective novel – those of Alexander McCall
Smith – currently on the top sellers’ lists in the
bookshops in great numbers of titles. In the opening pages of his
first - The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency we read
of the lady detective Mma Ramotswe:

“She was a good detective, and a good woman. A good woman
in a good country, one might say. She loved her county….I
love all the people whom God made, but I especially know how to
love the people who live in this place. They are my people, my
brothers and sisters. It is my duty to help them to solve the mysteries
in their lives. That is what I am called to do….”

The impulses of incarnational ministry are here: being; being
in a particular place; knowing that place; loving that place; loving
the people of that place; viewing them as brothers and sisters;
the sense of duty and calling – and above all the living
with mystery: journeying together in pursuit of truth within mystery.

The Best-Run Launderette

The London-based priest, writer and broadcaster Eric James, in
a sermon told of his late friend - Clem Mitford - who owned a chain
of launderettes and who said to him one day “You know, whatever
else we do at this Church, we must run it like the best-run launderette.
The world must know where it is, what it’s for, and when
it’s open.”

Parishes of this diocese could do a lot worse as part of their
strategising than scrutinise themselves under these headings

• Where it is: Can people find you? Do you try to get them to
  find you? Do you assume everyone knows the way? (If I as bishops
  can’t
  find you what hope is there for total strangers?)


• What it’s for? Have we a sense of priorities. Worked
  out prayerfully, thoughtfully and purposefully? Have we a sense
  of what we are doing and to what end?


• When it’s open: are those notice boards up to date?
  Are our service schedules intelligible, instinctive and predictable?
  I believe we are not served well by schedules which look like
  matrices on a Leaving certificate maths paper offering permutations,
  variations and unpredictable sequences. We arrange to watch certain
  television programmes for example because we always know what
  time they are at and on what channel.

Last year - looking ahead – six things:

Last year, towards the conclusion of my address I said “The
year ahead will be busy. Certainly I can see six major things on
the agenda”

1. Safeguarding Trust
2. The Hard Gospel


3. European Capital of Culture, 2005


4. The new Book of Common Prayer


5. Human Sexuality.
6. reflection on ministry

And indeed that was the case.

Safeguarding Trust

In the case of Safeguarding Trust, its re-introduction
in the Diocese will be completed next week with the issuing to
Select Vestries of training certificates in respect of youth workers
and panel members. Prior to that, starting last summer,

• the legal basis of the Code of Good practice was clarified;


• a training team was recruited and trained: Christine Hilliard,
  Tom Cremin and Hilda Beamish; we are grateful to them and especially
  to Ann Hevers who took Hilda’s place when the need arose;


• most of the clergy have now had revision training;


• new panel members were trained;
• 215 youth workers in the Diocese, nominated by the parishes,
  were trained. Four training sessions were held last month.

What is most important in this area is that the policy and good
practice articulated on paper are lifted out of the text and implemented
in the life of the parishes and diocese.

The Hard Gospel

Last November a special regional synod was held to respond to
the report on sectarianism – The Hard Gospel. This
process continues in the Church of Ireland. It has not been completed,
and there is plenty of scope for the agenda the group have set.
For my part my concern, based on my overview of the Diocese continues
to be that we tend to see this as an issue only appropriate to
other people in other places. As I said on the day, at its nub
it is about how we handle the free expression of difference; how,
as the sub-title of the report challenges, we deal positively with
that difference. The challenging question for each of us is - do
I see in others around me, especially those different from me,
a reflection of God’s glory? – A question which integrates,
I believe, both with the current debates in our church and with
that neo-quasi-totalitarianism to which I have already referred.

The Book of Common Prayer

Throughout the last nine months we have been gearing up for the
arrival in our pews last Sunday of the new Book of Common Prayer.

• Central Liturgical Officer (Canon R Rountree)
• Diocesan Liturgical Officer (Dean M Burrows)


• Diocesan Programme of Preparation


• Pastoral Letter and Posters


• Diocesan Magazine Articles and Website


• Diocesan Prayer
• Diocesan Council briefing


• Ordering the books!


• Taster/Introductory liturgies


• Training for clergy and Diocesan Readers


• Rural Deanery Visits

Our next phase will be our Training for Difference phase

• The Psalter


• Holy Baptism


• Enriching the contemporary language Eucharist
• Rediscovering the traditional language Eucharist


• Service of the Word

Again it’s about lifting words out of books and making
them live: live in the worship and spirituality of our lives as
Christians and in our churches.

European Capital of Culture, 2005

I myself and clergy of the city parishes have been having conversations
in relation to the European Capital of Culture with the organisers
concerned. Much more remains to be done in this sphere by us and
together with our ecumenical partners in relation to this endeavour.
Just as the Churches of Manchester were involved in the Commonwealth
Games; and those of Athens are preparing for the Olympics this
summer, the churches of Cork, should I believe engage with this
opportunity in 2005.

Human Sexuality

In the past year, as anticipated, the debate about human sexuality
catapulted Anglicanism onto the media agenda worldwide. As I indicated
would happen, the Bishops did issue their Pastoral Letter on
Human Sexuality last year; and currently have initiated a
process of consultation and receiving of submissions from interested
parties. For my part, in a widely publicised sermon on Christmas
Day 2003 I have already indicated my personal views on this subject.

On the international front, the Archbishop of Canterbury established
the Lambeth Commission which is being chaired by our own Archbishop
of Armagh, not to examine the issue of human sexuality per
se, but to study the nature of our communion as an Anglican
family and how that works. We will be hearing much more about this
in the year to come when, as the debate continues, very challenging
times will be testing. It is to be deplored that in Anglican churches
all over the world, some are at work sowing the seeds of the idea
of institutionalising split and division in church structures.

Reflection on Ministry

Our Diocesan Day of Reflection on Ministry last September, facilitated
by the Reverend Chris Webb, Renewal Officer of the Council for
Mission and Ministry in the Church in Wales, proved stimulating
and dovetailed with a similar process of reflection nationally.
The Ministry Advisory Group in the Diocese and the Diocesan Council
both received Chris Webb’s reflections, and considerable
thought has been given, though it has to be said, without agreement
because of financial constraints, to how we communicate most effectively
to the participants and more widely the outcomes of the day.

People often ask what such occasions achieve. In this instance

• it served as an encouragement that many of the small steps
  we are already taking are significant ones in the right direction
• it underscored the emphasis on lay ministry and


• as the Diocese moved forward in its work, I believe, it has
  channelled us forward in three new enterprises:


• the post of Diocesan Education Officer – currently advertised;


• the moving forward with the Bishop’s Course in Pastoral
  Work for which start-up funding has been received from the Priorities’ Fund;
  and
• a review, currently under way, of the potential for a part-time
  youth worker in the Diocese.

Even if these were the only tangible outcomes they would be worthwhile
in themselves.

Last year I referred at length to the large numbers of people
and their wide range of involvement in lay ministries of all sorts
in the Diocese. The day of reflection on ministry set me thinking
from my overview position as to what we have been doing and have
done more recently in the field of ministry. Looking at them under
a number of headings I realise that for a small part of the Church
we are often too hard on ourselves about what we are achieving
with very limited resources. An incomplete list identified from
my perspective of overview which I outline for you in order to
encourage you includes:

Faith Development

• the Bishop’s Course in Theology (a second group are
  about to graduate)


• Millennium revision of Diocesan Cycle of Prayer


• Millennium Prayer and BCP 2004 Prayer


• Daily Prayer cards
• Two Lent courses


• Post of Diocesan Education Officer advertised


• Provision of seasonal liturgies for use in the parishes


• Inter-faith day and consultation


• The Wreath of Life – spirituality in Sweden
• Children’s and Youth Ministry


• Review of Youth Work


• Reordering of arrangements for Confirmation


• Y Bother event for the newly confirmed
• Millennium visit of Roly the Clown


• New Diocesan Youth Council


• Introduction of Follow Me in the primary schools


• Reintroduction of Safeguarding Trust
• Training seminars for teachers and school Boards of Management


• Appointment of whole-time Chaplain at UCC


• Almost three hundred people involved in youth work


• Our on-going commitment to and involvement in ICICYMA - Garryduff


• Communication and Outreach
• New framework for part-time DCO set up


• Raising the Church’s profile in the local media


• Reworking of the Coat of Arms for modern usage


• Diocesan website set up and webmaster appointed
• Information leaflet newly formatted


• Diocesan Development


• Episcopal Visitation 2001 – where are we as a Diocese?


• Parish study questions relating to the Episcopal Visitation
• Review of Diocesan Synod


• Study under way concerning relocation of Diocesan Office


• Pastoral Ministry


• New Diocesan Healing and Pastoral Care Committee about to
  begin its work


• Lay visitors
• Mini CPE


• Hospital Chaplains’ Training


• In-Service training for clergy


• Training scheme for lay ministers of the Eucharist
• The Elderly


• Saint Luke’s Home


• Lapps’ Court and Lapps’ Charity
• Kingston College


• Support for the Ministry


• Diocesan Information and Resource Pack


• Policy development


• Parish Readers
• Lay assistants at the Eucharist


• Holy Communion by Extension


• Funding for Continuing Ministerial Education


• Clergy Conferences:


• Preaching
• Rural Ministry


• Liturgy


• Ministry Today


• Training Days


• Tax
• Suicide and Para-suicide


• Liturgy


• Interfaith dialogue


• Marriage counselling


• Children and Communion
• Funding of attending training events e.g. Céiliúradh;
  Hospital Chaplains’ Courses


• Computer training courses – introductory and advanced – for
  clergy and lay people


• Review of policy on Sabbatical Leave for Clergy
• Introduction of formalised provision for Clergy Retreat and
  Study week


• Provision of the Constitution of the Church of Ireland to
  all clergy


• Provision of reading and study material for clergy and lay
  readers


• Specific information resources prepared on
• Marriage Law


• Copyright


• Data Protection


• Advisory guidelines from Diocesan Council to Select Vestries
  concerning administrative backup for clergy


• Diocesan Policy on CME and on Ministerial Review

On-going Challenges

Even with a long list like this the sense of what more remains
to be done is overwhelming. Let us work collaboratively step by
step with patience and steadfastness, supporting one another and
building one another up as the people of God.

Thank you

As always I could not approach the end of my address without
highlighting my immense gratitude to so many people who serve the
diocese in so many ways: to all who in ordained ministry take on
additional roles – my three Domestic Chaplains; my Examining
Chaplain; the Rural Deans, the Diocesan Director of Ordinands,
the Warden of Readers the Reverend Robert Kingston who has now
stepped down from that position; to the Archdeacon; our Diocesan
Communications Officer; our Diocesan Webmaster Brendan Kearns;
our Diocesan Architect, Bill Brady; our Diocesan Registrar, John
Jermyn, his secretary Jean Wade and the so-many colleagues in that
law firm who advise me generously on hosts of occasions ; and my
own secretary, Ruth Wolfe; to Ruby Veitch, assistant secretary
at the Diocesan Office and our Diocesan Secretary, Wilfred Baker.
Thank you to each and every one of you for all that you do not
least all of our volunteers.

Now let us turn to the business of our Synod for the good of
Christ and part of his Church here in Cork, Cloyne and Ross.

+Paul Cork:

12 th June, 2004