Brothers and sisters in Christ,

This synod meets today, as does every synod, in a particular
time and place, and at a particular point in history. The church,
in every generation, is called to be faithful to Jesus Christ in
its specific context. It is called to proclaim and live the Good
News of Jesus Christ in and through the issues which people face
in their daily lives. It is also called to make known the timeless,
enduring truths of God’s revelation in Holy Scripture.

A time of insecurity and uncertainty: Worldwide

We, in this time and place, in our generation, have been called
by God to follow him at a time of great insecurity and uncertainty.
This is true of the world we inhabit in general, of the province
in which we live, and of the church and communion of which we are
a part.

On the global scale, we live in the aftermath of the Iraq war,
with all the ongoing uncertainty which that brings. Uncertainty
about how governments present information to their people; uncertainty
about whether we can extract our armed forces from the situation
in which we find ourselves; and uncertainty about the gathering
tensions between the West and the Islamic world.

We see the tensions between Islam and other cultures also in
the Sudan. All of us were relieved to hear of the developments
of the peace process in Southern Sudan, but are devastated to see
the ethnic cleansing which is taking place in the Darfur region
of the Sudan, and we call upon our own government and the Security
Council of the United Nations to take action before the situation
becomes another Rwanda.

We increasingly fail to provide a fair and equitable economic
order for the peoples of the developing world, and are more aware
than ever in our generation of the possibility of our excesses
and demands damaging the ecology of the entire planet. We live
in an insecure and potentially very dangerous world.

…in Northern Ireland

Here in Northern Ireland, we find ourselves in a time of both
great change and of numbed ‘stuckness’. We are uncertain,
in our post-traumatic ‘peace’ about whether or not
we can find our way through to a complete resolution of our troubles.
And we are uncertain about whether the Belfast Agreement can provide
the foundation we had hoped for, which would allow a society to
develop which would include all, and have the loyalty of all.

We can critique the ‘Peace and Reconciliation’ model
of South Africa, but we do not know how or when we might find our
own equivalent but locally applicable way of dealing with our common
hurts and memories, and especially with the hurts and memories
of victims of the troubles.

We are yet to be convinced that it will be possible for paramilitary
groups, who came to enjoy both power and wealth as a result of
our divisions, to distance themselves from the crime in which they
are involved, and to be part of the creation of a new society.
Some have undoubtedly been trying to change in certain areas, and
my perception is that we have fewer paramilitary flags flying this
year than was the case in previous years, but there is a long way
to go, and the court is out as to whether it will be possible for
paramilitaries to re-invent themselves. We are in a period of ‘neutralized
insecurity’. This insecurity is all the more highlighted
by our inability to move the political process forward, and our
prayers are with the Prime Minister and Taoiseach as they again
attempt to do so. We desperately need the Assembly to be up and
running again in Northern Ireland.

But our ‘insecurity’ here in Northern Ireland is
also seen in some essential areas of life which impinge on all
of us in one way or another. The basics of life which once seemed
securely in place are, by many ordinary people, felt to be so no
longer. Part of the reason may well be our realization that there
is no ‘pot of gold’ in Westminster to continue to bolster
us up as a society. Let me mention four areas:

• Health:

We are insecure at a deep level about our health services.
There was a time when each person in our society felt that, if
push came to shove, and they needed healthcare, it would be provided.
A sense that the welfare state would ‘kick in’ at
a time of need. This sense of security is no longer there for
many people. They wonder what would happen, for example, if they
had to go to A+E in the Ulster Hospital, or if they needed care
and support in old age, or if they had a life-threatening illness.
They hear of longer waiting lists here in Ulster than elsewhere
in the United Kingdom, and feel that they may well be left stranded.

The reasons for the problem have been diagnosed in many and
various ways. Is it a lack of proper funding for the National
Health Service? Is it a move away from a more ‘pastoral’ understanding
of nursing to a more ‘academic’ understanding? Is
it poor salaries and conditions for some who work in the medical
profession? Is it an overabundance of layers of administration?
Is it that our generation has unreasonable expectations of wellness,
or indeed are we living too long? Whatever the reasons may be,
there is, in my perception, a great deal of insecurity in the
area of health.

• Education

Undoubtedly, we are going through a transitional period in education
in Northern Ireland, one which will last a very long time, as the
proposals of the Costello Report are worked out.

Many of us are supportive of the basic philosophy of Costello
that we cannot apply a ‘one size fits all’ model to
education. It is almost a truism that in Northern Ireland, we have
provided some of the best academic education in the western world,
especially for the high flyers, many of whom have of course flown
the country as well, to find suitable job opportunities. But that
provision may well have been at the cost of the less academically
motivated pupils, many of whom have not been enabled to develop
their particular skills and reach their full potential, especially
if their abilities fell outside the parameters of what we traditionally
considered to be ‘education’.

But, even for those who do not like the present system, the
changes are both difficult to grasp, hard to imagine worked out
fully, and disorientating. They are creating a degree of insecurity,
as any change will. There is uncertainty about whether the choice
of schools will in some cases become a ‘post-code lottery’;
and about the effect the changes will have on some of the present
models of schooling, where parents perceive them to be working
well.

Insecurity about what education is about, how it is achieved,
and the effects on children who will be part of the new experiment,
must be recognized and dealt with by providing clarity about the
new proposals. The Department needs to move forward with urgency,
painting the picture of this new educational world in a convincing
way, lest the vacuum be filled with even greater uncertainty and
doubt.

• Policing

We often speak, especially in Northern Ireland, about our ‘security
forces’. There is good reason for that, after so many years
of violence and mayhem. It is vitally important that such forces
are recognized by every section of the community, and that there
is a genuine cross-community basis for the new policing arrangements.
Just this month, Robert McBride, a former ANC prisoner and now
the head of Johannesburg’s East Rand Metro Police, urged
Sinn Fein to get involved in the new policing arrangements in
Northern Ireland. This is absolutely vital for our future if
the Police Service of Northern Ireland is to be fully owned,
and to provide policing for everyone.

In the Unionist community, I do not need to remind you, that
the demise of the RUC has been a very difficult pill to swallow,
especially after the number of lives which were lost over the thirty
years of the troubles. Some have also found the 50:50 arrangements
for recruiting hard to take; but generally, most people truly want
to see a fair and equitable police force balanced as the community
itself is balanced.

However, all these factors have created a profound sense of
loss among Protestants, and a degree of insecurity about policing.
On a simpler level, this insecurity is shared by all. There is
a real concern about the quantity of unresolved crimes in this
province. This at times is focused on the past, as with the recent
anniversary of the shootings in Loughinisland and in the up-and-coming
anniversary of the bombing of soldiers in Warrenpoint (both of
which are in this diocese). But it is also an issue for the present
for many ordinary people who feel that so little can apparently
be done to solve ‘smaller’ but significant crimes
such as robbery and violence which affect their everyday lives.
People then become cynical about the amount of effort expended
on speeding crimes (not least in East Belfast!), which seem like
soft targets.

We need to be careful that the area of policing is not perceived
itself as an area of insecurity.

• Economics.

I believe that there is also an increasing insecurity in this
area. Let’s be honest, we all know that this province is
overly-dependant on the public sector, retailing and services
for employment. We have seen recently some devastating industrial
closures, which have damaged whole communities. The one, which
strikes me most forcefully, is the closure of TKK-EC, which has
brought terrible financial hardship to many homes in Ballybeen,
and indeed, knocked the heart out of the whole estate. May I
commend John White, the rector of St Mary’s Ballybeen,
for both his pastoral care and leadership in the community at
a very difficult time. In some cases two breadwinners in one
house were employed in this factory. They thought their jobs
were secure. They had introduced efficient practices at TKK-EC,
and trained workers from other parts of the company. And now,
in one fell swoop, it is up and gone.

Our economic future, in many areas, does not look good. It is
not only that the shipyard is gone, and Sirocco, and TKK-EC. It
is also the impact of the developing economy of the Republic on
our self-understanding in Northern Ireland. Who would have thought
we would ever see the day when the Republic would build a motorway
to the border, and we would not be able to extend it from Newry
to the M1? Or that billions could be spent on public transport
in Dublin, with the new LUAS opening this month, and we would be
talking about reducing our already miniscule railway system? Our
uncertainty about the economic future also makes us and our children
insecure.

It is, in my view, this insecurity in some of the basic elements
of our ordinary lives, which is the context in which we are living
in Northern Ireland. We may have moved a good deal since the dreadful
days of open violence, but we have very little idea of what the
future will hold, and our problems are far from settled, and affect
the most ordinary and basic areas of our humanity. And it is in
this context that we may be inclined to go to political extremes
for the kind of security we believe they can offer.

….in the Church

This sense of insecurity is also felt in the Church, not least
in the Western world, in a variety of ways. There, however, we
believe that we should have a security in Christ who will be an
anchor for our soul. And it is true that, in a time of insecurity
people often look to the church as a place where they can find
a foundation for living, and guidance and direction for the future.

Let me mention three places of insecurity and change in the church
at this time, which I believe God is allowing us to experience
for our good:

1. Worship

I do not think there has ever been a time when the Church of
Ireland has experienced so many changes in worship in such a short
period. And I have to confess that, as chair of the Liturgical
Advisory Committee and as a member of the Hymnal Revision Committee,
I am partly responsible! Never in the history of the Church of
Ireland has The Book of Common Prayer been so thoroughly
revised and updated. What is more amazing is that the new book
has been overwhelmingly welcomed. At this moment, The Good
Book Shop, jointly owned by the Diocese of Down and Dromore
and the Diocese of Connor, has sold a total of around 64,000 copies
of The Book of Common Prayer, and they are still going
like hot cakes! It is the best seller ever of Columba Press. On
one level, it has been well received because it brings stability
and unity, with all the services in one neat book; but on another
level it provides us with a fresh opportunity to review our worship
and even to dare to change!

One of those simple revelatory moments in my ministry, with regard
to worship, took place last September when I was invited to lead
a day conference for IFES Ireland for Christian students
just about to go to university. The theme was ‘Freedom’,
and, after speaking on the theme I was invited to lead three seminars
with about 20 students in each about choices they would be making
in their new lives at University. We wrote down all the choices:
when to go to bed; what to eat; friends, subjects, hobbies and
clubs, morals etc, etc. In each group, one of the choices mentioned
was ‘church’. I asked the same question in each group: ‘On
what basis will you decide which church to go to’. Not one
person said ‘I’m C of I so I’ll go to an Anglican
Church’ or ‘I’m Baptist, so I’ll go to
a Baptist church.’ They all alike came up with three basic
things they would be looking for in a church:

• A warm, welcoming community where there are real relationships


• Biblical teaching which is relevant to our lives


• Vibrant, engaging worship.

Brothers and sisters, unless our new liturgies and music; unless
our churches provide these three things, we have no right to expect
young people to join us for worship - indeed, have we any right
to expect any new person to come? This is a God-given time for
all of us to be intentional about the renewal of our worship, and
in getting these three things firmly in place in our parishes so
that our liturgies come alive. And this is the task of the whole
body of Christ, not just clergy. The Preface of the new BCP puts
it like this:

‘We must always remind ourselves that words, however
memorable, beautiful or useful, are never to be confused
with worship itself. The words set out on these pages are but
the beginning of worship. They need to be appropriated with
care and devotion by the people of God, so that, with the aid
of the Holy Spirit, men and women may bring glory to the Father,
and grow in the knowledge and likeness of Jesus Christ.’

If I may be allowed to pursue a ‘commercial break’ at
this point, this is precisely why I have written my new book, The
Desire of our Soul, which is a User’s Guide to the
BCP, and added discussion questions at the end of each chapter:
so that groups in parishes can re-look at how worship is best
expressed in their context to convey the reality of Jesus Christ.

2. Ordained Ministry

The second area in which we are experiencing some insecurity
in the church is the ordained ministry.

There is a sense that parishes are finding it more difficult
to get incumbents; there is also a sense that the Commission
on Ministry has not delivered a way forward as yet; and a belief
that there are not enough people ‘coming forward’ (as
it is often put) or being discovered, for ordination training.
Let me give you both the good news and the bad news from the
perspective of this diocese at this point in time:

• At this moment in time there are only two unfilled vacancies
  for incumbents in the Diocese of Down and Dromore. We have had
  a large number of changes since I became bishop in 1997. There
  have been 50 new incumbents in the diocese since then, out of
  78 parishes; and, of course there have been a large number of
  retirements. But we are now, thank God, on a relatively even
  keel, and are not having any major difficulty in finding incumbents.


• We have large numbers of people in ‘Exploring Ministry’ and ‘Exploring
  Ordination’. This year, nine people from the diocese
  have been selected for training, and one NSM will be moving
  into stipendiary ministry. Two of these people are in their
  very early twenties, and I very much hope that that will
  be a trend. You will find a report from our DDO, Paul Hewitt
  on pp.83-83


• We have grave difficulty in finding curates. This year,
  I have already ordained four priests (3 stipendiary, one NSM),
  and on Thursday, I will ordain 2 deacons (one stipendiary,
  one NSM). This is totally inadequate for the Diocese of Down
  and Dromore, where we have at least seven other parishes who
  can afford to pay for a curate and would like to have a curate,
  but none is available through our system. We must all think
  laterally about how to provide for these parishes, and must
  widen our network of finding curates and our provision for
  other forms of stipendiary ministry, ordained or lay. I have
  to say that I do not intend to let this one beat me, and invite
  you all to pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would send
  out labourers into his harvest. I am convinced of the value
  and importance of ordained ministry, and believe it should
  always be as local as possible – so
  I want more rather than fewer ordained ministers in the diocese!
  And I believe that we should all be grateful for the ministry
  provided faithfully and steadily by the clergy of the Diocese
  of Down and Dromore. This area of insecurity can become God’s
  opportunity!

3. The Anglican Communion.

Brothers and sisters, we are all very aware that we stand at
a ‘hinge-point’ in the history of our Anglican Communion.
Our primate, just a couple of weeks ago, in an address to the
Church Club of New York, issued a stern reminder that (to quote)
'too often the Western Church seemed to believe that the former
third world would always accept western liberalism', and
went on to speak of an explosion in the numbers of Anglicans
in the developing world, so that the picture as the 21st Century
progresses, could be one of 150 million Anglicans worldwide,
with 20m in Nigeria alone, and the vast majority in the southern
hemisphere. Before the recent debate on same-sex blessings in
the Anglican Church of Canada, Gregory Cameron, the Anglican
Communion Ecumenical Officer, and formerly chaplain to Rowan
Williams, gave a stark reminder that the situation in our communion
was about as serious as it could be.

I, with ten others from this diocese, was present ten days ago
at the Convention of our companionship Diocese of Albany when a
decision was made to join the Network of Anglican Parishes and
Dioceses, a network encouraged by the Archbishop of Canterbury
to hopefully enable more traditional, conservative Anglicans to
remain within the Episcopal Church of the USA.

This is a time of great insecurity for all of us, no matter what
our views may be. Here in Ireland, with our missionary endeavour
over many years, and with our many links, particularly with Southern
Sudan and Northern Argentina, both of which I hope to visit in
the coming twelve months, we know not only the value of our Communion,
but the deep and very real and personal bonds of affection which
exist between us. The idea of those being damaged in any way causes
me, and I know all of you, deep and personal pain.

At this point, our primate is chairing what may well be the most
crucial and important commission in the Anglican Communion in our
lifetime: The Lambeth Commission, set up by the Archbishop of Canterbury
and due to report this autumn. That commission will not, by the
way, be looking at issues of homosexuality as such, but will be
examining it and how we can continue as a communion, federation,
or whatever, in the light of major and basic differences of understanding,
ethically and theologically. The hope is that the results of this
Commission will be valuable not only for the present critical issue,
but for other issues as well.

We need to recognize that Robin Eames and his commission have
been given a near-impossible task. There is, if anything, an increasing
rift in the communion, not least on issues of biblical authority
and interpretation, which may be very difficult to bridge. Please
pray for the commission in the months ahead, and pray for all Anglicans,
at a deeply insecure time in our life and history.

Finally, if we could turn for a moment to our own diocese. As
your bishop, I see many and increasing signs of spiritual vitality
and vision. I believe that insecurity can either drive us under,
or drive us forward with a real dependency on the power of prayer
and the sovereignty of God. Let me give you some signs of the church
in this diocese reaching out into the community, and doing what
we may not have been able to imagine even a few years ago, which
I hope and trust will bring you real encouragement:

Encouragements in the diocese

On 21 February, I had the amazing privilege of opening the brand
new parish centre in Portaferry, one of the smallest parishes in
our diocese. This centre, built at the cost of £600,000,
has been built for the whole community, situated as it is in the
centre of the town, and received funding from the government. It
is a literal miracle, it is used by youth organizations, schools,
for events in the town and many other purposes, and I want to congratulate
Michael Houston and his people on a remarkable achievement.

On Easter Day, I had the joy of baptizing two people and confirming
ten in the garden and upper room of the Auld House pub in Moneyreagh,
where we have a growing church plant. The church there has also
taken over Tiny’s Diner, in the square in Moneyreagh, and
can have up to 70 teenagers when the place opens on a Friday evening.
In a sense, this has become ’church’ for many of these
young people. I look forward to seeing new models of church develop
in creative ways in the diocese in the future, alongside the time-honoured
parochial model.

On 24 April, I had the pleasure, accompanied by Bishop John McAreavey,
of opening and dedicating the quarter of a million extension and
upgrading of the Kilbroney Centre. This, I must admit, is Stage
1, and there may well be further stages to come. We want the Kilbroney
Centre to be the foremost youth facility in this area. It is used
by schools, youth groups, community groups and church groups, and
is on the go all year-round. Sam Jones will be giving a short presentation
on the centre, owned jointly by the parish, CMSI and the diocese,
later in the Synod. The project was supported by the Newry and
Mourne District Council.

Down Cathedral is about to spend more than a quarter of a million
pounds on work which will make the Cathedral more welcoming and
accessible for the many thousands of visitors who make the pilgrimage
there each year. This will provide wider driveways for buses, an
extended car park, new toilets, and facilities for the disabled.

And, just this past week, it has become possible to make the
following announcement about the new Jethro Community Centre in
Lurgan:

The parish has received a letter from the government stating
that the Jethro Project has received formal approval for funding
of £1.25 million, which includes £250,000 from the
Community Relations Unit. The official launch of this project
will be on 16 October.

May I say that these are only a few signs of the work of God
in the diocese. There are many others, perhaps less building-orientated,
and I hope these will be spoken out and testified to by lay people
when we engage in our second ‘Conversation on the Work of
God’ this afternoon. There are also many other building projects
which have taken place this year (the most recent being the extension
and link at St Brendan’s Sydenham), and many new Parish Centres
in the pipeline. We will never be short of a modern and up-to-date
venue for a Synod!