Diocesan News
Bishop of Connor stresses need to serve communities
The Church of Ireland has much to do to break down the walls and barriers of deep and painful division, the Bishop of Connor told the annual Diocesan Synod.
The Bishop of Connor, the Right Reverend Alan Abernethy
Stating that the Belfast he grew up in was not as segregated as it is today, the Rt Rev Alan Abernethy told the 350 Synod members that society in this post peace process period was more polarised than ever. For further information please contact:
Connor Diocesan Communications Officer
Addressing Connor Synod in St Brigid’s Parish Church, Glengormley, on Tuesday June 24, Bishop Abernethy referred to the House of Bishops’ Mission Statement which set out a vision for the Church of Ireland.
“I want to focus on three words - growth, unity and service - as I try to give a picture of a better future that will motivate us to action,” the Bishop said.
He went on: “For too long we have almost apologised for being Church of Ireland. We have a very rich heritage of daily prayer and spirituality that we need to foster. We need to look for growth not just in terms of numbers but in quality and depth,”
Bishop Abernethy said the Church needed to stop using the language of decline or despair. “We need to see the challenges we face as opportunities and remember who it is we serve and whose church it is,” he said.
The Bishop added: “There may also be the need to find different ways of doing church that can engage with so many people that have disconnected from formal religion and church life.”
He said one of his main roles as Bishop was to be a figure of unity, adding that Connor Diocese had diversity and depth which should be celebrated and parishes needed to find ways of engaging with one another.
“Our present culture has worshipped at the shrine of individualism for too long,” the Bishop said. Stating that society was more polarised than ever, he added: “We need in local parish life to ensure we are developing common life and action with other Christian traditions.”
Bishop Abernethy said he looked forward to working closely with Monsignor Noel Treanor, Roman Catholic Bishop-elect of Down and Connor. “In my experience unity is something we can find when we are in relationship with people,” the Bishop said.
He urged Synod to pray for the Lambeth Conference. “There is no doubt this is a very difficult time for the Anglican Communion where there is very deep division and pain,” he said.
Addressing the word ‘service,’ the Bishop told Synod: “We are to engage compassionately with a world and society in all its rich variety of need and opportunity.”
Bishop Abernethy, consecrated Bishop of Connor in June last year, said he had visited various groups who are seeking to serve the needs of society. “Those who are working with the homeless, those who are seeking to focus society on the rising trend of suicide, those working in parts of north Belfast with a community that is battered and bruised and feels forgotten,” the Bishop said.
“The constant need that I heard articulated was for better housing and more funding for education. I do appeal to our Assembly on behalf of people who feel they have no voice that action will be taken on both the housing and educational needs of so many. I also ask that serious consideration is given to finding ways of helping the many homeless in our community.”
The Bishop went on: “I believe we have to increasingly become more aware of the important need to serve our communities, not just preach at them.” He urged those who grew up in areas that are now struggling to offer some of their time and talents back to those communities.
During his address Bishop Abernethy paid tribute to staff and clergy in the diocese and to his wife Liz and children Peter and Ruth. He also spoke of the election of the Rev Canon Trevor Williams, rector of Holy Trinity and St Silas with Immanuel, Ardoyne, as new Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe. “I am delighted that his gifts have been recognised by the wider church,” Bishop Abernethy said.
Contact Details
Karen Bushby
028 4066 0798
07766103880
[email protected]
Bishop Alan Abernethy’s full Presidential Address to Connor Diocesan Synod.
Introduction
Brothers and sisters in Christ, thank you for the past year. Your prayers, patience and welcome have been very encouraging and supportive. As I begin this address let me ask for your continued prayers and I ask you to pray especially for wisdom, I believe it to be one of the most important gifts in leadership and service.
My thanks to the three archdeacons who share with me the care of the churches in Connor, but I thank them particularly for their friendship. I also record my thanks to Canon Edgar Turner, Principal Registrar, and to the Rev William Taggart, Registrar, for their help and guidance. My thanks also to Archdeacon Jack Patterson and Canon Kathleen Brown for their pastoral care of the retired clergy and clergy widows respectively.
Thanks to the diocesan office staff, we are extremely well served and please do appreciate them. Peter Hamill and Karen Bushby serve this diocese very well and my thanks to them for their support. Thanks particularly to my secretary Rosemary Patterson who is an amazing help and support to me and one of the few people that can scold me for not saying no.
Chancellor of the Diocese
I welcome our new Chancellor, Judge Derek Rodgers to his first Diocesan Synod. I thank him for his advice and support in the Diocese.
House of Bishops Mission Statement
Recently I heard the word vision defined as follows: “A picture of a better future which motivates people to act.” During this last year I was privileged to be part of the House of Bishops as we sought to set out a vision for the Church of Ireland at this stage of our church’s journey.
Let me read the opening section of the statement from the bishops.
“The Church of Ireland as an authentic part of the universal church of God, is called to develop growing communities of faith, in and through which the kingdom of God is made known, and in which the whole people serve together as followers of Jesus Christ for the good of the world to the glory of God.
In the power of the Spirit, our mission requires us to order our contemporary worship and life in a manner that nurtures growth, promotes unity and liberates us for service in the world that is God’s.”
I want to focus on those three words, growth, unity and service, as I try to give a picture of a better future that will motivate us to action.
Growth
It was fascinating when we were working together as bishops to formulate this vision and it was with worship that we instinctively began. As Anglicans that is important but it is also critical for what follows. We had to begin where our mission and calling begins and that is with God. I was very encouraged by the response to the lent course on prayer. There are many people who want to develop their own spirituality so that they are better equipped to live out their faith. This is growth that we must nurture and encourage. We need to find ways of enabling and equipping people in their own journey of faith. For too long we have almost apologised for being Church of Ireland. We have a very rich heritage of daily prayer and spirituality that we need to foster. We need to look for growth not just in terms of numbers but in quality and depth. I believe that in a culture that is always searching for meaning we have so much to offer with our worship and our spirituality.
We also need to stop using the language of decline and even of despair. I do not want to be naïve but we need to see the challenges we face as opportunities and remember who it is we serve and whose church it is. Therefore the focus on worship is important and as the bishop’s statement says we need to: “pray that it may be magnetically attractive, energising and informing the building of the kingdom.” It is interesting in the “Acts of the Apostles” when people witnessed the community of faith at prayer and in action they recognised the presence of God.
There may also be the need to find different ways of doing church that can engage with so many people that have disconnected from formal religion and church life. I have had conversations with Church Army over how we might find new ways of engaging with fresh thinking on how we can do church. This has included meetings in north and south Belfast and this is an important ongoing journey for all involved. I can assure you that we will return to this subject in the next few years.
Unity
“The Church is called to be an agent of God’s purpose to bring all things together in Christ; to be the sign, instrument and first-fruits of that oneness in Christ that is God’s gift and God’s will.” I have been conscious that one of my main roles as bishop is to be a figure of unity. We are a diocese that has diversity and breadth and it is something we should celebrate. I want to encourage clergy and parishes to find ways of supporting and helping each other and to share resources. On Sunday evening 28th September I am encouraging parishes to send their young people to a youth event in this parish. Permission is given to cancel evening services in the parishes of the diocese to help anyone who wants to attend. This evening will be an evening of networking, sharing and discovering resources. It will include an act of worship led by different youth groups from the diocese. This has as an aim to encourage the sense of belonging to one another within the body of Christ. This is one example and we need to do more to foster this belief that we do belong to one another and to challenge the idea that we are on our own in parish life. I want to encourage parishes to find ways of engaging with one another so as to help us realise the unity that is already ours in Christ.
Our present culture has worshipped at the shrine of individualism for too long. We are living in the post peace process period but in a society that is more polarised than ever. The Belfast I grew up in was not as segregated as it is today and we have much work to do to break down the walls and barriers of deep and painful division. We need in local parish life to ensure we are “developing common life and action with other Christian traditions”.
I do commend to your prayers the new Roman Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor as he is ordained bishop on St. Peter’s Day this Sunday. I will have the honour of being present and look forward to working closely with Bishop Noel Treanor. I would also like this synod to send our prayerful good wishes to Bishop Paddy Walshe as he eventually gets to retire. In my experience unity is something we can find when we are in relationship with people.
Our growing relationship with the diocese of Yei is an important part of this unity. Through our links with Edinburgh and Sweden we have learnt much of the church universal.
We also welcome the local clergy who are here today as our guests, The Rev’d Chris Wilkinson and the Rev’d Niall Lockhart.
I also ask for, indeed I plead for your prayers for the Lambeth Conference meeting in Canterbury from Wednesday 16th July until Sunday 3rd August. There is no doubt this is a very difficult time for the Anglican Communion where there is very deep division and pain. The Archbishop of Canterbury has asked the bishops to spend much of the time there praying together for the wisdom and grace of God to help us discover ways of living with the division. This is not going to be easy, so please, please, pray. Unity is God’s gift but sometimes it is difficult to realise and we will need the Holy Spirit in all our praying and talking. I believe that being a focus of unity is one of my most important roles and so pray for me and my fellow Irish bishops as we seek to lead you after this conference.
Service
“Aligning ourselves with Christ’s own prayer and example, the calling of the church is to pray for, discern and realise the presence of God’s kingdom among us.” The theological basis of ministry that we exercise as the body of Christ is the incarnation. Our Lord came and “pitched his tent among us” or “He came and dwelt among us”. As we seek to exercise the ministry that is his in our generation and context we must ensure we are engaging with the needs of our world today. We are to engage compassionately with a world and society in all its rich variety of need and opportunity. I have spent time during this last year visiting various groups that are seeking to serve the needs of our society. Those who are working with the homeless, those who are seeking to focus society on the rising trend of suicide, those working in parts of North Belfast with a community that is battered and bruised and feels forgotten. The constant need that I heard articulated was for better housing and more funding for education. I do appeal to our assembly on behalf of people who feel they have no voice that action will be taken on both the housing and educational needs of so many. I also ask that serious consideration is given to finding ways of helping the many homeless in our community. Of course it is easy to appeal to government but what are we going to do to incarnate the care and compassion of our Lord. How can we be his body in our culture and context?
I want our parishes to find ways of ensuring we are serving the local communities in which we are present and during the next 2-3 years I have decided to visit the select vestries in the diocese to engage in serious conversation about how we can effectively serve our communities. This will involve some fresh thinking and perhaps better use of our resources. I want to commend to you the parishes of St. Stephen’s and St. Luke’s as they have been working hard on a project to use St. Luke’s building as a centre of cross community activities. There are other parishes looking at new ways of using their buildings and land and I believe we have to increasingly become more aware of the important need to serve our communities not just preach at them. I do want to ask those who grew up in areas that are now struggling would you offer some of your time and talents back to those communities. I have some ideas that are in the early stages but I want to leave the challenge hanging as we need to discover that we do belong to one another.
Connected to this is the need to be both discipled and discipling; perpetual learners in the school of Christ as we ourselves strive to teach and serve others. I found the Lent course such an encouragement as so many people wanted to learn more of what it is to try and pray. There will be another Lent Course next year and more details will follow. This is something we need to take seriously. How do we disciple? How do we help every baptised member of Christ’ body find their place and ministry within the body. We have amazing resources in this diocese and so many people wanting to grow and offer their talents in service. Yet the busyness and pastoral care in parish life can make it difficult to enable and disciple. We have much to do but I believe they are problems of growth and not of decline. The problems must become opportunities as we realise the presence of God’s kingdom among us.
Children’s Ministry
One of the key areas for me in parish life was our ministry to and with children. From my own experience I believe this is an area of church life that can enable us ask questions about our worship and our priorities. I have managed to secure some funding to help us examine this area of our diocesan life. I want to initiate some post graduate research into what is happening regarding our children’s ministry in the diocese and what good practices we have and how we can plan for the development of a diocesan strategy for children’s ministry. I hope that this will commence in the autumn and that there will be something to report next synod even it is only a preliminary report. This area of church life will impinge upon all three strands of the bishops mission statement; growth, unity and service.
St. James’s
This Sunday morning I will be in St. James’s for the last Sunday
Of public worship as we celebrate Holy Communion. I want to thank the people of St. James’s for their faithful service over many, many years. I know there has been much pain in this situation but I want to acknowledge their willingness to work with me and for the rector and the choir for their wonderful help in the recent ordination of priests. The continuing ministry of the church was celebrated and I am delighted they were part of it. There are lessons to be learnt from this situation but I ask you to pray for this congregation this Sunday and in the weeks to come.
The Rev’d Canon Trevor Williams
It was very mixed feelings that I learnt of the election of Trevor Williams to be the new bishop of Limerick and Killaloe. He has given much to Connor and to the parishes of Holy Trinity and Ardoyne; indeed he has served the whole community so well. However as a dear friend I am delighted that his gifts have been recognised by the wider church. He has much to offer and please pray for him and Joyce as they prepare for this new chapter in their ministry. His consecration will take place on Friday 11th July in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.
Long Service
Congratulations and good wishes to Archdeacon Clayton Stevenson who this Sunday will celebrate 60 years in orders. Congratulations and good wishes also to Canon Ken Cochrane who will celebrate 50 years in orders. The Rev’d Canon Adam Johns will also celebrate 50 years in orders this Sunday. I am sure you will want to join me in sending them our prayerful good wishes. Unfortunately I will be missing the parties as I will be attending the Episcopal ordination in St. Peter’s Belfast.
Thanks
I want to say a public thank you to my family. Next Monday Liz and I will celebrate 25 years of marriage and I thank her for her constant support and love. To Peter and Ruth I thank them for keeping me sane by their friendly banter and love.
Conclusion
Thank you for your great support, your prayers and your friendship as we seek to find ways of serving God each other and the world in which we are called to serve. I gave thanks above all else that He has called us and therefore He will enable us to fulfil His mission and calling.
+Alan
Connor