Press Releases
Interviews from Lambeth: The Bishop of Clogher
Interviews from Lambeth: a series of interviews with the Church of Ireland bishops attending the conference
The Bishop of Clogher, the Rt Revd Michael Jackson
Church of Ireland Press Officer, Paul Harron, continues his series of interviews with the Irish bishops attending the Lambeth Conference by talking to the Bishop of Clogher, the Rt Revd Michael Jackson
PH: Bishop Michael, the Conference is nearing its completion: what would you say has been its hallmark?
BMJ: The central focus of the Lambeth Conferences has been the question of relationships. I use the plural on conferences because the Spouses’ Conference has been running alongside the Bishops’ Conference and it has been of great value too. Relationship has come through so strongly. For the majority of people here this is their first Lambeth, so we’re meeting each other for the first time. What is apparent is that we recognise each other as part of the same Anglican Communion – we are doing the same work in our own particular contexts.
Our age of global communications and global community is both one of ease and cruelty, so what we think we know of others can sometimes be caricatures. Here, however, we have been meeting real people and asking questions of each other.
PH: You mention the Spouses’ Conference – do you want to expand a little on that?
BMJ: My wife tells me that the Spouses’ programme has been very strong and indeed its running in parallel is a real gift to the conference. The bishops’ spouses – and they are not all women, I should add! – have been relating to each other in a very particular and particularly compassionate way.
PH: What kind of insights – both to do with the Anglican Communion and personally – are you starting to draw from the conference?
BMJ: It has come home to me at the conference just what a pivotal contribution the Church’s various missionary societies have played in the development of our Anglican Communion – they are at the root of our contemporary diversity. Different emphases in different places by different societies have had diverse impacts in terms of theology and liturgy.
I would say that our bible studies have been revealing. It has been good to have regular and open addressing of one particular gospel – the Gospel of John – running as a river through the conference. Today (Friday 1/8/08), we concentrated on Christ as the vine and the disciples as branches. On previous readings, I, like others, may have thought of Christ as the trunk and the rest of us as branches, as it were, but today it was insightful to consider Christ as the total vine.
PH: In the current context within the Communion, has what you’ve been discussing in your ‘indaba’ groups been relevant?
BMJ: We have, as you’ll know, been looking at various themes in our ‘indaba’ groups: the bishop in mission; as a leader in faith in inter-faith encounter; at the environment; and as bishops in solidarity with the world’s poor. Some might think that these seem peripheral. I would say, however, that they are intrinsic to our life and work as bishops. These discussions have had tremendous vitality and been of great importance, enabling us to go back to our own dioceses and countries with a sense of relationship.
Today (Friday 1/8/08) and yesterday we have explored the matter of the Anglican Covenant and the continuation of the Windsor process. Our focus yesterday on human sexuality was looked at in its total context, looking at relationships and exploitation, for example. People were honest with each other and I was encouraged and inspired. We certainly do have difficulties within the Communion in this area, but other areas are also important.
It is worth mentioning that our ‘indaba’ groups are, of course, made up of 40 or so bishops who are used and conditioned to acting as chairpersons in their day-to-day lives, so they have set that ‘chairing’ role aside in order to really listen to one another.
I think it is clear that the Anglican Covenant will have to be something more than an exercise in discipline but draw on all the other reflections of our time here at Lambeth.
PH: With what have you been most impressed at the conference?
BMJ: We had a combined bible study of bishops and spouses, hosted by the spouses, which brought us all together very meaningfully earlier this week. We considered issues of violence, power and the abuse of power – eleven to twelve hundred of us in one place. The men sat on one side, women on the other because in some cultures it is difficult for women to speak in the presence of their spouses and men; however, in this way, everyone did speak and it was an electric occasion, people engaging with honesty and compassion. Not only was the size of the group something that you would think could make for a difficult bible study, but our chosen text wasn’t easy either: the passage in 2 Samuel ch.13 concerning the violation of Tamar by Amnon, both children of King David. What came out of it was a profound exploration of justice and dignity.
For further details about the Lambeth Conference, please click here.