Diocesan News29 Sep 11

Bishop of Tuam's Address at Service of Healing, Dugort

'Blessed are the poor...'

I should like to begin by thanking the Rector for making this event possible and for the hardwork and thought he has put into its planning.

Also, as a very new bishop of the Diocese, I echo Mr Rogers' words of welcome to you all and not least to you Archbishop Michael. It is fitting for such a service of healing, that we are here together leading our respective congregations.

It is quite by co-incidence that this is my first official function as the new Church of Ireland Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry, and I couldn’t have wished for a better opportunity to demonstrate my intention to work side by side with my brother bishops in the Roman Catholic tradition in these dioceses.
So I trust that this will be the first of many events that we will share together.

'It is right that we remember them, that we respect their names, dignify their overlooked lives and refuse to forget their indescribable suffering.' So said President Mary McAleese as she officiated at the National Famine Commemoration in Clones a fortnight ago.

The Rector has outlined that we are primarily here to honour those 190 or so souls who, it is known, more than 150 years ago during the Famine years,perished here and were buried in Achill's four and Innisbiggle's Church of Ireland graveyards. 
As the President indicated, we can barely describe the circumstances of their suffering at the height of that devastating time, circumstances that caused most of them in their desperation to change their religious denomination shortly before their deaths.

With the benefit of hindsight, we understand things more clearly - but caught up in that dreadful situation, in the context of the time, how sad that folk were forced into decisions they might not otherwise have made.

The thrust of the Reverend Edward Nangle's Achill Mission seems to have been to win souls for Christ through participation in a particular expression of Christianity and in the name of the Church of Ireland. But again, with the benefit of hindsight,
to take advantage of innocent, vulnerable people at such a time, however well intentioned, does seem somewhat opportunistic and distasteful.

But then we can't know the full circumstances and, before we totally condemn, we have to ask ourselves if wealways in our own lives in 2011 act responsibly and wisely and in a Christian manner – so, 'let he who is without sin cast the first stone'.

It is not our purpose in coming together to apportion blame or to judge anyone – only to acknowledge that our churches have been guilty in the past of causing suffering,here and elsewhere, despite the best of intentions of those involved.

We are here though, to acknowledge that the unmarked graves in the five graveyards, serve as a reminder to us, all these years later, of the hardships endured then as a result of the failure of the potato crop and ignorance of farming methods.

Thankfully, in this country, this has not re-occurred. But that is not to say hardship experienced by many is a thing of the past.
Far from it. Over the past three or four years we have all witnessed the most dramatic economic recession.

Consequently, hardship is a present reality. People may not be dying as they were in the 1840’s but they are, as then, being forced to flee their country in search of a living. So let us in our ceremony remember and pray for all, who for whatever reason, even today are going through financial ruin and emotional hardship.

And in determining to do what we can for them – we might remember that, despite its many faults, it is estimated that Nangle's Mission Colony at the height of the famine in 1847, was supplying daily relief to 5,000 of Achill’s 7,000 inhabitants.

We are here too, to celebrate that our two denominations have matured to the point that we can now work together and acknowledge the benefits for all, not least the needy, when we do so.

Thank God that so many of the divisions between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland have been overcome.

As an incoming Church of Ireland bishop, I'm sure I don't need to fear being referred to by the present Archbishop of Tuam as, and I quote, a 'venomous fanatic'. That kind of language, and what was said of Catholics by Nangle and his colleagues, paints a very poor picture of Christian love and charity.

Yes, things are far from perfect even now, and I, as one who has spent all of my ministry in Northern Ireland, have borne witness to our divisions at first hand. But in 33 years of ministry there, I have also seen many of the barriers come down and replaced with a genuine spirit of goodwill among so many Christian people to work together.

In the process, there is an underlying acknowledging that we have far more in common than divides. And not least is this the case between our two denominations.

Thus, at today's event here in this beautiful little church, and afterwards, we commemorate and give thanks for our forebears,
those who died during the famine on this island, but also those who sought to bring relief of body, mind or spirit - and as we observe and celebrate, we give thanks for much healing down the generations in terms of ecumenical co-operation and understanding.

As we do all this, however, two challenges come to mind:

First, how do we regard the poor around us and who are they?

In the Beatitudes, Christ himself said 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall inherit the kingdom of heaven.'

Sadly we live in a world where, surrounded by others, one can feel utterly alone, excluded, looked down upon, not one of the 'in' group and generally unwanted and dismissed. Yes, there are those who haven't enough money to feed themselves and their families, and we see them on the streets, begging, sleeping rough with nowhere to call home. But, so too one can be poor even with much wealth; being poor is often a state of feeling unloved, undervalued, abused, frightened. Sadly, there are many today who can be made to feel like this - on the edge of 21st century society as we know it.

So how do you treat these people – and how do I?

Do we love them as our neighbour as our Lord commands? Or, do we lord it over them, exploit them, condemn them, expect them to conform to our expectations, our beliefs, our religious views, our denomination?

And if we believe that we do accept them, do we do so on their terms or on ours? Do we love them as we love ourselves – love them unconditionally. Without this, they will never feel valued and worthy – but rather inferior and worthless.

Certainly, our forebears back in the 1840s did not quite get it right, but we can certainly learn from what was amiss then, acknowledging in the process, what is so often lacking in our own lives.

The second challenge that I contemplate with you this afternoon, is that the greatest threat to the Christian faith is no longer the internal wrangling among the religious denominations, but rather, between the Church universal and the secular world. The divide today is not so much between our respective religious denominations as between our common Christianity and secularism. The real enemy for all of us gathered here is the secular society of which we are part.
There is no escaping it, and we have seen in recent times, what happens when the greed it encourages is allowed to fester and gets out of hand. Whether we like it or not, secularism is growing rapidly in this country as in others – and to a large extent we only have ourselves to blame.

Secularism is the cult that argues that more is better. Those who live by this philosophy alone, look after me and mine first and everyone else far down the line. More money, more power, more influence, more possessions – the bigger the better.
Their concern is their career, their comfort, their wealth, their family. All good things in themselves but certainly not the priorities of those who profess to espouse the Christian faith.

Again I quote from the Beatitudes:

'Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth,
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled,
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy,
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God,
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.'

There is nothing in any of these that praises the secularist ideals. And the Church, and each individual Christian denomination needs, for its own well being, to constantly remind itself of this important truth – as must each of us as individuals.

I am reminded that the goal of any missionary or christian-aid worker is to do such a good job that they do themselves out of a job. In serving the needs of others, may we, and may our respective denominations seek only to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Then we will really be proclaiming Christ’s love for all people. Then and only then can we expect those who choose to ignore Christianity to sit up and take notice.

Today's service is, in a sense, a committing of ourselves to these principles and to the service offered freely, that they undoubtedly demand fromeach one of us.

So, in the words of the Rector, let us thank Almighty God for the charity and affection that has grown between our bishops, clergy and peoples since the mid 19th century and not least over the past 20-30 years. Indeed, I suspect this event could not and would not have taken place some 29 yearsago when I was last in this church taking duty. 

Let us not underestimate the progress that has been made but
let us also acknowledge the size of the task ahead as together we confront the ravages of secularism.

My prayer and hope this afternoon, is that we can rededicate ourselves to support and encourage all people in their needs of body, mind and spirit. That we will do so respecting their beliefs, regardless of their Christian faith or denomination, or whether they have a faith at all. And may we do so in a spirit that demonstrates love and respect for each individual as a unique human being, loved by us and by God as an important part of His creation.

Amen.

ENDS