Diocesan News
Epiphany Agreement Sees Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and Jerusalem Start Journey Together
The Archbishop of Dublin and the Archbishop of Jerusalem have signed an accord which will see the people of the dioceses journey together as brothers and sisters in Christ on a common pilgrimage of faith and discipleship.
The Epiphany Agreement was signed by Archbishop Michael Jackson and Archbishop Suheil Dawani in St George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem on Sunday, January 10. It officially establishes the link which has been growing between the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East for the last year.
Service on the Feast of the Epiphany in St George’s Cathedral, Jerusalem. Photograph courtesy of the Diocese of Jerusalem.
The agreement was signed during a visit by a delegation from the Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough to the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East. The delegation is led by Archbishop Michael Jackson who is accompanied by the Revd Ken Rue, chairperson of the Dublin and Glendalough Council for Mission, and Linda Chambers and Jan de Bruijn of the United Society.
During the week the delegation has been meeting the clergy and people of the Diocese of Jerusalem and visiting churches, hospitals and schools. Such institutions are vital to the witness and the ministry of Anglicans in the Middle East as they serve their neighbours of other world faiths as well as their members and fellow–Christians of other traditions. They also visited Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza for which over €110,000 has been raised already by the United Dioceses in Advent 2014 in association with the United Society and Bishops’ Appeal.
They have also been learning more about the impact of the Syrian crisis throughout the region and discussing how schools and churches can link up with their counterparts in the Diocese of Jerusalem and how there could be pilgrimages to each others’ dioceses. The Archbishop also outlined the Come&C project which is centred around the Five Marks of Mission of the Anglican Communion and how they can be a focus for faith in Dublin and Glendalough and in the Diocese of Jerusalem. The Come&C initiative was warmly received by Archbishop Suheil Dawani.
The Epiphany Agreement commits to developing a link relationship of equal partners between the two dioceses which is sustainable, practical, effective, mutually supportive and mutually enriching.
The stated aim of the link is to strengthen mission and evangelism in the church communities in both dioceses, to increase awareness between the dioceses of their solidarity in the cause of Christ, to respect and learn of and from each other’s cultural heritage and to enable the world to recognize more clearly God’s mission.
Following the signing, Archbishop Jackson said the agreement signified mutual respect between the people of both dioceses. “The signing of this Epiphany Agreement not only cements the friendship between the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East, it also gives a very strong sense of the mutual respect in which the people and the clergy of both diocesan families hold one another,” he said.
“Having had the opportunity since Epiphany to visit institutions and parishes in the Jerusalem Diocese, I have formed a strong sense of the ministry of healing and teaching carried out by the people of the diocese in partnership with their neighbours of other World Faiths. The motivation always is service of other and especially of those in need. This can be a stimulus and an example to us in our own dioceses as the link and partnership develop and grow.”
Archbishop Suheil Dawani hoped the relationship would blossom in the coming years: “We in Jerusalem are delighted to sign formally the Epiphany Agreement with Dublin and Glendalough Dioceses. We in the Land of the Holy One see our ministry as your ministry and we welcome you into sharing this ministry with us. Already you have been so generous to us in the support you have given to the Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza. We deeply appreciate your generosity. Our prayer is that the new relationship of friendship, solidarity and hospitality will flourish in the years ahead,” he stated.
The Diocese of Jerusalem spans Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Syria and Lebanon. The link is to last for an initial period of five years. It will see the establishment of structures in each diocese to foster ways of expressing the relationship at diocesan and parochial levels and will encourage an interchange of people and skills. The relationship will be reviewed and evaluated towards the end of the five–year period.
Diocesan Communications Officer, Dublin & Glendalough
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Lynn Glanville
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