Diocesan News
Bishop Paul Colton's Presidential Address to the Cork, Cloyne & Ross Diocesan Synod
CORK, CLOYNE & ROSS DIOCESAN SYNOD
SATURDAY 10TH JUNE 2006
ROCHESTOWN PARK HOTEL, CORK
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS BY THE BISHOP OF CORK, CLOYNE & ROSS
RT REVD PAUL COLTON
Introduction
Dear friends, we meet in the name of God the Holy Trinity, as a pilgrim people, to do the work of the Church in this Diocesan Synod of Cork, Cloyne and Ross. It is my eighth Diocesan Synod as your Bishop, and the second synod meeting of this triennium.
Looking into the Future
In 1957 the launch of Sputnik electrified the world. Less than a decade after that, in April 1965, the new international satellite telecommunications organization, Intelsat, successfully placed the Early Bird satellite over the Atlantic Ocean. Just in time for the Apollo 11 lunar landing in July 1969, Intelsat completed a sequence of launches that placed satellites in space over each of the three ocean regions. Early Bird had been launched into what is now known worldwide as "the Clarke orbit?.
It was so called, because in 1945 the science fiction writer Arthur Clarke had combined the technologies of rocketry, wireless communications, and radar to envision an extra-terrestrial system that relied on orbiting space stations to relay radio signals around the world. That vision is now a reality. It has revolutionised our lives on this globe. It has spurred us on to reach out beyond our own planet and altered our relationships with each other.
More recently, in his science fiction novel - Time?s Out - Clarke again looks into the future and takes the year 2037 as his reference point. He chose it, he said, because after that date ??earth has run out of history to change??
Some months ago, a section of the UK Christian Handbook ? Religious Trends 5 ? caught my eye. They had chosen a similar date: 2040. The researchers from Christian Research, acknowledging the limitations of their science, nonetheless, endeavour to sketch what the church in the U.K. ? our near neighbours - might be like by 2040 A.D. Among other things, it is forecast that there by then
- about 50% of the population will have no religion
- there may be a booming cyber-church but that Christian radio will have ceased
- virtually all rural and inner city churches will have closed
- church membership will be under 5% of the population
- house churches will no longer be especially popular
- alpha courses will have been forgotten
- church schools will be less distinctive and will be replaced by multi-faith schools
- there will be fewer church weddings, and very few infant baptisms.
As I said when I wrote about this in the Diocesan Magazine; ?I?m not convinced; and how do they know any way??
As Christian disciples we step into the future putting, to reuse King George VI?s memorable quotation of Christmas 1939, ?our hand in the hand of God? That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way?. Faith risks becoming fatalism, however, if we do not use our rational insights, as we face and plan for the future of our ministry and work. Predicting the future is a vacuous pursuit; envisaging the needs of tomorrow and planning a strategy for our work, is a responsibility: a responsibility we call stewardship. Alongside our core activities of worship, prayer, pastoral care mission and spirituality we need the assistance of modern skills and the very best resources of our time.
For example, from April next year we will begin to know the results compiled from the 1.5 million census forms that we have recently completed and returned.
From our own perspective as a diocese, I announce today that in October I will undertake in the Diocese my second administrative Episcopal Visitation of parishes in the diocese. Not only is the information gathered essential to our planning for the future, it is also crucial for my overview and our mutual understanding within the diocese.
Affirming our Role:
What will happen in the future? One thing is certain: there will be change. As G.K. Chesterton said
?All conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things alone you leave them as they are. But you do not. If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change.?
And what is our role as Christians here in Cork, Cloyne and Ross in facing that change?
This is a question I touch on every year, and rightly so, because at this gathering we need to keep our eye on what we are meant to be doing and how we hope to fulfil faithfully our calling.
For me so much hinges on how we understand Baptism. I shared this with you in my pastoral letter read at all Services at the start of this year on the feast of the Baptism of our Lord.
Our baptism is ??the beginning of a journey with God which continues for the rest of our lives, the first step in response to God?s love.? Those words are simple but profound; radical and far-reaching in their consequences if we allow them to shape and change us. In baptism, God calls us from darkness to light. Following Christ means dying to sin and rising to new life with him. The cross is signed on us with the words: Christ claims you for his own ? Live as a disciple of Christ, fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith. Confess Christ crucified, proclaim his resurrection, and look for his coming in glory.?
This is the future to which God calls us. At every baptism and at every Confirmation I say that at those occasions we are all challenged to reflect again on the meaning of our own baptism. I can think of no better charter for us in Cork, Cloyne and Ross than the words of the Commission which is used at the end of every Confirmation.
Just think of how potent it would be for this diocese if we were all to espouse and to commend to others the espousal of the Commission as our personal and as a diocesan charter:
A Christian Charter
Those who are baptised are called to worship and serve God.
With the help of God:
· We will continue in the apostles? teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers.
· We will persevere in resisting evil, and whenever we fall into sin, we will repent and return to the Lord.
· We will proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ.
· We will seek and serve Christ in all people, loving our neighbour as ourselves.
I invite individuals and parishes within the diocese to consider adopting this Commission as their personal and communal charter for the way we fulfil our baptismal calling as the people of God; and in our going forth into the future.
Anglicanism
We fulfil this Christian calling in the context of the Church of Ireland, part of the Anglican family. Last year I spoke about that Anglican way and our exasperating breadth and smudgy-edged inclusiveness ? often perplexing and seemingly intangible.
It is stating the obvious to say that all is not well within our Anglican family. It is hard to escape the sense that, in this controversy, those who shout the loudest; or with the greatest determination; or with the most panache are being accorded the open ear of some of the international structures of Anglicanism. These happen also to be Anglicanism?s instruments of unity: the Archbishop of Canterbury; the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates? Meeting. I deliberately omit two of the instruments of unity: the Lambeth Conference of Bishops because it has not met since the most recent spate of controversy began; and the emerging consciousness of Anglican Canon Law is omitted because, although the Primates Meeting and the ACC have acknowledged the possible role of canon law as an instrument of unity, there is by no means universal agreement among the autonomous churches of the Anglican family on this point yet.
Growing up here in Cork in the 1960?s and 1970?s as a very average member of the Church of Ireland, I would have to say that it was only in my late teens in the context of an emerging sense of vocation that I ever began to have a consciousness of belonging to Anglicanism. Even when I was at school for two years in Canada my experience of the Anglican Church there was nothing like what I was used to here in Douglas.
Remember also, that the centenary of the first Lambeth Conference only took place in 1967. Not only is this institutional and international sense of Anglicanism a very young phenomenon, but the very structures (apart from the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury) which are purportedly attempting to hold the whole precarious thing together, are not only recent in their establishment, but are also evolving in a self-determining, sometimes apparently ad hoc, reactive manner without adequate mandate, I believe, from the churches themselves.
Growing up, I thought of myself as Church of Ireland, a branch of the Christian Church; and that was that. I find myself wondering whether, in spite of our travels and global encounters, in spite of partners in mission and all of that, whether most ordinary members of the Church of Ireland have moved much beyond a very basic understanding of our place within a wider Anglican ecclesial household.
In other words - and lay people are best placed to tell me - do not most ordinary members of the Church think of themselves as simply being Church of Ireland; albeit with broadly similar, like-minded Christian friends in other parts of the world? (For clergy it is different, our livelihood throws us into the path of such things). And in the case of young Christians I meet, my sense is that they appear to have moved beyond this debate altogether and in the terms they express themselves we recognise post-denominational Christianity.
I also ask myself what it is that I find and have always found attractive, if also frustrating and challenging, about the Church of Ireland. It is exactly those things I mentioned last year in describing the Anglican way: our breadth; our smudgy-edged inclusiveness. What is inspiring is the fact that people who think so hugely differently about the things of God, can nonetheless belong together within the same church; journey side by side; worship, pray, work and announce the good news together; and discover across their differences a friendship in faith that they wouldn?t probably otherwise have. Because of the present row which purports to be about human sexuality, Anglicanism runs the risk of becoming something wholly unattractive and unrecognisable to those who are drawn strongly to its sometimes exasperating breadth, untidiness and inclusiveness.
I remind you of that quotation of William Countryman:
?Anglicanism is notorious for its theological indeterminacy. ?[It] exists in a mode unlike that of most Western Christian traditions. It has never been a genuinely confessional church. It is the product of historical accident (and/or divine providence) as much as of theological intent, and its primary focus is not on defining itself but on turning a community towards God in worship.?
In my view, any proposal for a way forward which undermines our inclusiveness or comprehensiveness ought to be subjected to rigorous and autonomous scrutiny. In the Church of Ireland, we must be careful not to jettison either our independence or autonomy on the one hand; or the friendship of faith we have nurtured already across significant differences. We do away such things at our peril. Impetuously erecting walls of exclusion on the fuzzy edges of Anglicanism would, to my mind, be a negation of the essence of Anglicanism and of the Church of Ireland itself.
And because the presenting issue of the controversy within Anglicanism appears to be human sexuality, one result is that gay people have become scapegoats in what is a more deep-seated constitutional crisis. Therefore, gay people in lay and ordained leadership as well as in voluntary work in our churches, or simply in our pews, or those who have been driven away by a sense of rejection, together with gay people in the community outside the church, need to know and to hear our apology. Gay people in the Church have been caught in the middle of a row which is not about them and their sexuality, but which instead is primarily about the way different Anglicans read, approach and understand the Holy Scriptures, the Bible. Had it not surfaced on the back of the sexuality debate, this dispute would have emerged sooner or later on an entirely different issue.
Ironically, a person?s strongest point is frequently also their weakest. So it is with institutions. I, and I believe many others like me, are attracted to the disparate untidiness of Anglicanism: its comprehensive inclusiveness. Wide open arms that seem to stretch inconceivably far, drawing many in, and providing shade and shelter for the most unlikely fellow-pilgrims. This has always been my experience of the Church of Ireland. I believe we jeopardise or jettison this at our peril.
At the same time it would be naïve not to acknowledge the challenging and uncomfortable diversity of approach to reading and interpreting and shaping our faith on the scriptures.
Understanding the Scriptures
Hard work lies ahead for us as members of the Church of Ireland if we are to build on what we value as an, albeit transient and ephemeral, institutional framework in which we pursue our Christian vocation and pilgrimage. Let me read for you some of the core statements members of our church make about the scriptures:
· In the Preamble and Declaration to the Constitution of the Church of Ireland we say that we ?? accept and unfeignedly believe all the Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, as given by inspiration of God, and containing all things necessary to salvation??
· At their ordination deacons, priests and bishops promise that they believe and accept the Holy Scriptures as revealing all things necessary for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
The reality is that those who make those vows have, nonetheless, disparate approaches to and understandings of the same texts around which they gather; but around which they do gather for prayer and worship ? that friendship of faith. In that context the recently published report of the Church of Ireland Bishops? Advisory Committee on Doctrine ? The Authority of Scripture ? is a hugely welcome contribution. The fact that this was the first topic assigned to the committee is indicative of the importance of the subject.
Lambeth Conference
Planning is also under way for the next Lambeth Conference of bishops which is to be held in 2008: not long now ? two summers away. I hope that the planners of that conference and that the Archbishop of Canterbury (who issues the invitation) will invite all Anglican bishops of the time and of all outlooks to that three week encounter as equal participants; otherwise it would be pointless.
I have never been to a Lambeth Conference, having been elected six months or so after the last one. However, what I want from that meeting is for it to be nothing other than a place of encounter and pilgrimage. To that end it would be impossibly impoverished unless all are invited in parity. Moreover, it would be uselessly compromised if it were to descend to a type of ecclesial and political world cup where resolutions are propounded and fought over; and which supplant discovering that friendship in faith with the trophies of sectional victory: golden cows won and lost and which consolidate or even catalyse division.
Further Synod Reorganisation
Last year this Synod approved fairly radical changes to its way of doing business. Hopefully, over time, the benefit will be seen. This year two further changes, on my suggestion, have been agreed by Diocesan Council, and are now being proposed to you. First, I have always been puzzled why we have thought it necessary to have different honorary secretaries here at Diocesan Synod from those at Diocesan Council. The Diocesan Council carries forward the work of the synod; and just as the honorary secretaries of the General Synod are also the honorary secretaries of its continuing body ? the Standing Committee ? this proposal would replicate that here. From my perspective it will also provide greater and easier coordination of the relevant work between the two bodies; and possibly create a more meaningful role for the secretaries in question.
Secondly, I believe (and knowing the reliance a bishop, and indeed a whole diocese, places on the Archdeacon) that it would be hugely difficult to do the work of either the Synod or the Council unless the Archdeacon were a member of the Diocesan Council. The second proposal, therefore, is that the Archdeacon be ex officio on Diocesan Council as a clerical secretary. Another outcome of that resolution is that the Bishop will forego his or her right to nominate one of the clerical secretaries; which is mitigated, in any event, by the fact that the Archdeacon is the Bishop?s appointee.
I hope you will feel able to give these changes your support.
Bishop?s Courses
A keynote in these presidential addresses each year is the challenge of equipping people for ministry. This year I am delighted to announce that the Bishop?s Course in Pastoral Work will commence next September. We are grateful to the Priorities? Fund for its support. Recently applicants for the course went through a selection process and the first members of the course have been identified. The two year course will include reflective preparation for ministry; development of core skills in pastoral ministry as well as fieldwork. I thank everyone associated with devising this course on my behalf and most especially the new Diocesan Healing and Pastoral Care Committee.
The Bishop?s Course in Theology is in its third cycle and we look forward to the graduation of those participants early next year.
Diocesan Readers
Last year I undertook ministerial review with the Diocesan Readers in the diocese. We are all conscious of our reliance on the Diocesan Readers, and most especially on a small number of them who accept so much responsibility in presiding at worship throughout the diocese. I look forward, in the autumn, to commissioning another group of readers. In thanking them I want to commend this ministry to other people in the Diocese. Why should the Reader who takes your services and helps to sustain the pattern of worship you are used to come from someone else?s parish? Indeed, why should it be someone else? Why might it not be you God is calling to this ministry? We do need more Diocesan Readers.
Ordinands
I thank God also that he is calling people to reflect upon the possibility of ordained ministry. At the moment we have four ordinands in the diocese. Two who are embarking on their training for ordination: Adrian Moran and Anne Skuse. On 23rd June, now that they have successfully completed their course I look forward to ordaining as deacons: Paula Geary and Walter Hill. May God be with you as you prepare for this momentous day!
But this also begs questions. Why should your priest always be someone provided by some other parish in the Church? If God calls people in other parishes to be ordained; is it not possible that he is also calling someone in your parish, or even you yourself?
Lapp?s Charity
One of our charities in the Diocese celebrates a momentous anniversary this year. It will be the 150th anniversary of the Lapp?s Charity on 1st December next. We remember William Lapp with thanksgiving. He died in 1833. He bequeathed some of his property to the Bishop of Cork and to the rectors of Cork city parishes, ?upon trust to establish a charity for the relief of such aged and infirm persons being Protestants of any description and natives of Cork? ...
It took some years for the funds to build up but by 1856 the trustees had succeeded in leasing Castle White - a large four storey house, situated between College Road and Western Road. It had a large garden area around it and lodges on both the College Road and Western Road entrances. In the following year, 1857, 12 people moved in (3 men and 9 women) to the building, together with a matron. A physician and chaplain to the asylum were appointed from 1863/64.
But that?s just enough to tantalize you about this very interesting and blessed story: Dr Alicia St Leger is currently writing the history of the charity for the trustees and we look forward to its publication and the Service of Thanksgiving on 1st December in St Fin Barre?s Cathedral.
Saint Luke?s Home
Speaking of thanksgiving, the Diocesan Synod is the right and proper place to acknowledge with immense gratitude our indebtedness to the late Mr Sidney Northridge for his gift of two sites on the Kinsale Road to another charity within the diocese: Saint Luke?s Home Charity. The sites were sold at public auction in early March for ?27.5 million.
As I said on the day, to many people this was a story of land values. To us, however, it was the story of a Christian gentleman who caught a vision of the goals of the charity and its ethos; supported it; and also, in time, benefited from it himself.
The Board of Directors of the Charity is conscious of the huge benefit it is receiving; and also of the fact that all charities in a city like Cork draw from a limited pool of disposable income. Therefore, we have decided not to go ahead this year with flag days, the annual fair and many of the smaller fund-raising activities. On behalf of all who are associated with the charity I wish today to acknowledge the work of all our supporters, benefactors and fund-raisers (many of them from the parishes throughout the diocese), and to thank them for keeping everything going in very challenging and sometimes uncertain days. We now face a new challenge of keeping connected with those who are supportive of the work of the Home and making sure that its financial security does not cause social isolation.
Singling out for thanks
Each year I single out a different group within the diocese for singular thanks. This year, for a variety of reasons, my role, together with Ken Hastie and Fred Treacy, as one of the Diocesan Treasurers, has come to the fore. The people I ask you to salute this year are the treasurers in the parishes. They are a blessing ? pennies from heaven! Theirs is a huge job, and I know that you would want them to know and to hear that what they do is greatly appreciated.
Finance
This year the Diocesan Council and its Finance Committee spent considerable time discussing the subject of finance within the diocese. As I?ve said, in this diocese, the Bishop is one of the three Diocesan Treasurers.
Some think that odd. I do not. Money is not a dirty subject and it is not non-spiritual. Our Lord and indeed the Scriptures have plenty to say about wealth and possessions in both spiritual and practical terms. Too often in parts of the Church of Ireland we adopt such a genteel disdain for matters financial that planning for our work is based on anecdote rather than analysis; and as a result we fail, as a result, to facilitate the ministry and witness of the Gospel through us.
Last year as we discussed structures, I outlined our constitutional pattern within this episcopal church of ours. In particular I referred to the place and role of the Diocesan Synod within that representative framework.
This year, I decided, on behalf of the three Diocesan Treasurers, to look in detail at the financing of our work. In this connection you will see included in your book of reports the text of a leaflet which we prepared entitled Understanding our Finances.
One all too prevalent myth that needs to be exploded first, however, relates to money held by the Representative Church Body: ?They have loads of money why don?t they give it to us?? Let me put it this way. The RCB is a trustee body. In the main the money they have, if it is not your parish?s ? held or invested, as it were, like a bank holds lots of people?s money in an account for them ? then it is someone else?s money. Like a bank, the RCB cannot give other people your money and it cannot give you theirs. This is so fundamental, yet it is so widely misunderstood or misconstrued.
The second fundamental I want to share is modelled on the exchange of rings at a marriage: ??. All that I have I share with you?.? Being part of the diocese here is being part of a family. We are connected to each other in common ministry and mission; one of the symbols of that unity is that you share me as your bishop; a unity expressed when in the several parishes you pray for me each Sunday at church. Both at diocesan level, and between the various parish units in our union or groups of parishes we need to cultivate this strong sense of being joined together and, for the common good of the task the Gospel challenges us to do, we need to have this sense of mutuality and sharing. It is not them and us: ours and theirs. That is a symptom of a house divided against itself: something which again we are warned about.
All of us in the Church need to realise that each one of us has something to offer back to the God who has blessed us. We make that offering through time and talent as well as through money. I say unashamedly that money is essential to our ministry and work.
As the Book of Common Prayer challenges us all
?Members of the Church should give generously, regularly and proportionately towards the ministry and mission of the Church, and to works of charity.?
Another key point not always understood concerns the assessments on parishes. Some people in parishes think of this as a tax ? money that is taken away from them for which they see little in return. In fact, if you look at last year, 98% of the amount that came in to the diocese from assessments on parishes was spent on ministry or elements of it. The remaining 2% - a tiny percentage by most standards ? was spent on diocesan administration, which, as all of us knows who deal with the diocesan office is, in itself, a ministry also.
In recent weeks I have spent many days analysing the parochial accounts returned to the diocese in respect of the year 2004; and trying to gain that overview which a Bishop as episcope ? overseer ? should have within the diocese. Planning on the basis of anecdote, generalisation or subjective perception is unsatisfactory and unreliable: fatcs are needed alongside empirical observation.
How much income did all the parishes have in 2004? ?3.1 million
Where did the parishes get their money?
Christian Stewardship 19.5%
Collections: General 10%
Collections: Special 3%
Sustentation 10%
Donations 6.3%
Investment income 12.5%
Interest .1%
Rents and graves 3.9%
Fundraising 4.3%
Miscellaneous 7.9%
Tax Rebate 2.5%
Special/Grants 20%
Here is how, in broad terms the shares divide up:
Some quick observations, from my perspective:
1. Again, I say, I am astonished and humbled by the work our treasurers do.
2. I am humbled by the generosity of our people
3. I am surprised by the fund-raising amount. If you had asked me to guess I would have been afraid that we were more dependent than we ought to be on fund-raising.
4. Our total income from direct giving is about 32% of our income. I believe this is the figure on the income side that we need to watch. It is the best indicator of the extent to which the members of the church are themselves shouldering the responsibility for the work of the church.
5. Our investment income accounts for nearly 13%. This shows us how indebted we are to those who have gone before us, or who in earlier times made wise decisions that we are benefiting from now. It also raises the question what will we put in our time that others in the future will thank us for?
6. One thing which worried me is the rental income. It looks on the low side and I wonder whether some places are getting the rent that they might be getting for their properties.
7. You will see that 20% of the income is from grants. Most of this came in for particular projects and the monies were used for the relevant projects.
Turning to the expenditure side:
In 2004 the parishes of the diocese spent ?2.92m
Here is the breakdown:
Assessment 38.5%
Priorities Fund .7%
Administration and salaries 3%
Maintenance ? Churches 12.5%
Maintenance ? Glebe 6.9%
Church Music 1.8%
Insurance 6.7%
Light and Heat 3%
Youth/Education etc .5%
Liturgical requisites .9%
Charity 5.4%
Bank Charges .3%
Sundries 5.7%
Other Buildings .8%
Special Projects 12.9%
Fees .4%
Summarised as follows:
Ministry 38.5%
Administration 3%
Priorities .7%
Church Music 1.8%
Youth Education .5%
Liturgical Requisites .9%
Charity 5.4%
Bank Charges and Fees .7%
Sundries 5.7%
Buildings 42.8%
So, just to finish off analysis about finance - some quick observations, about expenditure:
1. It is right that Ministry should be a principal item.
2. It is right that we care for the heritage buildings that we have.
3. But ? have we got the balance right between the building costs and what we are investing in ministry? And by ministry I include worship, pastoral care, mission, outreach, community support and spirituality. I believe that on the expenditure side this is the main thing we need to watch. Have we got the balance right? And, if not, what can we do about it?
4. The two worries I have on this side are:
a. our investment in youth and youth education work/resources. We are investing very little here and yet when you listen to conversation around the diocese one of the main concerns is our young people within the church. Huge time is going in through voluntary work of youth leaders, but are we resourcing them and backing them up.?
b. I?ve no doubt that many of our organists are voluntary; but given that the amount for Church music - 1.8% of our expenditure ? is mostly accounted for by expenditure on organs rather than organists; I wonder whether we are giving all the organists we do pay a fair deal? No doubt some parishes do pay fairly, but what about the others? And music is so important: it has the potential to enliven or to kill worship.
Here is a further thought in relation to the demand our beautiful buildings place on us: a quick survey of all the parishes of the diocese in recent days tells me that currently they anticipate building projects totalling just over ?4 million. In addition projects that involve an ?76,000 commitment to new people based/ministry projects are envisaged. But look at the balance ? or rather imbalance!
If we are to grow we need to invest most of all in ministry ? the work the people of the Church do.
By the end of 2004 the parishes of the diocese had ?1,651,347 in the bank.
Tax Relief
I don?t believe that we as a charity are making adequate use of the money that is there, waiting to be claimed back, under the relevant tax scheme. According to the figures I have seen ? and I am conscious that I may only be seeing from parish accounts the effects of the return of the PAYE element of the tax - one parish in the diocese is increasing its direct giving by almost 30% in this way; another by 16%; and one of the smallest by 11%.
I do urge diocesan synod members to pass the word around about this scheme, and actively to promote it throughout the church. Here is not the place to explain the nuts and bolts of the scheme. There are leaflets and people throughout the diocese who can do that. But it is simple. If you are a tax payer who gives ?250 a year or more to the Church you can make your tax work for your church. This applies to both PAYE and self-employed workers.
If you are self-employed, what you are asked to do when you are thinking about how much you will give to the work of the Church is to take into account the fact that you can include that total amount on your tax return and receive the tax back, and to increase your giving accordingly.
At the moment it would appear, from the figures we have that only 8.6% of our direct giving comes back through this scheme. It is a free scheme and we are mugs not to be making enough use of it.
I turn now to people in the diocese.
People
Ruby Veitch has been Assistant Secretary at the Diocesan Office since 1980: the same year Wilfred Baker was appointed Diocesan Secretary. She has given twenty-five years of faithful service. In many ways she has been an institution and the first point of contact to the Diocese for the telephone caller or visitor to the Diocesan Office. In all this she has shown perseverance and faithfulness. Not only has she adapted to new technology, she has worked with three different bishops: Bishop Poyntz, Bishop Warke and now myself. We say a heartfelt ?thank you? to her once again; but most especially because of her on-going illness we assure her of our on-going love, thoughts and prayers.
Last year I thanked Sybil Fuller for her work as Diocesan Communications Officer. This year I welcome her successor ? Sam Wynn ? and wish her every blessing. The Reverend Andrew McCroskery has taken on the role of Diocesan Liturgical Officer. Andrew Coleman has taken on the role of Bishop?s Appeal Representative.
Our Diocesan Registrar?s secretary - Jean Wade ? retired during the year and although Jean was not our employee, nonetheless the work she has done for the church in the diocese, for our special events with legal documentary backup and for couples planning their wedding day, has been immense, and we thank her.
Our good wishes for retirement and thanks go to Mr Charles Payne at Ashton School: a formative influence on so many children of the diocese, and we wish every blessing to his successor Mr Bertie Smith and to the new Deputy Principal, Ms Anne-Marie Hewison. I also acknowledge the faithful long service of two deputy principals in our Primary Schools as they prepare for retirement: Mrs Norma Whittaker in Douglas and Mrs Lorna Cooper in Bandonbridge.
As we think of the Church beyond this diocese we keep in our prayers the Archbishop of Armagh and indeed the Church itself now that he has announced his intention to retire at the end of this year, but this is really a subject for next year?s Synod.
Deployments
In March, sadly having suffered the death of her husband Jim, the Reverend Kate Gibson resigned the incumbency of Fermoy Union and returned, with our love and thanks, to her home in Scotland. During the year we welcomed the Reverend Bruce Pierce who came back to Ireland from Canada, and as he was setting up home in the Diocese I was happy to licence him to minister among us. It is a great pleasure to have the Reverend Ruth Jackson among us working in Carrigrohane Union, predominantly in outreach ministry in Blarney. In May we welcomed the Reverend Denis MacCarthy into our ministry team and licensed him to serve as curate assistant in Bandon Union. We congratulate the Reverend Eileen Cremin on her recent appointment as Incumbent of Fermoy Union.
Bishop Designate of Cashel and Ossory
When we reflect on the fact that ten of the twelve bishops of the Church of Ireland either have Cork connections or have ministered here; or when we observe that he is the third successive Dean to be elected a Bishop; we give insufficient recognition to the immense giftedness and faithfulness of the Very Reverend Michael Burrows. We must not allow the cumulative episcopal effect to diminish the very significant personal achievement and recognition being accorded to Michael. We thank him for his creative and energetic faithfulness in many guises in this diocese; and we wish him every blessing as he moves from here towards the north east in order to care for and lead those in south east.
R.I.P
In sympathising with all who were bereaved since we last met year we were saddened by the deaths of fellow pilgrims, and today I mention two:
- The Reverend David J.P. Llewellyn
- The Very Reverend Frederick M.K. Johnston
May they rest in peace and rise in glory.
Review of Year
I count it an immense privilege to be your Bishop. I particularly enjoy being out and about in the diocese such as at Confirmation Services. The young people of the Church give me great hope. I am inspired also by the courageous initiatives being taken in so many parishes: the handing over of Saint Mary?s Collegiate Church in Youghal to the Town Council; the children?s choir and proposed new organ for Templebreedy; Some personal highlights for me included the annual courtesy visit of the Lord Mayor; some summer visits to the enterprising fetes of West Cork; an invitation to preach at the Service marking the start of the Law Term; a second invitation to deliver a paper at the European Consortium for Church and State Research, meeting on this occasion in Sweden; the inauguration of the Clerks Choral at St Mary?s Collegiate Church in Youghal; the thanksgiving Service for the Restoration of Ross Cathedral; and the completion of a part-time course at Cardiff University.
Thank you
As always I could not approach the end of my address without highlighting my immense gratitude to so many people who serve the diocese in so many ways: to all who in ordained ministry take on additional roles ? my three Domestic Chaplains; my Examining Chaplain; the Rural Deans, the Diocesan Director of Ordinands, the Warden of Readers, to the Archdeacon; our Diocesan Communications Officer; our ecumenical Officer; our liturgical officer; our Diocesan Webmaster; our Diocesan Architect, Bill Brady; our Diocesan Registrar, our Chancellor, Mr Lyndon MacCann; Ms Jean Wade and the so-many colleagues in that law firm who advise me generously on hosts of occasions ; and my own secretary, Ruth Wolfe; and our Diocesan Secretary, Wilfred Baker. Thank you to each and every one of you for all that you do not least all of our volunteers.
Crozier
In this week of Diocesan Synod I have just had returned to me from London, by the silversmiths, what they call this unique crozier and a fine example of the English silversmith?s craft; hallmarked ? London, 1921. It is not, however, a mere artefact. It is a symbol of the calling I have as bishop among you and of our journey together.
Thankful for our fellowship together in the Gospel and mindful of the responsibility entrusted to us let us turn now to the business of our Synod for the good of Christ and part of his Church here in Cork, Cloyne and Ross.
+Paul Cork:
10th June, 2006