Diocesan News
Archbishop Neill's Presidential Address to the Dublin & Glendalough Diocesan Synod
DIOCESES OF DUBLIN & GLENDALOUGH DIOCESAN SYNOD
October 17th & 18th 2006
Taney Parish Centre, Dundrum
Presidential Address by the Archbishop of Dublin & Bishop of Glendalough
The Most Reverend Dr. John Neill
A LISTENING SOCIETY ? A LISTENING CHURCH
Introduction
The story is told of a man who went to visit an elderly lady. He came back from the visit saying ?I couldn?t do anything for her ? she talked so much that I never got a word in. All I could do was listen?. The truth as we well know is that he probably did a great deal for her if he really listened to her. The letter of James in the New Testament reminds us ?Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak.? (James 1:19). Sometimes we miss the richness of that word that Jesus used so much according to the Gospels ? ?Watch? ? it means more than looking, it includes being attentive in every way, including listening. He reminded his disciples again and again to ?Watch?.
This year at our Diocesan Synod I want to think with you for a while of ways that we are, ways that we can be, and ways that we fail to be, both a listening church and a listening society in Ireland today.
Ireland today
Ireland in the first decade of the twenty first century is indeed a challenge to comprehend. The varieties of beliefs, cultures, opportunities, technologies, and expressions of identity produce a cacophony of sound in which it is hard to discern any single voice. Those who are hard of hearing so often speak of not being able to hear at all in a room with many voices ? perhaps we are all in the same position when it comes to understanding our own environment today.
To give but one example, I have recently read Gerry O?Carroll?s autobiography ?The Sheriff?, in which he recounts his childhood in County Kerry in the Nineteen -Fifties. Life was tough, his family were close and happy, but there was little variety to life and few choices on offer. Survival rather than choice was the essence of growing up in the rural Ireland of half a century ago. Now life is full of variety, of options, of choices to be made ? and fresh opportunities are to be found in every corner of the Republic. In a way the survival story of poverty is replaced by the multiple choice option provided by wealth.
What has happened in the economic and social sphere is apparent too in the religious sphere. New belief systems are on offer, and do-it-yourself spiritualities abound. Even those who have never heard of Post-modernism are sucked into the marketplace of faiths and religions. There is so much to hear, and often so little of relevance when it comes to the real issues and questions that catch up with us all in one way or another.
How do we react when there is much to hear and much to see? All too often, we go on a channel-zapping journey though life.
I do not want to leave it there in confusion. Where is God in all this? Are we to switch off the world around and go into the wilderness to find the voice of God? Such a drawing apart has always been of value at certain times in people?s lives, but there is always too the challenge to return. Jesus stayed for some weeks in the desert but returned to a ministry back in the ?real world?. When the prophets of old escaped into the desert, they found refreshment, but they always had to return.
God is there in the confusion ? that is a vital part of what it means to accept the scandal of the Incarnation ? God becomes man in Jesus and enters right into human life.
Where then do we discern God speaking in this cacophony of sound that we find around us now?
God speaks most clearly to both Church and Society at large through the weakest of the voices in that cacophony, or even more accurately through those that enable the weakest to articulate their cries for help. We as Churches need to learn to listen just as much as the whole of society needs to listen. Real citizenship involves looking out for those weak voices at the edges of Irish Society.
What Voices?
It is to but some of those voices that I want to turn your attention this afternoon. What I say will be selective; there are so many voices that could be listened for.
Voices from Hospital Trolleys
I invite you to listen out for a moment to the weak cries of humiliation and pain and confusion of those lying on trolleys in hospital corridors. These voices are not being heard by those who could make a difference. They are being heard by the staff of the hospitals, the administrative, medical and nursing staff. The demand for hospital beds supported by those in the front line, and above all being pleaded for by those voices coming from the hospital trolleys are apparently not being clearly heard by Government. There is what seems to be a blind assertion that beds are not required for these patients, that doctors and nurses and hospital administrators are to blame. The removal of the local Health Boards has solved nothing and it is the responsibility of central Government to realise that the structures put in place are not delivering. This situation would be very serious in a third world economy. It is a national scandal in a country that boasts endlessly about its economic achievements.
Children and Young people
Another voice to which I draw you attention is the voice of children. We have all been alerted in these last few years to the deep suffering of children, suffering often so unimaginable that it has scarred them for life. Certainly the Churches have had as much learning to do as society as a whole and in some cases even more. I congratulate the Government for bringing in a vetting procedure for all those who have any contact with children. This will produce many difficulties for parishes as it extends not only to employees but to all voluntary workers. I emphasize that we must never seek ways around this, we must not resent it, but we must follow it to the letter. If you doubt me, just listen to the voice of one child who has been abused.
Last month, Emily Logan, the Ombudsman for Children wrote that ?the inferior legal status of children under the Constitution remains at the root of many of the difficulties still faced by children, particularly those most vulnerable today? (Irish Independent 21.09.?06). There are many calling for such an amendment that would remove any danger that the rights of the family in law can be paramount when the rights of a child are at stake. This recommendation for change has been around for a long time, but with an election on the way, there is surely an opportunity for an all party consensus on an amendment which would protect children.
It is amazing to reflect that a Christian culture and Christian Churches themselves have taken so long to take as an absolute priority the protection of children, when we think of the emphasis that Jesus placed on the child. The ombudsman has further commented that some thirty percent of the complaints received by her office related specifically to children with special needs, surely among the most vulnerable of all.
Though most teenagers would not wish to be termed as ?children?, yet legally they are such. Teenagers may not want others to speak for them, but they may often find it hard to articulate what they feel. One of the most encouraging features of many local communities and of churches is their willingness to invest in facilities for teenagers. However the pressing need is to provide those who will listen and do so in a non-judgemental manner. Too many teenagers live in homes where their music and footfall may be heard at all times of day and night, but where there is seldom time simply to be with them to listen. Families who never eat together find it very hard to hear at all.
A few weeks ago we were all invited by the media to be voyeuristic observers to the celebrations following the Junior Certificate results, and shock and horror quickly ensued. However the question remains whether we really listen to the cries of insecurity that all this posing represents, or whether we put in place the listening to help to establish some real security.
The Poor
From very earliest times there has been within the Christian Church a tension between two spheres of influence. On one hand there has been the realisation that the Christian voice needs to be heard in the public arena, and that this often involves close links with the political establishment where it can, at best, remain a prophetic voice or, at worst, be stifled with the trappings of power. But the other side of this equation has been the determination of many Christians to identify with the poor and the needy. The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but it is often the identification with the poor that appears the less frequent.
It is the task of the Church to ensure that the voices of the poor are clearly heard. Anna Lee (Community Development: Current issues and Challenges 2006) of the Tallaght Partnership wrote recently concerning the way that these voices are heard by asking: ?Does the community development sector support and enable the voice of the ?real? poor to be heard, or, are the voices those of self-appointed ?do-gooders???. This makes us feel uncomfortable in the churches, but she reminds us of two things ? first that the ?authentic? voice of poverty is very powerful, but also that it may be very difficult for it to be articulated. This is surely where the voice of the local churches is vital, listening, articulating and giving voice to the voiceless. This is a real challenge for some of our parishes in deprived areas, rural, urban and suburban.
The New Irish
This leads me to the last area of listening to which I want to draw your attention now. This is the voice that I believe parishes in this diocese are really attempting to articulate from local experience ? the voice of the immigrant. I have spoken on several occasions of the issues that you have all brought to my attention.
The burning issue at the moment is the issue of family unification. It is very disturbing that different members of one family, parent and child, or even spouses, can find themselves in the situation that their legal standing in the State, even within one nuclear family, varies so much that it is totally destructive of family life. This has serious repercussions in the present for many families and also sadly leaves a deserted spouse on many occasions in a very confusing situation. Those caught in this trap need to feel that there are clear and transparent regulations, clear steps to be taken and a speedy determination of their difficulties. I hear these pleas continually and I am aware that it is a very urgent issue that requires a speedy solution.
Listening by the Church
I have mentioned just a few examples of areas in which we must listen. Our listening as Christians involves listening to these voices often at the very edges, often hard to discern, and which we must help to articulate. It means that we are willing to come to terms with the changed climate in which we live. It will of course be very hard for Christians to hear those voices outside if they are worrying about their petty divisions within. The disciples of Jesus seem to have an uncanny knack for getting into their petty rivalries when they most needed to be aware of what was happening on a larger canvas. Anglicans today are only too willing to follow in that rather unfortunate tradition. We can so easily crowd out the voice of God coming to us from the world out there.
One might comment that I have spoken at length about the context of our Christian response ? what listening in the context of the world is all about. But I would also remind you that our listening as Christians has to be tuned so that we pick up not just that strange cacophony of sound, but actually hear within it something of the voice of the Spirit of the Living God. This is an essential part of what it is to grow in Christian discipleship.
We seek to be formed in the likeness of Christ to listen with God?s compassion, healing and restoration. This formation requires constant exposure to the Word of God in Holy Scripture, so that we begin to mirror the Lord who is that Word made flesh. Whereas Christians may vary in the interpretation of particular passages of the Bible, the neglect of the Bible is the most debilitating factor imaginable for either churches or individuals.
Christian formation involves recognising that there is a consistency in God?s dealing with humankind, and though God?s Word is new for each new generation in one sense, it is also part of a living tradition, and we do not start afresh, but learn from those who have gone before us. Christian tradition is not a strait-jacket; it is a map to help us find our way.
God has given us minds, God has given us the insights of science; God has given us so much to enrich human existence. Using our reason, we can begin to discern a pattern in the complexities of life. Scripture, Tradition and Reason each mould the way in which we hear the voice of the living God in the world that is God?s creation, whatever the mess we may make of it.
PART 2
TALLAGHT HOSPITAL
I wish to speak on a very particular issue and that is the issue of the Protestant participation in general, and the Church of Ireland participation in particular in the Health Service.
Unfortunately after a long history of involvement in the Health services, there is a very serious question mark hanging over the future of this participation in any meaningful way.
Misunderstanding of some of the issues, even within the Protestant community, has clouded the debate, such as it is, and so I want to make a very clear statement.
The first thing to state is that the present struggle surrounding the Adelaide and Meath Hospital incorporating the National Children?s Hospital at Tallaght is NOT about having a Protestant hospital for Protestant people, it is not about jobs for Protestant doctors or Protestant nurses. It is in no way a criticism of the excellent service provided by other major hospitals, whether Roman Catholic or of no particular religious ethos. Furthermore it is not in any way to suggest that any member of the medical profession is being accused of lacking in confidentiality in his or her dealings with patients. All such suggestions are either misunderstandings of the issue, or a refusal to accept the real reasons for the present struggle.
The second thing I want to say is that the reason for struggling to retain the particular Protestant participation in the management of a major hospital is because the people of Ireland have shown and continue to show that they want it. To put it very bluntly, the particular ethos of a Protestant managed hospital is that three considerations determine the treatment offered to any patient: The first is that the best medical practice must apply. The second is that the Law of the State must be followed ? and I would venture to say that all hospitals go this far, but the difference may most clearly be seen in the third factor to be considered. In a Protestant managed Hospital, the third consideration is that the only other factor to be considered is what is privately agreed between the Medical practitioner and the patient. What is not there which may be found elsewhere is the application of the decision of a hospital ethical committee. So what we are asking for, and what we believe a large section of the population wants, is the availability of legal, medically appropriate treatment, that is not subject to the ethical demands of any one religious tradition.
It is this tradition that the Charter of the Tallaght Hospital secures. This Charter was passed with all-party support by Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann as recently as 1996.
The Taoiseach has given assurances that this Charter will be upheld. What has surfaced however in the midst of the whole issue concerning the future of Paediatric Medicine in Ireland is that the spirit of that Charter has been seriously undermined ? in that Tallaght is in danger of being downgraded as a hospital in many ways.
The Third affirmation that I want to make is that the Hospital of which I am President is totally committed to the very best for children. The Charter states that it is the object of the hospital ?to promote and develop paediatric medicine and surgery in the State by continuing the work heretofore carried out by the National Children?s Hospital and to associate all paediatric services with the name of the National children?s Hospital?.
What has transpired in the present decision to establish a single Children?s Hospital on the Mater Hospital site has revealed the undermining of the commitment made in the Charter to paediatric medicine in Tallaght. It has also highlighted a lack of commitment to the hospital as a whole. For example it was recommended that a Paediatric Hospital should be sited next to a major hospital. Tallaght already has the National Children?s Hospital in such a context. But it was apparently not even considered as the site for a new development, because the Adelaide Meath Hospital did not offer sufficient specialities. This is not the fault of the Hospital Board or Staff. For a long time, Tallaght Hospital has been aware that it has simply not been receiving support for its development in substantial areas, and this statement is the proof required.
The decision to rush to a single site for a new Children?s Hospital, with a very inadequate analysis of the infrastructure relating to questions of access, and then a reported promise to another hospital ahead of the completion of the process leaves very serious questions to be addressed.
Tallaght Hospital is placed in a key area of development and serves a very substantial area, in the midst of Tallaght with one of the highest proportions of children in the whole country ? and it is the people of Ireland and not just the Protestant community that should be making their case loud and clear.
PART 3
DIOCESAN MATTERS
As you study the Reports coming to this Synod today and tomorrow, you will see some very important work being undertaken in our name.
I draw your attention in particular to the initiatives in Lay Ministry. We have been for a long time in the Church of Ireland encouraged and been served by a splendid liturgical lay ministry ? that of Reader. We are now being made aware of the many other opportunities for Lay Ministry in the Church and in service to the community. Canon Ricky Rountree has established a process which is still in its infancy, but nevertheless has met with a significant response throughout both Dublin and Glendalough. The Readers? Guild is now The Diocesan Guild of Lay Ministries.
Meanwhile the fellowship of Vocation under the care of the Revd Ted Woods is producing very encouraging numbers of excellent candidates for selection for training for ordination. We have thirteen women and men from the United Diocese actually in training and another nine going for Selection next year. This is a cause for great rejoicing, coming as it does alongside a new emphasis also on vocation to lay ministry.
The ministry to the International Community spearheaded by Canon Horace McKinley and the Revd Catherine Poulton, and splendidly served by our Diocesan Chaplain for this ministry ? The Revd Obinna Ulogwara is growing and there is interest in other dioceses for us to share our experience with them.
There is another Diocesan Ministry, as opposed to the parochial, and that is 3Rock Youth Ministry. The development of this ministry in arranging Youth events, conducting school retreats, providing Confirmation Preparation material is very worthwhile. I would however like to emphasize one vital aspect of the work and that is the training of youth leaders for the parishes. This is already making a mark on the diocese, and I congratulate the Select Vestries who are prepared and able to make an investment in this work.
PERSONNEL
At the end of the year, my fellow archbishop and primate, the Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, The Most Revd Robin Eames will retire. I pay tribute to the leadership that he has given, the friendship that I have enjoyed with him for a very long time, and the role that he has played in speaking and working for peace. Many years ago when the French force landed in Killala to assist in the 1798 Rebellion, the then Bishop of Killala, Dr Joseph Stock, worked as a peacemaker in a very volatile situation. A local comment was made about the bishop ? ?He made us listen to one another!? In the context of what I have been saying today, I do not think that there could be a more worthy person to whom to apply this same comment than Robin Eames. He has made people listen to one another in church and society at home and abroad. On your behalf, I wish him and Christine every happiness in their home in Hillsborough.
Since our last Diocesan Synod, there have been changes in clerical personnel.
We have welcomed to the diocese the following clergy:
The Revd Leonard Ruddock from the diocese of Killaloe to serve as curate-assistant in Stillorgan and Blackrock.
The Revd John Ardis ordained to serve as curate-assistant in the Christ Church Cathedral Group.
The Revd John Marchant ordained to serve as Non-Stipendiary Minister in Powerscourt and Kilbride.
The Revd Sean Martin from the diocese of the Rio Grande appointed to serve as Assistant in the Irish Church Missions.
The Revd Ann Wooderson, Rector of Celbridge, retired, and has gone with her husband to live in France, and also the Revd Bernie Daly, curate assistant in Taney has gone to France with her husband. The Revd Olivia Williams went from the curacy of Greystones to be Rector of Carlow. The Revd John McKay, who as a retired priest served as chaplain of St.John?s Sandymount, resigned. All other changes were within the United Dioceses.
Two lay members of the Diocesan Synod died since our last Synod - Stanley Christie of St.Stephen?s and Comd?t Arthur Cronhelm of St Ann?s. Stanley was a most loyal member of his church and had a confident vision for its future. Arthur was on the Diocesan Council for over thirty years and a well-deserved tribute to this great and godly man appears in the Council Report. George Wheeler, a former Diocesan Secretary died in the summer, and those of us who worked in the diocese in his day will remember him with great gratitude.
THANKS
I conclude this address by expressing my thanks to many people who serve this diocese. I think of those who take on special assignments, The Revd Alan Rufli as Liturgical Officer, Canon Ricky Rountree as Director of Lay Ministry, The Revd Ted Woods as Director of Ordinands, Canon Cecil Hyland, chaplain for retired clergy and their spouses. A special word of thanks is due to Ms Nicola Halford who has been in charge of our Diocesan Camps for many years and has enthused both the young people and produced from among them equally enthusiastic leaders. This has been a very worthwhile contribution to the life of the diocese.
Then I think of those who are the officials of the Diocese ? and I think first of the two most supportive and hard working archdeacons, upon whom I depend for so much, Archdeacons Edgar Swann and David Pierpoint, and who assist me, together with the Dean, as part of our senior clergy team. Likewise we all rely on the work of Greg Fromholz our Youth Officer, and The Revd Obinna Ullogwara as chaplain for international ministry based in Whitechurch and Tallaght.
Garrett Casey our Diocesan Communications Officer makes a vital contribution to the work of the diocese and the wider church, but very specifically I thank him for the support he gives to me in my work.
Our Church Review is edited by the Revd Nigel Waugh, and we thank him for his splendid work in producing both this and our Diocesan Directory. Likewise, I thank the Revd Mark Gardner for editing the Diocesan Prayer List.
I thank Mrs Olive Good for the work that she does for the implementation of Safeguarding Trust policies in the diocese. In that respect we must mention two members of central Church staff from the diocese that provide such support to us all, Canon John McCullagh and Mrs Jennifer Byrne.
On all your behalf I thank all those who serve as Chairpersons and Secretaries of various committees. One person in particular carries a huge load in this respect and that is Mrs Margaret Dunne of our Diocesan Board of Education. She has been most supportive of the work of the schools in every possible way.
Our Diocesan Office must be one of the most efficient anywhere. The high standards that Keith Dungan sets are a support to the work of each of us in the diocese and in the parishes. You will see that his assistant, Mrs Mary Linton retired during the year, and a worthy tribute is paid to her in the Book of Reports. I think we would all feel that Mary was a friend to everybody with whom she came in contact. We welcome Mrs Sylvia Heggie as assistant in the office and already she seems much at home among us.
Canon Victor Stacey as Diocesan and Provincial Registrar serves us with great care, and I among others, always find his advice both useful and clear.
It is a great reassurance for an archbishop to be able to call on the advice of such a distinguished Chancellor as Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness, and I thank her for holding this office and indeed being willing to be Assessor at this Synod.
My own office is very ably run by my Personal Assistant, Judy Lee, and I thank her for her reliability and good humour at all times.
The Diocesan Council and the Diocesan Glebes Committee are what a Church committee should be, efficient, supportive of all that is going on and yet keeping a watchful eye on the work for which we are all responsible. It is a joy to work with both bodies.
And so lastly I make a few personal remarks. I was very moved that the Councils marked my twenty years in the Episcopate last January. When this occurred, I said what a privilege it is to serve in this United Dioceses. I am honoured to be your Archbishop and I thank you for the way that you facilitate my ministry and make it such a positive and happy experience for me. When that presentation was made, you paid tribute to my wife, Betty, who has been with me throughout my ministry and has been with me even more since the family grew up. I depend on her support each day, and I thank God that we have been called to serve together with you all in the service of God?s Kingdom.
May God bless you each, and may God?s Spirit guide our deliberations today.