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Brothers and sisters in Christ,

Although in the past two years I had begun this address by saying how strange it was to be meeting online, it now feels very strange to be meeting in person; strange do be doing for the first time in two years what we had been doing for 150 years. I suspect though it won’t be strange for long, as we get back into the swing of normal synodical business.

What is not strange is the warm feeling of meeting together again, seeing old faces and making new friends. In my first Presidential Address in 2020, I had talked about changing from being an Archbishop-Elect to being an Archbishop-Virtual. Today I can say with my hand on my heart for the first time in two years I feel like the real Primate of All Ireland. It is good to be in a place where Ballymena can kiss Blarney again. And it is in that frame of mind that I want to thank all of those in the Church who have prayed for me and for others who have had the task of trying to steer us through what has been a very difficult and potentially hazardous period.

We are in the year of grace 2022 and I would hope that this Synod and this address will be about the future, but I do want to say a few words about our experience since March 2020. You know at the beginning it was very difficult to know what to do. Today we are all now used to making judgements in the light of public health statistics and a range of both political and medical information that comes our way. Back then everyone was feeling their way through a fog of half-understandings and very erratic claims and predictions.

And in those circumstances I can honestly put my hand on my heart and say “we did our best”. Contrary to what many people believe the Church is not some vast bureaucracy which can draw on limitless human and financial resources in the face of a unique set of circumstances. Taking what we could from the advice being given by public health authorities in both jurisdictions a very small group of people (some staff and some bishops) put together our Protocols and rolling guidance. What we came up with may not have been perfect, but it worked, in the sense of keeping people safe and (by and large) sane and providing some solid ground on which the set our feet.

Beyond that small group who drafted and revised there were the many hundreds of volunteers in parishes, who refused to be daunted or overwhelmed and who made the rough tools they had been given work in their circumstances. Everyone on Select Vestries up and down this island got a baptism of fire into what it meant to be charity trustees, with a heavier weight of responsibility than normal. (and heaven knows the statutory weight of governance is more than heavy enough).  That, together with our trust that the Church of God is an anvil which has broken many hammers, has seen us through to a place of much greater security. Even if we can’t quite be optimistic yet, we can at least be positive, and it is a great privilege for me to be able to stand here “in person” to thank everyone here and those who have worked so hard to get us to where we are now, from that rather gloomy place we found ourselves in during the Spring of 2020.

There has been much suffering on the journey, for some far more than for others, particularly the old and the vulnerable. Mistakes and costly misjudgements have been made, but I hope we, along with our governments and public health authorities can learn together from our experiences. The best of what we achieved as a society, was achieved together and as we try to dig deeper into what was not done as well as it might have been, I have confidence that it will be recognised that the closer the co-operation and trust that existed between civic society, governments and public health authorities, the better the outcomes have been. In one form or another it has been a lesson in how to do and how not to do participative democracy.

And that brings me nicely to the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special of 1977. One of the sketches in the show had Eric and Ernie dressed as Roman senators. Ernie asks Eric “Brutus, have you the scrolls” and Eric replies “No, it’s just the way I’m standing”.

However, it’s not the feebleness or otherwise of the joke that’s important; it’s the fact that the programme was watched by over twenty-three million people, and almost all of us who watched it (and yes I was one of them) would have laughed our heads off. We would have got the joke.

The programme was shown at a time when in most democracies in western Europe, social capital was high, institutions were strong and there were many shared national stories. In today’s world even any public commentator would be hard put to name any public figures from the past about whose virtue broad agreement could be reached.

And of course social media is the single biggest contributing factor to this atomisation of the public space. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say that social media is largely to blame following the turn it took when it became less about people connecting with other people, and more about people performing for like-minded people – dissolving social capital, chronically suspicious of institutions and (to use the jargon) refusing any meta-narrative.

The effect has been, as one commentator has put it, to turn nations into ungovernable protest movements. That in turn has led to governments even in some democratic countries, to choose, to manage these divisions by deepening them rather than by healing them. 

And it is important, in fact vocational, for a number of reasons, that civic society, including Churches, contribute to public debate on these matters.

The first reason is that politics is about the art of living. Ultimately the subject matter of politics is everything that happens in individual and social life and, in a properly functioning democracy, all citizens are themselves political actors to a greater or lesser degree. In addition, from a Christian point of view, there is no aspect of my life over which God does not say“that is mine”.

Successful parliaments and governments are those who become both the source and the expression of that creative social and spiritual interaction. If I could borrow a phrase from Professor Anna Rowland’s lecture in the Jesuit Church in Gardiner Street a couple of weeks ago, they will create “… participatory and genuinely co-created social bodies … guided by a vision of human dignity and a just distribution of the earth’s goods … ”.

And that leads me to my second point, if Professor Rowland’s description is to become a social reality, governments need middle bodies – an engaged civic sector, including the Church – who will not only rage and lament, but will encourage and struggle for the common good in partnership with those who govern. “Who,” as a friend of mine says, “will let the good things grow”. We may not have much agency around the just distribution of the earth’s goods, but we do have the ability to sharpen a vision of human dignity.

However for the Churches to achieve this or to contribute to it we must once again become properly and truly trans-generational bodies, who have the patience and humility to learn from those who we have marginalised in the past, particularly the young.

It would be easy to miss the hinge moment which it seems is facing much of the western world including Ireland. Will the door to a sane and sustainable future swing open or slam shut? In five years’ time will it still be the case that four out of ten young people are afraid to have children because of how they envisage the future. Are we really prepared to say to them: “Sorry, but that’s the best we could do for you”?

Creation Care

In last year’s General Synod Address I mentioned that we hoped to sponsor and organise a Conference on Creation Care in the Spring of 2022. With the assistance of the Church and Society Commission (CASC) and some money from the Church Fabric and Development Fund, but mostly through the enthusiasm of Canon Andrew Orr and Mr Stephen Trew, the event was held inDromantine Conference Centre in April. It was a remarkable event and a remarkable success. There were many very lively and helpful speakers, but for me there were two stars of the show, who in their own way helped me to begin to see the way forward for us as a Church.

The first was a young woman called Hannah who is a Church of England ordinand, a climate activist and a very popular blogger. Among the questions she posed to the Conference were these:

“How will young people know that the Church loves them?”

“How will the Church become a holy people in the world again?”

Of course the answers to the two questions are linked and have a lot (although not everything) to do with creation care.

The second star of the Creation Care Conference was not an individual but a group of young people from the parish of Mullingar who are part of a much larger group of young people taking part in an environmental project called ‘Lighten Our Darkness’. In many ways they answered Hannah’s second question, because not only were they well-read in the theology of creation, but they were out in their communities rewilding church graveyards and glebe land, and showing the world that holiness is not wordy and aloof, but is the involved goodness of God’s people in God’s creation. They had dirt under their fingernails.

Last year the General Synod noted the extraordinary achievements of the RB Investment Committee and Investment Department Staff in divesting, ahead of schedule, from companies who invest in fossil fuel extraction, and to “continue the positive work of collaborative engagement, increasing investments in renewable investments and reducing exposure to fossil fuel producers, so that by 2022, companies where more than 10% of turnover is derived from fossil fuel extraction, will be excluded.” The investment professionals will continue to do their excellent work on our behalf.

But the rest of the task is over to us. If we are to be true to ourselves and also begin to answer the questions around how we show love to our people and become a holy people in the world again, we need to do what that group of young people from Westmeath are doing.

That is, to work on ways of inspiring and equipping parishes to do everything possible to contribute to net zero targets, and to get creation care into our church culture. However in doing this and in asking others to help us achieve it, we need to bear two other linked matters in mind.

The first is that the backbone of the Church of Ireland throughout this island is the rural parish. Farmers and what they do are very visible and because of that can carry the can for the sins of others, in retail and in agri-food. Any leadership or initiatives which we explore as a Church, especially as they trickle down to parish level need to recognise that our method is always to understand, to learn and to persuade.

In fact the only leadership which we in the Church can exercise in any sphere is in the literal Christian sense moral. And by that I mean it is an authority that is part of the Gospel itself. It is not even a set of principles derived from the Gospel, but an integral part of the Gospel. It reflects the character of God in Christ in its absolute respect for human freedom. It is not the authority of the law (which two parties were ever reconciled in the sense of a restored relationship, in a court of law?), it is the authority of grace, which accepts its defeats and limitations, because it is all too well aware that to love with Christ’s love is always a victory, often despite appearances.

It is easy to criticise that sort of leadership but it’s a method based on humility but is also only made possible by having wide sympathies; and its very essence is trust in the Holy Spirit who leads the Church.

The modern sense of the word leadership in one way says too much but in another way says too little about the how we become a holy people in the world again. Too much in the sense that there is nothing of the command and control of an army about it; nor of the pitiless, grinding millstone of the modern bureaucratic state.

But too little because in the servant leadership of the Christian Church, we are called to proclaim the Lordship of Jesus Christ over the whole of mankind, while at the same time illustrating that Lordship by serving others for Jesus’ sake.

It is only by holding the two together that either can be rightly fulfilled. To preach creation care or the cure of souls and not to serve is not really to preach at all: for it is distinctive of Christ’s religion that it requires a harmony of word and deed. Jesus and he alone could offer his own conduct as an illustration of his teaching, summing up his moral demand in the words “Follow me”. And it is a moral demand because, first and foremost, it is an appeal not to the intellect or even to the will, but to the conscience.

If we would be worthy of our calling there must be congruity of life and doctrine. To preach a Lordship of Jesus which is not expressed in loving service of his people is a certain recipe for failure. As the Article asserts, it is indeed true that “… the unworthiness of the ministers hinders not the effect of the sacrament …” but it is no less true that people will not long consent to receive the sacrament from the hands of ministers whose hands offends them. People are very quick to spot a counterfeit whether in the pulpit or in the public square.

And that is particularly true of a small close-knit society in Ireland where people are still able to judge by St Paul’s measure: “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal”.

Indeed, as I speak I am wearing a pair of bamboo socks which I was kindly given as a gift for participating in the Creation Care Conference, and I’m prepared to show them to anyone who’s interested for a small consideration.

Mothers’ Union

You will remember that at last year’s General Synod, as part of the report from the Church and Society Commission, we had a presentation from the Mothers’ Union about the importance of addressing-both in our communities and in our churches – the appalling scourge of gender-based violence, and in particular domestic abuse. Throughout the year the MU have used every opportunity to reinforce that message, particularly through the Global Day of Action which occurs annually during the 16 Days of activism.

They have also, as a body and as individuals, responded to a number of government consultations. In Northern Ireland the MU response to the consultation on a new Domestic and Sexual Abuse Strategy and an Equally Safe Strategy were submitted as the Church of Ireland’s official response as was their work on the Third National Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Strategy in the Republic of Ireland.

A new online resource, developed in association with the help of Bishops’ Appeal and Tearfund –

called ‘Equipping the Church to Take Action to End Domestic Abuse’ – is being piloted at present and will be launched in the Autumn. It will provide us with a real opportunity to make a difference at parish level and I commend it whole heartedly to you.

Ethnic Diversity Project

You may remember that last year I mentioned a piece of research into ethnic diversity, inclusion and racial justice in the Church of Ireland that I had commissioned. The research project was designed by Dr Lucy Michael (a member of this Synod for the Diocese of Dublin) and in collaboration with a small group of clergy and readers from a range of ethnic backgrounds. 

The results of the research survey have been written up over the past week or so and will, I hope, form the basis of some practical work closer to the ground which will be planned and rolled out in the coming year. As I have said repeatedly in General Synod and elsewhere, any family (and the Church of Ireland is a family) derives its vigour and interest, not from the family resemblances of its member’s, but from the differences that exist between them, including differences of ethnicity and colour.

The results of the survey show that we are indeed a welcoming Church, but also that we are hesitant about what to do after we’ve said “hello”. To generalise from what I have been able to take in from the hard data of the survey, it seems we are more likely to go on to say “I hope you are able to enjoy the riches we have on offer”, rather than “tell us about your experience of God and your thoughts about his Church and his World”, much less “how can you help us deepen our experience of these things?”.

I think the results of the survey show that we recognise the benefits of inclusion, but are uncertain about how to turn that recognition into meaningful participation. We need to do some work on that.

Although perhaps not the finding of the survey with the most far-reaching implications, the one which stands out most prominently is around an insufficient acknowledgment by the Church of our entanglement in the past with slavery. As far as I can tell it’s not a statue-destroying militancy, but a heartfelt desire for an understanding based on accurate facts and an appreciation of the legacy that the gruesome reality of slavery has left. Nor is it about the “enormous condescension of posterity” (there is also an appreciation of the part the Church played in the abolition of the slave trade) but an appeal for clear-eyed appreciation of our actions and inactions in the past, and a willingness to address them.

Up until now this project has been something of a personal initiative of my own but the aim is to embed it much more widely throughout the Church of Ireland. This work is important for a number of reasons, not least perhaps in helping us explain to ourselves why, in a world of migration, the numbers of people of different race and colour, are very low in the Church of Ireland. It is true that many may not be Anglicans when they come to Ireland. But it is known that migrants are much more likely to “shop around” for a spiritual home when they arrive in their adoptive country. It might be useful to know why people have popped their heads around our shop door and decided “it’s not for us”.

But it’s important for a much more fundamental reason, which is that, regardless of numbers, Christian pastoral ministry is about the spiritual well-being of every individual. And to do that we need to make the effort to see what other people see and hear what other people hear. It is not only the Anglican Communion that is held together by bonds of affection, but each parish and faith community. And in this instance, as I’ve said repeatedly, it means that we can credibly consider ourselves as fully part of the Catholic Church.

As disciples of Jesus Christ we are not free to satisfy all of our appetites but we have a vocation to satisfy the desire for knowledge and understanding which the survey reveals. I look forward to the work which we can do in the year ahead to make this more of a reality. 

Reconciliation

In my first General Synod Address I had talked about a need for an emphasis on reconciliation, and although not mentioning the word itself, reconciliation has been at the heart of what I have been standing here saying for the past twenty minutes or so.

However in order to earn the right to take part in the work of reconciliation we, as a Church and as individuals need to acknowledge that we too share a similar burden as political leaders in that we are associated with institutions which have, at least historically, benefited from the reinforcement of distinctions between social groups. And, as with political leadership, these differences are connected in some way with conflict.

A friend of mine was a student at the Polytechnic of the South Bank in London in the 1970s where he studied political science and sociology. Apparently there were more members of the Communist Part of Great Britain in the Sociology Department of that Polytechnic than there were in the whole of the rest of GB added together.  At his first seminar he found himself sitting beside a very intense young man who introduced himself by saying: “I’m a libertarian socialist veering towards anarcho-syndicalism.  What are you?” My friend said: “I’m a Methodist”.

Not as daft, or as provincial as it might seem. No doubt as individuals we will each have views across a whole range of public policy issues which will differ widely, and will have the same validity as any private citizen’s view on whatever subject is under discussion. 

However our distinctive contribution to reconciliation is as disciples of Jesus Christ, and I think we should remind ourselves of that very often.

It is in the light of that primary, comprehensive and conclusive allegiance that we should find most of our analytical tools and our vocabulary to address any subject matter, including reconciliation.

We should be clear in everything that we say publicly and privately that we are contributing to the discussion and achievement of a reconciled society as Jesus’ disciples, and that the message and ministry of reconciliation that we find in the New Testament, and as we have experienced it ourselves, is at the core of our understanding of every meaning and context of reconciliation. This is because God is not only the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, but also the Creator of the world.

The Christian experience of reconciliation is not transactional. It is not a case of me bringing my change of heart to God, which he then is almost obliged to reward by forgiveness and reconciliation. It is the presence of Jesus that creates my change of heart and I am his debtor for my repentance as for everything else in those transforming experiences and encounters.

Christian reconciliation is dependent on Christ and mediated through him. But Christ Himself and all the reconciling virtue associated with him are themselves mediated to us in numberless ways. As disciples we might consider how we can mediate that reconciling virtue by engaging, encouraging and exemplifying.

Engaging, not only with ourselves and our faith traditions (although that is vital and will be a good barometer of our effectiveness and sincerity) but with other agencies and groups in civic society.

Encouraging those, particularly in the sector who seek to bring wholeness to lives that are very damaged and usually overlooked. voluntary

Continuing to exemplify, by acknowledging that we remain captive to many sub-Christian influences and are struggling towards what might be called a more repentant ecclesiology. The hope would be that in doing so we help create the environment or platform in which self-examination can take place and where the virtue of self-suspicion is valued.

It has been our own experience that God treats us better, much better, than we deserve. And to remember his example, when as in the field of reconciliation is often the case, that our victories will be in private but our humiliations will be in public.

Ukraine

Unless it is to go on forever, an address of this sort cannot hope to cover everything that is on our minds or even which will be the subject of discussion during this Synod. Indeed it shouldn’t try to, as there are many able presentations and speakers yet to handle these matters over the three days we are together.

However, I want to conclude by saying a very few words on what is, for most of the world, the great matter of the day; the invasion and desecration of Ukraine by the Russian military and the Russian regime. When historians look back they will no doubt find it to be a war with many causes but with no justification.

I know that many of you will have responded to the needs of the Ukraine as individuals in a variety of ways already; through offering accommodation, or making donations of one kind or another. As a Church we have also made our modest contributions through the Bishops’ Appeal, and there are diocesan initiatives to provide housing and a place of worship in Dublin.

And I hope this Synod will agree with me in demonstrating our solidarity with the government and people of the Ukraine by joining with me in prayer as I conclude. You know, for all the weaknesses and faults that make us vessels of clay, we are still one of the few institutions which can act as custodians of the big long-term questions of our world, especially in the face of a relentless short-term electoral cycle. And there is nothing which requires that long-term care more than the rules-based order which emerged in the wake of the last world war.

And when we pray we are not suggesting to God something which otherwise would not have occurred to him. When we pray we are bringing his presence into whatever the situation might be, whether it is personal tragedy or an international conflict.

But before I pray, the other action which I hope we can take as a Synod is to send a message to our brothers and sisters in Christ in the Russian Orthodox Church and especially to Patriarch Kirill. When one part of the Body of Christ is wounded, even when those wounds are self-inflicted, the whole body suffers.

We live in an age when calls are made for resignations of those in public life for the most trivial reasons, yet no-one can say sorry for the most egregious failures. That should never be the case for Christian leaders.

So we appeal to the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus’ to think again about what lies behind this conflict and to use the grace given to him by the Lord of the Church, the Good Shepherd, to help bring this barbarous war to a just end.

Almighty God, from whom all thoughts of peace proceed: kindle we pray you, in every heart the true love of peace: and guide with your pure and peaceable wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth: that in tranquillity your kingdom may go forward, till the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

ENDS

Issued by the Church of Ireland Press Office

Honours were shared between Bishop Andrew and Rev Paul Lyons when they came face-to-face in a special ‘cook off’ in St Mary’s Church Parish Hall in Macosquin. The ‘Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook’ event was the brainchild of Select Vestry member, Lilian, Davis, and was organised as part of the Parish of Camus-Juxta-Bann’s 400^thanniversary celebrations, which are taking place throughout this year.

The scores of parishioners and friends who crammed into the hall were treated first to a culinary masterclass by the renowned celebrity chef, Jenny Bristow, who made the preparation and cooking of a soda bread-Ulster Fry combination and a savoury tart look very easy. Regrettably, the Rector, Rev Lyons, and his Bishop followed soon afterwards and showed, very quickly, how difficult cookery can be.

Jenny – a native of Macosquin – had set their clergymen the task of making and baking a soda bread scone, followed by baked Alaska. Egged on by their enthusiastic audience, the would-be chefs threw themselves into the challenge wholeheartedly. At one point, word came through from the kitchen that one of the loaves of bread was a tad overdone but it didn’t put either man off his stroke.

Bishop Andrew was ‘up’ for the challenge. ‘He’s an awful nice fellow,” he said of his rival,”but he’s not much of a baker.” The Bishop was soon made to eat his words.

At the end of the cook-off, braver members of the audience had a chance to sample the fare before the hall voted to decide who had won. The result was a triumph for diplomacy, with the Rector coming out tops in the soda bread contest and Bishop Andrew ‘taking gold’ with his baked Alaska.The evening ended with a short reflection by Bishop Andrew about the staples in our lives – the things that matter most in our lives: food to eat, families who love us, homes to live in, job security. “It’s interesting that whenever Jesus comes into the world,” the Bishop said, “one of the messages that he tries to share with all of us is that the staple for life – the everyday necessity for life, the thing that sustains life, that blesses life, that enriches life – is being close to God. That’s what matters. The one thing that Christians say is unchangeable, unshakeable, unconditional, is God’s love for us. As one writer says, there’s nothing we can do to make God love us more, and there’s nothing we can do to make God love us less. He loves us. And it strikes me that whenever we go ‘off staple’, whenever we go off what really matters in life, that’s when we end up running into problems and into difficulties.”

The All-Ireland President of Mothers’ Union, June Butler, joined Diocesan President, Jacqui Armstrong, and members of the Derry and Raphoe Mothers’ Union at a tree-planting ceremony on the outskirts of Londonderry on Thursday, to mark the Queen’s forthcoming platinum jubilee.

The women were greeted by blue skies and glorious sunshine as they gathered at Brackfield Wood, which skirts the River Faughan, just off the main Derry to Belfast Road near Killaloo. The area has been earmarked by the Woodland Trust for the cultivation of a centenary wood, and will eventually include 40,000 native trees commemorating soldiers who lost their lives during the First World War.

The MU members were met by staff from the Woodland Trust who provided them with spades which the women used to plant 70 trees – a mixture of native oak and cherry trees. They were also addressed by one of the Trust’s ambassadors, Peter Cregg MBE, who outlined the organisation’s plans for the wood.

The Diocesan President led the women in a prayer of thanksgiving for Her Majesty’s 70 years of faithful service. Mrs Armstrong said the Queen had shown kindness and compassion, great integrity and wisdom. She had never been afraid to stand up and say, “I believe in God; I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my rock and my salvation. She has had her roots firmly planted in the ground.”

The tree-planting ceremony was the idea of Mrs Kathleen Finlay, who had written to the Queen to explain what the diocesan MU would be doing to mark the platinum jubilee. In her letter, Mrs Finlay said they hoped for only one thing for today’s event – a sunny day – and the ladies certainly got their wish.Ms Armstrong thanked the All-Ireland president and Mr Cregg for coming to the ceremony; the women (and Rev Canon Robert Clarke) for planting trees on behalf of MU; and two of the Woodland Trust’s staff – Dave Scott and Tommy Pringle – for advising on and assisting with the tree-planting, and for providing the tools.

The Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Rt Rev Andrew Forster, brought a number of ‘furry friends’ with him when he visited Gartan National School in Donegal, this morning, along with the Rector of Conwal with Gartan, Rev David Houlton. It was the latest in a series of school visits Bishop Andrew’s making to schools throughout the Diocese of Raphoe.

The pupils and their teachers laid on a special assembly for the Bishop, who’s a patron of Gartan N.S. It included a number of hymns performed by junior and senior pupils, and prayers led by the seniors.

Bishop Andrew used a number of puppets as props to preach to the children about the Parable of the Lost Sheep, explaining to them how important each one of them was in the eyes of God. He also thanked the teaching staff, telling them that they – like healthcare workers – were among the ‘heroes’ of the pandemic, for the way in which they had performed their duties over the two years of the Covid crisis.

The Bishop and Rev Houlton were given a guided tour of the new extension to Gartan N.S. which is still under construction. The extension will double the school’s size when it reopens after the summer holidays.

There was a healthy turnout of people from different parishes in the Diocese of Derry for the Evening Service in Christ Church, Limavady on Sunday March 13^th to hear from a special visitor from the South Seas.

Rt Rev William ‘Willie’ Alaha Pwaisiho, a retired bishop of the Anglican Church of Melanesia, was in the North West at the invitation of old friend Rev Canon Mike Roemmele to share about ministry, life and culture in Solomon Islands, where the two men first met more than 50 years ago.

In the late 1960s, the young Mike Roemmele was teaching in the Solomon Islands with Voluntary Service Overseas and the even younger William Pwaisiho was a student in the school where he taught. The two have since completed many decades in ministry – in Rt Rev William Pwaisiho’s case as a bishop – before their well-earned retirements.

It was a busy day for Bishop ‘Willie’ who preached in St Columb’s Cathedral, Londonderry on Sunday morning before delivering another homily seven hours later in Limavady. In his address there, Bishop Pwaisiho talked about the Melanesian Church’s debt to people from these shores who brought the faith to the South Sea Islands, and who supported the church there with people, money and prayers.

The Rector of Christ Church, Rev Canon Aonghus Mayes, led Sunday evening’s Service. He was assisted by Bishop Andrew Forster, who welcomed Bishop ‘Willie’ to the Diocese. There was a third Bishop in church for the occasion – Rt Rev Patrick Rooke, retired Bishop of Tuam, Killala, and Achonry.

Canon Mayes thanked Bishop Pwaisiho and Canon Roemmele for sharing with the congregation. The Rector led the congregation in praying for the people of Ukraine, in light of recent events there, and for better stewardship of the earth’s resources.

After the service, Canon Roemmele gave a slide presentation in Christ Church Limavady’s Parish Hall, assisted by his old friend. Canon Roemmele brought along many artifacts and mementoes from his time in the Solomon Islands which were placed on display for their audience to view. The two men talked to the group about the impact of climate change on the islands – a number of which have been lost to the sea in recent decades – as well as the effects of decolonisation.

The evening concluded with Bishop Pwaisiho reciting the Lord’s Prayer in Pidgin English.

Relatives who lost loved ones during the worst year of the Troubles – 1972 – took part in a Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving in Saint Columb’s Cathedral, Londonderry on Friday the 11th March, which was organised in conjunction with South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF) to mark the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism.

The Dean of Derry, Very Rev Raymond Stewart, who led the Service, welcomed those who were “parents, husbands and wives, sons and daughters” of those who were being remembered. “Many of you have carried emotional scars over many decades,” the Dean said. “In the words of the theme of this Service, I hope that the hurt you have felt and continue to feel is acknowledged, so your pain will be healed by our loving and merciful God.”

SEFF spokesman Kenny Donaldson addressed the congregation, saying the Service had come about because they were staring into 30 years of 50th anniversaries. “1972, as you painfully know, was the worst year of the Troubles in the context of the loss of human life. Almost 500 people perished as a result of those Troubles and 4,000 were injured, and I also want to say that there is a family who are contributing, tonight, and they still await even closure around that issue,” – a reference to the family of one of the ‘Disappeared’, Columba McVeigh.

Mr Donaldson said they had gathered as one in the Cathedral to send out a message of solidarity and of unity. “We come from across the religious, and no-practising, and across the political spectrum, in whatever shade you come. But as we always say within SEFF, we need to start realising, what is the ‘them and us’ within our society in Northern Ireland? Is it Protestant and Catholic? Is it Unionist and Nationalist? Or is it actually where we stand on the issue of the sanctity of human life? That surely, folks, is the real ‘them and us’.”

In his sermon, the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Rt Rev Andrew Forster, pointed out that the sanctuary of the cathedral had been decorated with flowers in the colours of the Ukrainian flag for Friday evening’s Service. “Of all people,” Bishop Andrew said, “you understand the anxiety, the fear, the heartache that all the people of Ukraine are going through tonight. It’s very appropriate, this evening, that we pray for them and also [that] we give to their relief later on this evening.” As they left the church, the congregation were invited to contribute to a collection which will be used to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.

The Bishop said he was honoured and humbled to share with people who had borne pain and heartache and grief with dignity and grace. “You have lived through years of lost experiences, of opportunities that never came, of children that were never born, of grandchildren that were never to be because of a bullet or a bomb.”

Bishop Andrew described grief as a journey without a terminal or destination. It was a journey people had to travel throughout their lives. “To be frank, as a pastor, I have stood in awe of the resilience of many people just like you who have gone on to live their lives, to bless their families and help their communities, yet I know that the years of trauma and the tears of trauma are still incredibly raw, and they are tears that never truly go away.”

The Bishop recalled some of the worst incidents from 1972’s “dastardly roll call”, names that he said were carved into the granite of our memory and etched into our collective psyche: Bloody Sunday, Aldershot, Claudy, The Abercorn, Bloody Friday. “And let me say something that all of you know only too well, that tears transcend division: there is no difference in a broken Protestant heart and a broken Catholic heart; there is no difference in the heartache and grief and tears of loss. And what we do tonight, all these years later – and what you do, I’m sure, most nights – is grieve. Tonight, we grieve together. Grief is that terrible emotion of having to say goodbye, compounded when we’re not ready to say goodbye, and multiplied when the grief is caused by the wicked and evil intent of another human being.”

The God whom they worshipped tonight was finely tuned to our hurts and fears, heartache and pain, Bishop Andrew said. “Our God is the God who comes alongside those who grieve, but – more than that – who carries us in our hurt. We grieve today and grief is that emotion that in some strange way helps us – it breaks us, but it helps us understand the depth of love that we have for that person whom we have lost. Grief writes in capital letters the word ‘Love’, because it shows us again and again the love that was given to us by the one we’ve lost, and the love that in a strange way we still give to them after all these years.”

Friday evening’s service was a ‘Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving’. “Today, what we are thankful for,” the Bishop said, “are the gifts of God that every life lost in 1972 and all those other years of our Troubles, the gifts of God that all those lives were to families, and friends and community. I know it’s a very different context but St Paul in one of his letters wrote this: ‘I thank my God every time I remember you.’ And thankfulness, turned to prayer to God, gives us a renewed strength; thankfulness, turned to prayer to God, gives us grace and resilience for the good days and the hard days.”

During the Service, Eugene McVeigh – whose brother Columba was shot dead and buried secretly by the IRA almost 50 years ago – shared a reflection. The Old and New Testament readings were given by the brother of a murdered police officer and the daughter of a Claudy bomb victim. Other readings were delivered by people who lost loved ones in 1972 and by a former police officer who was grievously injured in an IRA booby-trap bombing in 1988.

Dean Stewart was assisted in the Service by Rev Canon John Merrick and Fr Michael Canny, and the Dean welcomed other clergy who were in the congregation.

The new Rector of Desertmartin and Termoneeny, Rev Philip Benson, led prayers for the people of Ukraine on Friday evening (25th February) during his Service of Institution in St Comgall’s Church in Desertmartin.

The new incumbent was instituted by the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Rt Rev Andrew Forster, who described it as “a red-letter day” for the parishes. The service marked the end of a vacancy that had lasted over two years, following the retirement of the previous Rector, Rev Mike Dornan.

As the service drew to a close, Rev Benson gave thanks to God for the peace that he offered us, and prayed for those living in areas where there was conflict and violence. “So, we commend to your merciful prayer the people and government of Ukraine that being guided by your providence, they may dwell secure in your peace. Grant to their leaders and all in authority wisdom and strength to know and to do your will. Fill them with the love of truth and righteousness, and make them ever mindful of their calling to serve their people. And we ask your blessing upon the work of the United Nations and all who seek to build peace.”

Earlier in the service, the Preacher, Rev Chris Mac Bruithin – who has known the new incumbent since their student days – disclosed to the congregation in St Comgall’s that their new Rector was a Star Trek fan – “when I say fan, I mean fanatic” – was a Leeds United fan and had already ‘liked’ Desertmartin FC on social media. He also had a quick wit and was very good at puns. “I thought that tonight, in Philip’s honour, and in light of our Gospel passage, I might try my hand at some puns. It’s a reading in which branches are bearing fruit and I thought, ‘Philip’s branching out in the Diocese, he’s going out on a limb coming here, but he’s landed a plum job.’”

Rev Mac Bruithin reminded the new incumbent that God himself had brought him to the Parishes of Desertmartin and Termoneeny to bear fruit, where he would do things in his own way in the skin that God had put him in.

“You’ll learn very quickly,” the preacher told the congregation, “that Philip has a gentle strength, and that in my experience is a rare thing to come across; Philip has a sincere love of God; he has a genuine love of people and he will love you. He has a knowledge of scripture and he has an ability to teach it, and he has a sensitivity for reconciliation.

“Philip, you could have applied those talents and transferred those skills to other careers and made lots of money and made a real success, but you’ve offered them as a gift to God.”

Before instituting the new Rector, Bishop Andrew assured him that “the modesty” of the gathering – the church was still practising social distancing and sitting in alternating pews – did not reflect the huge welcome that he was getting. “Our prayer tonight, as you begin this new chapter in your life as a family, as you begin this new chapter in your ministry, our prayer tonight is that you will quickly feel at home, that you will know the love of the family of God in these parishes, and you’ll know the equipping of the Holy Spirit as a family and as a minister of the Gospel in this place.

“A Service of Institution is a red-letter day, it’s a red-letter day for a parish. It’s a day when we look back in thankfulness for all that’s gone before, and we look ahead, we look ahead with excitement as to what God plans for us in the future. You know, we’re living in challenging times for any church as we move out of the pandemic, and what you will have in your new rector is someone who will help you together to find what it is to renew, rebuild and re-energise the Church of Jesus Christ in these parishes for what we face ahead, with both trepidation but also joy, because this is God’s work, and we delight in being part of God’s work this night.”

During Friday evening’s service, gratitude was expressed to the Rev Tommy Allen, who had provided cover in the parishes during the two-year vacancy. Bishop Andrew was assisted in the service by the Archdeacon of Derry, Ven. Robert Miller; the Diocesan Registrar, Rev Canon David Crooks; the Rural Dean, Rev Canon Colin Welsh, and the Bishop’s Curate, Rev Carmen Hayes.

A Donegal Church of Ireland parishioner was presented with one of the Royal British Legion Republic of Ireland’s highest honours, on Sunday 20^th February, when her fundraising efforts on behalf of the charity – spanning over half a century – were recognised in her local church in Castlefinn.

The Irish Free State Salver – a silver plate which recognises voluntary endeavour – was presented to Pearl Barnett, by the Legion’s President in the Republic, Lt. Col. Ken Martin, during a Service of Holy Communion in St Patrick’s Church, Donaghmore. Several of the organisation’s most senior officeholders in the Republic were also there in person to pay tribute to Mrs Barnett. The service was led by Rev Arthur Burns.

Mrs Barnett has been a stalwart of the Poppy Appeal in Donegal since her early teens. She follows a tradition begun by her parents, ex-Service man Thomas Nesbitt and his wife Lydia, many years ago. “I’m giving my age away,” Pearl laughed, “but I joined them in collecting for the Poppy Appeal before I was 14 – that’s 55 years – ago. My father died in 2010, the year of the bad winter, but my mother said she would keep the fundraising going for him. She was still doing the Appeal up until three years ago. She’s 95 now, so now I’m doing it for her.”    

Pearl was overwhelmed by today’s presentation. “I was expecting to meet two men from the Royal British Legion at the Service, but I’d no idea this was going to happen.”

The Poppy Appeal’s organiser in the Republic, Brian Crawford, told the congregation that he was a volunteer and that he relied on the help of hundreds of other volunteers throughout the Republic of Ireland. “One of our best volunteers is your parishioner, Pearl, who has been collecting for the British Legion for years, with her mother Lydia. The two of them have been putting me and others to shame over the years, so we are here to thank Pearl – and Lydia – for all their service to the British Legion.”

The charity’s chairman in the Republic, Major Brian Duffy, presented Pearl with a record of her 55 years of “service and dedication” to the Poppy Appeal. He said the decision to award the Irish Free State Salver to Pearl, this year, was made by the Royal British Legion Republic of Ireland Conference. “Donegal stands head and shoulders among the contributors to our Poppy Appeal,” he told the parishioners, “and thank you all very much for that. Pearl, as the coordinator of our Poppy Appeal in the county, your name is always on our lips at our conference every year. So, thank you so, so much.”

Thirty young people from six different parishes took part in an ‘in-person’ Confirmation Day event at the Acorn Centre (St Peter’s Church) in Londonderry on Saturday. It was the first such get together since the pandemic started two years ago.

The event was organised by the Diocesan Youth Officer, Claire Hinchliff. Claire was assisted by clergy and volunteers from the parishes involved. The programme involved the young people in activities and exercises designed to prepare them for when they make their confirmation over the next few weeks and months.

Bishop Andrew Forster – who’ll be confirming the young people – joined the group for a time. He recalled his own confirmation, over 40 years ago, and shared a reflection with the group based on the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

Unusually, for a Diocesan Confirmation Day, the number of boys taking part outnumber girls by almost two to one.