CHURCH'S WORLDVIEW HAS TO CHANGE

The need for the Church of Ireland to radically alter its worldview was stressed by the Right Revd Paul Colton at the Dublin & Glendalough Diocesan Forum in All Hallows’ College on Saturday 24 November 2001.

He said “For too long we’ve seen ourselves as besieged in a hostile world. Our goal is to build a strong city – a fortress church. The fortress has to come down, we need to open up, become flexible and be unafraid of our encounter with the other human cultures and sub-cultures around us.”

The Forum was part of a process to identify priority issues for Dublin & Glendalough and grew out of requests at the Diocesan Synod for more time for in-depth discussion on matters of concern. Pre-planning included wide consultations at parish and rural deanery level.

From this process five topics emerged:

Group discussion of these topics formed the main work of the Forum interspersed with a wonderful Taizé style Eucharist celebrated by Archbishop Empey. The archbishop’s welcome was followed by the Ministry of the Word, lunch by the Prayers of the Church and the Liturgy of the Sacrament took place towards the end of the day.

Clergy and Lay Representatives from Every Parish
Bishop Colton urged the 200+ audience comprising clergy and two lay representatives from each parish to have the courage to let go of the “baggage” which held them back. The Church’s future depended on how it equipped its members, clergy and laity, for ministry. “Far too many of us at many levels of Church are being asked to make bricks without straw and to make omelettes without breaking eggs.”

He said that for many people modern believing has become “a pick n’mix lucky bag” which could be described as “Spiritual with no organised faith” or as a Christianity which moves on by “leap-frogging” the Church.

The Church’s reaction could be to close its eyes, baton down the hatches, return to the past or “run the risk of going into the wilderness with God and discovering there who we are and what he wants us to become.”

Dr Patricia Barker, registrar of Dublin City University, noted the Church of Ireland’s absence from the workplace. She said “Soon the Church will minister only to those on the margins who are left in the villages and towns - the sick, the retired, the unemployed” .

Church will lose out
“If action is not taken we could lose the game. We could be ousted by yoga classes, Joe Duffy, personal counsellors, reflexology, internet chat rooms, business ethics trainers and, God help us, the Little Book of Calm.”

Pleading for the Church’s worship to be more relevant she said, “I would like to hear how the Christian framework can guide me in the very real ethical dilemmas that I bang up against every day. What I do not like is having the rector choose every Sunday what he or she feels is the appropriate message while I sit passively by trying to fit it into my life.”

She called for a more inclusive process of applying Christian principles and suggested a seminar format instead of a lecture format in services. She said, “Such reflective worship should not be confined to Sundays. Every day is the Lord’s Day.”

Preliminary Findings
Preliminary findings from the group discussions showed a remarkable similarity with requests for diocesan co-ordinators, the breakdown of parish boundaries, sharing of resources and training for laity, featuring prominently. Obviously most of those present enjoyed the well-organised event and calls for further fora with smaller numbers also featured.

Other noteworthy points included the following reports from the animateurs:

• Ministry/support for clergy
  Ruth Handy said, “Clergy badly need support. Administrative support for clergy should be mandatory. They should also have regular retreats and sabbaticals. We need to examine what we mean by ministry and to work out the different roles of minister, pastor and priest.”
• Faith Development
  Canon Nigel Dunne said, “The Church should have a visible presence in shopping centres and workplaces”. He proposed that a faith development support team should be established. One of its tasks could be the nurturing of parents’ faith at the time of their children’s confirmation.
• Social Ministry and Care of the Elderly
  Canon John McCullagh said, “The elderly go through different stages and need different support at different times. Resources provided by voluntary agencies and Government funding for projects should be investigated.”
• Children and Youth
  Carol Revington called for professional leaders. “We need to identify where young people are at rather than the Church telling them and expecting them to come to us.” She suggested an old-fashioned mission, a central roadshow, and the use of internet chat shows where young people could discuss issues that are important to them.
• Attracting and Keeping members
  Karen Seaman proposed that a welcome team should be part of each parish’s organisation. A review of growing parishes should also be undertaken to discover how and why they are growing.

The final stage in the process will be undertaken by the Diocesan Councils to see how the proposals can be implemented.

-ENDS-

With the compliments of the Diocesan Communications Officer 29/11/01

THE CHURCH OF IRELAND
DIOCESES OF DUBLIN & GLENDALOUGH
DIOCESAN COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER VALERIE JONES
TEL: 01-4935 405/087-2356 472 (H) 01-4946 202 FAX: 01-4944 720
E-mail:dco@dublin.anglican.org