DIOCESAN SYNOD ADDRESS 2004 

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OUTSIDE RESOURCES

OVER A YEAR AGO, THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY ASKED THE ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH ONCE AGAIN, TO STEP ‘INTO THE BREACH IN THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION' . HE INVITED HIM TO CHAIR HIS ‘LAMBETH COMMISSION ON COMMUNION', ESTABLISHED TO DEAL WITH THE SERIOUS RIFT IN COMMUNION AMONGST ITS MEMBER PROVINCES, ARISING OUT OF ISSUES CONNECTED WITH SEXUALITY IN GENERAL AND HOMOSEXUALITY IN PARTICULAR.

HE WAS OF COURSE ASKING THE RIGHT MAN, FOR ARCHBISHOP EAMES HAD DONE SIMILAR RECONCILING WORK IN THE PAST. FOR EXAMPLE, AS CHAIR OF HIS OWN ‘EAMES COMMISSION', HE DEALT WITH THE THEOLOGICAL AND ECCELSIOLOGICAL TENSIONS ARISING OUT OF THE ORDINATION OF WOMEN AS PRIESTS AND BISHOPS IN CERTAIN PARTS OF THE COMMUNION. A WAY FORWARD WAS CLARIFED, ENABLING DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES TO LIVE IN THE ONE COMMUNION IN HARMONY.

THIS ‘ WINDSOR REPORT', WHICH WAS ONLY PUBLISHED AT NOON ON MONDAY (SIGNIFICANTLY THE FEAST OF SAINT LUKE, PATRON OF HEALING), DOES NOT ALLOW FOR A SPEEDY RESPONSE. RATHER IT IS A MOST IMPORTANT RESOURCE FOR EACH MEMBER PROVINCE OF THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION, SUCH AS THE CHURCH OF IRELAND, TO REFLECT UPON AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, TO RESPOND TO AS NECESSARY, NOT LEAST IN RELATION TO ITS ‘COVENANT PROPOSALS'.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO EMPHASISE THAT ALTHOUGH THE GENESIS OF THE REPORT LIES IN ISSUES I HAVE ALREADY MENTIONED, ITS BRIEF WAS EXPLICITLY NOT TO EXAMINE SUCH ISSUES. RATHER, ITS BRIEF WAS TO LOOK IN THEOLOGICAL DEPTH AT THE ECCLESIOLOGICAL ISSUES OF COMMUNION AND EPISCOPACY IN PARTICULAR, AT A TIME OF CRISIS FOR SUCH ‘INSTRUMENTS OF COMMUNION'. TO EXPLORE HOW THE TRADITIONAL ‘BONDS OF AFFECTION' WHICH EXIST BETWEEN THE AUTONOMOUS PARTS OF COMMUNION CAN BE STRENGTHENED, LEST THEY DEGENERATE INTO ‘BONDS OF DISAFFECTION', OR WORSE.

QUESTIONS ALONG THE FOLLOWING LONES ARE RAISED – ‘WHAT ARE THE INSTRUMENTS OF COMMUNION WHICH ARE VITAL TO OUR CATHOLICITY?'; ‘WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE EPISCOPATE AS AN INSTRUMENT OF CATHOLICITY?'; 'WHAT DO WE UNDERSTAND BY THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE?'.

THESE AND OTHER SERIOUS AND EXCITING QUESTIONS ARE EXAMINED AND REFLECTED UPON IN THIS REPORT, WHICH I RE-EMPHASISE DESERVES REFLECTIVE STUDY AND NOT SPEEDY COMMENT.

HOWEVER, I WOULD ENCOURAGE PARISHIONERS WHO HAVE THE WELL BEING OF THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION AT HEART, TO RESPOND IN TWO WAYS IN PARTICULAR AT THIS TIME. FIRST, TO READ THE REPORT CAREFULLY BEFORE PASSING ANY COMMENT. IT IS AVAILABLE ON THE WEB.

SECONDLY, TO GIVE THANKS FOR THE WORK OF THE ARCHBISHOP AND THE MEMBERS OF HIS COMMISSION AND TO CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR HIM AND HIS BROTHER ARCHBISHOP IN CANTERBURY AT THIS TIME OF CHALLENGE AND PROMISE FOR US ALL, NOT LEAST AS A PROCESS OF RECEPTION DEVELOPS OVER THE MONTHS AHEAD. IT IS WORTH NOTING POSITIVELY THAT EACH MEMBER OF THE COMMISSION, COMING FROM DIVERSE CULTURAL AND THEOLOGICAL BACKGROUNDS, SIGNED THE REPORT. NO MEAN FEAT AND A PERSONAL TRIBUTE TO THE WORK OF OUR ARCHBISHOP.

LET US NOW MOVE TO THE BUSINESS OF SYNOD IN CONFIDENCE AND THANKSGIVING TO GOD.

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