The Church Of Ireland
Press Release

It will long remain one of the most rewarding tasks I have ever done to be Chairman of the Archbishop's Commission now known as "The Eames Commission". As we met in various parts of the world I gained such insights into the different attitudes within the Communion on the ordination of women to the priesthood and the episcopate. I met many people, I listened to many views and I met enthusiasm, vision, hurt and deeply held conviction.

The Church of Ireland was the first Anglican Church in these islands to take the step of opening priesthood and the episcopate to women. I well remember the debate and the decision of the General Synod a decade ago. Since then women serve in the sacred ministry of the Church of Ireland throughout our various dioceses. Inevitably those of you who were ordained in the early days following that decision faced difficulties and pressures. Perceptions and curiosity can be unkind as well as sympathetic. I join with you in this moment of anniversary as you reflect, give thanks and recommit yourselves to God's service.

On this occasion as Primate I want to affirm all who serve the priesthood of the Church of Ireland. I recognise again as you do that there are some who find it hard to accept that women's ordination has occurred in the Church. I appreciate their feelings and the sincerity of their views. Sensitivity to those views is just as important as our thoughts here tonight as we mark the tenth anniversary of the decision of our General Synod. Diversity of gifts just as diversity of Ministry is the hall-mark of Anglicanism. I thank God that sensitivity to the deeply held convictions of others and a lack of triumphalism has been so obvious in the past decade in our Church. Recognition of deeply-held convictions is a priority for the Church which seeks God's will. Insensitivity should have no part in our life or witness. Given differing views sincerely held surely the advice of the Eames Commission needs to be remembered:

we must at all times seek the highest degree of communion possible not just between differing views in Provinces of the Anglican Communion - but between ourselves as individuals in the Church of God.

I want to suggest that on an occasion such as this even more important than the anniversary of an event is the opportunity to reflect on priesthood itself and to do so in the context of the privilege of calling and service.

Priesthood is still the noblest of all callings. In sanctuary and pulpit we are all commissioned to bring the people committed to our charge to God. We are called in the homes of our people to speak the word of God in pastoral ministry. We are called to be witnesses and examples to the people of God. I feel there are two aspects of vocation we need to recall:

First, it is God who calls.

"You have not chosen me - I have chosen you ..." How often do we think of those words? At times of stress or tension in Ministry they are words of encouragement and indeed comfort. None of us should ever forget our unworthiness to serve let alone witness. Pride should never in worldly terms be any part of our make-up as priests. Privilege is the key word. God has granted us privilege in service. The question we really need to keep ever before us is simply "Why me, Lord?" With all our weaknesses, shortcomings, human frailties and emotions God has entrusted us with that most precious of all gifts - the opportunity in a world of division, suspicion and immense human need to bring to people the spiritual dimension to their experience of life. We will be ignored as well as appreciated. We will be criticised as well as affirmed. We will be counted irrelevant as well as vital. But in the end - it is God who calls. It is we who respond.

Today that call is made to a Church which ministers in a world of great contradictions. Truly it can be said that while every generation of priesthood faces its own challenges can there have been a time when the challenges of ministry have been greater? On the one hand secularism in the developed world - on the other the continuing cry of want and need in the poorest regions. On the one hand material prosperity accompanies value judgements which often conflict with basic Christianity - on the other exploitation of human beings and the environment God created exists alongside starvation and the injustice of world debt. For the Church the judgement of a generation determined to seek relevance only in human terms in the west is matched by the rise of religions and philosophies across the world which pay scant attention if at all to the babe of Bethlehem.

Here in Ireland the call to the Church is above all one of identity. Ireland has changed and is changing in ways only future generations will really understand. We are living at a time of transition. The old Ireland and its ideas of what was important is dying. The struggles we are witnessing are really to do with the speed of change, the accommodation of change, the fear of change and the imponderables of a largely unknown future. The path of economic success co-exists with the tensions of what we want to hold on to from our past and what we can grasp for a more just and more satisfying future. The priesthood of word and sacrament is struggling to find how best to communicate an ancient faith in ways a generation of both self-analysis and indifference can understand. Relevance is the key word. People both in sight of pulpit and sanctuary and beyond our doors make judgements of the Church in terms of relevance. That relevance is more and more in terms of the world than of things spiritual. The greatest task we face is to show that the things of God are relevant, are important and indeed vital to ideas of justice, decency and satisfaction,

It is to that task we are called.

Second, when God calls He always enables.

For me this has been a corner-stone of my understanding of the Ministry and the Church. On our own we can achieve nothing. With God the possibilities are unimaginable. The gift of the living Spirit is a foundation of Ministry just as it is of the Christian approach to life. The priest who fails to be renewed in that belief constantly is not responding to the on-going call of Christ.

Renewal is the key. I pray that in your gathering these days you will find time to be renewed in the gifts God has given you. Of course you want to celebrate this anniversary. But with joy comes the responsibility to reflect yet again on the nature of your calling and the responsibilities God has given to you. The call of God is one thing - the assurance of enabling is equally important. It is not for us to judge - it is for God who called us in the first place.

As I view my experience of the world-wide Anglican Communion and as I think of the life and witness of the Church here in Ireland I am convinced there is a crisis of confidence we must recognise. That crisis has many aspects. There are times when we measure the success of the Church in statistics or influence rather than faithfulness. It is easy to become down-hearted if facts and figures are the only criteria of that success. When we allow ourselves to do so we pass judgement through the process of the secular. We surely need to be reminded that the vocation of priesthood is to offer a dimension to life which is first and foremost spiritual. It is to the spiritual element in human-kind we are called to minister. It is the spiritual values we must emphasise. It is to the enabling of the God who called us we must look for our encouragement. As he calls God enables. The various gifts we bring to ordination are renewed by our daily walk with the God who alone judges.

The root of that enabling is encouragement. It is by our faithfulness to our ordination vows that the real estimate of a successful priesthood is made. The answer to any crisis of confidence is one of renewal, of new dependence on God and a new recognition of our place In God's purpose for the world. Let us therefore find fresh heart, fresh love and fresh courage as we minister. Let us be renewed in the task given to us.

So we meet around the Lord's table to give thanks, to be renewed - and to be encouraged. May true humility mark our recollection of the decisions a decade ago. May God give each of us a fresh vision of that call to which we once responded and may He who enables give us all great encouragement in the pilgrimage of ministry and faith.