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The Church Of Ireland
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PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
DELIVERED BY
THE RT. REV. PAUL COLTON
TO THE SYNOD OF THE DIOCESE OF
CORK, CLOYNE AND ROSS
Saturday 11th June 2000
at
The West Cork Hotel, Skibbereen, Co. Cork
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Introduction: Dear friends in Christ, we meet in his name, as the pilgrim people of God, to do the work of his Church. I welcome you in this holy millennium year of Christian celebration, and I thank you for your attendance at this Diocesan Synod of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.Diocesan Synod in West Cork: I'm delighted, early in my ministry as Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, to preside at Diocesan Synod here in West Cork, and in this context, to underscore the rural character of many of the parishes of the diocese. I want our presence here today to be an affirmation to parishes in the west: of how much we admire and support you.Ours is essentially a Rural Diocese As I flew into Cork from Manchester on Tuesday evening following the two-day meeting of Bishops from these islands the plane came along the east coast from the north, swooped around and landed in Cork from the south. I could see Cloyne to the east, the Galtees to the north and the road through Ballinhassig towards Bandon stretched towards the west. In every direction, because the city was hidden in the valley, the overwhelming impression was of fields in every shade of green. In essence this sums up the rural character of most of our diocese and articulates the importance to it of the agricultural sector.The Trend Towards Urbanisation This landscape and demography is being overtaken rapidly by change. It has been pointed out that "…in 1950 just twenty-five per cent of the world's population lived in towns and cities. By the turn of the millennium it has reached that powerfully symbolic figure of fifty per cent. What we have now to reckon with is that by the year 2010 it is estimated that no less than seventy-five per cent of the world's population will be urban."1 Ireland already, according to the 1996 census surpasses that trend with 58% living in combined towns and suburbs.Very fabric of rural Ireland - threatened! Witnesses to rural decline. The character of rural Ireland, including this diocese, and the agricultural sector in particular, is changing. Those who live in towns cannot be complacent either, for a strong farming hinterland is the life-blood of many of our towns and urban centres. We are the witnesses of rural decline and a threatened agricultural industry borne out, for example, by an alarming reduction in the number of farmers. The consequences for the very fabric of rural society are alarming.Here in West Cork, for example, there is a high dependency on this vulnerable agricultural sector, with the number employed in the industry twice the national average. In some areas of this region those employed in agriculture are more than six times the national average. I was grateful last year that Sam Jennings and Reg Chambers of Dunmanway agreed to represent me on the West Cork Action Group which made a thorough submission to the National Development Plan. White Papers on Rural Ireland Since then the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development has produced two white papers: Ensuring the Future - A Strategy for Rural Development in Ireland and Agri Food 2010. I am grateful to the Minister for noting my interest in this area and for arranging to keep me in touch.Clear sense of the Challenges to Rural Ireland The Government is to be congratulated for articulating the challenges clearly: the trend towards urbanisation, the growth of small urban centres and a continuing decline in remote rural areas; the decline in the number of farms and in agricultural employment; the disadvantage in rural areas when it comes to employment and investment; that poverty and social exclusion remain significant problems in rural areas and the growing concern for protection of the environment. And in relation to the environment it is quite clear Ireland has a long way to go to catch up and to meet its international and European obligations.Diversification has become the buzzword as traditional occupations fail to make ends meet. There must be recognition too that farming is not just a job, it is a way of life. Ways must be found so that people can sustain that way of life and continue to live in our rural areas. Challenge to Government to Materialise the Policies Having the right white paper, with the right analysis and diagnosis and indeed articulating good policies are one thing. Earlier this week in The Irish Examiner the Minister of State at the Department wrote:
What people want to see now is those policies at work and making a difference. The real test of the talk, and the urgent need is for action and for investment. Being the Church in Rural Areas - the Ecumenical Path The consequences of all this for a small Church in a substantially rural diocese are self-evident. For our part, and based on our common experience and understanding, we need urgently to do some reflection on how best to be the Church in rural areas. In my millennium sermon at New Year I said that in a post-denominational era the way forward for the church everywhere is undoubtedly the ecumenical path: churches needing one another and putting at one another's disposal the gifts and resources of the other.Being the Church in Rural Areas - "Clustering" One model of ministry which has been expressed elsewhere is that of the cloche. As the plants are nurtured outdoors under one protective cover drawing them together, so small parishes and communities nestle together, draw on one another's gifts, share resources and by clustering in this way, become a more potent and effective force than they would otherwise be on their own. "Clustering" in this way is a buzzword in the education sector, we see it for example in the way schools share special needs, resource and learning support teachers. Could not the same "clustering" work for parishes?We might do well to seek out opportunities to hear from others how they have harnessed the opportunities and tackled the task of being the church in a diocese such as ours with its substantially rural character alongside towns and a significant urban centre. The Church has not withdrawn from rural areas In this rapidly changing rural setting, the Church is well placed to serve people and communities. While some refer to the decline in rural postal and other essential services, for example, the churches by their buildings, clergy, and most important by their people scattered throughout the county, are still there faithfully standing alongside people and needs.By our presence and involvement in local communities everywhere we represent the incarnate Christ. We are there, in his name, to listen, to encourage, to speak the message of Christ crucified and of people reconciled and to announce his way of love, peace and solidarity with our fellow travellers on the human journey. The Sense of Diocese In Anglicanism, even though our parochial and congregational instincts don't always allow us to see it, it is the diocese, not the parish, which is at the heart of Anglican organisation: people and clergy together in ministry with the Bishop. We have always had and still have a strong sense of this in Cork, Cloyne and Ross.In our diocese, we embrace city, town and country. We are one body; large and small parishes, town, city or rural; urban and suburban - our discipleship of Jesus Christ draws us together under one roof - one oikoumene - one economy, one ecumenic - one house. In our family, we need one another - we support and encourage one another. It is important that we be vigilant in our efforts ever to understand each other's situation. Parish Organisation Working Group Partly in response to this, but also to look at ministry in urban areas too, I initiated this year the setting up of a Parish Organisation Working Group - a body which will act as an advisory group to the Bishop and through him to the diocese and assist me, as bishop, and diocese on an on-going basis with analysis and reflection on the strategic needs in the areas of deployment of clergy and parochial organisation.Significant Shifts in Northern Ireland: strategic risks and painful change Since we last met the two predominant political groupings - the Republican movement and Ulster Unionism - in Northern Ireland have made significant journeys from their traditionally held positions. These are more than strategic gestures. They expose whole communities to the reality of painful change. They are risks taken for the sake of peace on our small island home and they should not go unrecognised by us who live at a distance which is comfortable and secure.Our hope and prayer is that this process, arduous as it still may be, will bear fruit in lasting peace and reconciliation. Ordinary people need once again not to take the progress and the peace for granted, but rather to underscore the process by their endorsement and participation at every level of society. The Christian way asserts that people can and do change; that they merit a second chance; and that they are always worthy of talking to. This has to continue to be the path towards reconciliation in our land. The Challenge to us in the South to Make Similar Journeys There are many journeys we here in the South need to make too, and I ask myself are we ready to make similar leaps for the sake of a better Ireland: the journey towards a more inclusive society; and to a society that addresses its remaining hypocrisies.The journey towards a pluralist Ireland should not be by default, a mere reactive response to inevitable changes happening uncontrollably around us. As Ireland changes we need actively to cultivate a culture where equal store is set on minorities, where the contribution and perspective of people who are different is sought for the good of us all. We need at last the maturity in Ireland to acknowledge and respect the many definitions of Irishness, some of them very new, and to shake off a clichéd exclusive concept of what it means to be Irish. Refugees/Asylum Seekers - Plea for welcome and a compassionate approach This challenge will become all the more acute when the children of asylum seekers and refugees become the first generation of a new group of Irish people. Ireland has known settlers before this. Irish people themselves have been the welcome guests in hundreds of other nations around the world.We need to be clear that refugees and asylum seekers whose plight is verified and just should receive a wholehearted welcome and home among us. As Christians, it is incumbent on us to plead and to ensure that the process of assessing such applications is open-hearted, generous and compassionate. Why? Because Jesus Christ himself was a refugee, and his was the way of compassion. The Ecumenical Imperative - the Credibility of the Church One journey we need to become ever more comfortable with is the ecumenical one. Why? Because it is the will of God. Why? Because the Church, as he has constituted it is already one, even though we do not manifest that oneness. Since our last Synod I am delighted to hear accounts of significant local ecumenical activities. Not least here in Skibbereen when on Good Friday there was a common pilgrimage of noteThank you Bishop Buckley! We salute too the personal initiative taken by Bishop John Buckley Bishop of Cork and Ross in mobilising the generosity of the people of his diocese to give almost £70k, presented recently to Noel Holland, Chairman of Saint Fin Barre's Beyond 2000. I know that you the people of our diocese would wish to applaud him and the people of Cork and Ross for this practical and unprecedented sign of ecumenical solidarity.Christians of Cork to Celebrate Together Bishop Buckley and I recently agreed that we should provide the opportunity in the autumn for a significant celebration of Christianity in Cork to mark this millennium year. We have asked our respective ecumenical officers to liase with one another and with the other churches to facilitate this.Renewed Anglican/Roman Catholic Impetus [ARCIC - Toronto] We also spoke about the possibility of a small representative group to undertake local bilateral dialogue exploring issues of common interest and concern. This would very much be within the spirit of an historic meeting several weeks ago in Toronto at which the Church of Ireland was represented by a former Bishop of Cork, the Right Reverend Sam Poyntz.Other Ecumenism: Our ecumenical work, of course, is not just towards one other ecclesial grouping. Of great significance too has been the publication at this year's General Synod of a proposed covenant with the Methodist Church in Ireland. We are asked to study this locally together with our Methodist brothers and sisters. It would be appropriate today too that we in Cork extend to the Reverend Ken Todd our good wishes and assurance of our prayers as he begins his year as President of the Methodist Church in Ireland.Further afield, the Church of Ireland has now concluded, with the approval of General Synod, an agreement with the French Reformed Churches: the Reuilly Common Statement. All this formal ecumenism means little unless it manifests itself in local communities from Beara to Ardmore and from Templetrine to Mitchelstown. The ecumenical torch is one we all need to carry, for the discovery of that unity which is the Lord's gift to the Church is his will. Moreover it goes to the very heart of the credibility of our witness to the gospel of reconciliation - the good news of Christ's love for all. Interchurch Marriages: In the past, and not always without justification, we tended to direct our attention to the approach adopted to couples in interchurch marriages by people and leaders other than ourselves. Today, however, let us examine ourselves. It is incumbent on us all here to play our part in creating the right culture of acceptance for interchurch families.It is not enough simply to acquiesce in the fact that interchurch marriages are either a fact of life or the normative pattern of marriage for Church of Ireland young people. We need to cultivate a proactive atmosphere of welcome and belonging to all the members in an interchurch family regardless of their denominational affiliation. There is a strong sense in which all the members in an interchurch family are the pastoral concern of the two churches involved. In a post-denominational age, where reconciled pluralism is espoused and tolerance advocated, interchurch families and their full involvement in our church life are, notwithstanding the pains of the past, a positive and enriching dimension of what it means to be the Church of Ireland today. Pressures of Living: One of the most unrelenting features of our time is the pressure of day to day living. I spoke recently to two business people. One sees his children on Sunday night each week and not again until Saturday morning; the other sees his before work two mornings a week but is home on no evening before their bedtime. On a train journey to Dublin a few weeks ago I sat with three senior officials in a major institution - the keynote was pressure. In the evening this was echoed by three others - one in retail, one in computers and one in insurance. Pressure!More than ever people in society need to live alongside one another in a spirit of encouragement, mutual support, forbearance, patience and understanding. The Sacrifice of the Laity Against this background I never cease to be amazed by the commitment and self-sacrifice of the lay people of the Church. Through you I wish to thank the lay people of the diocese for all that is done so selflessly and generously by way of offering time and talents at every level of our Church's life and beyond. The limitations of language prove restraining and the two words are inadequate: Thank you!Crisis in Volunteerism? Two bodies recently highlighted something which we in the churches know, however. That is to say, that it is harder and harder to get people to take on voluntary jobs and to make a commitment to tasks which, in the church, have always been done by volunteers.Foróige - the National Youth Development Organisation - is concerned that voluntary activity may be waning or at least changing in nature. "There is a belief, as well as some concrete evidence, that the number of volunteers coming forward is actually decreasing."3 more analytical is the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice in its publication Community Development in the Age of the Celtic Tiger. It talks about a crisis in volunteerism and says "…the biggest challenge facing community development workers at the moment is finding local people willing to become involved. The story seems to be the same in every county in Ireland, with many people saying that 'volunteerism is dead'" From my tribute paid already to the laity, you will gather I don't accept unquestioningly that pessimistic view, but there are difficulties. And the churches are not immune from the factors enumerated in the Jesuit journal: an increasing number of people are being paid to do work that used to be done voluntarily; there are more recreational activities available now; as people become better off, they and their children before more 'privatised', spending more time in their houses; many more people are at work, in particular more women, and thus are not available during the day. Volunteers are in short supply.4 Volunteerism vs Discipleship To be involved and committed to Church work is, however, to be more than a volunteer. For by virtue of our baptism we are all disciples. That is of course a voluntary undertaking, but having done so it puts us in a relationship of obedience to Christ - the sort of obedience Saint Paul equated with faith when he referred to "that obedience which faith is".Equipping the Laity - the Bishop's Course in Theology On a school visit recently a five-year-old child asked me "How did God make the seas?" That is one example of the questions people ask. For too long in the Church we have ignored people's questions, sidelined those with legitimate doubts and sometimes failed to address issues with intellectual integrity.In response to this need, and as I announced at last year's synod and wrote recently in the Diocesan Magazine, The Bishop's Course in Theology will soon be up and running thanks to the hard work of a small and effective working group. Places will be limited to about thirty and the first five-week module of four such modules in a two year programme will begin in the Autumn at a venue in University College Cork. I am grateful to the Dean of Cork for convening this group at my request and to all the members of the group. In Liverpool Cathedral on Monday as the choristers were leaving at the end of evensong two boys side by side came face to face with the altar. One bowed reverently. The other looked at it and scratched his head. When it comes to the things of God and of faith, many bow in reverence and have deep-rooted faith. Others scratch their heads, have bona fide doubts and questions. I hope this course will serve both - to pose the one with questions and to provide the other with some answers, and perhaps even more questions. Beyond Ourselves Cork is a strongly identifiable region within Ireland with a firm sense of self-reliance. Nevertheless, in all our living and believing as the Church we fail if we do not see the wider church and the world beyond our local world. The Diocesan Cycle of Prayer, our new Diocesan Website, our belonging to the Anglican Communion and to ecumenical bodies, all help us to do this. There too, particularly since we live on an island, lies the merit of links with other parts of the world-wide church: the opportunity to learn from others in other situations, and to enrich one another in our belonging to the Church catholic.Youth Work Review Group You will notice in your book of reports that there is no report from the Church of Ireland Youth Council, Cork: we have simply provided a memorandum of the current situation. Also this year we look forward to a presentation here by the Church of Ireland Youth Department represented by Niall Byrne.Over the years many people - until recently Richard Dring and Harold Kingston - have chipped at this coalface in all our names. Like so much of Christian ministry it is nebulous and certainly cannot be quantified. If we say people have been helped and that the work done made a difference we pay a significant tribute to them and to all who went before them. We thank them for all they have done. This ending gives the opportunity for a new beginning. In this context, as part of my role as bishop to initiate mission in the diocese, I have set up a Youth Work Review Group. I am in the happy position today to announce to you the membership of that group and to tell you that shortly they will begin their work. I have asked Canon Paul Willoughby to chair the group and with him will be: Dawn Buttimer, Niall Byrne, Trina Chambers, Alan Clayton, Heather Fleming, Jennifer McElroy, the Reverend Alan Marley, Hazel Minion, and the Reverend Daniel Nuzum. Others such as members of the former council and Captain Keith Dyde will be available to them as consultants. Some of this group are also planning our millennium youth event for the autumn, and with the sponsorship of the Church of Ireland Youth Council, the possibility of holding a major Diocesan Youth Forum in 2001 is being addressed. The Church and Youth Work: All too often Church members have a narrow and ill-thought-out idea of youth work. Worse still we readily appease our consciences by appointing someone else to do that ministry: a youth officer or a children's worker.Blinkered as we can be, we need to look around at the varieties of youth work that happen always. When our clergy visit schools, take assembly and teach - that is youth work; when we go through the scrupulous procedures for recruiting teachers and deploy them in our schools, that too is youth ministry; family and all age Services; visits to families at home; summer clubs and camps in parishes; through the work of Church Army, the Mothers' Union in its work for family life: all these too are youth work. When the people of God give their time and talents to lead and help in uniformed youth organisations and in voluntary groups working with children and the young, that is youth work. So too are confirmation classes and in a prior way - baptismal preparation for parents. And let's be clear too, that all of the commitment on the part of schools and the Church to children and youth, can only ever be a corroboration of what is happening at home. The primary and natural locus of this ministry is in home and family life. Every child is important in him or herself. Far too many of us still see them in the Church as a means to an end - at worst as a way of guaranteeing the future of our particular way of being the Church. Children and Communion: Speaking of children, a concern which has arisen frequently in recent years is the matter of admitting the baptised - usually children - to Holy Communion before confirmation. In 1990 and again this year the Bishops of the Church of Ireland spoke together on this issue:
Next year the Bishops will introduce an amendment which, if passed, after its appropriate journey through General Synod, would alter the wording of that rubric. This would restore the situation to that which pertained in the Church until the late 13th Century. The baptised but unconfirmed have received Holy Communion for a greater part of the Church's history than they have not. The simple reality which pertains already by unstoppable momentum, in this part of the church is, however, that many children who are baptised but unconfirmed, receive Holy Communion in our churches. These include visiting children and newcomers from other parts of our Anglican family where the practice is different; the children of interchurch families, some of whom may even be the siblings of non-communicants in our tradition; and some children in families where in their discipleship this is an important out-working of belonging. When children do so, it is in consultation with the local rector, with their parents, and after preparation. This is something about which not everyone in the Church will agree, and so, therefore, I believe that, as indeed is already the case, we will have to learn to live with a diversity of practice on this matter: a diversity expressed certainly between dioceses of the Church of Ireland, between parishes, but perhaps also within parishes and even within families. Education Our schools throughout the diocese are a privilege and an opportunity - an investment for the parish, even where numbers of our own children attending are small. This is most productive where the relationship between school and parish is most interdependent.The Education Act 1998 was the first piece of substantive legislation relating to primary and secondary education enacted in the 20th Century in this State. It is a landmark in the restructuring of education and asserting the role the law has to play in that regard. Legislation in any social area such as this is invariably complex. It has been asserted that:
We don't know yet what the influence of the Act will be and the effects it will have on a day to day basis. At this stage, however, those involved in school patronage and management are already discovering it at work. Together with other changes in Irish legislation it is becoming a demanding and complex world of administration. In the midst of it all we have got to keep our eye firmly fixed on the well being and nurture of children and young people, and the fostering of our society. Junior Certificate R.E.: A further innovation is the advent of Religious Education as an examinable subject within the curriculum for Junior Certificate. I hope that many of our young people will take and have the opportunity to pursue this course. As well as catechising and nurturing faith in young people, we need also to afford them an opportunity to pursue religious concerns in an academic and intellectual framework. School Boards of Management find themselves in the midst of all this perplexing and rapid administrative, legislative and educational world of change. They are volunteers. This year marks the end of a triennium of service for them. I wish as Bishop of the diocese, and as patron of eighteen of the schools, to say a whole-hearted thank you to all who shoulder this responsibility. They deserve the admiration and encouragement of us all and particularly the other partners in the educational process: pupils, parents, teachers, patron, and Department of Education and Science. Vacancies: Not least among the dilemmas as we meet for Diocesan Synod is the number of vacancies in teaching posts in the diocese - twelve in all, including two principalships - a pattern replicated, I'm given to understand in other dioceses. If there are to be teachers in the future we need to encourage our young people to consider it as a profession. The Teaching Profession: I wonder whether, in Ireland, for too long we have taken for granted the foundational value to our society of core professions and vocations: last year I referred to the nurses. This year we've heard about doctors, and now again, teachers. The bottom line, whatever personal opinions we may hold, is that unless professions are valued and nurtured by society, people will go into them less and less. School Principals in particular, arising mainly from increased administrative responsibilities, deserve our understanding and support. The Clergy: I referred earlier to the pressures people experience in every day lives. It is not always understood by the laity that clergy experience these pressures too. In addition they have the burden which stems from the fact in the culture of our time that the very esse of their work, and the reason for their calling - Christianity, the Gospel itself - is being undermined, or disregarded, or derided or treated with plain indifference.I know that the faithful of the parishes appreciate the work of our clergy, and that you would want me here to pay tribute to them. As part of our on-going duty to encourage and facilitate the clergy in their ministry, in-service training has to be a vital part of our strategy. No one trains once for any job now. They train again and again. As circumstances change ever more quickly around them the retraining has to become more regular and systematic.I take this opportunity to thank parishes for their generosity to the Bishop's Ministry Fund as reported in your book of reports. This fund, together with a grant of £1500 from the Priorities Fund towards the cost of the clergy conference, as well as the formalising of a written policy on clergy sabbatical leave are the main thrust of our current approach. This gives some scope for seminars for clergy in-service training, but in times to come, the Church as a whole will have to have more radical and far-reaching strategy. Inevitably this will cost money. Not to make such an investment would be far more costly in terms of the effectiveness of the Church, its ministry and its outreach. The Archdeacon With this reference to sabbatical leave it is apt to wish the Archdeacon well for his. We will miss him and Faith while they are away. We are so indebted to you Archdeacon for all that you do, not only in your own faithful parochial ministry, but also in the unrelenting round of additional responsibilities and interests which you have. Thank you for all that you are and all that you do.Worship: Church Hymnal: The last edition of the Church Hymnal was published the year I was born: 1960. Certainly the world of work and play, worship and prayer has changed beyond recognition since then. As an interim measure a supplement - Irish Church Praise - was added in 1990. On 9th September this year, after years of consultation, work and bringing together old and new, will bear fruit in a new Church Hymnal for the Church of Ireland. Book of Common Prayer 2004: Advised by the Liturgical Advisory Committee, the General Synod has now also well and truly begin its journey towards a new Book of Common Prayer which, embodying old and new, will become our prayer book in 2004. Deployments Since last Diocesan Synod the Reverend Brian O'Rourke was instituted to the incumbency of Saint Luke's Union, and the Reverend Susan Watterson to Youghal Union. We welcomed the Reverend Olive Henderson and the Reverend Martha Gray-Stack to auxiliary ministry within the diocese. Olive is deployed in Moviddy Union and Martha as chaplain at Kingston College, appointed by the trustees. Canon Peter Rhys Thomas retired from the fulltime stipendiary ministry. On Ascension Day the Reverend Daniel Nuzum and the Reverend Peter Massey were ordained priest. Tomorrow an announcement of an appointment to the incumbency of Carrigaline Union will be made at Services there. For the time being then we can at least know that there is a priest designated for each parish. Tomorrow evening two new Diocesan Readers will be commissioned. In February I formalised the arrangements for the recruitment and deployment of Parish Readers in some of the parishes in the diocese.Vocations In the autumn we know already that there will be three ordinands in training for the ordained ministry. Joy Ferguson will be in second year training for the auxiliary ministry, Hazel Minion will be in first year of the same course and John Tanner will be in first year for the full-time stipendiary ministry. I have a hope and vision that in every parish in the diocese someone will be called by God to the ordained ministry of the Church. I encourage everyone to discern whether they themselves are being called and to encourage others to do the same.R.I.P. Recently we heard with sadness of the death of Mrs Lynn Perdue, widow of a beloved Bishop of this diocese, the late Right Reverend Gordon Perdue. We extend our sincere sympathy to her family circle.Diocesan Office We have an energetic, thorough and efficient administrative centre in our diocese - a diocesan office that is indeed the envy of many. I know that Wilfred Baker and Ruby Veitch are appreciated by you all. My only worry is that we expect so much of them and that as result they are over-committed. Wilfred and Ruby, we thank you!This Year's Synod After consultation, I called this year's meeting of Diocesan Synod for a new venue outside Cork city, at a new time and on a different day of the week. In doing so we fall into the pattern of three other dioceses in the Church of Ireland, on a day when a greater number of people do not have employment obligations. Over the years people point out that Synods meet on days and at hours when many cannot attend. I hope that our experimental efforts to respond to what has been said will, in time, bear fruit in the opportunity for increased involvement and participation.More important is that the conundrum of the quest for the right day and time signals many things about the times in which we live: the pace of life, the many demands on peoples' commitment and priorities, and the paradox that material improvements in many of our lives perhaps bring also less freedom and less disposable time. Looking Ahead: As we look ahead we note that three priorities have been highlighted for the Church of Ireland by its Millennium Mission Conference which met in November: Reconciliation, Prayer and Worship; and education. In September I plan, by way of questionnaire, to undertake a formal episcopal visitation and census within the diocese. This will replace part of the Rural Dean's annual inspection. The high point of our Millennium Celebrations will come on Saturday 26th November when parishes throughout the Diocese will hold a parish day and on the following day the Sunday of Christ the King, when we will proclaim the Lordship of Christ and celebrate 2000 years of Christianity.Valuing Synod: So to the work of our Diocesan Synod! We do not take the opportunity to meet, to consult and to decide as a synod for granted. I welcome especially new members of Synod. I hope everyone will feel able to speak and to have his or her say, and that everyone will listen supportively and in a way which encourages participation. Synods are what we make of them by our participation, by listening, speaking and voting.As at a village meeting we have common concerns and face common tasks, let us address them now. And may God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit draw us into relationship and community with himself, may he infuse our deliberations, nurture our belonging to him and to one another and send us out to do the work we have been given to do. +Paul Cork:
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