C of I ‘Mind Matters’ - majoring on Abp Welby’s contribution from Jerusalem

IN OCTOBER 2020 the Church of Ireland launched an initiative entitled “Mind Matters”, aiming to address the issue of mental health in the community. It might be seen as fitting that, after last autumn’s conference concluding the project’s first three year period, the Sunday Gospel presented us with the greatest commandment, also invoking the frequently overlooked imperative - that in loving our neighbour, we must also love ourselves.

The conference was introduced by the Most Reverend Michael Jackson, Archbishop of Dublin and Glendalough. Archbishop Jackson read the collect for St. Luke, the “physician of the soul” - a timely reminder for us as Christians of the deteriorating situation in the Middle East. The collect speaks also to the need for the Church to be given “the same love and power to heal”, whether the ills around and within us are physical or mental.

Archbishop Jackson spoke of the resilience of those who suffer in adversity in the Holy Land, an often alienated and disjointed existence which requires a tremendous faith and strength of character on the part of those who care for the most vulnerable and afflicted in society. The resilience of those serving at the recently bombed Anglican Hospital is an example of commitment to the welfare of others and a continued striving to serve, despite the distorted situation and the dismembered landscape.

* Full article available in printed copies.

Michael Buchanan

Serving his deacon’s year in Navan union of parishes, having retired from An Garda Sīochána in 2021 to train for ministry in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute.