Editorial
“COME and have breakfast!” It was surely Jesus’ gracious invitation to his despondent disciples, tired from a hard
night’s fishing, that gave them the energy to go out to make disciples of all nations. Likewise in a church whose members have been falling away from exhaustion and lack of sustenance, invitation is what is needed.
“COME and have breakfast!” It was surely Jesus’ gracious invitation to his despondent disciples, tired from a hard night’s fishing, that gave them the energy to go out to make disciples of all nations. Likewise in a church whose members have been falling away from exhaustion and lack of sustenance, invitation is what is needed. Mission which is a duty, rather than joyful sharing, will be barren for all concerned. So the thinking behind this summer’s Colloquium was that invitation and welcome, not the recruiting activity associated with “mission”, is what the Church needs for the future.
The contexts for such welcome are many - more than we can explore in detail. But we have chosen four, all with implications for parish ministry: cathedrals, university chaplaincies, local community ministry, and encounters with the Divine in creation.
While church attendance in the West has been falling away in recent years, in cathedrals it has been noticeably on the rise. So what is it about cathedrals that people find inviting? Distinguished sociologist of religion Canon Prof. Leslie J Francis shares the fruits of his recent research in this area, and Dean of Armagh Shane Forster responds with an overview of his cathedral’s unconditional welcome.
University chaplaincies are well positioned to invite young people alienated by the church into a faith that is meaningful for head and heart alike. Former TCD chaplain Darren McCallig and UCD chaplain Scott Evans share their experience in two contrasting university contexts and the hope it offers for the future.
Social justice is a crucial area. How can we claim to be Christian if we are too busy to help those in need or listen to those in distress? Kevin Hargaden of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice considers the issues and Fr Jim Caff rey of Balally offers further insights.
We close with two “surprises”. Lay reader Ruth Gyves shares her inspiring story of the Holy Spirit’s action in and through her life, while Archdeacon Simon J Lumby opens up a whole new area of Christian witness and sharing - that of “spiritual pilgrimage” now being developed along the Wild Atlantic Way with the help of Pioneer Ministry personnel. His vision of creation-centred spirituality in the Celtic tradition brings new hope.
Be inspired by all this - and enjoy the Book Reviews too!
MY THEME in what follows is that cathedrals can make a key contribution to the distinctive invitation that the Anglican Church can offer to Christian commitment. This distinctive invitation is especially important in societies in which the Christian narrative is not dominant and in which other clear invitations are being offered from narrow sectarian perspectives rather than from an inclusive church perspective.
THE 19TH CENTURY Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer, Robert Louis Stevenson, author of the famous pirate novel Treasure Island said “I never weary of great churches. It is my favourite kind of mountain scenery. Mankind was never so happily inspired as when it made a cathedral.”
HOW CAN university chaplaincy be a setting where – as the promotional material for today’s Colloquium puts it – believers can open their arms to enquirers and spiritual explorers, making all comers feel truly welcome without subjecting them to any pressure? In short how might university chaplaincy best off er compelling “invitations to Christian commitment”?
WHEN I started out as a university chaplain ten years ago, I was an unmarried man with no kids, and a lay person with a full head of hair. A decade later, as I prepare to leave university chaplaincy and move into parish ministry full-time, all of those things have changed.
WHAT might it mean to pursue justice and compassion? Let’s begin not with ourselves, but with God. The God who sees those who suffer. The God who suffers with them. This is what compassion means, after all: com-passio. From there, we’ll be able to turn closer to home – to the particular injustices we harbour here in Ireland. And to help us think with more bite, I’ll turn to a Berlin-based philosopher through whom we can begin to recover something ancient: the political power of ecclesial practices we too often overlook.
I AM DELIGHTED to give this response to Kevin Hargaden’s excellent talk - also to celebrate the excellent work of SEARCH to which I’ve recently been introduced. I come with an ecumenical heart and passion. Many of the young people I work with see our denominational differences as irrelevant at best and scandalous at worst. We work together in a common cause in a society so badly in need of the values of the gospel.
MY BRIEF for today was to speak from my own personal experience of the Holy Spirit, not from the head but from my heart. I’m not an expert on this topic; I’m still a pilgrim on a journey!
THE SPIRITUAL Tourism project in the Diocese of Tuam, Limerick & Killaloe is an expression of the Pioneering Ministry of the Church of Ireland, designed to help the Church engage with tourists not only by facilitating local pilgrimages but also by assisting research into the lives of the early saints, offering spiritual insights places and events in the early Christian context.
