18.11.2013
Canon Horace McKinley Reflects on Ordained Life in First Book
The strands of ordained life and how they develop over years of ministry are focus of a new book by Whitechurch rector, Canon Horace McKinley. As I Said… An Ordinary Priest Reflects is Canon McKinley’s first book and it was launched last Friday evening.
Drawing on talks and articles he has giving over the years, the long serving rector has put down on paper what he feels are the key aspects of ordained ministry – pastor, priest and prophet. The publication includes a selection of his own sermons and articles to give flesh to his argument and allows the reader to see how his vocation has worked out in the way he endeavours to fulfil it.
The book also contains a thought provoking forward by Bishop Michael Burrows who was in one of Canon McKinley’s first confirmation classes.
Speaking at the launch, Archbishop Michael Jackson said books such as Canon McKinley’s were important as they showed the centring of prayer which gave a quiet dynamism. They revealed the “flowing river of liturgy” and made plain the proper repetitiveness of visiting in the home, school, hospital, hospice, nursing home and sports fields.
“He pulls us to the bedrock understanding which he has of priesthood in the first section. This is required reading for anyone who dips into the rest of the book or reads it from cover to cover. It constitutes a refreshing apprasial of priesthood in the Church of Ireland in the generous spirit of Christianity itself, lay and ordained,” the Archbishop said.
“It also asserts, time and again, very firmly that the diaconate grounds all life and all ministry in the Christ–like priority of service itself. It is the weaving together of ministries and of people which gives Horce his energy. This is more than a social service although it might read like it. Horce himself is so assured of the person and the priority of Jesus Christ in his own life that he hardly ever needs to talk in this language,” he added.
Whitechurch parishioner, Harold Hislop, highlighted two themes that struck him as he read the book – a sense of community and vocation.
He said that the book had a great deal to say about what the community of the church could and should be. On a local and personal level it would resonate with members of the parish but Mr Hislop said that it also provided reflection on how the message of the gospel could and shoul be lived out in ordinary lives.
“We are fortunate in this place to have a priest who has persistently challenged us not to be comfortable in our belief and practice, but to live the challenge of the gospel in the society and communities in which we work and live… There are several chapters drawn from over a decade’s prophetic writing and campaigning on how Christians in Ireland and Irish society in general ought to welcome members of new communities into the church in this country and into Irish society. Indeed, taken as a whole, one can see buried beneath the surface of much of the writing a personal commitment to real inclusiveness which has been so much the mark of Horace’s work within the parish, with other local Christian communities, and within Irish society,” he commented.
Mr Hislop added that the book also gave an important account and celebration of the dedication to service that is implicit in the word “vocation”. “He writes of this in a very humble way, yet in doing so, he expresses so convincingly and almost unconsciously, the outstanding strengths of his own calling and service. In an age of job specifications, role profiles, mission statements, performance management and a lot else besides, Horace has given us a deceptively simple yet thoroughly convincing account of the challenges, struggles and joys that come if you serve others as the committed priest that we know Horace to be,” he stated.
As I Said… An Ordinary Priest Reflects is available in local bookshops at a cost of €10.
Photo Caption: Archbishop Michael Jackson, Pam McKinley, Canon Horace McKinley and Dr Harold Hislop are pictured here at the launch of Canon McKinley’s book ‘As I Said…an ordinary priest reflects” in Whitechurch Parish. (Photo: Stephen Wall Morris)