20.04.2016
Huge Turnout For Extraordinary Diocesan Synod to Discuss Proposed Dublin and Glendalough Boundary Changes
An extraordinary meeting of the Diocesan Synods of Dublin and Glendalough is taking place in Athy this evening (Wednesday April 20). St Michael’s Church, Athy, is full for the meeting which has been called to discuss the proposals by the Commission for Episcopal Ministry and Structures to alter the boundary of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough.
The proposals are being brought to the General Synod of the Church of Ireland in May and, if agreed by General Synod, would see six parishes from Glendalough being transferred to the Diocese of Meath and Kildare.
The parishes included in the proposal are: Leixlip and Lucan; Celbridge and Straffan with Newcastle–Lyons; Blessington and Manor Kilbride with Ballymore–Eustace and Hollywood; Donoughmore and Donard with Dunlavin; Narraghmore and Timolin with Castledermot and Kinneigh; and Athy, Kilberry and Fontstown with Kilkea. The change, if approved by General Synod, would come into effect at a date to be determined – but not before the General Synod of 2017. [The full text of the CEMS Bill is available by clicking here]
The gathering began with a service of Holy Communion during which Archbishop Michael Jackson preached. To read his sermon click here.
In his Presidential address, the Archbishop said that the people of Dublin and Glendalough were meeting at a “highly critical and potentially destructive time for our United Dioceses”.
He continued: “This year, in 2016, we mark 800 years of united diocesan life. This unity has survived the Reformation and the ravages of Oliver Cromwell. Our shared faith and communal respect for one another across the United Dioceses are the lifeblood and the springboard of our witness to the Gospel. The question that undoubtedly is on the lips of everyone gathered here now is: Will it survive for the reminder of 2016 and into 2017?”
The text of the Archbishop’s address is reproduced in full as follows:
ADDRESS TO THE EXTRAORDINARY DIOCESAN SYNODS OF DUBLIN AND GLENDALOUGH HELD IN St MICHAEL’S CHURCH, ATHY, DIOCESE OF GLENDALOUGH ON APRIL 20th 2016
SETTING THE SCENE
Ladies and gentlemen, Members of Synods, we gather this evening in Athy, County Kildare at a highly critical and potentially destructive time for our United Dioceses. I use both words carefully: critical because we need to discern, to make a decision of critical importance as to what we are to do next in order best to express and advance the undertaking and the ministry that God has entrusted to all of us as one in these United Dioceses and in the communities to which we belong; they are, as we know well, situated in the counties of Kildare, Wicklow and Dublin and in the city of Dublin; and: destructive because the Bill in the name of the Commission on Episcopal Ministries and Structures, that is to come before the General Synod 2016 for debate and decision and legislation and implementation, will destroy the belonging we have within these United Dioceses as one and will actively prevent it for the future. Our two dioceses were confirmed as a united diocese in 1216. We have remained united to this day. This year, in 2016, we mark 800 years of united diocesan life. This unity has survived the Reformation and the ravages of Oliver Cromwell. Our shared faith and communal respect for one another across the United Dioceses are the lifeblood and the springboard of our witness to the Gospel. The question that undoubtedly is on the lips of everyone gathered here now is: Will it survive for the reminder of 2016 and into 2017? It is the correct and the timely question. And time is certainly of the essence.
CHRISTIAN WITNESS
The calling of the church is the sending of God’s people to serve in the world in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This is what the testimony of Holy Scripture repeatedly tells us. This is what good–quality church life also tells us. The administrative structures of our dioceses and parishes help to shape the ways in which we express our faith in the Gospel for ourselves and for the wider community. We belong to diocese and parish at the same time. The parishes cluster together in Rural Deaneries of six parishes to each Deanery for operational purposes. Indeed, some parishes are combined in Deaneries across the boundaries between Dublin and Glendalough. Both dioceses are integrated and intertwined in a number of inextricable ways through family connections and through personal commitments. The Rural Deanery structure works very effectively for example in the organization of Confirmations at every level. It is a real pleasure for me personally to visit so many parishes on a regular basis to confirm candidates, to meet their families and friends and to work with local clergy and readers.
DIOCESAN INITIATIVES AND STRUCTURES
The Rural Deanery structure also works very effectively for local Christian witness. We are currently engaged in two shared activities that are feeding diocesan life and witness: Come&C and The Jerusalem Link and both of these are directly endangered by the CEMS Bill as it affects Dublin and Glendalough. One is an expression of local discipleship and witness, the other is an expression of witness and relationship abroad in partnership with the Holy Land. Both of these projects have been endorsed by Diocesan Synods, showing vision and foresight and a genuine commitment to a shared future through Christian witness and engagement. It is our calling and our duty now to build on these initiatives and also to deepen and widen the ecumenical relationships that are already part of who we are as contemporary Christians. If a parish that is part of the Church of Ireland tradition suddenly becomes a member of a different diocese, it will cause untold havoc ecumenically in its relationships with a parish in the Roman Catholic tradition that remains, by the same token, part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin. And there are also our emerging Covenantal relationships with the Methodist Church in Ireland to consider. All of this is human and personal, all of this is local and diocesan. All of this development and implementation has been predicated on and is being lived out in the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough as they currently exist and as we hope they will remain and continue. For good and coherent reasons of history and community, of presence and of relationship and therefore of witness and proclamation, I put it to you that it is important that they continue to be united.
THE COMMISSION ON EPISCOPAL MINISTRY AND STRUCTURES
The Commission was established four years ago by the General Synod to reform the dioceses of the Church of Ireland and their composition. Its then articulated aim has been to make dioceses more fit for mission by attempting to even up the number of parishes across the church in each diocese under one bishop. Factually, the Bill that has been published makes no effective mention of mission whatsoever nor has it, in its own terms, come anywhere near ‘evening up’ the number of parishes in each diocese as they will be for the future. The Bill to be brought before General Synod 2016 for enactment as legislation includes the removal of six parishes from the United Dioceses, specifically from Glendalough Diocese, and their annexation to the Dioceses of Meath and Kildare. It requires the removal from Dublin and Glendalough of six out of the fifteen existing parish groupings of Glendalough Diocese in perpetuity: Athy with Kilberry, Kilkea and Fontstown; Narraghmore, Timolin, Castledermot and Kinneigh; Blessington with Kilbride, Ballymore–Eustance and Hollywood; Celbridge with Straffan and Newcastle–Lyons; Donoughmore with Donard and Dunlavin; and Leixlip and Lucan. A total of twenty individual churches and parishes is affected by this decision.
THREE IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS
One thing I should point out. The thinking of the Commission is built on the idea of cures/parishes and the establishing of equivalence of numbers of cures across dioceses of the Church of Ireland. Objectively, the Bill made ready for General Synod fails to do this. Furthermore, while parishes are parishes and have structural features in common, irrespective of size, parishes are not, in and of themselves, comparable in terms of being equal to one another regarding numbers of people or of church buildings, for example. A second thing I should point out is that I cherish each of these parishes detailed above equally with all the other parishes in the United Dioceses. A third thing is that when CEMS visited the Diocesan Councils in December 2015 to consult about the proposals to be brought before General Synod in 2016, the proposal which now forms part of the Bill was not mentioned. Neither was it mentioned when members of the Commission consulted members of Dublin and Glendalough Diocesan Synods in October 2014. Neither has it formed any part of the Commission’s reports made to General Synod on an annual basis. Furthermore, those who form the parishes directly affected have a real sense that CEMS does not know who they are.
WHAT WE MIGHT DO AT THESE EXTRAORDINARY SYNODS?
This Meeting of the Synods of our dioceses has been called to enable as wide a range of people as possible who carry representative responsibility to meet and to talk and to consult and to decide how to respond as a Diocesan Synod. It is also designed to help Members of the General Synod from our dioceses to prepare for the General Synod 2016 when the Bill will be presented for approval and legislation to follow with enactment in 2017. If the sentiment on the floor of the Diocesan Synods this evening is such that General Synodspersons decide, on the basis of what they hear and themselves think, to offer an Amendment to the Bill at General Synod, this evening is the opportunity for all present to work this through; and to give it shape on the basis of discerning the sentiment of other people who represent the diocese here present as well as on the basis of their own conviction and opinion. You will also have had, and will continue to have, a chance to discuss this issue in your individual parishes with your rectors. Take it! Such an Amendment, for example, might seek to convince the General Synod to withdraw the clause that ties the six parishes of Glendalough Diocese in to an annexation by and inclusion in the Dioceses of Meath and Kildare.
I can hardly underline sufficiently the seriousness and the ultimacy of what lies before us. At the outset of this process, General Synod suspended the powers of individual Diocesan Synods, once the decision of General Synod is made, to decide against implementing the decisions of General Synod 2016 in a local diocese. If Dublin and Glendalough wish to change materially the content of the Bill and therefore its outcome, the way to do this is to bring down, by which I mean convince the General Synod to do away with, that part of the Bill that affects Dublin and Glendalough disadvantageously. There is always the danger for people who are locally committed to be so convinced of the right of their own cause that they find themselves sleepwalked into a wider change while not being sufficiently aware of the lasting repercussions of that change for their local life. I should not like this to be the case for the Synodical representatives of Dublin and Glendalough, nor indeed for any and all of the parishes. I should like them to be in a position to make the best effort they can to do what seems right to them in conscience and as representatives of the United Dioceses as currently constituted. I have no option but to alert all present to one significant implication of the Bill, if enacted, for the whole of the United Dioceses. The financial arrangements internal to each of the twelve dioceses in the Church of Ireland are significantly different. The content of the Bill to come before General Synod 2016 (May 12–14) will increase the financial provision required from each remaining constituent parish unit of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough by an annual minimum of 11% in the first instance. Another expected change down the line will be in a reform of General Synodical representation throughout the Church of Ireland, as parishes move across diocesan boundaries in the overall changes written in The Bill for May 2016. This will change and reduce representation at General Synod into the future from Dublin and Glendalough Diocese.
This is not a return to the olden days when Kildare Diocese was ‘in with’ Dublin and Glendalough. Of this we must all be clear. This is something radically different, the removal of six functioning parishes from Dublin and Glendalough, a membership and a belonging spanning eight hundred years this year. As your archbishop and bishop, I am fully committed to the flourishing of each constituent parish of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough as God has given me care and responsibility for you. As things stand, in our 800th year of united and shared witness, we have a wonderful and fruitful combination of rural and urban life and church belonging. We share this treasure with one another and with countless others within the love of God. As we move forward together in mission and service, all of you remain in my prayers as together we talk and pray, think and decide on the appropriate way forward as the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough at this evening’s Diocesan Synods.
The Most Reverend Dr Michael Jackson,
bishop of Glendalough and archbishop of Dublin
April 20th 2016
Photo captions:
Top – The clergy of the affected parishes with the Archdeacons of Dublin and Glendalough before the service of Holy Communion in Athy.
Bottom – Archbishop Michael Jackson.