24.01.2017
BACI 2017 Lent Study Aims to Shine Biblical Wisdom on the Migrant Crisis
Officially launching the study, Archbishop Michael Jackson, thanked BACI for taking on this important topic. He recalled visiting a refugee centre while in Rome with clergy from Dublin & Glendalough in November and hearing people talking about being ‘Dublined’ and ‘re–Dublined’. The Dublin Regulation refers to the process by which refugees are registered at their point of entry to Europe and determines which EU member state is responsible for them. “It is blood curdling to hear the name of the place in which you live and work being used in this way,” he commented.
The Archbishop said that the question that must be asked is ‘Can we let the stranger become Christ to us?’ “Can we let poverty, alienation, homelessness and degradation, become the lens through which we can become new people in Christ and in a common humanity?” he asked.
Archbishop Jackson said that ‘immigrancy’ runs throughout the Bible from Abraham to Revelation. He talked about the exclusion of people from ‘there’ rather than those from ‘here’ and said that immigration would remain an identity issue but asked if it need always remain a humanitarian issue. He said the encouragement of the study was to widen and deepen our humanity and to widen and deepen our scriptural understanding.
He thanked BACI for being the driving force in the Church of Ireland for letting the Bible speak to us and through us.
Speaking on behalf of BACI, the Revd Dr William Olhausen thanked the study’s editor, Canon Ginnie Kennerley for the tremendous work she put in in pursuit of excellence in the production on an excellent Bible study. He said this was BACI’s seventh Bible study and added that each year they seek to identify a topic that will challenge participants.
The five Bible Studies are designed to aid reflection on the lessons offered today by the migration experiences of the Jewish people: from Abram on – to Canaan, Egypt and back, through the Exodus experience and the giving of the Law, to Ruth the Moabite and the challenges that faced her, and on again through the Babylonian exile to consider the perceived status of “pilgrims and sojourners here on earth” common to Jews and Gentiles alike in the early Church.
Copies are available from Christ Church Cathedral and St Patrick’s Cathedrals in Dublin and further stockists may be advised by BACI hon treasurer and distribution manager, Barbara Bergin (berginba@gmail.com). The copies cost €2.50. Copies are also available to download for free from the BACI website www.bibliahibernica.wordpress.com
Photo caption: The Bishop of Limerick the Right Revd Kenneth Kearon, the Archbishop of Armagh the Most Revd Dr Richard Clarke, the Archbishop of Dublin the Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson, the editor of BACI’s 2017 Bible study Canon Dr Ginnie Kennerley, the Bishop of Tuam the Right Revd Patrick Rooke and chairperson of BACI the Revd Dr William Olhausen at the launch of BACI’s 2017 Lent study.