01.10.2017
Historic Day for Christ Church Cathedral as First Honorary Canons Installed
A historic afternoon at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, has seen the installation of the first Lay and Ecumenical Canons by Dean Dermot Dunne. Former President of Ireland, Dr Mary McAleese and Professor Jim Lucey, Medical Director of St Patrick’s Mental Health Services and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin were installed as Lay Canons today (Sunday October 1). The Revd Lorraine Kennedy–Ritchie, of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and Dr David Tuohy SJ were installed as Ecumenical Canons.
The installations took place during a Service of Choral Evensong, sung magnificently by the Cathedral Choir, at which Archbishop Michael Jackson preached. The Honorary Canons signed the Chapter Register which dates back to 1883 and took part in the ancient custom whereby they were led by the hand to their stalls by the Dean. They will occupy their stalls any time they are in the cathedral.
The appointment of the Honorary Canons follows the passing of a Bill at the General Synod of the Church of Ireland in May. The move reflects a desire to honour lay people who had given distinguished service to the cathedral or public life and further the cathedral’s mission and ministry in the changing ecumenical culture in Dublin.
Separately but during the same service, another chapter in the life of Dublin & Glendalough began with the commissioning of Susie Keegan for the role of Youth Ministry Coordinator in the dioceses.
In his sermon, the Archbishop said that the new Honorary Canons had a lot to offer to the life of the cathedral and the United Dioceses of Dublin & Glendalough. “All four of them, first and foremost, represent themselves. They represent the contribution in life they have made to life for others and with others in a wide range of fields and over sustained periods of time. This has been both professional and personal. This has been by public duty and by personal conviction. Each and all of them can and do instruct us and inform us and inspire us in regard to what it is to live a life of service and leadership in contemporary Ireland. The gift that today’s Canons give to us is that of care and justice as those virtues and values work alongside each other; and together provide scope for engagement and mission,” he said.
He continued: “The guiding principles of canonries is that they give a seat and a voice. It is with good reason that we invite the Lord to preserve your going out and your coming in. A public space once filled needs to be accounted for; a public voice once uttered carries responsibilities for those who hear every bit as much as for those who speak. This type of preservation to which the Prayer of Installation refers affects all of us who listen to the voices in today’s society and listen to the voices of those who make and sustain public policy. One major dividing line that has opened up between church and society is that of the division between opinion and fact. Too often opinion seems to be enough, sufficient, adequate inside the church; opinion will not take you very far in the much more factual, operational world outside the church. For this reason among others, we need Lay Canons from the coal–face secular disciplines of politics and medicine; and Ecumenical Canons from the broad range of Christian and religious traditions, in this case the Roman Catholic and the Presbyterian traditions in a year when we commemorate Reformation 500. In this year we remember that the fulcrum of Reformed thinking and the responses to it in seventeenth century Europe were what some interestingly refer to as the Copernican Revolution of Martin Luther. Both the Jesuit and the Calvinist traditions are part of this fascinating and fast–moving story of political and ecclesiastical history. Their contemporary presence with us as Ecumenical Canons is an enrichment of our total understanding of ourselves and of our place in today’s Ireland.”
He added that it was the hope that the Lay and Ecumenical Canons would have a voice that comes with their seat and that they would take their place in the rota of addressing congregations during worship. This is currently unique among Irish cathedrals.
Speaking of Susie’s commissioning he said that every generation needed encouragement, a listening ear and a guiding voice. He paid tribute to her skill in helping young people and clergy towards friendship and understanding.
“Cross–generational conversation is complex yet vital. While the cynic may say that listening is the new talking, listening is essential in the cross–cultural lives we live – inside and outside families, in schools and out of schools, at home and away from home. Susie’s exuberant interest in people and their own interests along with her most recent experience of collaborative team–based university chaplaincy will prove of great value to her in a time when experience and maturity along with personal need and participation on the part of young people become harder for the inexperienced person to read and to understand; and where the onslaught of experiences itself becomes harder for individuals on their own to understand either, as life unfolds at a fast and ever–fastening pace. The collaboration will involve The Diocesan Youth Officer, Parochial Youth Officers and clergy who are the gatekeepers of change. We wish Susie everything that is best in the work which we all together commission this afternoon,” he said.
For both the Diocesan Youth Ministry Coordinator and the new Canons, the Archbishop said the largest item on their agenda would be reconciliation and restoration through justice and care.
You can read the full text of the Archbishop’s sermon here.
