The Church of Ireland
Diocesan Press Release

The Church as an organisation requires good administration. This should not be regarded as merely a sideshow to the main task of the Church but as part of its ministry.

John Truscott with his emphasis on what he calls "Administry" has been teaching clergy and parishes of the value in ministry of good administration. Recently in Holywood he organised courses on "Master your Desk", "Get your Message Across", "Read the Lesson with Meaning" and "Become a Church for the World". We all need to be more effective by being more efficient and I am impressed that so many of our Connor clergy have taken action on this and have computers and E-mail and have learned the necessary skills to use these and other modern aids in good management and communication. I regret that I have not realised fully the importance of this in my ministry and therefore have perhaps been less effective than I might have been. However I have been fortunate to be blessed with the help of people with the skills to make up for my shortcomings, not least the business help of Mary, my wife.

The reason for focusing on administration at the start of my Address is to acknowledge the work of our diocesan staff in Church House. We are very well served by those in the Administrative Office led by Neill Wilson and by those in the Accounts Office directed by David Cromie.

As you no doubt know Neill Wilson has been ill since Easter. I am sure you will join with me in wishing him a good recovery. His contribution to the smooth running of the administration of both Dioceses - Connor, Down and Dromore - is of great value. Neill is a constant source of information useful to the Diocesan Council, the clergy and the parishes. His wisdom and guidance often gets us out of tangles on issues being discussed. His absence during these weeks leading up to our Synod and that of Down and Dromore has put considerable strain on the Diocesan Office staff but they have coped magnificently. David Cromie has managed successfully to do two jobs at once and he has been greatly assisted by all the staff. In particular Audra Irvine and Tracey Taggart have used their knowledge of how Neill Wilson prepares for Synod to very good administrative effect. My thanks - and I am sure yours - to every member of our helpful, efficient and courteous staff.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Brian Parker and Jenny Compston in our Press Office for their help with Media and Communication, Murray Hunter and the Stewardship staff for their contribution to helping parishes administer Stewardship Campaigns and Ian Slaine and his team in the Board of Social Responsibility Office for their work on the caring and outreach arm of the Church.

Many of you Lay members of Synod are on your Select Vestry or have some other administrative role in your parish. Please appreciate that what you do in "administry" can release the clergy for the tasks they must do in the pastoral, preaching and worship ministry.

Foot and Mouth Disease

The outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease among sheep in Northern Ireland has affected the area north and east of where we are meeting. Mercifully the vets have found no further evidence of the disease though there have been scares which have kept our local farmers and their neighbours on edge.

When I had to make the decision about holding this synod as planned or to postpone it to the autumn I spoke to the Ministry of Agriculture and was given the advice that our Synod would be regarded as 'low risk', though it was pointed out to me that members of Synod from the farming community might feel that they could not attend. I did not wish to leave anyone out but after considering all the options, I decided that it was best to proceed with our business. Nevertheless I am conscious that as we get on with our normal lives and "business as usual" our farmers and their families are still living through anxious and lonely days and weeks.

The Foot and Mouth epidemic has made those of us who seldom, if ever, visit a farm realise just how much farmers love the animals they work with. Seeing them slaughtered must be a devastating experience; add to that the stress of witnessing the product of your business being destroyed must be awful. Many of us work for large institutions (and that includes the clergy) but our farmers work for themselves in their small businesses. Because of the increasing difficulties in making farming pay many farmers, as we know, have had to diversify and there are those who have turned their homes into guest houses. The fact that the whole community has responded to the call to be careful and not in any way to advance Foot and Mouth by visiting the countryside or organising events such as the North West 200, these farmers have been hit twice - no markets, no tourists. We must also acknowledge that the crisis has affected many other people's working lives who earn their living in agriculture- related industries. I hope and pray that the farmers will be able to build up their businesses again after all the set-backs in recent years so that prosperity may return to the countryside, its farmers, markets and industries. It would be a bonus too if we could have many warm and sunny days this summer to attract tourists and day trippers back to our resorts and beauty spots.

Devolved Government

Perhaps the one good thing to have come out of the Foot and Mouth epidemic is that it has shown how Devolved Government can deal effectively and acceptably in such a crisis. Brid Rodgers and her Department are to be congratulated on how they have dealt with the outbreaks and have gained support from the majority of those most acutely involved. Collaborative Government in this and many other matters has been shown to work and this is remarkable when you consider that it is made up of politicians covering the entire spectrum of political view in Northern Ireland. It must mean putting ideologies on the back burner while dealing with practical issues of government, however, ideologies and, more important, difficult contentious issues surrounding matters like policing and the need for all paramilitary organisations to de-commission weapons will not go away and have to be addressed until solutions are found.

We continue to feel the threat of IRA weapons despite assurances that they are not to be used. There must surely be some sinister purpose for keeping them. In the case of Loyalist arms, we saw them in use during last autumn's feuding. Protestant communities were seriously damaged, people were murdered, fear was rampant, people were driven from their homes and even families were divided. There is evidence that some of those involved in Loyalist organisations realise the serious damage being done and are prepared to look at ways of meeting and working together to build up rather than break down. In the meantime community unrest continues. The apparent sectarian attacks on people's homes is evil and must stop. Drumcree looms threateningly ahead of us. I would appeal for order and discipline to be maintained across our province this July with none of the street violence we have seen in past years. I feel that Drumcree needs to be localised so that the people most directly involved in this difficult confrontation may be released from other pressures to search for a way out of the dilemma.

Our policemen and women who suffer each year because of Drumcree are still forced to be in the middle of endless riotous confrontations and violent incidents. It is not surprising that they are becoming more and more fed up and demoralised and especially when, after all they have done for our Province in providing good policing in the Troubles, that when peace has begun to happen the RUC has become a victim of change. The hurt is made worse by those who constantly criticise what the police do and call for the RUC to be disbanded. The Patton Report is being implemented under the courageous leadership of Sir Ronnie Flannigan. In my view the Police Service has to be allowed to evolve to meet new situations without destroying all that is already good, professional and competent among those who have served us so well.

Building for Generations

The Connor Millennium Event was Generation Day when 900 of us from all over the Diocese met together at the University of Ulster Coleraine - 300 of us making the pilgrimage by steam train from Whitehead through the Diocese to Coleraine. We celebrated mission and ministry in the Diocese and launched our strategy to support our parishes and people in Building for Generations.

The Connor video gave us a series of cameos of what is happening around the Diocese in ministry and mission. The Rural Deaneries presented different kinds of Church Outreach and pointed out the difficulties as well as the successes being experienced. The day was fun but, more important, it encouraged us to lift our heads and be proud of our Church and what it is doing.

You are all aware that we have identified six areas in which we need to Build for Generations.

1. Youth work and the possible provision of trained Christian Youth Workers to facilitate parishes. This might be work on something like a Rural Deanery basis.
2. Enabling ministry to and from those in the Third Age.
3. Ministry support for our clergy and Church Army Evangelists.
4. Family and personal support particularly for those under stress.
5. Training in mission and ministry for both clergy and laity as we increasingly find ourselves working together in common cause.
6. Bringing it all together we require good communications.

You will notice that four of the six are pastoral in nature. The Church in the Name of Christ should be there in support of the individual, the couple, the family, the small group.

Plans for Ministry support for clergy and evangelists are taking shape. We have had a First Incumbency Seminar for those who have become Rectors in the past five years. A request for a Good Housekeeping list to be issued to clergy to help with parish management is being looked at. Support Groups with facilitators are to be provided in the autumn as a pilot scheme.

The Diocesan Council has identified the need for a Diocesan Training Council with a Training Officer and a Working Group on Communications. Right now we are looking for people who have the skills to work on these two Committees. We have already established a Generation Fund Committee which will be looking at the costings of our strategies and promoting the programme of fund raising to achieve the £1,000,000 to create the new Fund which we feel is required for our Building for Generations.

Last Saturday the Connor Mothers' Union had a float in the Belfast Lord Mayor's Show. The message being promoted was that the Mothers' Union is working for the family providing for child nurture, teaching the faith, Parenting Courses, Toy Library, Contact Centre. Six of the diocesan Mothers' Union members are now trained to set up Parenting Courses for parishes. The Contact Centre is soon to be opened at St Stephen's Hall in Belfast City Centre to provide a much-needed service for parents and children of divorced families. The Social Services are strongly supporting this project.

The Church of Ireland Board for Social Responsibility is also offering courses to help in pastoral and caring ministry. With the help of the Rev Frances Bach a very successful course was held this springtime led by ECONI on "Pastoring People through Times of Change".

So many good things are happening. There seems to be an increasing commitment from caring people with quality faith. What we need to do is to encourage each other in the Lord.

Dean of Belfast

The sudden death of Dean Jack Shearer so soon after his final Black Santa Sit-Out for charity which raised £400,000 was a great shock not only to the parishioners of St Anne's but to the whole community. Jack had a wonderful ministry as Dean of Belfast. He achieved paying off the debt incurred by the completion of the Cathedral. He funded a lot of restoration work and he had the pleasure of seeing the new West Front approach to the Cathedral finished. He introduced the Sung Eucharist as the main Morning Service for the Cathedral Family and he developed further the Afternoon Service to cater for the worship celebrations of an increasing number of community organisations. Dean Shearer was a bridge builder, keen on bringing people together. He was instrumental in setting up the Belfast Cathedrals Partnership between St Anne's and St Peter's Cathedrals; and he was happy to make room in St Anne's for Brother David Jardine's Prayers for Our Land which in April celebrated ten years of concentrated prayer for peace.

Jack's sudden death has meant that we have had to look for a new Dean much earlier in 2001 than we had expected. Today was to have been the date of his retirement. As you know, Canon Houston McKelvey, Education Officer for the Church of Ireland in Northern Ireland, is to be the new Dean. He was born and bred in County Antrim and was ordained in Connor Diocese. He brings to the Cathedral -

• A love for Church of Ireland Worship in its variety and at its best.
• A considerable knowledge of Christian education and Children's Ministry.
• A large number of contacts in Belfast and beyond.
• Experience of ministry in the Chaplains' Branch of the Territorial Army.
• A pastoral heart for people developed in his ministry in Dunmurry and Kilmakee Parishes on the southern edge of Belfast.

He also brings his wife, Roberta, a former diocesan President of the Mothers' Union and a good business woman.

I wish Houston and Roberta all God's Blessing as he takes up his duties as Dean on 22nd June when he will be Instituted and Installed.

In Memoriam

Since our last Synod a number of our members have died as well as Dean Shearer.

Helen Miskimmon believed in the Ministry of the Laity in the Church and felt a keen vocation to this Service. She represented the Council on the Diocesan Ordination Committee and made it her business to make contact with all the members of the Fellowship of Vocation at their meetings. She also gave invaluable service to the Church of Ireland Adoption Society which is part of the Board for Social Responsibility.

William Robinson was a member of our Diocesan Council for many years. He described himself as one of the quiet men of the Council. He may not have spoken very often but when he did it was to good purpose. He was a lifelong member of St Mark's Ballysillan.

Canon Bill Benson was one of the great evangelical churchmen of the Church of Ireland. He was a distinguished Rector of St Michael's Shankill Road, St Mary Magdalene, Donegall Pass and St Donard's Bloomfield, all in Belfast before he became Rector of St Patrick's Coleraine. In every parish he had Curates to train all of whom spoke highly of him.

Mr Ian Carson from St Patrick's Coleraine was one of our Lay Readers who was well known for his ministry in conducting worship. He was very active in St Patrick's Coleraine and a great supporter of his Rector, Archdeacon Ken Clarke.

Bishop Clarke

This brings me to Ken's election to be Bishop of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh. It brought great joy to our Diocese when he was chosen to be Bishop. Ken is already making a valuable contribution to the House of Bishops and he and Helen are establishing themselves as good pastors in their new Diocese.

Archdeacon of Dalriada

As you see at Synod today Ken's place has been taken by Jack Patterson, our new Archdeacon of Dalriada. He has a very sound and practical knowledge of the parishes, the territory and the clergy of Dalriada. He has served the Parishes of Ballintoy, Dunseverick and Rathlin Island very well over the past thirty-one years. I am grateful to Jack for his support and help before and since being appointed Archdeacon.

Rural Deanery of Carey

The knock-on effect of Jack becoming Archdeacon was that I had to find a new Rural Dean of Carey. Another man who has served his Parish long and faithfully in the area is Canon Adam Johns. I am delighted that he has accepted my invitation to be Rural Dean.

Continuing Education in Ministry

Our Post-Ordination Continuing Education in Ministry has been under the capable direction of Archdeacon Alan Harper for the past five years. He is now handing over to Canon John Mann.

The training of those called to the Auxiliary Ministry in Connor Diocese has been co-ordinated by Canon Ernest Shepherd since this ministry was established in the Church of Ireland. He has now handed over the post of Co-Ordinator to the Rev Arfon Williams who had experience of clergy training when he was Director of Oast House Retreat Centre in Chichester Diocese.

Mission Resource Person

The Rev Charles Irwin has come among us from India. He is the Mission Resource Person for the Church of Ireland and is kept busy throughout Ireland. However he lives in Greenisland in our Diocese and is available to our parishes. Shortly I will be asking your permission to suspend Standing Orders to allow him to briefly address Synod.

Thanks

I have already referred to the support I received from Archdeacon Jack Patterson. Now a word about Archdeacon Alan Harper. He has been a tower of strength to me and to the Diocese. So much of the planning and success of Generation Day and the drawing up of our Strategy Brochure was due to him. He has also been a great help to me in the vital area for support for clergy and their families. I greatly value his wisdom and advice.

I would also like to thank the Dean of Connor, Brian Moller, for his help in ordering Diocesan Services; and to thank the secretaries for their work in the Diocese - Canon John Bond, Canon Barry Dodds, Mr Robert Kay and Mr Jim Getgood. Jim has been very ill this year and though he is regaining his strength with regret he was unable to come today. My thanks also to the Rural Deans for all the extra work they have done this year for Generation Day and the Road Shows.

Can I say to all the clergy - full-time, part-time, Auxiliaries and retired - to the Church Army Evangelists and to the Lay Readers you are a great Ministry Team with whom I am proud to serve Christ and His Church in Connor Diocese.

Postscript

In closing I want to formally announce my retirement on 18th November next. I am now 68 and have in my opinion reached by 'sell-by date'. It is the right time to hand over the Bishopric of Connor to another to carry on the Ministry and Mission of Connor's Building for Generations.

Click here to view images of the Connor Diocesan Synod