Diocesan News06 May 05

Tent or Temple? - Archbishop Neill's address at the thanksgiving service to mark the end of Sunday Church of Ireland worship at Leeson Park

Speaking in Christ Church Leeson Park on Ascension Day, Thursday 5th May 2005, at a thanksgiving service to mark the end of Church of Ireland and Methodist Sunday Worship there, the Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr John Neill recalled the history of worship in the Church.

He went on to refer to the fact that when the Israelites decided to build a temple there was opposition from many who felt that the more authentic place of worship was the tent or tabernacle that had traveled with the journeying tribes in the desert. He continued saying that ?You can as you ponder this sigh that one can never win (!) ? or you can grasp the fact that whilst on one hand we can build the very best for God, at the end of the day, it must serve the mission to which we are called? God?s people have always had to live with the challenge of putting down roots and yet being ready to move on. This is part of the heritage of Christ Church, Leeson Park.?

With the agreement of the diocesan authorities, the vestry has invited the Romanian Orthodox Community to offer their Divine Liturgy in the Church from June. The Church will continue to offer Church of Ireland worship on weekdays.

The Methodist Centenary congregation which for many years shared Leeson Park Church with the Church of Ireland will be moving their Sunday services to Wesley House.

The full text of the Archbishop?s Address follows?


Address by the Most Revd Dr John Neill, Archbishop of Dublin at the Thanksgiving Service to Mark End of Methodist and Church of Ireland Sunday Worship at Leeson Park, Dublin

Thursday 5 May 2005 (Ascension Day)


Jesus said to his disciples: ?I am sending you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high? S.Luke 24: 49

The Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ as described by St. Luke is a crisis point for the followers of Jesus. The story is told twice by the evangelist, once as the crowning moment of the Gospel, and then again as the introductory chapter to the story of the Church in the Acts of the Apostles. In each account there is a profound sense of the presence of Jesus and of his glory and power ? a sense of the Risen Lord to be worshipped and obeyed.

Disciples Face Uncertainty

The crisis is not one confronting the Lord ? it is rather a moment of decision for the disciples ? it is they who face uncertainty. What has been is over, and a new chapter is about to begin. But what is that chapter to be? Where will they be? They must look back into those days of the ministry of Jesus, look back into the dramatic events of the Birth, Baptism, Temptation, Passion, Death and Rising of Jesus, and for that very reason Luke tells us that he set them down in order. But that is not all, they must be people turned from their experience of the past into God?s future. And so they are encouraged to take to heart the promise of Jesus: ?I am sending you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high?. Yes, there is untidiness and an uncertainty about future plans and patterns for their ministry ? but there is none about the source to which they must turn.

And so on the Feast of the Ascension in 2005, we worshipping in Christ Church, Leeson Park, in praise of our Risen and Ascended Lord can share with the disciples of Jesus the fact that we know that we are at a turning point, that we are looking back with gratitude, but to be honest looking forward with a measure of uncertainty. In the midst of that uncertainty, we are at times confused, what is happening feels a bit untidy, we would not have perhaps written the story quite the way it is unfolding, but if we wait on God, the future will become clearer.

Many Happy Memories ? History of the Church

Gathered in Christ Church this evening are people with many memories, many good memories, and I share those good memories with you not just as your Archbishop, but personally because Christ Church has always meant a lot to my wife and myself from our days here about a quarter of a century ago. For many of you the memories go back much further, but let us for tell for a few minutes the even longer story of this church.

This Church was consecrated in 1862 as the chapel for the Molyneux Asylum for the Blind that had recently moved from Peter Street. The Asylum (which means merely place of safety), or Home as it is now called, could only have held about seventy residents, and so one might well ask why such a large building capable of seating some thirteen hundred people. The reason was twofold. First this area of the ancient parish of St.Peter was growing very fast as one of the main residential areas of the city and there were simply not enough places of worship in the parish. Second a chapel was often provided for large and important institutions not so much as to provide for the worship needs of the residents, but rather to gather together a large group of people to provide for the upkeep of the charitable work itself. This was one of the ways that new churches could be established without undermining the ancient parish system. Christ Church was founded therefore at the start to cater for real needs in an imaginative way.

The area continued to grow and to minister to the area and so it had a parish carved out of the parish of St.Peter in 1892. This thriving parish frequently had congregations that filled every one of the thirteen hundred seats on a Sunday morning seats by the end of the nineteenth century, as the Victorian era drew to a close.

In 1906, it was recognised that at the other end of Northbrook Road, new housing had brought some five hundred or more Church of Ireland people into the area who did not go to church at all. And so the tin church ? or more properly St.Columba?s Church was built as a chapel of ease, which even had to be enlarged some years later.

In these early days of the last century, this parish was at its height in numbers. But the century was not long underway before the changes brought by the First World War, the drift to the suburbs, and various political upheavals had a very detrimental effect on numbers.

Development of Music

However the first half of the last century, the twentieth century, was a time of development in the ministry of the parish. One very important aspect of the worship of the parish was its great musical tradition associated above all with Henry Charles Shellard, organist and choirmaster from 1901 to 1955. How good it is to have his grandson, Kenneth, who has carried on this tradition in various churches in the diocese, and indeed on occasions in this church as well. A distinguished line of organists developed this tradition for another thirty years, supported by a very faithful and enthusiastic choir. It was over twenty years ago at a time when numbers in the congregation were getting quite small that David Bedlow came as Organist and Choir, and he has shown that falling numbers is never an excuse for falling standards, and to this day, as this evening shows, nothing but the best has been worthy in this church.

Returning however to our chronological account, the next real turning points came in the nineteen sixties. The reality was recognised that Christ Church was really a normal Dublin parish, and this had consequences. It was decided that the incumbent should be selected like any other, not nominated by the Molyneux Board, but by a Board of Nomination and so a decade later, John Paterson was the first Rector nominated in the normal manner. It was also a reality that the Church was maintained by parishioners and so should belong to the parish and be vested in the Representative Church Body like any other parish church. In 1961, Christ Church Leeson Park ceased to be under the care of the Molyneux Home in any way, though the chaplaincy was given to the Rector except for one seven year gap. By 1963, it was recognised that St.Columba?s in Ranelagh was no longer required and so it was absorbed back in to the parish church, imaginatively symbolised by the little chapel of St.Columba which provided a quiet corner of the great building for weekday and early morning worship.

From chaplaincy to parish church, from eclectic fundraiser to reaching out in mission to an unchurched area, the story of Christ Church had been a flexible story. But this story was not over in the middle of the last century.

Joining with Centenary Methodist Congregation

In 1972, the Centenary Methodist Congregation joined in the use of Christ Church, as their Church on St.Stephen?s Green had been destroyed by fire. This was the beginning of a very happy ecumenical partnership. It represented a joint use of facilities as the Methodist Church developed the magnificent Church Centre now called Wesley House, but also a growing together of Christians in their witness in the area. This development was in fact a practical example of an ecumenism that did not require complicated negotiations, but rather a working trust in each other.

Joining with St Bartholomew?s

Another development took place in 1972, namely the joining of Christ Church with the neighbouring parish of St.Bartholomew to form one group of parishes served by a joint Rector.

Once again we see in this story the flexibility of the parishioners and their willingness to take on new challenges ? a partnership with the Methodist tradition and a partnership with a much more Catholic tradition of Anglicanism.

As the least century came to a close, it was obvious that the church itself was too big for the needs of the parish and indeed of either of the congregations worshipping there. But one theme has been articulated again and again that this church was built for the glory and worship of God, that it was the largest Anglican parish church in the city, and that if at all possible any future use should be consonant with the purpose for which it was built ? the worship of Almighty God.

Changing City Scene ? Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox

The scene for the churches in the city is changing ? in a strange sort of way we are returning to the pattern of the late nineteenth century where the parish system is failing us in the cities. City Churches tend to be and almost need to be distinctive in one way or another. Today there are many younger Christians who are exploring new and independent patterns of being church, and what it means to belong within the Body of Christ. Many of these are looking for more intimate fellowships and massive churches are of little attraction. On the other hand one of the major Christian traditions, that of the East is strongly represented in Dublin now with the arrival of both Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians. Already Harold?s Cross Church is constituted as a Russian Orthodox Parish. Likewise from Africa, many Christians are arriving on these shores that bring with them their own expressions of worship, and whilst we hope to integrate many within the churches in Ireland, there are others who will want to maintain more ethnic congregations. This all opens up possibilities for the future use of churches that are too big for the needs of the Church in the city. It is exciting to hear that for the immediate future, the Romanian Orthodox Church will be holding its weekly worship in Christ Church. Meanwhile the weekday worship of this church will continue, which however small remains a vital witness and focus for the parish. Likewise the pastoral work in the area continues within the parish as the parish system has as one of its strengths the fact that though a building is not required in any given area, that area must always be cared for by a church ? by clergy and people who take responsibility for it. The link with St.Bartholomew?s ensures the future of this ministry.

Faithful Rectors and Curates have served this parish down the years. Many went on from here to positions of leadership in the Church of Ireland, but the real proof of faithful ministry is not in the tasks undertaken later on, but in the fact that this parish has been and is a happy parish, a parish open to challenge, and a place where faith has always been real. Every priest that I have known that has worked here has the same story to tell.

The parish has ministered in so many ways in addition to the work among the families of the parish. There was the Old Men?s Home, St.Anne?s Hospital, and St.Columba?s Parish School in Ranelagh. We think of the long links with Miss Carr?s Home, and more recently with the GFS who have their national chapel in this Church. We think of the long links with Wesley College in the past, and the presence of Church of Ireland boarders in the congregation.

Temple or Tent?

When Israel, God?s people of old decided that it was time to build a Temple, a wonderful and permanent building to the Glory of God, there was a certain protest. Many felt that the more authentic place of worship was the tent or tabernacle that had travelled with the journeying tribes in the desert. The picture of people on the move, of living with change, of facing the fact that we have here no abiding city, but we seek one to come, has always an authentic ring to it. The Temple was built and it had a profound effect for good, but at times, it was idolised, so much so that many a prophet virtually wanted it torn down. When it was torn down and nobody seemed to care, another prophet upbraided people for living in beautiful houses, whilst God?s House was in ruins! You can as you ponder this sigh that one can never win (!) ? or you can grasp the fact that whilst on one hand we can build the very best for God, at the end of the day, it must serve the mission to which we are called. Otherwise what we have built becomes a rope around our necks and a hindrance to the God whom we serve. Christ Church has a history of change, and it is at another point of change.

Glory of God Ahead of Us

What is wonderful about serving the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is that our God is always out there ahead of us, presenting new opportunities and challenges ? the Glory of God is ahead of us, not simply behind us. We rejoice for all that God has done in this parish, we rejoice in the way that God has been with us ? but it is no judgement on that past to say that God is calling in new directions today. These directions have many signs of being more to do with the pilgrim?s tabernacle than the resident?s temple ? but we do not know all the answers. God?s people have always had to live with the challenge of putting down roots and yet being ready to move on. This is part of the heritage of Christ Church, Leeson Park.

I remind you where we began ? the Ascension of Jesus ? that moment when the Risen Lord is seen as glorified ? to be worshipped and served by God?s people. The message of that day was one of waiting to see what God was going to do ? it was not a day of answers, it was a day of worship and wonder, given to disciples who knew they were far from perfect, who made all sorts of mistakes, but knew the One whom they served ? they received a simple message: ?Stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high?

Contact Details

Lynn Glanville

Diocesan Communications Officer, Dublin & Glendalough 087 2356472
dco@dublin.anglican.org

www.dublin.anglican.org