Diocesan News
New Canon installed at St Columb’s Cathedral
The congregation at Rev Canon Paul Hoey’s Installation Service in St Columb’s Cathedral, on Wednesday evening, were urged never to forget that buildings like the Cathedral – and the very structure of the Church of Ireland – were built in service of the good news of God, not as a replacement for it. The reminder came from the Rev Stuart Reid, who serves alongside Canon Hoey in the Parish of Faughanvale (Eglinton) and who had been invited to preach the sermon.
Mr Reid said he had wondered why his colleague had chosen him to preach on the Feast of Saint Mark. “Given the lectionary readings for the day” – the second reading was Mark 13: 1–13, in which Jesus warns a disciple that the stones of the Temple will all be thrown down – he concluded, “Paul needed someone naive and foolish enough to agree to preach on this passage, in a place like this, on a day like today.”
The preacher said when he told people that he was doing his deacon internship alongside Canon Hoey, as his mentor, more often than not he got the response: “Paul Hoey? He’s the evangelist, isn’t he?” Mr Reid said the response was heartening and disheartening at the same time. “Paul loves God,” the preacher said, “Paul loves the Gospel, and the good news is at the heart of his ministry and in this respect Paul is very definitely an evangelist. But it’s also disheartening because shouldn’t that be the case for all who are Christians? Shouldn’t we all have the good news of Jesus at the heart of our lives? Shouldn’t we all be known as evangelists?”
Mr Reid told those present – including the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, the Rt Rev Ken Good – that he lived in Holloway in London around the time Arsenal Football Club’s new Emirates Stadium was being built. On match days, he said, the streets would be full of people selling food and scarves and tee–shirts, the pubs would be filled with fans and the streets would be lined with police. There was so much going on around the ground that you wouldn’t even remember a football match was going on. Part of Jesus’s issue with the way the Temple was being used in the reading from Mark was that so many other people had got their own agendas that God often got left to the side or forgotten. This tension still existed today.
“In the West we’ve seen the destruction of many of our figurative temples,” the sermon continued. “As church attendance has dropped and as census numbers have shown than fewer people named themselves as Christians, it can be very, very tempting to lock ourselves away to protect the remnants. We have to stop ourselves from putting pride in the institutions of our religion. We have to turn away from those human agendas which make us want to keep the good news to ourselves.
“Now, for those of you who are reading between the lines and think I’m saying something about cathedrals, I’m absolutely not,” Mr Reid said, “I’m actually saying something very positive. These buildings, and many like them, are the testament to the communities of faith that have lived on this earth for centuries.
“Sitting up there at the beginning, I saw the name of someone in whose name one of the tables had been presented, and they came from Eglinton. And now, having become embedded in Eglinton in recent times, I feel some sense of connection to a previous generation and they have a connection to this cathedral. Some of the greatest acts of communal worship have led to these buildings, but we shouldn’t forget that these buildings, and the very structure of the Church of Ireland, were built in service of the good news of God, not as a replacement for it.
“Jesus, in the second half of this reading, tells the disciples about the real nature of living as carriers of the good news in this world and it’s not pretty. If you read through the reading you will find wars, rumours of wars, floggings, natural disasters, families betraying their own, and who would choose that life? And yet, that’s exactly the context in which the Gospel must be preached. We do not have to look around far in this world to see places in which the good news of God is absolutely needed. But the good news that we carry is only good news if it is delivered.”
Mr Reid said there were many ways to be witnesses to the good news of Jesus, which was comforting since “many of us aren’t good with words”. But all involved yearning for the world to know the love and redemption of God. This world needed the gospel, he said. It wasn’t a nice little cherry on top of the rest of our lives, it wasn’t an optional extra, it wasn’t a side project.
“We, at St Canice’s in Eglinton, are hoping to be back in our church building at the end of May after last year’s flood,” he said. But the experience of being forced out had taught them something. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that the flood was a good thing – many people here have suffered because of that – but in the process of the last few months we’ve been reminded that our building is not our church.”
The preacher urged those who love the institution of the Anglican Church – himself included – never to forget their core purpose: “Let us never be so concerned keeping the magnificent stones of the Church of Ireland standing that we forget why they were put up in the very first place.”
“Today’s a day of thankful celebration,” he continued. “We’re thankful for this place [St Columb’s Cathedral]. We’re thankful for our Church. And we’re thankful that Paul is being installed as a Canon. And it’s a testament to this Diocese that so many of our leaders are passionate about the good news of Jesus. It’s a testament to this Diocese that so many people are very welcoming. It’s a testament to this Diocese that so many of the congregations here are so full of the Spirit. But most of all today we are thankful for the good news – the good news of Jesus – so let’s continue to pray that God will send more workers to the harvest and that we will be willing to go when we are called.”
Wednesday’s Service of Installation was led by the Dean of Derry, the Very Rev Raymond Stewart. Canon Hoey replaced the Rev Canon Mike Roemmele in the Cathedral Chapter. Music for the Service was provided by the Organist and Master of the Choristers, Dr Derek Collins, Assistant Organist Nicky Morton and the Cathedral Choir. Refreshments were served afterwards in St Augustine’s Parish Hall on the City Walls.
For further information please contact:
Diocesan Communications Officer, Derry & Raphoe
Mr Paul McFadden
028 7126 2440
07525 826290
press@derryandraphoe.org