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A Good Anglican Stance
On reading Dermot O’Callaghan’s letter (Gazette, 21st March, page 7), I looked up the website of Changing Attitude UK and tried to access details of the publication to which he drew attention. My IT skills are modest; I don’t doubt that Dermot saw the item on Sexual Ethics - it may still be somewhere out there on the wide-ranging site - but I could not find it. (Perhaps others judged it objectionable and it has been removed.)
But the site, a new one to me, is full of most interesting news/articles/views and I am grateful to Dermot for bringing it to my attention. In my search for the review of Sexual Ethics, I was presented with a list of about 100 books, from the reading of almost any one of which I think I would benefit. I noticed that some of the authors listed argue from what might be called a pro-homosexual viewpoint and others would be decidedly anti-; so there was a variety of opinions. I would make the point that any organisation which believes it has a calling to expand the knowledge of us the public (in this case, of us the Christian Church) on interesting, relevant and contentious issues and which offers a reading list of 100+ books could not possibly stand over every sentence of every one of them. In so many pages, there is bound to be something to annoy or exasperate every single reader.
To turn briefly to Dermot’s specific criticism, we struggle to find for the 21st century a Christian morality that is worthy of our Lord and Risen Saviour. We are by no means the first generation to realise that what was accepted as such in the past has often turned out later to be based on the assumptions of a particular time and place rather than the moral stance of Jesus.
Queen Elizabeth I is admired for her cool head, good sense and wisdom in guiding her country through a period of doubt and uncertainty, impassioned and blood-stained to an extent which we do not know today, thank God, in the UK. Her contemporaries noted that crucial to her achievements was that, while she personally felt very strongly about many of the issues, she did not wish to "make windows into men’s hearts and secret thoughts".
I recommend such a good Anglican stance today, when we are beset by enthusiasts who are determined to see only in black and white. Most of us acknowledge deep down that human beings are complicated creatures not easily pigeon-holed. As far as the issues raised by Dermot are concerned, sensitive, tolerant people know that if we are thinking of pre-marital or extra-marital or non-marital relationships, at this time, a fundamental requirement is that the same standard is required of all of us, irrespective of our gender and of our sexual orientation.
Charles Kenny
45 Deramore Drive
Belfast
BT9 5JS
We wish to thank the Revd Ted Woods for his helpful response in the Gazette (Letters, 28th March, page 7) to the article entitled ‘Focus on Ministry Training - an update from the Ministry Formation Project Team’ (Gazette, 7th March, pages 8 and 9).
We particularly appreciate his support of the goals and aims of the project. He is also, of course, quite right in the point he makes regarding selection and we agree that it might helpfully have been mentioned explicitly in the article. We also thank him for drawing readers’ attention to the website - www.ministry. ie - which covers a number of further details we did not cover in the more generalized article.
The fact that the future training and formation is set at M.Min. level was made very clear to all in our Presentations a year ago and was also made in light of the educational level of the overwhelming majority of presenting candidates over recent years.
As we said at the time, the aim was and remains to equip people to an appropriate professional standard for ministry in the future life of the Church. The aim is higher professional standards and skill levels - not higher academic levels as an end in themselves. We recognise that, for those with limited further education, this might require some additional prior training and we have always appreciated the need to work through appropriate pathways where the Church is discerning and recognising God’s call to the individual.
If, however, the central goal of preparing people effectively for mission in 21st-century Ireland is to be accomplished, an appropriate professional equipping and skilling does seem to be a prerequisite.
Ministry Formation Project
Team
Church House
Rathmines
Dublin
I am currently completing an Hons. B.A. in Fine Arts at the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology on A Visual History of St Mary’s Protestant church, Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo, from 1809–1870. Based on my work so far, it has been suggested that I continue and expand on the subject for a Master’s Degree.
I wonder if anybody would have any information or visuals of the church that are not already in circulation that they might like to share with me. I have done some primary research at the RCB Library, Dublin, and hope to publish a small book on the church, when finished. This, in turn, might encourage preservation of the headstones in the graveyard which are falling into disrepair. The church itself is now restored and used as the town library.
Averil Staunton
Springvale
Ballinrobe
Co. Mayo
averilstaunton@hotmail.com
It was wonderful to watch the Maundy Thursday service taking place in St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh with the other Churches participating. While I may not have any say in what the Bishop of Manchester chooses to wear, I would hope that in the Church of Ireland we will not be seeing a cope and mitre again. May I also suggest to the Archbishop that, when he gives the blessing, it is not necessary to give the sign of the cross as well. This is not denying the empty cross on which our faith is based.
M. Simpson (Mrs)
9 St Elizabeth’s Court
Ballyregan Road
Dundonald
Belfast BT16 1HX