Delegates from the Church of Ireland archdioceses of Dublin and Glendalough called at the weekend for a new tier of co-ordinators at parish and local level to help with faith development, youth and children, the social ministry, and in attracting and keeping new members.
Approximately 200 delegates, including clergy and two lay representatives from each parish, attended the diocesan forum at All Hallows College, Drumcondra, called by Archbishop Walton Empey to deal with "priority issues" identified by church members.
The forum took place following requests at the diocesan synod for an opportunity to allow church members discuss in depth issues of concern. A special diocesan council meeting is the next step in the process which will lead to the implementation of proposals.
Five topics have emerged as the most important: planning, attracting and keeping members; youth and children; ministry and support for the clergy; social ministry and care for older persons; and faith development.
Ms Karen Seeman spoke of the need for a parish development officer who would link with clergy and laity in facing the challenge of church growth. Ms Karen Revington said there was a need for "professional leadership" when dealing with teenagers. She wondered about reviving the "old-fashioned mission" or holding further events like last year's ceili·radh at Christ Church Cathedral, where young people could be brought together with "all issues on the agenda". Ms Ruth Handy spoke of the need for a special forum on ministry and its future. It was recognised that clergy were "badly in need of support", she said. Parish administrative support should be "mandatory" with resources shared across the dioceses.
Where the spirituality of clergy was concerned, retreats should be mandatory, she said. Rev John McCullagh said there should be a sharing of expertise in sustaining the elderly, and also by using the skills of older people themselves.
Canon Nigel Dunne identified a need for a co-ordinator for faith development who would also stress the breaking down of parish boundaries. Archbishop Empey thanked delegates for "the wonderful response given", but continued, "I have a terrible feeling my nice, quiet, pedestrian life as a bishop has come to an end".
The Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork, Right Rev Paul Colton, said that "like it or not", modern believing for many people today was "a pick 'n' mix lucky bag".
He said this "plurality of stories, a conundrum of cultures" resulted in "self-definition which articulates itself like this: spiritual with no organised faith, or in a Christianity which has found ways of transcending traditional parameters of believing."
In facing this reality the church could close its eyes, seek the past, baton down the hatches or "run the risk of going into the wilderness with God and discovering there who we are and what he wants us to become". He believed "our world view has to change. . .we need to open up, become flexible and be unafraid of our encounter with the other human cultures and sub-cultures around us."
