Bishop Alan Harper tells Patsy McGarryof the importance of faith, family and dialogue
Just as with St Patrick, who he (and the Catholic primate Archbishop Seán Brady) succeeds in Armagh, Bishop Alan Harper comes from the larger island in this archipelago. Born in 1944, he was raised and educated at Tamworth in Staffordshire, England, before going to Leeds University, from where he graduated with a geography degree in 1965.
While a student he was involved with archaeological digs in England. It was through that experience he arrived in Ireland and, as with Patrick, in Antrim, though not quite in captivity. He did, however, take a salary cut to work as field officer with the Archaeological Survey of Northern Ireland (later the Historic Monuments Inspectorate), based in Belfast, in 1966.
He became senior inspector of historic monuments, and worked in both roles for almost nine years.
The parallels with Patrick do not end with his island of origin and point of arrival in Ireland. The new Church of Ireland primate-elect (he assumes office as primate of All-Ireland and archbishop of Armagh on February 2nd), also returned to England.
But a short time afterwards he also responded to the call of God and the Irish. A vocation to the ministry had been an issue with him since schooldays.
"I stopped running. I knew I wanted to return to Ireland. The Church of Ireland had been very generous, informing me spiritually, particularly Jack Barry," he recalled this week.
The reference was to Canon John Barry who died last year, aged 91. He was rector at Hillsborough, Co Down, from 1949 until retirement in 1983.
On returning to Ireland, Bishop Harper began training for the ministry. There followed "three of the happiest years" of his university career, at Trinity College Dublin, from where he graduated in 1978.
That year also he began as a curate at Ballywillan in Co Down, later serving mainly in the Derry and Connor dioceses.
He became archdeacon of Connor in 1996 and bishop there in 2002. The Connor diocese, one of the most populous in the Church of Ireland, covers Co Antrim, including 13 parishes in Belfast, and east Co Derry.
His origin in England had never been an issue anywhere he has been in Ireland, he said, "though I expect to have my leg pulled from time to time."
He has been married to Belfast woman Helen (nee McLean) since 1967. They had two children by the time he decided to enter the ministry. Twins were born during his second year of training. In such circumstances, it was "the family which pays the cost," he said.
Helen stayed at home looking after the children, while "it was no sacrifice for me. I found it stimulating, a joy." Maintenance for ordinands (those training for ministry) in such circumstances had become "a very significant issue" for the church.
There were plans to reshape theological education to take account of the needs of those in such circumstances, he said, and for whom ministry was now "a second calling".
There can be no doubt the support of his wife and family at that critical juncture of his own clerical career, and since, contributed to the strength of his response when asked about that photograph (in which he is seen kissing his wife) on the front page of The Irish Times last Thursday following the announcement of his election to Armagh.
"I make no apology for kissing my wife and I think it [ the photograph] sent a positive message. My marriage and my family are very important to me. Why shouldn't I celebrate them?" he asked.
As archbishop of Armagh, he will have direct responsibility for Drumcree parish, one of the most controversial in the Church of Ireland. At the church's 1999 general synod he described the then situation at Drumcree as "a serious and dangerous scandal".
There, too, he proposed a motion calling for the withdrawal of an invitation to Orangemen to attend the service at Drumcree unless they gave three pledges of good behaviour afterwards.
It also called for the banning of non-church flags, including the union flag, being flown from steeples or in church grounds, and for the removal of certain negative statements towards other churches from Church of Ireland historic documents. It was passed by a large majority and ignored, without consequence, at Drumcree.
Agreeing this week that the heat appeared to have gone out of the Drumcree situation, he said there was still a "lot of uncertainty among clergy and people on how to relate to the Orange Order".
He felt it was "probably timely to explore a new conversation" with the order.
"We need to encourage them to talk to us quietly, not to have a major conversation in the public domain."
Orange Order members "play an extremely important role in the life of parishes", particularly in rural areas, he said.
He recalled the words of a member who, when charged that the Orange Order was anti-Catholic, replied it was not anti-Catholic, but strongly pro the Reformed tradition. That was a position "which gets us out of a circle of negativity whereby people define themselves by what they are not, rather than what they are. That's a good thing," he said.
At the 1997 general synod, proposing a motion calling for a study on sectarianism within the Church of Ireland, he said the issue affected "society throughout the island of Ireland" and was not unique to the Church of Ireland. "Indeed it may well be that other ecclesial bodies are worse riddled than is our church," he said.
His concern, however, was for the Church of Ireland to put its own house in order and to "try to rid ourselves of this gross infection of our church and community life".
The motion was passed and consequent studies led to the setting up of the church's much-praised current Hard Gospel Project. Bishop Harper said this week that dealing with sectarianism remained "a very high priority issue" with him.
He "strongly supported" combined actions by the churches and instanced, as an example, the ongoing Inter-Church Addiction Project feasibility study. He felt similar work could be done in the area of suicide, particularly among young men. He believed it "advantageous and appropriate" for churches to work together.
On inter-church Communion, he felt it was "no part of my responsibility to encourage members of another tradition to break with the disciplines of that tradition but, from a Church of Ireland perspective, anyone baptised in and a committed member of their own church is welcome to receive Communion in the Church of Ireland".