Sir, – As a practising Catholic who has been married to a member of the Church of Ireland for approximately 30 years, I have never encountered the fear of difference and a desire for segregation which Archbishop Jackson indicates is the mindset of the members of the Christian community which he leads.
Indeed, I have been welcomed by the clergy and laity through their inclusive attitudes and behaviours and there is a mutual respect between us as belonging to different Christian denominations, which I believe is how the message of the Gospel directs us to behave and act. Neither my wife or myself have ever been subject to the “continuing hurt” to which the archbishop refers. Moreover friends of mine who, for their own reasons, moved to the Church of Ireland were welcomed and are now comfortable and active members of the Church of Ireland.
The terms “Polyester Protestants “and “Cradle Protestants” and the pejorative remarks relating to the Roman Catholic stance on abortion are not used by anyone I know within the Church of Ireland and would not be tolerated by them. I am uncomfortable with the archbishop’s harsh, general criticism of his community which is not a true and accurate picture of what happens, as I know it and meet it. – Yours, etc,
DAVID J FITZGERALD,
Glenageary Road Lower,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Archbishop Jackson’s attempt to clarify his address (Opinion, October 22nd) to the Dublin and Glendalough diocesan synods (Home News, October 16th) remains puzzling and vague. If he is concerned about the way his indigenous members relate to newcomers, he is off the mark. He surely must know the Church of Ireland congregations are small and draw strength from getting to know new and existing members through a variety of social activities. Like Archbishop Clarke, I grew up in the Church of Ireland in the 1950s and encountered “apartheid by mutual consent” in rural Co Cork.
I was subjected to the ne temere decree when I married a Roman Catholic (which my wife and I chose to ignore). This decree was replaced by the Matrimonia Mixta 1970 which requires the Roman Catholic partner "to see to it the children be baptised and brought up" in the Roman Catholic faith. Dr Gladys Ganiel argues that the Church of Ireland displays "a systematic failure to see diversity as a gift". Maybe there is an element of truth in this but the ne temere and today's Matrimonia Mixta certainly insensitively fail to "see diversity as a gift".
Their effect has been to substantially contribute to the decline in native Church of Ireland numbers from 164,000 in 1926 to 93,000 in 2011. Might not Archbishop Jackson concern himself with addressing this cruel form of sectarianism? – Yours, etc,
ROBIN BURY,
Military Road,
Killiney,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Further to the coverage of my address at the Dublin and Glendalough Diocesan Synods (Home News, October 15th): My overall focus was and remains my concern for the ongoing work of inclusion of newcomers at parochial level in the dioceses. For this reason, I was surprised by the focus of your reporting exclusively on the issue of sectarianism. The speech expresses continuing practical and theological commitment to mission in the church of God and, within this framework, voices a sustained call to shared maturity in facing questions we may well still need to ask of ourselves in a changing society. This is where the issue of sectarianism “sits” in the overall address.
The direction in which the coverage has moved in The Irish Times makes me disheartened for the clergy I serve because the thrust of their good work in the many areas of celebration, which I outline and showcase, together with that of lay people, has been overlooked by the overemphasis on sectarianism per se by The Irish Times. My concern is to build afresh on work identified as urgent and begun as needed equally urgently by my predecessor in the report: Welcoming Angels: Report of the Archbishop's Working Group on Combating Racism, 2005. This report holds members of the United Dioceses to account and it was a response to The Hard Gospel Report in the Church of Ireland. My genuine worry is to continue to facilitate the work of welcome and inclusion both of immigrants and of Anglicans by conviction into the parishes and structures of these dioceses.
Part of what such maturity asks of us is our facing the question whether the origin of resistance to change within some parishes on the part of particularly assertive lay people, a phenomenon shared with me by clergy, in fact is derived from sectarian mistrust which is still in evidence across our society.
I further express my sadness at the suspicion expressed within a prestigious Anglican institution by “cradle Anglicans” towards Anglicans by conviction and at the confidences shared with me by numerous people at the non-acceptance by members of the Church of Ireland of their marriage to those of other traditions.
These are but two alarming examples of unwholesome assumptions which are clearly seen by some still to be acceptable. Change requires maturity and maturity brings the acceptance of discomfort. For us in the Church of Ireland it requires the application of Anglican principles and practice. The new maturity on the other side of this process of attaining generous church, for which we in the Church of Ireland part of the community will need the help of our neighbours right across all traditions, is one for which I eagerly long.
Both the address to the Diocesan Synods and another paper which I have written in this area are to be found on the Dublin and Glendalough Diocesan website: dublin.anglican.org. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL JACKSON,
Church of Ireland House,
Church Avenue, Dublin 6.