If I was to write a letter to The Irish Times critical of Archbishop Empey and Bishop Miller, I would not expect it to be published anonymously.

Yet this was the privilege afforded to the paper's Religious Affairs Correspondent, Patsy McGarry, in his article of July 7th headed "C of I has let Drumcree parishioners down badly" in which he quotes extensively the views expressed by a member of the Drumcree congregation. This surely sets a dangerous precedent for a quality newspaper, especially when names are named in the article, and the overall position of the Church of Ireland in the South is misrepresented as "running very close to Roman Catholicism".

Part of the problem today is that churches tend to be judged by what is reported in the media. "If it wasn't reported it didn't happen or it wasn't said" appears to be the modern criterion of judgment. Certainly that seems to be the case in the recent article, especially with reference to the Church of Ireland in the South.

While not wishing to engage in media bashing, it has to be said that there have been occasions when material was submitted for publication but has never seen the light of day which would have helped to give a more rounded picture of church life and attitudes in the South.

Let me illustrate this by two quotations from my final presidential address to the Cork, Cloyne and Ross Diocesan Synod last October. The first relates specifically to Drumcree: "The depth of feeling expressed here in the South of Ireland can be taken as an indication that we truly regard ourselves as one church. It is not so very long ago that we judged what was happening north of the Border as virtually taking place on another planet." One of the great dangers is that we lose this sense of unity.

I am not sure how familiar the particular Drumcree parishioner is with church life in the South. For example, what is the basis for comment such as "They don't preach the gospel the way the Rev Pickering does"? I don't know what that means, but I do know that week in week out, year in year out, in the parts of the South where I have ministered, the clergy faithfully preach the gospel, and what is of vital importance, encourage their congregations to live out their Christian profession.

THIS surely is the nub of the issue, because no matter how eloquent or verbose the preaching, it will be but a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal unless it is lived out in the context of love or charity.

Some years ago the then Archbishop of Cape Town, Joost de Blank, wrote a little book entitled The Uncomfortable Words. The title came about by way of contrast with the Comfortable Words in the Holy Communion service: "Come unto me all ye that travail and are heavy laden and I will refresh you."

Coming out of the midst of rampant apartheid it was all the more challenging. The first chapter, headed "Personal Denial", was based on some words from Luke: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." In his meditation on these words, de Blank wrote, "The true Christian is the one who understands the total demand his Lord makes upon his life" and later went on to say, "We are so good at deceiving ourselves that we may fully intend the total self-surrender our Lord demands without working out its implications in everyday life."

Whether we live North or South of the Border, this is the challenge facing the professing Christian - total surrender to the total Christ. If we concentrate on that and refrain from making comparisons we may well be surprised at some of the companions we encounter on the way.

The second quotation is not unrelated. "There is an old Indian proverb which runs something like this: `Unless you have walked in my moccasins you cannot understand how I feel.' " It is difficult for those of us here to understand fully what it means to be a loyal member of the Church of Ireland in parts of the North, just as it is sometimes difficult for those in the North to understand our position in the South.

For this reason I was delighted that the Diocesan Council took the decision to link with the Diocese of Clogher and that they readily responded. The intention is that we will all come to understand a little more realistically what it means to walk in each other's moccasins.

There was a time in the not too distant past when there was very little inter-diocesan movement among the clergy of the Church of Ireland. Such is no longer the case, and mobility is as prevalent among clergy as it is among those in secular employment. This leads to the enrichment of parishes and dioceses. At one point in Cork, 50 per cent of the diocesan clergy, including the Bishop, had served part of their ministry in the North. The same is also true of the present Bishop of Cork. This means that at an influential level there is at least some understanding of the attitude of the Northern Protestant. When, therefore, criticism is levelled at Southern clergy who may comment on the Northern situation, this is a factor which must be taken on board. Their comments are rarely made in a total vacuum.

AS has become common on such occasions, ecumenism takes a dismissive battering, and the bishops in the South are accused of becoming "too ecumenical". One cannot help assuming that it is a very narrow interpretation of ecumenism and one that has become captive to culture and a prisoner of politics. What is the basic rationale of the ecumenical movement? For the Church of Ireland it has always found its focus in the prayer of Our Lord shortly before his crucifixion: "That they all may be one."

To be ecumenical is not an option but a necessity, or to express it in the words of the first ARCIC report, Unity is of the essence of the Church - a view underlined by Hans Kung when he wrote, "To be a real Christian is to be an ecumenical Christian." I have always found it difficult to understand how those who claim to be most biblical in their teaching are so often among those vehemently opposed to this most biblical of concepts.

It's a problem expressed by the Bishop of Monmouth, Dr Rowan Williams, at the 1998 Lambeth Conference in the context of making moral decisions. Having pointed out that as churches we have much in common, not least the Word of God, he went on to ponder the dilemma of how those using the same book can find such radically diverse interpretations to support their own particular thinking. Perhaps we all need to listen a little more carefully and attentively to the Word of God rather than read back into it our own prejudices. Even if we cannot all sing in unison from the same biblical hymn sheet, may we at least sing in harmony our different parts.

Bishop Roy Warke is the recently retired Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.