THE new Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin has expressed surprise at being asked by the media since his election if "the Church of Ireland is the Unionist Party at prayer".
The Most Rev Walton Empey said that to say he had been taken aback by the question would be "the understatement of the week."
Though the Church of Ireland in the Republic had "largely kept its head behind parapets" when he was a child, by the 1990s there had been "a huge sea change" in the attitude of members of his church to the State.
"Those of us who live in the State love our country, warts and all, and that point needs stressing again and again," he said.
"At every level of Irish social life, members of the church are playing their part right up to local council representation and the Dail, although we have to acknowledge that our degree of participation at the national level has not matched that of the infinitely smaller Jewish community."
The Archbishop was speaking at a pre synod service in St Patrick's Cathedral yesterday. The congregation included the Primate of all Ireland, the Most Rev Dr Robin Eames, and bishops, clergy, and lay representatives attending the General Synod.
The synod will meet in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, from today until Thursday. Archbishop Empey said people in Northern Ireland sometimes asked how church members could possibly live "in the Republic which they believe is still deeply influenced or even governed by Rome."
The Republic today took its place among the nations of the world as a sovereign state, and one with a respected voice in the United Nations and the European Union, he said.
Members of the Church of Ireland "speak out when necessary on issues of the day and, what is more, we are listened to. Apart from some extremists who are always with us, we are accepted a loyal citizens of this State who art not looking backwards wistfully to a time that was."
He recalled a meeting of the General Synod in the early 1970s when political tensions were at their highest, and it was decided to clear the house of visitors and journalists so that the divisions in the church would not be "trumpeted across the nation."
He went on: "How wrong we were and how deeply we regretted the decision afterwards. It transpired that this was one of the most magnificent debates that one was ever likely to hear anywhere. On that day the Holy Spirit moved mightily in the Church of Ireland."