In Dun Laoghaire for the opening of the Church of Ireland General Synod

A bandstand on the East Pier, Dun Laoghaire … the General Synod of the Church of Ireland is meeting in Dun Laoghaire for three days (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

I am in Dun Laoghaire this morning [12 May 2016] for the opening of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland which is meeting for three days in the Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire.

During my time as a member of the General Synod, we have met in a variety of locations throughout Ireland, including Armagh, Belfast, Dublin (Christ Church Cathedral, the RDS Ballsbridge and Stllorgan), Galway and Kilkenny. But this is the first time we have met in Dun Laoghaire.

In addition to the two major reports, from the Standing Committee and the Representative Church Body, the Synod is also considering issues relating to liturgy, mission and ministry, human sexuality, Anglican, ecumenical and interfaith relations, and the covenant with the Methodist Church.

The Synod Eucharist is being celebrated at 10 am this morning in Saint Paul’s Church, Glenageary, where the preacher is the Right Revd Patrick Rooke, Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry.

The Synod is due to begin in the conference centre at the Royal Marine Hotel at 12 noon with the Archbishop of Armagh’s Presidential Address, and begins at 10 am on Friday and Saturday.

Each morning, the Synod begins with a short act of worship, which is being led this year by the Right Revd Kenneth Kearon, Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe.

I am going to miss the meeting of General Synod tomorrow [Friday], which begins with the Council for Mission hosting a Mission Breakfast in Christ Church Parochial Hall, Dun Laoghaire, when the speaker is Ms Lydia Monds, Education Adviser to the Bishops’ Appeal.

At lunchtime tomorrow, in the Methodist Church, Northumberland Road, Changing Attitude Ireland is hosting a meeting at which the speaker is Jayne Ozanne. She is a member of the General Synod of the Church of England, and has been modelling “good disagreement” between those who differ on issues of human sexuality. Friday’s Synod day ends with a concert of choral and organ music in Saint Paul’s Church, Glenageary, at 7.30 pm.

General Synod members were expecting that the “big issue” this year would be the recommendations of the Commission on Episcopal Ministry and Structures which suggested changes in the method of electing bishops and alterations to diocesan boundaries. This proposal would have reduced the number of bishops and dioceses, in due course, from 12 to 11.

However, the Commission announced last week [5 May 2016] that it intends to withdraw this Bill to alter provincial and diocesan boundaries.

The Bill proposed a union between the dioceses of Tuam and Killala and Limerick and Killaloe, with Achonry joining with Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh, and six parish units being moved from Dublin and Glendalough to Meath and Kildare. No boundary changes were to come into effect until after the General Synod meeting in 2017.

If passed, the Bill would have resulted in a church of 11 dioceses rather than 12, six in the Province of Armagh and five in the Province of Dublin.

Alongside this Bill, the commission is making recommendations on episcopal election procedures in a separate Bill.

Announcing the withdrawal of the Bill on redrawing diocesan boundaries, a statement said: “After much heart-searching and consideration of all the implications … it is our judgment that the time, the circumstances and the atmosphere are not right for this to be presented and discussed as we envisaged. It is not in the best interests of the church to have divisive and acrimonious debate and it has never been our wish to engage in confrontational argument, attacking and defending, ‘winners’ on one side and ‘losers’ on the other.”

The commission members now hope to put forward a Motion “encouraging those most likely to be directly involved to work together in considering how these proposals could be taken forward by agreement in their respective dioceses for their mutual benefit and to meet the needs of the wider church.” The outcome of these deliberations would be reported to the General Synod next year [2017].

One of my tasks at General Synod again this year is to act as one of the hosts for our ecumenical guests, and I have also been asked to contribute to the reports of General Synod debates in the Church of Ireland Gazette.

A mural by the railway lines in Dun Laoghaire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

A curious link between good coffee and George Berkeley’s philosophy

Sitting beneath George Berkeley’s portrait in Trinity College Dublin this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

I find that two positive factors enhance my capacity to endure committee meetings: the quality of the coffee available, and the number of windows allowing natural light to pour into the room.

I spent much of this afternoon at an academic meeting in the newly-fitted West Theatre Board Room in Trinity College Dublin.

The coffee was good, and the four large windows allowed plenty of natural light to stream into the room from Front Square, despite the rain outside.

Of course, committee meetings are an essential part of the academic working life, and as I sat beneath a newly-restored portrait of Bishop George Berkeley (1658-1753), I was reminded of how he once said “there can be no such thing as a happy life without labour.”

Having bought a collection of Philip Larkin’s poetry earlier this week, I also recalled how in a sequel to the poem ‘Toads Revisited,’ Larkin acknowledged in middle age that he rather liked the “old toad” of work.

As a philosopher, Berkeley’s primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called “immaterialism” and which was later referred to as “subjective idealism.” This theory denies the existence of material substance and instead contends that familiar objects like tables and chairs are only ideas in the minds of perceivers, and as a result cannot exist without being perceived. Berkeley is also known for his critique of abstraction, an important premise in his argument for immaterialism.

Berkeley was born at Dysart Castle, near Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, and was educated at Kilkenny College and Trinity College Dublin, where he earned his BA in 1704 and his MA in 1707, when he was elected a Fellow of TCD. He was recently described by The Irish Times as “probably the university’s most celebrated alumnus.”

He stayed on at TCD as a tutor and lecturer in Greek, and in 1709 published his first major work, An Essay towards a New Theory of Vision, in which he discussed the limitations of human vision and advanced the theory that the proper objects of sight are not material objects, but light and colour. This foreshadowed his chief philosophical work, A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710). After its poor reception, he rewrote this in dialogue form and published it under the title Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous (1713).

The Chapel and Front Square in Trinity College Dublin this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

He was ordained in the Church of Ireland in 1721, completed his Doctorate in Divinity (DD), and remained a little longer at TCD, lecturing in theology and Hebrew. In 1722 he was appointed Dean of Dromore, and in 1724 he became Dean of Derry.

In 1732, he published Alciphron, a Christian apologetic against free-thinkers, and in 1734 he published The Analyst, a critique of the foundations of calculus.

In 1733, he was appointed Bishop of Cloyne, a position he was to hold until his death. His last major philosophical work was Siris (1744).

There was a renewed interest in Berkeley’s work after World War II because he tackled many of the issues of paramount interest to philosophy in the 20th century, such as the problems of perception, the difference between primary and secondary qualities, and the importance of language.

George Berkeley was one of the three most famous empiricists from these islands, alongside John Locke and David Hume. Hume famously described Berkeley’s philosophy as neither admitting the slightest refutation, nor inspiring the slightest conviction.

Samuel Johnson, according to his biographer James Boswell, disagreed:

After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley’s ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it – ‘I refute it thus.’

It is not recorded whether Berkeley considered himself refuted by this futile exercise.

On the other hand, the philosopher Professor David Berman, who has spent almost nearly 40 years teaching philosophy at TCD, says: “Berkeley is an empiricist, and suspicious of the way language can influence our thinking and fashion. He believes that through direct experience we can make contact with what really exists.”

And that’s where the good coffee at this afternoon’s meeting makes a connection with that portrait of George Berkeley. For David Berman has turned his attention to coffee – not just for pleasure but as part of an intellectual quest.

For him, coffee is a window to understanding our tastes: How do you know what you like? How do you describe experiences or sensations? Are your tastes better than other people’s tastes?

David Berman has put in a lot of work to reach these heights of analysis – “I can’t tell you the number of coffees I’ve had” – and concludes that there are essentially two coffee types: sour and bitter. (For sour, think of the acidic taste of grapefruit or vinegar; for bitter think the sharp, acrid taste of citrus peels or olives.)

He describes these as the two “true tastes” of coffee. The sour, produced by lighter roasting, is more complex, delicate and subtle. The bitter, produced by darker roasting, is simpler, more uniform and easier to get right.

Professor David Berman writes a blog on his explorations in coffee-tasting at coffeetastingandphilosophy.wordpress.com.

Looking out onto Front Square in Trinity College Dublin this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)