Churches discuss faith-based ways to unite Rathkeale groups

This news report is published on the back page of the ‘Limerick Leader’ today (20 May 2017):

Churches discuss faith-based
ways to unite Rathkeale groups

Canon Patrick Comerford spoke at the Synod about the need for ‘advocacy’ in Rathkeale

Maria Flannery

“We are at a point where the two communities tolerate each other, but live apart.”

So said Reverend Canon Professor Patrick Comerford Patrick Comerford at the Church of Ireland Synod this month, where speakers discussed a faith-based approach to harmony between Travellers and settled people.

The Priest-in-Charge of the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin group of parishes spoke about the Rathkeale Pre-social Cohesion Project, a cause which is led by community development officer David Breen.

The programme is a collaboration between the Catholic, Church of Ireland and Methodist churches, in association with West Limerick Resources, and the group holds prayer meetings and events in an effort to use faith to unite the communities.

Canon Comerford, who recently moved to the parish, said that there is “a need for advocacy.”

“If we are to describe life in Rathkeale as ‘apartheid’ we might be using a misnomer. There are two separate communities, and they seldom interact, even when they attend the same Mass,” said Canon Comerford.

“But both communities have chosen this separation, have chosen to live apart. Even when they are sociable, they do not find true friends across the barrier,” he said.

“The two communities may stay apart, but that does not mean they cannot establish relations, get to know one another, no longer objectify each other.”

Coordinator David Breen explained why he approached religious clergy when the project started.

“The majority of people living in Rathkeale are at least nominally Catholic, with the Travellers being extremely committed to church. However, the parish is a divided Eucharistic community, a situation that needed a faith response,” said Mr Breen.

Canon Comerford said that the prayer group as part of the pre-social cohesion project gave the group “a conviction that a faith-based approach might offer some new opportunities of engagement”, added Canon Comerford.

The Church of Ireland reverend and former journalist also cited the image of Rathkeale from the outside world, referencing some of the bad press Rathkeale has received in recent times, and explained his own interest in the project.

“Lost sheep are not like the sheep in our stained-glass windows, modelled on the Little Lamb that Mary had and the followed her to school one day.

“Lost sheep get caught in brambles, are frightened, get lost, are not particularly appealing to look at when they are found. But those who are not wanted, who are pushed to the margins, who are out of sight, are always worth the effort as far as the Good Shepherd is concerned,” he said.

‘An exemplary ministry of concern for a marginalized section of Irish society’

This photograph is published in the ‘Church of Ireland Gazette’ today [12 May 2017, p 5} as part of the extensive coverage of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland, which met in Limerick last week [4-6 May]:

Canon Patrick Comerford, during a special presentation, highlights the social cohesion work undertaken by the Rathkeale group of parishes (Editorial, page 2).

The editorial commentary in the ‘Church of Ireland Gazette’ begins:

As always, the General Synod last week was a time for the bishops, clergy and laity of the Church of Ireland to come together to deliberate for the good of the Church. The venue – the South Court Hotel in Limerick – provided suitable accommodation for the large gathering and it was surely a welcome change for all concerned to have the opportunity of visiting Limerick and of learning about the diocese, experiencing worship its cathedral and hearing about its wider ministry. The Dean of Killaloe, the Very Revd Gary Paulsen’s leading of the daily devotions in the Synod hall was much appreciated.

In connection with the diocese’s wider ministry, it was instructive for the General Synod, in an informal session, to hear a presentation from Canon Patrick Comerford and David Breen on ‘Celebrating our Communities: tension and cohesion in Rathkeale’. During the presentation, the Synod heard of a special focus of the local parish’s ministry in the ecumenical Rathkeale Pre-Social Cohesion Group’s outreach to the travelling community, which comprises at least one- third of the population of the town. It is an exemplary ministry of concern for a marginalized section of Irish society.

Two strolls in early summer sun on the banks of the River Shannon

Looking towards Tarbert and the mouth of the River Shannon from the shoreline below Hamilton’s Tower in Glin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017; click on image for full-screen resolution)

Patrick Comerford

After a busy working week, including three days in Limerick at the General Synod of the Church of Ireland, two of us went for long walks along the banks of the Shannon Estuary, first near Pallaskenry at sunset on Saturday evening, and again in Glin at lunchtime on Sunday afternoon, after the Sunday services in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, and in Saint Brendan’s Church, Kilnaughtin (Tarbert), Co Kerry.

On Saturday evening, as the sun was setting, we drove from Kildimo, through areas with beautiful names Paradise, to the banks of the Shannon and slipway at the pier and the quay at Ringmoylan.

This is also a popular area for birdwatchers, but on Saturday evening it was still and quiet. The early summer sunshine was dimming in the distance, but the estuary waters were calm, and we could see Shannon Airport clearly on the opposite side of the estuary.

Friends has been staying n the Rectory in Askeaton during the Synod, and the synod itself had been three busy days, with the opening Eucharist in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, and two contributions to the synod debates, one on Friday morning alongside David Breen, introducing the work of the Rathkeale Pre-Cohesion Social Group, and one on Saturday during the debate on Ordained Local Ministry.

On Sunday, as we returned from Tarbert to Askeaton, we stopped in Glin, and went for a walk along the estuary shoreline below Hamilton’s Tower, a folly built almost 200 years ago by John Hamilton Esq around 1820.

Because of its prominent, elevated position, this tower dominates the countryside for many miles. Local tradition says there were cannons on top of the tower at one time, and that Captain Hamilton fired a cannon in salute as navy ships passed up and down the River Shannon.

In reality, the original function of the tower was to serve as a picturesque eye-catcher from Glin Castle. There were no cannon shots, and the river was calm and peaceful on Sunday afternoon as we walked along the shore beneath the tower. The only shipping in sight was the ferry in the distance crossing between Tarbert on the Kerry side of the estuary, and Killimer on the Clare side.

The Centenary Bridge in Glin, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

We crossed the River Corbry separating the promontory from Glin on the Centenary Bridge, a footbridge opened last year on 28 April 2016 as part of the 1916 centenary commemorations.

The Centenary Bridge in the Town Park honours everyone from Glin who was involved in the events surrounding the Easter Rising in 1916, especially Constable James O’Brien, Eamonn Dore and Michael O’Connor.

James O’Brien, an unarmed policeman, was the first person killed in the 1916 Rising in Dublin. He was born in Ballybeg, Kilfergus, Glin, and joined the Dublin Metropolitan Police in 1895. On Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, he was shot and killed by Seán Connolly, leader of a group from the Irish Citizens’ Army, who had come from Liberty Hall to seize Dublin Castle.

Seán Connolly was shot about an hour later by an army sniper, and is believed to be the first of the rebels to have died in 1916.

Eamonn Dore was born at Main Street, Glin, in 1886, and was a young medical student in Dublin when he became caught up in events. He was a courier for Sean MacDermott, one of the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation, and fought in the GPO during Easter Week 1916 alongside Padraic Pearse, James Connolly and Tom Clarke.

Following the Rising, he was detained until January 1917. He later married Nora Daly, sister of Ned Daly and sister-in-law of Tom Clarke, both executed for their part in the Rising. He died in 1973.

Michael O’Connor, a teacher from Ballyhahill, was an innocent victim of the Rising when he was caught in crossfire near the Phoenix Park, Dublin, as he tried to help a girl take cover from the gunfire. He is buried in Kilfergus Cemetery, beside Constable O’Brien.

Nearby in the park, there are reminders of two other sad events in life of Glin. A memorial recalls the 11 people who drowned off Knockeranna Point when The Mermaid, a turfboat owned by a local merchant, Thomas McCoy, carrying a cargo of corn and butter to Limerick, foundered in a strong gale on 21 November 1847.

The second, discreet monument is inscribed:

Erected by the boys of St Joseph’s Christian Brothers Industrial School, Glin, Co Limerick, 1928-1996.

‘Thousands of victims of industrial schools bear witness to a society unwilling to question its own comfortable certainties out of a fear that those beliefs might turn out to have been built on sand.’ Mary Raftery.

The congregation is deeply sorry for the hurt we have caused. Br Philip Pinto. Congregation Leader.

Early on Sunday afternoon, the low tide had reduced the River Corby to little more than a brook, with children climbing the bridge and wading in the water. Summer has come, and hopefully peace has come to this island too, in more ways than we can count.

On the banks of the River Shannon at Ringmoylan on Saturday evening (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2017; click on images for full-screen resolution)

Was the Good Shepherd our model at the General Synod in Limerick?

Christ the Good Shepherd, depicted on the reredos in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford,

Sunday 7 May 2017,

the Fourth Sunday of Easter,

11.30 a.m.: Saint Brendan’s Church, Kilnaughtin, Tarbert, Co Kerry, Morning Prayer.

Readings: Acts 2: 42-47; Psalm 23; I Peter 2: 19-25; John 10: 1-10.

In the name of + the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

I have spent the last three days at the General Synod of the Church of Ireland, which met for the first time this year in Limerick.

We began synod proceedings, appropriately, with a celebration of the Eucharist in Saint Mary’s Cathedral on Thursday morning, which I robed for as Precentor of the Cathedral, and on Thursday evening there was a reception for Synod members in the hallowed grounds of Thomond Park Stadium.

Traditionally, the synod prayers are led each day by the most-recently appointed bishop. But in a departure from that tradition, the prayers this were led by the Dean of Killaloe, the Very Revd Gary Paulsen, who was the Synod chaplain.

We had some friends to stay with us in the Rectory in Askeaton throughout the General Synod, there were many opportunities to meet more friends and colleagues, and the South Court Hotel was a pleasant place to work in for three days.

But, despite the setting and the social aspect to all of this, the General Synod is no holiday, and on sunny days, of course there are more pleasant ways of enjoying the sunshine.

Some of the work may seem tedious on the surface. The book of reports included a 163-page report from the Representative Church Body, including detailed accounts of what the Church has done with the money it holds on your behalf, on our behalf, where it is spent and invested, how much we pay the clergy in stipends, pensions and expenses, and what our policies are when it comes to ethical investment, for example.

All this is not just about responsible spending and housekeeping, but it is about being open and transparent. This money has been given by ordinary church members, and we should know it is being spent well and wisely.

The reports on funds held by the RCB also show how generous people were in the past, and how the Church needs fresh fundraising initiatives if we are going to pass on things we have inherited in good order to succeeding generations.

There were reports from different synod boards, such as the Board of Education and the Church in Society Commission.

The report of the Northern Ireland Community Relations Group, for example spoke of tackling bigotry and sectarianism on the ground. There was discussion too of how we have marked important centenaries, such as 1916 and World War I – indeed the Historical Centenaries Working Group is now chaired by Bishop Kenneth Kearon.

There were reports from the Working Group on Disability, the Refugee Working Group, the Youth Department and the Commission for Christian Unity and Dialogue, of which I am a member.

The report of the European Affairs Working Group taps into the concerns throughout the Church of the impacts of ‘Brexit’ on church life, which we cannot yet estimate. The Priorities Fund report shows contributions to church projects and to groups outside the Church of Ireland.

The Liturgical Advisory Committee produced proposals for new forms of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer for Sundays, and readings and collects for Remembrance Sunday.

The report of the Commission on Ministry introduced discussions on Ordained Local Ministry and on whether the Church of Ireland ought to have our own retreat centre.

On Friday morning, within the context of the Council for Mission report, David Breen from Rathkeale and I had an opportunity to speak about the work of the Rathkeale Pre-Social Cohesion Group, which is supported in part by some of my work in this group of parishes, by the Diocese, and in the past by the Church of Ireland Priorities’ Fund.

And this diocese also came up for discussion when the General Synod encouraged the talks and co-operation that that have been going on with the Diocese of Tuam, Killala and Achonry and our joint working group. The discussions also include some changes that will be discussed again next year.

The report from the Select Committee on Human Sexuality in the context of Christian belief was not without controversy. Even the very phrasing of an addendum to this report, and the way it was included, shows how deep the divisions on this issue are in the Church, and how open, vulnerable and hurt many people are.

We don’t always get it right … far from it.

But we go through all of this – with its heady mixture of fun and heartbreak, humour and tedium – because we care for the Church and we take our responsibilities for it seriously.

We are all – and not just the bishops and priests – we are all charged with being good pastors of the church, good shepherds of the sheep.

Most of us warm to our Gospel reading this morning (John 10: 1-10), as we think about Christ as the Good Shepherd.

The image of Christ as the Good Shepherd is a popular image. So popular, perhaps, that this is one of the most popular images in stained-glass windows in churches of every tradition. In this group of parishes, we have one in the chancel in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton.

But sometimes I have problems with our cosy, comfortable image of the Good Shepherd. Christ is so often portrayed in clean, spick-and-span, neatly tailored, nicely dry-cleaned, red and white robes, complete with a golden clasp to hold all those robes together.

And the lost sheep is a huggable, lovable, white fluffy Little Lamb, a little pet, so like the Little Lamb that Mary had and that followed her to school one day.

But shepherds and sheep, in real life, are not like that.

Lost sheep get torn by brambles, lose their wool, end up bleeding and messy. Any shepherd going down after lost sheep gets torn by brambles, covered in sheep droppings, slips on rocks, risks his life.

City people – removed from rural life by two or generations – have little idea of what it is to be a shepherd, to look after sheep, to keep them in a sheepfold, how sheep follow the voice of their shepherds, but also how easy it is to lead them astray.

The good news of the incarnation first came, not to kings in their bright palaces, nor to Roman governors surrounded by power and might, but to hard-working, humble shepherds in the middle of the night.

Yet they were among the poor, the exploited and the marginalised of their day. They had a hard life. They had to stay out at night in the cold and the dark, on the hostile hills as they herded their sheep. They faced all the dangers and difficulties the sheep faced, and were just as vulnerable. They shared the heat of the day, and they slept with their flocks at night, sharing the dangers of cold weather and threats of preying wolves.

They were poor and had no prospects as husbands or fathers – and their work meant they left their families alone and vulnerable at night too.

But that is the kind of life Christ lives for us and with us. And that is why it is worth working through all the tedium, and the reports, and the finance and the figures at General Synod each year. So that people can find Christ who journeys with the most vulnerable, and takes on all our vulnerability. ‘The Lord is my shepherd … he guides me in the paths … for his name’s sake’ (Psalm 23: 3).

Christ knows what it is like to be out in the cold. He knows what he is asking when he calls on people to leave their homes and villages, and even their families, since he has done the same himself. ‘The Lord is my shepherd … I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever’ (Psalm 23: 6).

He knows what it is to be homeless, helpless and hungry. The Lord is my shepherd … ‘he spreads a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me’ (Psalm 23: 5).

Christ knows the risks and hardships of life. The Lord is my shepherd … ‘though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil’ (Psalm 23: 4).

Christ, against all the prevailing wisdom, identifies with those who are lost, those who are socially on the margins, who are smelly and dirty, injured and broken, regarded by everyone else as worthless, as simply not worth the bother.

God sees us – all of us – in our human condition, with all our collective and individual faults and failings, and in Christ God totally identifies with us. He is the shepherd and the guardian of our souls (I Peter 2: 25).

And so we get it wrong at times in General Synod, but we keep on trying, because we know it is worth, and because Christ knows we – all of us, everyone – are worth it.

And so, may all our thoughts, words and deeds be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

(Revd Canon Professor) Patrick Comerford is Priest-in-Charge, the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes. This sermon was prepared for Sunday 7 May 2017.

Christ the Good Shepherd … a window in Saint John’s Church, Wall, near Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Collect:

Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life:
Raise us, who trust in him,
from the death of sin to the life of righteousness,
that we may seek those things which are above,
where he reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Post-Communion Prayer:

Merciful Father,
you gave your Son Jesus Christ to be the good shepherd,
and in his love for us to lay down his life and rise again.
Keep us always under his protection,
and give us grace to follow in his steps;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Christ the Good Shepherd … the Hewson Memorial Window in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Taking the Good Shepherd as our model at General Synod in Limerick

Christ the Good Shepherd … the Hewson Memorial Window in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford,

Sunday 7 May 2017,

the Fourth Sunday of Easter,

9.45 a.m.: Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, Co Limerick, the Parish Eucharist.

Readings: Acts 2: 42-47; Psalm 23; I Peter 2: 19-25; John 10: 1-10.

In the name of + the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

I have spent the last three days at the General Synod of the Church of Ireland, which met for the first time this year in Limerick.

We began synod proceedings, appropriately, with a celebration of the Eucharist in Saint Mary’s Cathedral on Thursday morning, which I robed for as Precentor of the Cathedral, and on Thursday evening there was a reception for Synod members in the hallowed grounds of Thomond Park Stadium.

Traditionally, the synod prayers are led each day by the most-recently appointed bishop. But in a departure from that tradition, the prayers this were led by the Dean of Killaloe, the Very Revd Gary Paulsen, who was the Synod chaplain.

We had some friends to stay with us in the Rectory in Askeaton throughout the General Synod, there were many opportunities to meet more friends and colleagues, and the South Court Hotel was a pleasant place to work in for three days.

But, despite the setting and the social aspect to all of this, the General Synod is no holiday, and on sunny days, of course there are more pleasant ways of enjoying the sunshine.

Some of the work may seem tedious on the surface. The book of reports included a 163-page report from the Representative Church Body, including detailed accounts of what the Church has done with the money it holds on your behalf, on our behalf, where it is spent and invested, how much we pay the clergy in stipends, pensions and expenses, and what our policies are when it comes to ethical investment, for example.

All this is not just about responsible spending and housekeeping, but it is about being open and transparent. This money has been given by ordinary church members, and we should know it is being spent well and wisely.

The reports on funds held by the RCB also show how generous people were in the past, and how the Church needs fresh fundraising initiatives if we are going to pass on things we have inherited in good order to succeeding generations.

There were reports from different synod boards, such as the Board of Education and the Church in Society Commission.

The report of the Northern Ireland Community Relations Group, for example spoke of tackling bigotry and sectarianism on the ground. There was discussion too of how we have marked important centenaries, such as 1916 and World War I – indeed the Historical Centenaries Working Group is now chaired by Bishop Kenneth Kearon.

There were reports from the Working Group on Disability, the Refugee Working Group, the Youth Department and the Commission for Christian Unity and Dialogue, of which I am a member.

The report of the European Affairs Working Group taps into the concerns throughout the Church of the impacts of ‘Brexit’ on church life, which we cannot yet estimate. The Priorities Fund report shows contributions to church projects and to groups outside the Church of Ireland.

The Liturgical Advisory Committee produced proposals for new forms of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer for Sundays, and readings and collects for Remembrance Sunday.

The report of the Commission on Ministry introduced discussions on Ordained Local Ministry and on whether the Church of Ireland ought to have our own retreat centre.

On Friday morning, within the context of the Council for Mission report, David Breen from Rathkeale and I had an opportunity to speak about the work of the Rathkeale Pre-Social Cohesion Group, which is supported in part by some of my work in this group of parishes, by the Diocese, and in the past by the Church of Ireland Priorities’ Fund.

And this diocese also came up for discussion when the General Synod encouraged the talks and co-operation that that have been going on with the Diocese of Tuam, Killala and Achonry and our joint working group. The discussions also include some changes that will be discussed again next year.

The report from the Select Committee on Human Sexuality in the context of Christian belief was not without controversy. Even the very phrasing of an addendum to this report, and the way it was included, shows how deep the divisions on this issue are in the Church, and how open, vulnerable and hurt many people are.

We don’t always get it right … far from it.

But we go through all of this – with its heady mixture of fun and heartbreak, humour and tedium – because we care for the Church and we take our responsibilities for it seriously.

We are all – and not just the bishops and priests – we are all charged with being good pastors of the church, good shepherds of the sheep.

Most of us warm to our Gospel reading this morning (John 10: 1-10), as we think about Christ as the Good Shepherd.

The image of Christ as the Good Shepherd is a popular image. So popular, perhaps, that this is one of the most popular images in stained-glass windows in churches of every tradition. In this group of parishes, we have one here in the chancel in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton.

But sometimes I have problems with our cosy, comfortable image of the Good Shepherd. Christ is so often portrayed in clean, spick-and-span, neatly tailored, nicely dry-cleaned, red and white robes, complete with a golden clasp to hold all those robes together.

And the lost sheep is a huggable, lovable, white fluffy Little Lamb, a little pet, so like the Little Lamb that Mary had and that followed her to school one day.

But shepherds and sheep, in real life, are not like that.

Lost sheep get torn by brambles, lose their wool, end up bleeding and messy. Any shepherd going down after lost sheep gets torn by brambles, covered in sheep droppings, slips on rocks, risks his life.

City people – removed from rural life by two or generations – have little idea of what it is to be a shepherd, to look after sheep, to keep them in a sheepfold, how sheep follow the voice of their shepherds, but also how easy it is to lead them astray.

The good news of the incarnation first came, not to kings in their bright palaces, nor to Roman governors surrounded by power and might, but to hard-working, humble shepherds in the middle of the night.

Yet they were among the poor, the exploited and the marginalised of their day. They had a hard life. They had to stay out at night in the cold and the dark, on the hostile hills as they herded their sheep. They faced all the dangers and difficulties the sheep faced, and were just as vulnerable. They shared the heat of the day, and they slept with their flocks at night, sharing the dangers of cold weather and threats of preying wolves.

They were poor and had no prospects as husbands or fathers – and their work meant they left their families alone and vulnerable at night too.

But that is the kind of life Christ lives for us and with us. And that is why it is worth working through all the tedium, and the reports, and the finance and the figures at General Synod each year. So that people can find Christ who journeys with the most vulnerable, and takes on all our vulnerability. ‘The Lord is my shepherd … he guides me in the paths … for his name’s sake’ (Psalm 23: 3).

Christ knows what it is like to be out in the cold. He knows what he is asking when he calls on people to leave their homes and villages, and even their families, since he has done the same himself. ‘The Lord is my shepherd … I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever’ (Psalm 23: 6).

He knows what it is to be homeless, helpless and hungry. The Lord is my shepherd … ‘he spreads a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me’ (Psalm 23: 5).

Christ knows the risks and hardships of life. The Lord is my shepherd … ‘though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil’ (Psalm 23: 4).

Christ, against all the prevailing wisdom, identifies with those who are lost, those who are socially on the margins, who are smelly and dirty, injured and broken, regarded by everyone else as worthless, as simply not worth the bother.

God sees us – all of us – in our human condition, with all our collective and individual faults and failings, and in Christ God totally identifies with us. He is the shepherd and the guardian of our souls (I Peter 2: 25).

And so we get it wrong at times in General Synod, but we keep on trying, because we know it is worth, and because Christ knows we – all of us, everyone – are worth it.

And so, may all our thoughts, words and deeds be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

(Revd Canon Professor) Patrick Comerford is Priest-in-Charge, the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes. This sermon was prepared for Sunday 7 May 2017.

Christ the Good Shepherd … a window in Christ Church, Leamonsley, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Collect:

Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life:
Raise us, who trust in him,
from the death of sin to the life of righteousness,
that we may seek those things which are above,
where he reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Post-Communion Prayer:

Merciful Father,
you gave your Son Jesus Christ to be the good shepherd,
and in his love for us to lay down his life and rise again.
Keep us always under his protection,
and give us grace to follow in his steps;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Christ the Good Shepherd, depicted on the reredos in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

General Synod 2017 and five buildings in Limerick: 5, Barrington’s Hospital

Barrington’s Hospital on George’s Quay is a few minutes stroll from Saint Mary’s Cathedral, on the banks of the Abbey River (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

The General Synod of the Church of Ireland is meeting in Limerick for three days this week, beginning with an opening Eucharist in Saint Mary’s Cathedral on Thursday (4 May) and concluding today (6 May).

This week, from Tuesday to Saturday, I thought it was interesting to introduce readers to some of these buildings in Limerick. I have written about Saint Mary’s Cathedral and other Limerick churches and buildings in the past. So this week, I have been looking at buildings that are no more than five minutes’ walking distance from the cathedral.

This morning, for my fifth and final choice, I am looking at Barrington’s Hospital on George’s Quay, just two or three minutes’ walk from Saint Mary’s Cathedral.

Barrington’s Hospital is a detached, five-bay three-storey over basement limestone hospital building, built in 1829-1830.

The building is particularly noticeable for its elaborate, centrally placed arcaded portico on a raised podium, with paired piers sharing impost blocks which support arches and a parapet entablature above. There are medallions to the two central spandrels. Lettering to frieze reads: ‘Barrington’s Hospital. Erected 1829.’

This stone building, facing the Abbey River, was built for the Barrington family at a cost of £10,000. The architect Frederick Darley was paid for the plans on 18 July 1829 and the hospital was completed in 1830.

The Dublin-born architect Frederick Darley (1798-1872) was a son of the architect Frederick Darley, and was a pupil of Francis Johnston. In 1833-1843, he was the Ecclesiastical Commissioners architect for the Church of Ireland Diocese of Dublin. From the 1830s until about 1850, he was also architect to Trinity College Dublin. He was also architect to the Royal Dublin Society, the Board of National Education and in the Board of Works.

In 1860, he was one of four architects appointed to inspect and report on the restoration of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. He practised from 187 Brunswick Street, Dublin, until he died in 1872.

Several hospitals had been built in Limerick before this, but Barrington’s Hospital has a particular place in the hearts of people in Limerick. The building adds significantly to the architectural heritage of Limerick, and stands is a monument to the philanthropic endeavours of the Barrington family.

The raised podium and arcaded portico of Barrington’s Hospital (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

The classically composed formal front elevation is ennobled by the raised podium and arcaded portico. A four-bay east wing with a breakfront end bay is a later addition.

In 1837, the original building was joined by a temple-like structure with a conspicuous dome. This was the Mont de Piété, a charitable pawn shop built to support the running costs of the hospital. It was demolished in 1892.

In an attempt to match this wing, a stone clad, four-bay three-storey wing was built to the west in 2004, and prolonged to west with a glazed bay rising to a recessed fourth floor level. The rear elevation faces onto Mary Street.

The Barrington family has been associated with Limerick since the arrival of Francis Barrington in the 1640s. Samuel Barrington survived the Siege of Limerick in 1691, was a clock-maker in the city, and when he died in 1693 he was buried in Saint Mary’s Cathedral. His son Benjamin Barrington, was Sheriff of Limerick in 1714, was survived by his son, also Benjamin Barrington, who was Sheriff of Limerick in 1729.

Sir Joseph Barrington (1764-1846), was a key influential figure in Limerick, and one of his most important achievements was the foundation of Barrington’s Hospital and infirmary in Limerick, to serve the slums of Irishtown and Englishtown in the 1820s and 1830s.

Barrington’s Hospital was incorporated by an Act of Parliament. In 1831, George IV made Sir Joseph Barrington a baronet. He died in 1846. Sir Matthew Barrington, 2nd Baronet and Crown Solicitor for Munster, built Glenstal Castle, Co Limerick. The title is held today by the eighth baronet, Sir Benjamin Barrington. The family vaults are in Saint Mary’s Cathedral.

Barrington’s Hospital closed in 1988, and today a private hospital occupies the building. But the building still bears the Barrington name.

Yesterday: Baal’s Bridge.

A Barrington family monument in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

‘Celebrating our Communities’: tension and cohesion in Rathkeale

‘Celebrating our Communities’ ... what is your image Rathkeale? Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

I suppose I am a new kid on the block.

I have been a member of the General Synod since the 1990s, for Dublin and Glendalough dioceses. But I moved to the Diocese of Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert earlier this year as Priest-in-Charge of the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes.

I want you to think for a moment of what your images of Rathkeale are.

It is 30 km south-west of Limerick, in a pretty location on the banks of the River Deel. It was once the second largest town in this county, with a lively commercial life and elegant Georgian and Regency townhouses. And it was also the centre for settlement 300 years ago of the Palatine refugees, German-speaking Lutheran refugees fleeing religious persecution and arriving in Ireland with no knowledge of English, different expressions of their faith, and different habits in farming, house-building and family structures.

They became completely integrated into life here and today, perhaps 30 to 60 per cent of my parishioners have some Palatine ancestry and heritage.

But the image of Rathkeale is quite different throughout most of Ireland. Recent headlines in the newspapers include:

‘High time’ for resolution to bad behaviour in Rathkeale (Limerick Leader).

Limerick gardaí seize valuable rhino cup in Rathkeale (The Irish Times).

Notorious Irish Rathkeale Rovers crime gang in the frame for theft of rhino horn from Thoiry Zoo in France (The Sun).

More gardaí for Rathkeale’s big Christmas (Limerick Leader).

Rathkeale stands on the banks of the River Deel, about 30 km south-west of Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Part of my role in the parish means being involved in the Rathkeale Pre-Social Cohesion Group, which began work in September 2013 under the leadership of Bishop Trevor Williams with David Breen as a Field Worker employed by West Limerick Resources.

David was working in Rathkeale for the previous five or six years with various State-sponsored projects, but each of these had collapsed either because of funding problems or policy changes.

The project was a response to the problems in Rathkeale and the lack of community relations that developed here over half a century. The conversations that lead to the project involved Bishop Trevor Williams, my predecessor, the Revd Dr Keith Scott, Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan, who was then the parish priest of Rathkeale, and others. The chair of the group is Dr Salters Sterling, from Birr parish, also in this diocese.

The result is this project that is a faith-based, ecumenical approach, supported by the Church of Ireland, Methodist and Roman Catholic clergy in Rathkeale.

The work has received major funding from the Irish Public Bodies Mutual Assurance, amounting to €150,000. Financial support has also come from the Church of Ireland Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe, the Priorities Fund of the Church of Ireland, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Limerick and Parish of Rathkeale, from Professor Thomas Mitchell, former Provost of Trinity College Dublin, and from the Hinterland Funding available to the City and County of Limerick.

This funding has sustained this work for four years or more, and a grant of €6,250 from the Church of Ireland allowed the group to organise facilitated meetings with the Revd Dr Johnston McMaster and Dr Cathy Higgins from the Irish School of Ecumenics.

When the group began its work, the only one point of communication and contact between Travellers and the settled population in Rathkeale was the weekly Monday evening Prayer Meeting.

The success of this Prayer Group gave the Pre-Social Cohesion Group a conviction that a faith-based approach might offer some new opportunities of engagement.

The group has worked on shared faith activities on occasions such as Saint Patrick’s Day, Good Friday, Harvest and Christmas, and a day retreat in Glenstal Abbey. The Roman Catholic Parish Hall is being renovated in €13,000 project that brings together two communities with a shared objective, with the Travelling Community raising €2,385.

A number of Travellers were present at my liturgical welcome in Holy Trinity Church.

Rathkeale has a population of about 1,500 people. But it is impossible to say how many of these are Travellers. Many Travellers arrive from throughout Britain and Europe for Christmas in Rathkeale, and stay for a few weeks in houses, mobile homes and caravans. But by-and-large they are gone by Saint Patrick’s Day, or even before then, and are not around when it comes to Census Day.

And even then, those who are here in April may be loath to fill out the Census returns.

Officially, Travellers may account for one-third of the population, 500 out of 1,500 people. But there were another 370-380 caravans in Rathkeale last Christmas, with many more staying with families or in houses that are often boarded up for the rest of the year. So the population of Rathkeale doubles at that time of the year.

The perception from outside is that these Travellers engage in criminal or sharp practices, laying watered-down tarmacadam, cutting trees, or selling electrical goods of questionable origin or branding.

But on the streets of Rathkeale for people who see themselves as the residents, the main problems include the visible problems created by mobile homes and caravans parked in front of houses, in gardens and side yards, the behaviour of erratic drivers, stopping their cars on the main street for conversations or young men speeding and racing, in many cases without licence or insurance, and the numbers of young men who gather in large groups and are seen as being confrontational and intimidating.

The people who see themselves as local people are alienated by the loud social behaviour, although – despite perceptions – there is only an occasional fight in public, and some incidental problems of shoplifting.

The unseen problems include school attendance, and the major problem may be the change in the landscape of Rathkeale.

Rathkeale is a town going through social transformations and changes (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 201)

Irish provincial towns are suffering social and economic setbacks, and without the presence of Travellers, Rathkeale would have suffered this problem too. Many shops have closed, but the irony is that many shops that would have been abandoned in other circumstances have been bought by Travellers, although they are used for storage or turned into family residences.

The loss of shops means a drop in footfall, and a fall-off in business for the surviving shops. No local estate agent has had a serious inquiry about business premises in Rathkeale for a long time.

The face of Rathkeale has changed, and the people who were once residents of Rathkeale mourn the loss of their town. They grieve the past, and they mourn for the future, for they have seen their graveyards and cemeteries transformed too by the Traveller taste in gravestones and burials.

No Traveller goes to Church in Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale. Indeed, the social changes in Rathkeale mean that today there is only one resident Church of Ireland parishioner in the town; all the other churchgoers live outside Rathkeale, but still identify with it as their church.

At present, there are three Traveller children in the Church of Ireland national school either.

At Sunday masses in Rathkeale, at least half the congregation are Travellers. They are buried in large numbers in Saint Mary’s and the other neighbouring cemeteries, and you would recognise their graves.

Their particular expression of piety is seen visibly in their gardens and in their home decoration.

At the ecumenical service on Good Friday (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

At the Good Friday ecumenical service, as Travellers approached me and the local Methodist minister, and asked us for prayers, not so much for themselves as for other family members, I realised too that the priest, no matter what the Church, is a respected person, and that the office alone gives me opportunities to engage with Travellers that are not offered to others.

If we are to describe life in Rathkeale as ‘apartheid’ we might be using a misnomer. There are two separate communities, and they seldom interact, even when they attend the same Mass. One of the few points of interaction may be the Monday night prayer meeting, or perhaps watching the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade – although even that is a parade in two parts.

But both communities have chosen this separation, have chosen to live apart. Even when they are sociable, they do not find true friends across the barrier.

Rathkeale is never going to return to being the town it once was. So what does the project do?

There is a need for advocacy. There is discrimination, and when it occurs those who are discriminating may only listen to a voice they can trust, and the Travellers may feel that they are not going to be listened to themselves.

We are at a point where the two communities tolerate each other, but live apart. The two communities may stay apart, but that does not mean they cannot establish relations, get to know one another, no longer objectify each other.

For the churches, being the outside third party helps to provide space for this, while both communities are still in a state of resistance.

It is difficult. It cannot be organised. Travellers have no cultural expectation of being involved in or engaging with organisational structures. Accepted roles such as chairs, secretaries and treasurers, and understandings of agenda, agreement and general process belong to another culture.

The Churches’ role in this group undoubtedly gives it a credibility it would not have if it was an initiative of another constituent of structured or secular society.

What credibility does the Church of Ireland add to it?

I don’t know if the Church of Ireland adds anything individually, but that fact that the churches are doing this together makes a difference, and none of the churches could do this on our own. Without the credibility that the Church of Ireland gives it, I have been told, the project would have collapsed long ago.

And, apart from being asked by my bishop to engage with a project that my predecessor, the Revd Dr Keith Scott, was deeply committed to, why am I involved?

I think the answer is provided by next Sunday’s Gospel reading (John 10: 1-10). This is what the Good Shepherd does. And lost sheep are not like the sheep in our stained-glass windows, modelled on the Little Lamb that Mary had and that followed her to school one day. Lost sheep get caught in brambles, are frightened, get lost, are not particularly appealing to look at when they are found. But those who are not wanted, who are pushed to the margins, who are out of right, are always worth the effort as far as Christ the Good Shepherd is concerned.

Finding the answer in the example of the Good Shepherd ... a window in Saint Mary's Church Askearton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

(Revd Canon Professor) Patrick Comerford is Priest-in-Charge of the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes. These notes were prepared for an Informal Session at the General Synod of the Church of Ireland in Limerick on 5 May 2017, ‘Celebrating our Communities.’

General Synod 2017 and five buildings in Limerick: 4, Baal’s Bridge

Baal’s Bridge, a few minutes stroll from Saint Mary’s Cathedral, connects Limerick’s English Town and Irish Town (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

The General Synod of the Church of Ireland is meeting in Limerick for three days this week, beginning with an opening Eucharist in Saint Mary’s Cathedral yesterday (Thursday 4 May) and continuing until tomorrow (6 May).

This week, from Tuesday to Saturday, I thought it would be interesting to introduce readers to some of these buildings in Limerick. I have written about Saint Mary’s Cathedral and other Limerick churches and buildings in the past. So this week, I am looking at five buildings that are no more than five minutes’ walking distance from the cathedral.

This morning, for my fourth choice, I am looking at Baal’s Bridge, linking Mary Street and Broad Street, and just two or three minutes’ walk from Saint Mary’s Cathedral.

As a city at the mouth of Ireland’s longest river, the Shannon, Limerick’s bridges are of vital importance, connecting the north bank and Co Clare, with the south bank and Co Limerick. The principal bridges include Thomond Bridge, Sarsfield Bridge, built originally as Wellesley Bridge, and Shannon Bridge, built in 1980s. But this morning I am looking at one of the older bridges in the city, known as Baal’s Bridge.

Local folklore says the first bridge here was built by a man named Baal, from Singland, near Castletroy, who was converted to Christianity by Saint Patrick.

There may have been a bridge on this site, spanning the Abbey River, since 1174. The early Baal’s Bridge was an important four-arch bridge on this site from about 1340. Until the mid-18th century, it was the only link between the Englishtown and the Irishtown.

The bridge was known in Irish as Droichead Maol Luimnigh, or the Bald Bridge of Limerick. The use of the word bald here suggests that the original bridge was without parapets. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the bridge was known as the Tide Bridge.

The old bridge was included in grants to the Earl of Shannon, whose family name was Boyle. So the bridge could also have been called ‘Boyle’s Bridge,’ corrupted later to ‘Ball’s Bridge’ or ‘Baal’s Bridge.’ In the early 19th century, there was some silly speculation that the bridge was named after the pagan god Baal.

Old Baal’s Bridge, by William Bartlett, 1840

The old building had a row of houses incorporated into it, but by the early 19th century these houses were beginning to collapse. In addition, the old bridge was blocking traffic between the canal and the tidewater of the River Shannon.

The modern structure is a single-arch bridge built in 1831 by the Limerick-based architect brothers James and George Pain, who also designed many church buildings in Co Limerick including Castletown Church and old rectory, the former rectory in Askeaton, and Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale.

This pleasant bridge has little decoration but displays quality stonework. It is a single-arched, hump-back, limestone bridge. It has quarter round breakwaters with stepped conical coping, a segmental-arch with rusticated rock-faced voussoirs, squared and coursed limestone ashlar walls with platband to the base of the parapet. There is ashlar limestone coping above reaching an apex. The curved abutment walls terminate with a rusticated rock-faced limestone pier to the quay walls with capstones.

A plaque on the bridge reads: ‘This bridge was erected by virtue of an Act of the XIth of Geo.e the IV. The Rt. Honble. Thos. Spring Rice MP for the city of Limerick. Commenced taking down the old bridge Nov. 1830. The new bridge finished Nov. 1831. JA & GR Pain Architects.’

Another plaque reads: ‘The ancient bridge of four arches which occupied this site was taken down and this bridge erected at the expense of the new Limerick Navigation Company incorporated 1830 – Chas. Wye Williams Esqr. Chief Director. JA & GR Pain Architects.’

Building the bridge improved the route eastwards to Dublin, and the bridge is identified as Ball’s Bridge on the first edition Ordnance Survey of Limerick City (1840-1841) and on the 1872 edition.

Baal’s Bridge and the quays along the Abbey River in Limerick yesterday Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Yesterday: the Hunt Museum.

Tomorrow: Barrington’s Hospital.

General Synod 2017 and five buildings in Limerick: 2, Gerald Griffin Schools

The Gerald Griffin Schools, Limerick, face the main entrance to Saint Mary’s Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

The General Synod of the Church of Ireland is meeting in Limerick for three days this week, from tomorrow (Thursday 4 May) until Saturday (6 May).

This week, from Tuesday to Saturday, I thought it would be interesting to introduce readers to some of these buildings in Limerick. I have written about Saint Mary’s Cathedral and other Limerick churches and buildings in the past. But this week, I am looking at five buildings that are no more than five minutes’ walking distance from the cathedral.

Today, for my second choice, I am looking at Gerald Griffin Memorial Schools or Old City Courthouse, on the corner of Bridge Street and Court House Lane, and facing the main entrance to Saint Mary’s Cathedral.

This former courthouse was built in 1763-1766. An earlier courthouse on the site was built in 1640 on the derelict site of a former Augustinian abbey.

This is a detached four-bay, two-storey, limestone, building, standing over a concealed basement. It has a central pedimented breakfront and round-arched window openings to the ground and first floor level. The original architect is unknown.

The building was bought by the Christian Brothers in 1845, and substantial alterations were carried out when the building was remodelled and opened as a school in 1846.

Further work was carried out in 1906-1908, with the addition of another storey to provide four new classrooms. This work was designed by Joseph O’Malley and the contractors were Kennedy & Son, Limerick.

There is a parapet entablature and pediment with a blind lunette and a Celtic cross finial to apex. The central bays at the first-floor level have a window pier and a niche with white marble bust of Gerald Griffin. The raised lettering above reads: ‘Gerald Griffin Memorial Schools.’ Relief lettering over the main door reads: ‘Christian Brothers Schools.’

This former City Courthouse and Christian Brothers School is a fitting backdrop to the entrance to Saint Mary’s Cathedral and the former Exchange across the street. It is a fine classical building, which is somewhat incongruous with its association with the Christian Brothers, whose schools and buildings were generally more aesthetically ascetic and functional.

In more recent years, this building has been used as a Gaelscoil.

But who was Gerald Griffin who has given his name to this building?

Gerald Griffin (1803-1840) was a Limerick-born novelist, poet and playwright. His father, Patrick Griffin, a brewer,

emigrated to Pennsylvania with most of his family when his business ventures in Limerick failed. However, Gerald Griffin remained in Ireland with an older brother, Dr William Griffin (1794-1848), and he went to live in Adare, Co Limerick. He would never again see his parents.

At the age of 16, Gerald Griffin began working as a reporter with the Limerick Evening Post, where his uncle was the proprietor and editor. He was still in his teens when he acted briefly as editor of the Limerick Advertiser.

In 1823, Griffin went to London and became a newspaper reporter. Later, he turned to writing fiction. His novel The Collegians is based on a trial he had reported in Limerick, and was adapted for the stage by Dion Boucicault as The Colleen Bawn.

He returned from London in 1829, and for a time lived with his brother William, who was in practice in Pallaskenry, Co Limerick.

In 1838, Griffin burned all his unpublished manuscripts and joined the Christian Brothers at the North Monastery, Cork. He was known as Brother Joseph until he died there of typhus fever in 1840.

There are streets named after Gerald Griffin in Limerick and in Cork City, and Loughill/Ballyhahill GAA club in west Limerick plays under the name of Gerald Griffins.

Yesterday: the County Courthouse, Merchants’ Quay.

Tomorrow: the Hunt Museum.

General Synod 2017 and five buildings in Limerick: 1, the County Courthouse

The County Courthouse on Merchants’ Quay, Limerick, and faces the great door of Saint Mary’s Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

The General Synod of the Church of Ireland is meeting in Limerick for three days later this week, from Thursday 4 May to Saturday 6 May.

In the past, I have attended the General Synod in Armagh, Belfast, Cork, Dublin, Galway and Kilkenny, but this is the first time for it to meet in Limerick – and this in the year that I have moved to the Diocese of Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert, as Priest-in-Charge of the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes and Precentor of the cathedrals in the diocese, including Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick.

The General Synod opens with a celebration of the Eucharist in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, at 10 a.m. on Thursday, and the main meetings are taking place in South Court Hotel.

Since I moved to Co Limerick in January, I have enjoyed exploring the mediaeval and Georgian streets of Limerick, learning about its history, heritage and architecture.

This week, between today and Saturday, I thought it would be interesting to introduce readers to some of these buildings in Limerick. I have written about Saint Mary’s Cathedral and other Limerick churches and buildings in the past. So this week I am looking at five buildings that are no more than five minutes’ walking distance from the cathedral.

My first choice is the County Courthouse on Merchants’ Quay, which faces the west door of Saint Mary’s Cathedral. The courthouse is located on Merchants’ Quay overlooking the River Shannon from the north-east. The site ends at the river’s edge with a limestone block-faced quay wall.

This building was recently renovated redeveloped by Murray O’Laoire Architects, when much work was carried out on the interior and the exterior restored. While the exterior of the building retains much of its original form, the interior had been extensively remodelled in 1957 and any surviving historic details were lost at that time.

Like many provincial courthouses in Ireland, this a handsome building in the classical style. However, it is a less imposing building than many of its contemporaries because it is not elevated over a basement and because it is stands on a flat site.

The exterior is characterised by its finish of dark stone and rendered areas, giving it a distinctive appearance.

In the early 19th century, Lewis wrote: ‘The county court-house, on Merchants’-quay, an elegant structure, completed in 1810, at an expense of £12,000, is a quadrangular building of hewn stone, with a portico, supported by four lofty pillars, and surrounded by a light iron balustrade: it contains civil and criminal courts, jury-rooms, and other offices.’

The foundation stone was laid on 1 September 1807, and the building was still not completed when it was opened in 1809. The portico was completed by July 1814.

The courthouse was designed by Nicholas and William Hannan, who were provincial architects associated with Limerick, and financed by the Grand Jury. The alterations were designed and carried out by Nicholas Hannan in 1814.

The builder brothers Nicholas and William Hannan were active in Limerick, active in the first three decades of the 19th century. They also worked on the courthouse at Bruff, Co Limerick, Limerick County Gaol and Limerick City Gaol.

James Pain, the great Limerick-based architect, and his brother George Richard Pain, carried out the furnishing of the barristers’ room and other proposed alterations in 1820.

The building cost £13,000 and the portico cost a further £700.

This is a detached, quadrangular, five-bay, two-storey rendered courthouse with giant Doric pilasters. It was built in 1809 and the limestone ashlar tetrastyle Tuscan portico to the north-east facing front elevation was added in 1817.

This is an historically important structure in its own right and because of its location. When it was built, it marked the demise of the old port as anything other than a place for small boats to unload. But it also brought the county courthouse into the heart of the city – the earlier courthouse stood on the site a ruined abbey outside the city walls. Its location is further enhanced by its close proximity to Saint Mary’s Cathedral.

Tomorrow: Gerald Griffin Memorial Schools.

Talking about Rathkeale at the General Synod in Limerick

The River Shannon at Arthur’s Quay, Limerick, with King’s Island, Saint Mary’s Cathedral and King John’s Castle to the right (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

The ‘Church of Ireland Notes’ in ‘The Irish Times’ today (p. 20) includes the following paragraphs:

This year the General Synod will, for the first time be held in Limerick and will begin in the South Court Hotel next Thursday, continuing until Saturday. The business will be preceded by a celebration of the Eucharist in St Mary’s cathedral at which the preacher will be the Bishop of Limerick, the Rt Revd Kenneth Kearon. In a departure from previous practice the daily devotions will be led by a Synod Chaplain who, this year, will be the Dean of Killaloe, the Very Revd Gary Paulsen.

In addition to the consideration of the annual reports of the RCB, the Standing Committee and its various committees and commissions, the Synod will be asked to debate proposed legislation on a number of issues including clergy pensions, a requirement to keep confirmation registers, and a proposal for lay and ecumenical canons for Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.

One new feature for this year’s General Synod will be an informal session on the second day which will celebrate ministries undertaken by parishes to their local communities. This will include contributions highlighting the Rathkeale group of parishes’ social cohesion project and Lisburn Cathedral’s foodbank and Christians Against Poverty centre.

The General Synod’s website is now live: https://synod.ireland.anglican.org/2017/general-synod-2017 and has all the relevant documentation, Reports and information, including a summary of business done, will be posted daily during Synod. In advance, you can also access the Bills Pamphlet and explanatory memoranda: https://www.ireland.anglican.org/cmsfiles/pdf/Synod/2017/Bills/Bills2017.pdf and the List of Motions: https://www.ireland.anglican.org/cmsfiles/pdf/Synod/2017/Motions2017.pdf

There will be an audio broadcast during Synod and a Twitter feed using the hashtag #coigs. This hashtag will also be used for Facebook and Instagram as well as other social media outlets.

First Church of Ireland Synod in Limerick next week

This quarter-page news report and interview is published on page 12 in the current edition of the ‘Limerick Leader’ (29 April 2017):

First Church of Ireland Synod in Limerick next week

Anne Sheridan

The Church of Ireland’s stance on sexuality following the marriage equality referendum will be discussed at its upcoming Synod in Limerick.

The Synod, which predominantly meets in Dublin or Armagh, will be held in Limerick for the first time in its history for three days next week.

Over 600 delegates representing the 12 Church of Ireland dioceses are expected to attend the series of discussions from Thursday, May 4, in the South Court Hotel.

Canon Patrick Comerford, from Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin group of parishes in Limerick, said he is “delighted” the Synod is taking place in Limerick this year, having earlier been held in Cork, Galway, Belfast and Kilkenny.

“It’s a great opportunity for the Church of Ireland in Limerick to engage with the wider church.

“It will help to strengthen links between the dioceses in the west of Ireland,” he said.

A private member’s motion requests the House of Bishops to investigate a means to develop “sensitive, local pastoral arrangements” for public prayer and thanksgiving at key moments in the lives of same-sex couples.

“It will essentially examine how we find a compromise on same-gender relationships,” added Canon Comerford.

Their ideas will be presented to the general Synod in 2018, with a view to making proposals at the 2019 synod.

The select committee on human sexuality in the context of Christian belief will also report on its work since 2013.

A spokesperson said that the committee’s role will end at this general Synod “but members are hopeful that conversation on the issues involved will continue.”

However, the church has admitted that there was some criticism levelled at the make-up of the 16-member committee comprised of the clergy and laity, due to the fact that there were no openly LGBT people amongst its initial membership.

The committee decided that it needed to recognise the “hurt and injury caused to LGBT members who felt the Church was excluding them.”

“The urgent need to improve pastoral care for those who have been or continue to feel the impact of exclusion and hurt and injury by the attitude of the Church, provides the most important message to be heard from the discussions, such as there have been, in the Church of Ireland in 2016-2017,” they outline in the 2017 Synod document.

Other areas of discussion will focus on inter-diocesan conversations, the church’s finances and climate change.

Funds available to the Church Representative Body, the all-island charitable trustee of the Church of Ireland, have increased by just over one per cent to €188.6m, its financial accounts show.

It details that the church’s funds have “recovered well” over the last eight years from a trough of €122m in 2008, reaching a market valuation of €180m at the end of 2016.

However, they have fallen from €238m at the end of 2016 before the recession.

Concerns regarding the “many challenges” posed by Brexit have also been expressed by the church.

“The Church of Ireland would hope that any changes brought about because of Brexit, and the border issue in particular, will reflect the desire for reconciliation and the strengthening of peace,” it states.