WEDNESDAY'S NEWS

Ministry: “of the people, by the people and for the people”
(from Elaine Whitehouse, Communications Dept, RCB)

The Commission on Ministry’s 2003 report highlighted issues arising from the Summit on Ministry held last September. The Summit’s participants, gathered from all the dioceses, reflected on patterns of ministry in the Church of Ireland and discussed possible new initiatives in ministry.

The report’s proposer, the Rt Rev Ken Good, Bishop of Derry, emphasised the need to think of ministry in terms of lay as well as ordained ministry. It was, he told Synod members, the “privilege and responsibility of every one of us to share in the ministry”.

The Summit and a follow-up meeting held earlier this year had clearly identified the importance of mobilising “hundreds and even thousands of people, lay and ordained, in ministry throughout the church, working collaboratively as teams”. The initiative, said Bishop Good, now rested with each diocese to “encourage and explore fresh ways to work out local expressions of collaborative ministry”.

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Seconding the report, Mr David Hannon of the Diocese of Down said ministry, like democracy, was “of the people, by the people and for the people”. During the subsequent debate the Most Rev John Neill, Archbishop of Dublin, spoke of the diversity of forms of ordained ministry and reminded Synod that not all ordained ministry took the form of leadership.

The Commission in its report emphasised that the Summit on Ministry and the follow-up meeting were part of an ongoing process to review ministry in the Church of Ireland and a further follow-up meeting was planned for next year.

The report also set out the results the Commission’s survey of women in the ordained ministry, conducted to mark the tenth anniversary of the decision to approve the ordination of women to the priesthood. Respondents had reported deriving a great deal of satisfaction from their ministry and it was found that the majority did not feel discriminated against. Issues with the potential to hamper ministry, such as the balancing of ministry and family responsibilities, were perceived as affecting men and women alike rather than being “woman only” issues.

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