“The Report of the Church in Society Committee comes at a time when political changes, such as many people never expected to come to pass in Ireland, have happened,” the Rt Revd Dr Michael Jackson, Bishop of Clogher, said, proposing this report to Synod today.  “What the people right across Ireland now need to see is a climate of sustained political maturity.  And the General Synod of the Church of Ireland is a good place to give voice to this sentiment and to this expectation, because the all-Ireland aspect of Irish life is amply represented in the General Synod.”

The Church in Society Committee consists of seven panels, each of which address social, ethical, political and legislative issues as they affect society both in Northern Ireland and the Republic.  These panels publish documents, respond to consultations, issue statements and develop projects that offer a proactive approach to matters of concern to Christians today.

This year’s Report covers the wide range of issues that were addressed by the Committee during the year, including the publication of a booklet on social engagement, entitled Local Partnerships, the holding of a workshop on good ecological practice for parishes, a submission to the Joint Committee on Child Protection and a response to the Irish Council for Bioethics’ questions on embryonic stem-cell research.  The Medical Ethics, Science and Technology Sub-Committee also produced a paper on ‘Ethical Issues and Care of the Elderly’, challenging the Church at a time when more and more people are living into old age.

With regard to a proposed booklet on ‘Rural Ireland after Sugarbeet’ which the Social Justice and Theology (RI) Panel of the Committee intends to produce, Mr Blair Halliday (Dublin) noted that, in fact, there should be no such thing as a post-sugarbeet Ireland.  He said that would have been plenty of time to switch over to bio-ethanol production, had the Irish Government facilitated this.

The Hon. Mrs Justice McGuinness (Dublin) congratulated the Committee on its report and acknowledged the attendance of the Chairman of the Legislative & Political (RI) Panel at the Law Reform Commission’s Annual Conference last December.  The LRC is currently preparing its next programme for law reform in the Republic for the next seven years.  As the President of the LRC, Justice McGuinness told the Synod that she was eager to receive the opinions of individuals and groups with regard to what they think are the areas in need of law reform between now and 2014.  She requested that members of the Church and Society Committee submit suggestions for relevant legal reforms for the Republic of Ireland and that they attend the next conference of the LRC on the 18th July 2007 in Dublin Castle.  Justice McGuinness further congratulated the Committee on their paper entitled ‘Ethical Issues and Care of the Elderly’ as this is another topic that the LRC are currently considering.

Dr Hillis (Dublin) expressed his hope that the Eco Congregation movement would extend and develop across the parishes in the Church of Ireland.  However, he lamented the fact that there is no mention of global ecological issues in this Report, for example the destruction of the jungles to make provision for the production of palmnut oil.  He suggested that perhaps the Church in Society Committee should be addressing this.  The Bishop of Clogher responded that these issues will be discussed in a forthcoming publication of a document on rural Ireland, which will have both a local and a global focus.

Mr David Couchman (Cashel) disagreed with the Submission to the National Forum on  Europe (Appendix G of the Report) where it states that Europe’s relationship with Russia is one of the greatest challenges facing the EU.  Mr Couchman declared that the biggest, and most important, challenge is the relationship of Christians with the Muslim World.  He told Synod that there are currently Christian armies in seven Muslim countries, but queried whether there were, in fact, any Muslim armies in any Christian country.  “We have lost our sense of balance and we must make peace with our Muslim neighbours,” he said.  “The greatest contributors to hatred are ignorance and fear.”

Bishop Jackson thanked members of the General Synod for taking the time to proactively engage with the material in this year’s Church and Society Report and encouraged them to take all of those appendices away and continue to think about the issues that are raised within them.

Seconding the report, the Very Revd Gordon Wynne (Cashel & Ossory) highlighted the grass roots nature of many of the projects undertaken by the Committee, particularly of the Social Justice & Theology Panel (RI) of which he is the Chair.  “My pride comes not from my own efforts, but from the fact that much of the inspiration, the expertise and the sheer energy for my group’s work comes from the very fields and landscape that you see out the window today.  I find nothing but enthusiasm and co-operation in what I do from the schools, the voluntary group, the farmers, the professionals, the Garda Siochana, and many others in their life and work here in rural Leinster, where I work also.  It is good to be here in Kilkenny now, because it is in ordinary life around here that a good bit of our thinking and working is rooted,” he said.