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Commission on Ministry seeks to encourage younger ordinands
The Commission plans to produce a DVD to encourage younger people to consider ordination in the Church as a vocation.
The present, relatively high age profile of ordinands in recent years has given some cause for concern for the dearth of younger ordinands. In May 2006, a consultation entitled Younger Ordinands and the Church was held in Dublin to explore the relevant issues and the subject will remain a focal point for the Commission over the coming years.
The Commission also plans to mark the Centenary of Lay Readers in the Church of Ireland in 2009.
A survey will be conducted to explore the biblical and theological understanding of the ministry of Lay Readers in the Church of Ireland and a convention informed by the survey will be held in 2009.
The Commission also updated the General Synod on an ongoing report on part-time and non-stipendiary ministry and on the extension of the very successful pre-retirement courses for clergy and their spouses.
Commenting upon the relationship between part-time ministry and non-stipendiary ministry, the Very Revd Dr Susan Patterson (Tuam), proposing the report, said “the evidence that these two categories are tending to merge has obvious training implications which are being addressed by the changes in theological training- the improved coherence and greater flexibility in the new ministry training programme, the aspiring to equivalence of standards in qualification so that there is no longer any slur of ‘second-class’ to be incurred by non-stipendiaries, yet in so doing allowing that life-experience is recognised as a component of qualification.”
Speaking on the same issue, Mr Andrew McNeile (Dublin) said “the commission recognises that in many parts of the country non-stipendiary ministers are carrying out roles that are much broader in scope than was possibly originally envisaged, sometimes even equivalent to a fulltime incumbent.”
Responding to the report, the Revd Maria Jansson (Ferns) expressed her disapproval at the fact that the Commission’s report was presented so late in the day and argued that in future, the report on ministry should be given a more prominent place in the timetable.
“It is a disgrace that a report on money should come before a report on ministry” she said.
The Commission was established in 1996 to make recommendations concerning both lay and ordained Christian ministry.