The President of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland and the Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Revd Alan Harper, strongly condemned an assassination attempt on a PSNI officer at Spamount, near Castlederg, last night.

In his presidential address to the General Synod today, the Archbishop called on members of the General Synod to pray for the full recovery of the officer involved in the car-bombing incident and thanked God for the courage of the member of the public who pulled the officer from the wreckage.

“Such actions, by whomsoever perpetrated, are totally unacceptable, an affront to God, to human decency and to the democratically expressed will of the overwhelming majority of people in Ireland today” he said.

“The future will not be determined by violence, it will be determined by building on trust, respect and consensus.”

Reviewing the political developments since last year’s General Synod, he said “when we met last year our meeting coincided with the inaugural day of partnership government in Northern Ireland. One year later the United Kingdom has a new Prime Minister, the Republic of Ireland has a new Taoiseach and Northern Ireland a new First Minister in waiting” he said.

Referring to the particular challenges posed by the devolution of policing and justice powers in Northern Ireland, he said “this additional piece of the jigsaw is rightly regarded as an essential component in completing the transition to normality, signalling a new level of confidence in the robust nature of the new political dispensation.”

Recalling his visit to the Holy Land earlier this month with his Roman Catholic counterpart, Cardinal Seán Brady, Presbyterian Moderator Dr John Finlay and the Methodist President Dr Roy Cooper, the Archbishop highlighted the challenges faced by Christians in the region and their need for prayerful solidarity from Christians worldwide.

“For two thousand years the ancestors of Palestinian Christians have worshipped at and preserved the Holy Places. The places themselves, evocative though they be, are inanimate stones. It is the people who are the ‘Living Stones’ and who through living and worshipping there make the Holy Land much more than merely a museum. The Living Stones need our active support and solidarity. They need to know that they are not the forgotten people of the Middle East. We need to ensure that those who go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land are as committed to the Living Stones as they are to the Holy Places.”

A new vision of Ireland is emerging for the twenty-first century, he said, and the Church of Ireland must adopt a new and sustaining vision also.

The Archbishop thanked those who responded to his invitation to submit ideas for reforming the General Synod, and he commended these ideas to the Standing Committee of the General Synod for mature consideration.

Pointing to the most popular of the suggestions, to hold the General Synod over a weekend rather than mid-week, the Archbishop welcomed the fact that this reform will be trialled as early as next year at the 2009 General Synod in Armagh.

The Archbishop went on to outline to General Synod members the reforms intended for the Church of Ireland’s training for ministers.

Training for stipendiary ministry and non-stipendiary ministry will be harmonised so that the difference between both types of ministry will be “a matter of deployment, not training.” 

Distance learning will be made available also, and life-long learning encouraged for those already ordained.

The Archbishop thanked the Right Revd Michael Mayes, who retired as Bishop of Limerick earlier in the year, and praised the contribution of the Revd Canon Prof. Adrian Empey, Principal of the Church of Ireland Theological College who retires later in the year, for his contribution to the College.

The late Dean Desmond Harman was warmly recalled by the Archbishop for his “distinguished, thoughtful and industrious” commitment to the Church.

Recalling the many roles Dean Harman filled and excelled in within the Chruch,  the Archbishop stated that the loss of Dean Harman “is deeply regretted by us all.”

The Archbishop closed his speech by drawing the attention of Synod members to the bishops’ Statement of Vision for the Church.

“I commend to you all, for interpretation in the circumstances that are uniquely your own, the vision of the bishops for the Church of Ireland. May it nourish and direct us as we seek to discern what God is already doing and then to join in.”

Members of the General Synod greeted the speech with applause.