HISTORY WAS made at Dublin’s Christ Church Cathedral Sunday when,
for the first time, the most senior Roman Catholic prelate in the city
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin read the gospel at the enthronement of his
Church of Ireland counterpart Michael Jackson as Archbishop of Dublin
and Glendalough.
The ceremony took place in the presence of
President Mary McAleese who made history at the same venue on Sunday,
December 7th 1997, when, in one of the first acts of her presidency, she
became the first Roman Catholic president to take communion at a Church
of Ireland Eucharist.
Meanwhile, Archbishop Jackson has already agreed to take part in next year’s Catholic Eucharistic Congress in Dublin.
At
the invitation of Archbishop Martin he will lead a reflection on
baptism at the event in June of 2012. He has described that invitation
as “an act of trust and generosity” on the part of Archbishop Martin.
In
a homily dominated by a theme of the desperate need for hope
“in an era of insecurity and instability, of economic challenge and
societal anger, and betrayal”, Archbishop Jackson said that within
Christianity division made “less and less sense to a world where so much
can be and is being done together”.
He recalled that last January
in St Patrick’s Catholic Cathedral in Armagh, the Church of Ireland
Bishop of Meath and Kildare Richard Clarke posed a question to all
Christian traditions in Ireland.
He asked: “Can we please do together three core Christian activities: baptism, the reading of the scriptures and pastoral care?”
In raising this again Archbishop Jackson emphasised he was not suggesting the invitation by Bishop Clarke had “gone unheeded”.
He
was simply giving it “fresh voice.”
He continued: “What unites is much
more important than what divides. We embrace the richness in diversity
which is already ours.”
He rejoiced at participation in the
enthronement ceremony “of so many members of the Christian tradition
with whom we share priorities, practices, worship and witness – and
difference. My hope is that togetherness will be our urgent aspiration
as God moves us forward.
“The wonderful thing about recognising
tradition as shared is that it takes us along pathways which we might
never have seen before.”
Referring to Muslim and Jewish
representatives present, as well as those of other faiths, he said: “We
who are members of the Church of Ireland are honoured by the presence
here of those of faiths other than Christianity.”
Among
dignitaries in attendance, in addition to the President and her husband
Dr Martin McAleese, were Capt Michael Treacy representing Taoiseach Enda
Kenny and the Lord Mayor of Dublin Cllr Gerry Breen.
Among clergy
present was the primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church David
Chillingworth, the secretary general of the Anglican Communion Canon
Kenneth Kearon, the Bishop of Meath and Kildare Richard Clarke, the
Bishop of Connor Alan Abernethy, the retired Church of Ireland
archbishop of Dublin Walton Empey and retired bishops James Mahaffey and
Samuel Poyntz.
Catholic clergy present, besides Archbishop
Martin, included the Bishop Noel Treanor of Down and Connor and the
retired bishop of Clogher Joseph Duffy.