Historic is an overused word but by any reckoning it is an
appropriate adjective to describe this month’s Conference of the
Methodist Church in Ireland. And that is because the gathering in Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim saw the installation of the Church’s first ever woman President, Reverend Dr Heather Morris, the first female leader of one of the main Churches in Ireland.
For the first time a female Irish president of the Church, the principal ordaining minister, laid hands on the heads of ordinands (there were three of them) at the ordination ceremony concluding the conference on Sunday week.
A year earlier I witnessed Dr Morris preach to a huge congregation at Clonard Novena which she held in rapt attention. Now the 48-year-old wife of Neil, a chartered accountant and mother of two grown up children, was talking to The Irish Catholic on the Friday afternoon of a conference which saw her make ecclesiastical history.
Heather Morris is about as far as you can imagine from being a shrinking violet when it comes to presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the charism of her Church. It originated in a revivalist movement in the Church of England led by John Wesley in the 18th Century.
Radiating a joyous personality she could be said to embody the “heart strangely warmed [by God]” that Wesley famously wrote about in his journal.
Summing up the distinctive Methodist charism she says it has not essentially changed since Wesley’s day while accepting “we are in a process of rediscovery”.
She adds: “It is about being reminded of something we have forgotten. It’s about a warmed heart, and passion for God and most of all God’s passion for all, His love for all and His invitation to all.”
Dr Morris, a Nigerian born Trinity College Dublin educated speech therapist by training, didn’t want any fuss about her gender after her election as president-elect in Enniskillen a year ago stressing in her experience gender has never been an issue in the Church.
However, she accepts media outlets, this newspaper included, are interested in her formal elevation to the rank of a national church leader because it is a historic event in the history of organised religion in Ireland.
Asked if she is irritated by all the media attention she says: “It’s interesting to me how being a woman does generate interest. If folk are honest enough to say they wouldn't be here if I wasn't a woman - I appreciate that honesty - and if that is so and being a woman gives me a chance to talk about what God is doing in the Church, and far beyond the Church, far from being irritated I am quite happy to take the opportunity.”
On how being a woman informs her concept of God the new president says quickly “our understanding of God is a matter not just for women, it is for women and men together, for the whole people of God”.
“So theologically I believe God is male and female and far beyond our understanding of gender just as God is beyond our understanding in every way.”
By now Dr Morris is in full stride: “And how do we translate that? That needs to be conveyed and translated in the way we speak. So I do think about the pronouns I use when I speak about God. I do think it is important for the people of God to think about the images and the language that we use for God, because if it is true that God is beyond gender and greater than that, it limits our understanding of God if we only speak about God in a particular way.”
Questioned on what she thinks she will see when she finally meets God she takes a breath before exclaiming “Ah! My human mind is going to be limited in that. And I struggle with that and I think that's alright. But when I think of seeing God I think of seeing someone who against all odds loves me. So I see a smile when I think about that meeting and I feel that it will be like coming home.”
While not seeking to disguise well known theological differences with the Catholic Church Dr Morris, was pleased to have been invited to the Clonard Novena last year, by the welcome she received and the positive reaction of fellow Methodists to her being there.
Referring to other Christian denominations including the Roman Catholic Church she uses the word “partnering” again and again to stress the need for all of them working together.
“I'm very fond,” she says “of Wesley’s sermon on the Catholic spirit, ‘if your heart is right with my heart give me your hand’ and I think people of Christian faith can partner together.”
A survey of Methodist representatives ahead of the conference showed more than 70 per cent agreeing “the growth of God’s Kingdom is more important than my Church or denomination”.
She finds that “tremendously encouraging” because “the Methodist people are saying the most important thing is God's kingdom here, the work of God in the Church goes beyond [the Methodist] Church. The core calling to Christians is to partner with God in what God is doing in the world”.
Her theme for the year is ‘A people invited to follow’, citing Joshua Chapter 3 and the story of the crossing of the Jordan into the Promised Land as an invocation to people to “get their feet wet” in the cause of doing God’s will and building up His Kingdom.
She is not short of examples of how Methodists might “get their feet wet”.
It could be the “radical hospitality of each Methodist in Northern Ireland inviting a Roman Catholic neighbour in for coffee with no other agenda than just building up relationships”.
She asks how such action “might transform this province”.
It could also take the form of “sacrificial action” in which Methodists might demonstrate their “serious commitment to peacebuilding” by asking themselves if it is “right” and “wise” to march along a designated route even if they have a right to do so.
“That's what I mean by sacrificial action and I don't want to point a finger [at anyone] in that but point a finger right back at me. If we as a Church are serious about peace building what sacrificial action is needed?”
Heather Morris’s PhD is in Practical Theology from the University of Edinburgh focussing on pastoral communication with confused elderly people.
She had just come from a debate in which the conference supported a report rejecting Physician Assisted Suicide, stating what is needed is not a change in the law permitting PAS in the UK or Ireland but “a major improvement in both nations, in the care of the terminally ill”.
Looking ahead to taking her place alongside Cardinal Seán Brady and the other Church leaders at meetings in the coming year she sees peacebuilding, poverty and social justice topping their agenda.
Reflecting on 15 years since the Good Friday Agreement, Dr Morris admits that after the initial rejoicing Church people “maybe sat back and thought peace had come” but “we have ongoing work to do”.
Towards the end of the interview Rev. Roy Cooper, a former Methodist President, the Church’s Press officer intervened to say how struck he was by Pope Francis saying priests should serve like “shepherds living with the smell of sheep”.
Rev. Cooper, perhaps the only Methodist president anywhere to be installed in a Catholic Church - in the Church of the Incarnation, Frankfield, Cork in 2007 – said the Pope had summed up “what pastoral ministry is all about, being close to your people as shepherds are to their sheep”.
Concurring, Dr Morris said she found the actions of the new Pope “really hopeful, so welcome”.
“It is a prophetic action what he is doing”, she says. “He is saying I live in a certain way to signal solidarity with those who are poor and it is absolutely welcome to see the type of Pope he is choosing to be.”
For her part Dr Heather Morris is signalling a presidency that will long be remembered in the Methodist Church and beyond.