Anglican Consultative Council Opens
Diocesan Press Service. August 1, 1973 [73180]
The Rev. Canon Donald E. Becker
DUBLIN (DPS) -- The second Anglican Consultative Council opened on Tuesday, July 17, in Dublin.
In his opening address to the Council, The Most Rev. Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury and President of the Council, stressed the significance of the character and composition of the meeting.
"This council is drawn from many countries and races. We are showing that our brotherhood overcomes divisions of race and culture . . . we are involved with one another and this is good for we can not be fulfilled apart from one another. "
Archbishop Ramsey pointed out that this is a " Forum through which advice can be given by Anglican Churches one to another." He said that the Anglican Communion means to be outgoing in nature and this is what the council should show.
A warm welcome was given by the Anglican Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, The Most Rev. George O. Sims. He was followed by the Anglican Primate of Ireland and Archbishop of Dublin, The Most Rev. A.A. Buchanan, who told the delegates that Dublin was known for its hospitality but he felt it "extremely significant that this meeting be held on this troubled island. "
The meeting took place at the Church of Ireland Training College, built by the Church with assistance from the local government and the Irish Education Board. The school is essentially a training college for teachers and Gaelic is the primary language used. The Republic of Ireland grants aid so long as certain stipulations are met in running the schools.
The most interesting and articulate of welcomes came from Mr. David W. Bleakley, a layman from Northern Ireland, long active in church, government, and educational circles in Ulster.
Mr. Bleakley told of the storm that is taking place in Northern Ireland. "Northern Ireland is caught in one of the hurricanes of history. Just about 5,000 square miles in size, with a population of 1 ½ millions, it has for four years had troubles on a frightening scale...
"There have been 3,000 major explosions; 10,000 casualties; 900 dead; with 1 out of every 200 of all residents in Northern Ireland killed or injured by these events, as they are called."
He went on to say that "these events" are eating at the heart of all life. Being destroyed are what G.K. Chesterton called the "divinely ordinary things of life. " Ask people what they want and a mother may say, " I want to go to the grocer with my child by the hand and not have to worry about a bomb. "
Another will say, " Let me be able to walk past a parked car and know that it is not a car bomb. "
Mr. Bleakley pointed out that there is some consolation. For there has been great cooperation among churches and a real spirit of ecumenism developing. "It is not a holy war," he protested. " If the church has been guilty, it has been in the guilt of silence."
"Irish Christians do cross the religious divide. It is far more the strife of politics and economics than religion. Indeed, some of the most militant groups are quite determined to destroy the Church in Ireland, be it Protestant or Roman Catholic," insisted Mr. Bleakley.
" If all of Ireland were to become non-Christian tomorrow, the deep political divide would remain. It is also worth remembering that the most militant promoters of strife care little for organized religion," he concluded.
Mr. Bleakley, who was section leader of the "Church and Society" part of the Council, turned to this area.
He stressed the need for the Church to assess the revolution in education theory taking place today and for the church to recognize the relationships between education and social justice.
" I do point out that education can't be separated from its social responsibilities... education is a great agency in socialization of children . . one of Ireland's problems is the separate education of children based on religious preference which begins at age five . . . education has most often been structured and administered by a dominant group designed to perpetuate itself, " he declared.
If society is made up of people "with full bellies, empty heads, and hollow hearts," it has failed.
He closed his intense and provocative introduction of "Church and Society" by asking, "Should the Church be involved? Some say that the Church has no right at all to participate in this most pervasive socializing agent. Too often the church has, but in so doing has failed to see the socializing role education can play."