The Most Revd Dr Richard Clarke, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, has given his Presidential Address to the General Synod of the Church of Ireland at the Marine Hotel, Dun Loghaire.
Archbishop Clarke said how in this year of significant historical centenaries, ‘the reality is that we are all shaped in some way or another by our history’. He continued, ‘I think it is a post–modernist nonsense to suggest that we can somehow begin “reality” with ourselves. The real gift is surely to recognise the shaping that we have received by our past (for better or worse), to interrogate it, and to decide upon how this may and should influence our future, so that we in our generation may contribute to the shaping of a wider future.’
The Archbishop said, ‘This is as true in the life of the Church as in the life of a nation. We as the Church of Ireland have been shaped by previous generations, by events both inside and outside the life of the Church, and by the influence of others upon us.’
The Archbishop also described how he plans to join with Archbishop Eamon Martin in late June in leading a group of young people from across the island and from Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic community backgrounds on a three–day journey starting at the new memorial wall in Glasnevin cemetery and on to visit the battlefields of the Somme and the Irish Peace Park in Messines.
Concerning the upcoming British referendum on Europe, the Archbishop said, ‘As in every election and referendum, all citizens have a duty to consider carefully the consequences of their decision–making for the whole community, while also ensuring that they do not neglect the privilege they have been given as voters in a democratic system of government.’
Archbishop Clarke also focused on refugees to Europe and said that ‘we must all face up to the responsibilities we have been given for those who have come to western Europe, in the hope of finding safety and security, as they flee from violence and destruction in their own countries. It can never be permissible for Christians to imagine that refugees should not be “our problem”.’
He continued, ‘…we need to recall that Christ himself was always more at home with those who were suffering and outside the realm of social or religious respectability than with the comfortable and complacent insiders. In so many ways he himself was an outsider, and he died on the cross as one rejected by all around him. God does not distinguish, in his love, between those we think of as “like us” and those we think of as somehow different. We cannot turn our backs on dire need before our eyes; we are all made, equally, in the image of God.’
The full text of Archbishop Richard's Address can be downloaded here