Amazing really – but just the sort of extraordinary thing that Ireland produces – a brand new Benedictine monastery in the Irish countryside near Rostrevor. If you want to find out a bit more of the story, it’s here
I went on retreat there last week – more tomorrow
So a good time was had by all – 36 hours – long enough to get a flavour of it but not a huge commitment. This Scotland/Ireland link has been around for a number of years but it’s sort of gone neither forward nor back. So we decided to do a visit in each direction to see if we could get it into focus.
I don’t know whether the fact that I belong on both sides of the relationship helps or hinders. But there’s plenty to learn from being in a church which is quite like the SEC but not the same. Just for starters: minority church .. issues of identity and [over] identification with one community .. rural area close to city .. age profile issues .. mission/ministry patterns .. finance.
This relationship belongs firmly in the Ryanair category – meaning that a Ryanair link means that it is possible to bring a considerable number of people back and forth at various times. We’ll look forward to the return visit in January.
Just had what must be my longest blog-break ever. I’ll gradually work back through four days of Benedictine Retreat followed by a diocesan visit to Meath and Kildare in the Church of Ireland – where we are attempting to re-establish a faltering link.
Here is the group imbibing a little cultural diversity at Dublin Airport.
So I’m off on retreat for a few days. And everything will get on just fine without me – probably better. I’m surfacing again in Dublin on Friday with ten people from our diocese as we do some re-kindling of our relationship with the Diocese of Meath and Kildare in the Church of Ireland. We’ve a lot in common so it should be interesting.
I know I am a fairly hardened church-goer. But the two and a half hours of Mark Strange’s Consecration today in Inverness must be something of a record. The episcopal posterior was certainly hardened by the time we finished. But never mind – it was another day when the SEC pretended – with some success – to be 25 times bigger than it really is and Mark will bring a welcome shot of renewed energy with him. As always I sat and pondered – as always I find these things quite emotional. The words that ‘got’ me today were in the blessing as he was ‘seated’ – ‘May you lead with courage and guide with love’. I’ll ponder that one.
I’ve spent a fair bit of today doing the filing – which really means that I have energetically moved things around and chucked out a huge amount of stuff. Ringing in my ears is the only thing I remember from John Truscott’s Training Course in Clergy Administration – ‘Remember it’s not a filing system – it’s a retrieval system.’ In other words, the test is finding it again. I welcome the fact that the postal strike will increase the number of sets of Minutes and Agenda which arrive by e Mail. I don’t keep paper copies if I can file electronically.
I’ve also been ordering some reading material to share with Rev Dom Ind who acts as my Chaplain and liturgical minder. We’re going to do some work on the ‘bishop in the liturgy’ to try and ensure that services like Institutions and Ordinations are as well ordered and choreographed as we can make them. After all they are a shop window for the church in a secular society.
Kimberly asks about what we did in the Sources of Growth Workshop. At the heart of the Review process is the aspiration that we would move from decline to growth. Our Consultant constantly pushes us to answer questions like, ‘Which people? How will be approach them? What kind of church do we need to become … ?’ The Workshop was set up to do some thinking about those questions and also to share good practice. We did it mainly by interviewing people about initiatives which are already under way.
We’re now in a phase of the Diocesan Review where four Working Groups are creating action plans for the future. This Workshop was intended to produce material which could be used by all four Working Groups. This is the Programme for the Day. The Newsletter gives a brief overview of the process to date
I seem to have turned out a quite of bit of stuff lately. Just in case you are interested, here are some contributions to Radio 4’s Prayer for the Day last week. You will also find this morning’s Thought for the Day for BBC Radio Scotland. And finally sermons from Comrie and Lochearnhead and from the Installation of Rev Giles Dove as Chaplain at Glenalmond – regard it as an introduction to the necessary skill of making what is essentially the same sermon serve a number of different purposes!
We installed Giles Dove as Chaplain at Glenalmond College on Sunday – better picture to come shortly, I hope! I always enjoy being there, particularly in the beautiful chapel. It reminds me of childhood and the community at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, where my parents taught. I kept an eye on the ‘fly-on-the-wall’ documentary makers who were filming and, I hope, not recording my sotto voce mutterings to myself.
Meanwhile, as the diocesan clergy and I joined the school community to celebrate the new ministry, I pondered the huge opportunities which Chaplains have. The Chaplain has access to the whole community of staff and pupils – he doesn’t have to run around trying to find people. And he has the Chaplain’s privilege – whether school or hospital or prison or service life – of being on the inside but not quite part of ‘the system.’
I spent yesterday morning with our congregations in Comrie and Lochearnhead – which are linked with Crieff in a group of three stretching out from Perth towards the Trossachs. Perfect Perthshire autumn morning – trees just on the turn – Loch Earn absolutely still – two beautiful little churches – faithful and enthusiastic congregations.
This the church at Lochearnhead
Research shows that the church tends to move from less to more pleasant places – and clergy may find themselves doing the same. These three churches will be seeking a new Rector soon – an irresistable call for somebody, I should think.
