01.10.2018
St Catherine’s Thomas Street Celebrate 25th Anniversary
Members of St Catherine’s, Thomas Street, were joined by Archbishop Michael Jackson on Sunday morning (September 30) as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of their church. This year’s celebrations will merge into further festivities in 2019 as the community celebrates the 250th anniversary of St Catherine’s Church building.
During the service the Archbishop was interviewed by the Minister in Charge, the Revd Eoghan Heaslip. They covered a wide range of topics from the Archbishop’s background and growing up in County Fermanagh and the role of a bishop to the future of the Church in Ireland. They also talked of the Dioceses’ link with the Diocese of Jerusalem and what the witness of Christians in the Holy Lands offers us.
Looking to the future of the Church in Ireland the Archbishop said that the Church of Ireland was an all–island church and that while its members lived in two different jurisdictions, their contexts were compatible and comparable.
“When you come to church you do different things and are among people who share your belief system. But in the same way we are sent out to facilitate and enable other people to become children of the same God. So what we do during the week and who we are on a Sunday must connect and I want to see that connection happen faster. So the way you gather here and share and read scripture and take that into everyday life is important,” he said.
Archbishop Jackson suggested that the Church in Ireland would remain denominational rather than becoming one church. Although denomination could divide, he said it was also a sophistication – “an entry point to a rather large and complex roundabout”.
He said there was a lot of ecumenical contact which was now taken as read and which was important in the spirit of adventure and respect while recognising that the denominations differ.
People needed to get away from the idea that the Church was repressive but said that it was essential to talk about abuse and healing. “What you experience as an invasion of your person by someone else colours your understanding of who you are… There is no way in which a society which has had a pervasive experience of abuse cannot come together again without, in my opinion, the various ways in which we are taught by the Prince of Peace to establish afresh relationships on earth which are heavenly and Godly. It’s almost impossible to do this exclusively secularly. We often hear the cry of people who say they do not want money they want dignity,” he stated.
You can listen to Eoghan’s interview with the Archbishop here.