22.01.2020
Come and Celebrate – Diocesan Growth Day to Take Place in February
Saturday February 29 in the High School, Dublin, from 10am to 4pm.
‘Celebration’ is the theme of the second Diocesan Growth Day which will take place in the High School, Dublin, on Saturday February 29. The rector and members of every parish in Dublin & Glendalough are invited to attend the day which will focus on celebrating the work which is being carried on in parishes in every part of the United Dioceses. It will also carry forward the themes discussed at last October’s Diocesan Synods.
The day will be facilitated by Dr Maria Feeney, who co–authored with Dr David Tuohy Growing in the Image and Likeness of God, the book which grew out of the diocesan Come&C initiative. The event in the High School, which is being used with the kind permission of the headmaster, will run from 10am to 4pm and refreshments will be provided. Ample parking is available.
The Diocesan Growth Day is being organised by a small group led by the Revd Alan Breen, rector of Kill O’ the Grange.
Among the items up for discussion on the day will be issues which were highlighted at Synod. Members gave their views and insights on four key areas: young people and the Church, the Church and other faiths, the Church and the environment, and social justice. Their feedback will lead to further debate at the Diocesan Growth Day.
Five years ago, the United Dioceses held its first Diocesan Growth Day, again in the High School. The day was facilitated by the Revd Dr David Tuohy SJ and proved to be a very positive experience for all involved. It gave voice to what was happening in our parishes and formed the basis for Come&C, our discipleship project which centred on the Five Marks of Mission of the Anglican Communion. It subsequently led to the publication of Growing in the Image and Likeness of God which was launched at Diocesan Synods in October. Dr Feeney presented a copy to the Archbishop of Canterbury when he was in Dublin in November to mark Disestablishment 150.
From the very beginning there has been no pressure on any parish or on any rector to participate. And that continues to be the case. “This is part of the ethic of openness and inclusion that characterises the Five Marks of Mission. The success of the project speaks for itself as Dublin and Glendalough is the only diocese in the Church of Ireland that has undertaken an objective, external study of its Anglican life in this particular way within the Irish context. This initiative was built on the 79% return to a questionnaire sent out by the Archbishop to every parish and on its professional analysis by The Revd Professor Anne Lodge,” Archbishop Michael Jackson explains.
He hopes that all members of parishes who wish to be part of a diocesan initiative that is entirely within the spirit of the Church of Ireland and the Anglican Communion, be encouraged to come along. “Our hope and our prayer are that people will attend and contribute in good numbers,” he added. Invitations along with further information is being sent to each rector as well as to parochial secretaries. Four members from each parish are invited to accompany their rector, although if a parish wishes to send more than four parishioners that can be accommodated.