30.03.2026
Election of New Clerical Hon Sec for Dublin Underway
Members of Synod for the Diocese of Dublin gathered online on Friday evening (March 27) to start the process of electing a new Clerical Honorary Secretary for Dublin. The vacancy arose following the retirement of the Revd John Tanner who previously held the role.
During Synod, which was chaired by Archbishop Michael Jackson with Ciaran Toland SC appointed Assessor, two members of the Dublin clergy were proposed for the position: Canon Paul Arbuthnot and the Revd David White.
The election will take place by postal vote with ballot papers issuing from the Diocesan Office this week. While the meeting of Synod required both lay and clerical Dublin members to attend, only clerical members can vote for the Clerical Honorary Secretary. The deadline for the return of ballot papers is April 20.
Synod began with a service of Holy Communion which was livestreamed from Holy Trinity Church, Rathmines.
In his sermon, Archbishop Michael Jackson focused on the theme of inspiration, life and renewal, drawing on the readings from Ezekiel 37: 1–14 and John 11: 1–45.
“These two Readings present us with both the corporate and the individual dilemmas that God’s presence in the church of our making causes us. Inspiration, life and renewal – they are all so distant from so much of what preoccupies us in church life much, or most, of the time,” the Archbishop commented.
He concluded: “The question that we must face as The Diocesan Synods of Dublin and Glendalough seems to me to be this: What would Ezekiel find, or what would Lazarus find of inspiration, life and renewal were he to enter the world of church that we have created as a response to the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples: …on earth as it is in heaven…? Would he, we also have to ask, be coming again next Sunday? Addressing these issues is our synodical work. It is to aid us in this that we need strong, compassionate, godly, capable, industrious, courageous, Spiritual Diocesan Honorary Secretaries to enable administration to become the handmaid of salvation.”
You can read the Archbishop’s sermon in full here.
