Addressing the Dublin and Glendalough Diocesan Synod, the Archbishop, Most Rev Dr Michael Jackson in a wide-ranging address speaks to issues of the relationship between individual and institution, and about the creation of a constructive society – ‘one which sets at the heart of its agenda the wellbeing and the flourishing of its members’ – and active participation in it…. Seismic flaws have led to societal bankruptcy. The new society needs to be built on mature explorations which construct communities of collective inclusion as well as communities of opportunity. We have lived through a period of unprecedented opportunity for a very small proportion of our society. It has resulted in profound alienation. A constructive society has to look very different for the future.’
The text of this aspect of the Archbishop’s address reads:
Much of the tension in ourselves and in our society stems from the need which will not go away, that is: the need to resolve the relationship between individual and institution. We instinctively speak of individual freedom and institutional responsibility. Both of these phrases, along with the ideas which they carry deep within them, are essential. However, they must also work the other way around, as individual responsibility and institutional freedom, if we are to be members of a coherent and a constructive society. Without the mature and generous interchange of the attitudes and the activities which these words sustain, human beings find it difficult to flourish. Flourishing, without a doubt, is the purpose of human life. Openness and communication, courtesy and firmness are vital and life-giving in this whole process, as are understanding and compassion, derivation and direction.
A CONSTRUCTIVE SOCIETY
You may be surprised by my use of the phrase: constructive society. Society is something which we take for granted; society has always been there in some shape or form. We are, of course, part of it yet often feel that the present shape and the future shaping of it lie in the hands of others and are beyond us. We feel entitled to grumble about it and to assert that it has gone to the dogs… without doing much about it. For us as citizens and as Christians, such an attitude is a waste of our opportunities and a setting aside of our responsibilities. We have a voice; we have an entitlement to be heard respectfully; we have a duty to contribute. We are deeply embedded in a fast-moving and a fast-changing society. It is ours and the shaping of it is every bit as much ours. We make our varied contributions country-wide to the well-being and flourishing of local communities. We also have the opportunity to do so on a bigger scale and on a wider canvas – and that opportunity too we need to grasp. By our presence and by our engagement, we proclaim Christ Jesus present in society, whether or not that society is hostile or welcoming, or, as is often the case, a mixture of both.
A constructive society is one which sets at the heart of its agenda the wellbeing and the flourishing of its members, most particularly those who are suffering from and experiencing disadvantage, exclusion and exploitation. Not only is this a rebalancing of privilege in the context of the good of the greatest number, but it is central to the proper understanding of those whom we call ‘the poor’ as being at the heart of Jesus and of the Gospel. This today includes those who are disabled, the elderly and all others whose essential support services have been cut, withdrawn or reduced to the point where they cease adequately to fulfil the purpose for which they were brought into being in the first place. Society, as it constantly and critically constructs itself afresh in each generation, needs to explore and to enact opportunities for living in ways which give hope to those whose experience of life gives them little ground for hope. It has to do so also with encouragement built into its DNA. It means that individuals, who by their contribution make this way of living possible, have a clear sense of participation and involvement in the better experience of shared life – and also somehow feel that their contribution to this is honoured and valued by those who make the decisions which shape our society as an institution. Such a constructive society needs the participation of those who follow Jesus Christ and those who do not. It is surely one of the greatest challenges to those who think of mission in church-based terms to partner and to network with those who do the same things with no discernible church perspective. This is letting go and it is letting God be God wherever and in whomsoever. It seems to me that such connected thinking happens too rarely. In many ways, church people are frightened of it in a society where the secular ethic has made us more than tentative abut saying anything at all from a Faith perspective. Yet this is a time of real need in our society – the need of solidarity. The national economy is shaky and crisis-ridden; the economic and commercial model of what a society is remains dominant and flawed. Everyone seems to be searching for the holy grail, the magic formula which will turn our society round and stimulate economic recovery. Of course, we need economic recovery and we need it fast if we are to move beyond the palliative rhetoric of the word-chisellers. However, we simply cannot contemplate a future where we congratulate ourselves on creating a better version of our old selves, but on the same economic model. Seismic flaws have led to societal bankruptcy. The new society needs to be built on mature explorations which construct communities of collective inclusion as well as communities of opportunity. We have lived through a period of unprecedented opportunity for a very small proportion of our society. It has resulted in profound alienation. A constructive society has to look very different for the future.
ECONOMIC DOWNTURN
On a daily basis we become more and more aware of the consequences of economic downturn. We have no option but to sense and to experience the hard and brutal truths of what this does and the devastation it causes in the lives of individuals and families. This happens in basic terms – hunger and thirst, unemployment and collapse of business, rising prices for goods and services, homelessness and the negative equity of those who thought that, in making provision for their future, they were doing the right thing in the right way. Few find themselves unaffected. Societal anger can quickly turn to cynical resignation and rank disengagement on the part of those who feel they have no point of reference and who experience personal worthlessness in a land of leprechaun’s gold. The Presidential Election may well prove to be a de facto referendum on political performance by individuals and party machines all in one.
The experience is always more raw and real for those who are in any case suffering and without voice or privilege. The wider question always to be asked is: How does this shape the mission of the church as an institution and how does it mould the discipleship of people as individuals today? Rather than being seen to pass by on the other side, Christian people are asked to make a constructive contribution which is always to be focused on the neighbour, your neighbour, my neighbour. For parochialized communities of faith this is a steep learning curve and a sharp shock. Many of our neighbours differ from us quite considerably. Many of them have their own communities of belonging and may not engage readily with our communities of belonging. Many of them, I suspect, we have never even got round to talking to, so they do not know us and we do not know them. Some may even find us somewhat unfriendly. This too is a recipe for alienation on a massive scale, if we are not careful. We always have room for improvement and for enlargement.
WHAT MIGHT WE DO? …
As members of the Church of Ireland, we are small in number and our presence across these dioceses and indeed the whole country is far from uniform in distribution. Numerical size need not deprive us of the opportunity to engage with others and of making a contribution which itself makes a difference. The first thing which is asked of us is: to keep looking for our neighbour in our community as well as in our parish. The second thing is: to be humble enough to discover and to celebrate the reality that the best parts of our relationships, new and old alike, are free. The third thing is: to continue to be generous, widening our understanding of mission as a way of being and as a way of doing at home every bit as much as abroad. More immediately, we need to remain supportive of the agencies which urgently require contributions from people of principle and from parishes of vision. Only in this way can agencies of care continue to give the necessities to those whose need is now alarming to them and ought to be alarming to us.
The recognition of our neighbour as a person of dignity; the realization that good relationships cost nothing financial and the plea to sustain a level of generosity at home and abroad: all of this will make a powerful impact and it is beyond the scope of none of us here. The power of simplicity and the strength of consistency turn a gesture into an activity of real transformation. We have gathered as the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough for these Diocesan Synods from across the length and the breadth of our dioceses. The strength of our parochial system is that it covers the whole area where we are situated and to which we belong. Parishes need the diocese, the diocese needs the parishes and the parishes and the diocese needs the wider community – to remind us that our lifeblood is those beyond every bit as much as it is those within. As an island nation, we ought to know well what is meant by insularity. And insularity takes the form of withdrawal, the fashion of concern primarily about ourselves. It becomes an attractive possibility, particularly when individuals or institutions are under pressure from any quarter. And sometimes our confidence is no more than skin-deep, however assertive our rhetoric. My plea would be that in difficult economic times, turning inward would not emerge as the more attractive option. For us in the Church of Ireland, it would be disastrous. There is no earthly or heavenly reason for us to abandon the best of ourselves and the best of others in times and in situations of difficulty – or to cease to engage in a transformative way with the very worst of ourselves. God invites us to become who we are yet to be. God invites others to do the same. As there is room for us, so there is room for others. We are called to make space for them where there always will be space.
Towards the conclusion of his address, the Archbishop revisited this theme having thanked the diocese for the welcome he had received. He said –
Most of all my thanks are due to the people of Dublin and Glendalough. As individuals you find yourselves part of a complex institution. The Church of Ireland is a fast-moving place and it is a most interesting place to be. New questions are always on the table. Experiments of great interest and integrity are always taking place. Traditions are maintained and enriched by fresh expressions and by fresh experiences. This is how it is meant to be. Mission is what holds together the individual and the institution. As the Father sent the Son, so the Father and the Son send the Spirit; and God in God’s infinite totality sends the people of God to bring God to the people of the world. Without individuals of commitment and courage, the institution withers; without the institution, the individual loses context, bearings and direction – even if the life of that individual is a battle with the institution.
My hope is that as together in Ireland we face into an uncertain, volatile and precarious future, we in the Church of Ireland will make a real contribution to a new type of community. For too many years the individual has triumphed over any sense of community cohesion in Ireland. It will demand of us a level of endurance and imagination to which many of us are unaccustomed. But it will bring us back to our ethos, to our principles of tradition and tolerance, of experimentation and engagement with those whom we know all too well – the hard part – and those whom we do not know at all – the difficult part. In God’s hands and together it is an exciting journey.