Anglican liturgists focus on healing and reconciliation; Amnesty calls for public inquiry into Omagh bombing; Events upcoming; Premier in NI
Anglican liturgists focus on healing and reconciliation
Representatives from throughout the Anglican Communion came together recently in Dublin for a meeting of the International Anglican Liturgical Consultation (IALC).
The six-day consultation took place in The King’s Hospital, Palmerstown. It was the first time the IALC had met in Dublin since 1995.
The consultation was organised by the Rev. Alan Rufli, rector of Clondalkin, who is also the Church of Ireland’s electronic liturgical officer and diocesan liturgical officer for Dublin and Glendalough.
He worked closely with his fellow members of the IALC steering committee, which holds responsibility for arrangements between successive IALC meetings.
Members include Cynthia Botha (Southern Africa, IALC secretary and liaison officer), Bishop Kito Pikaahu (Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia), Eileen Scully (Canada) and Nak Hyon Joo (Korea).
The conference attracted a total of 41 representatives from countries around the Anglican Communion including South Africa, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Canada, America, Australia, New Zealand, Melanesia, Scotland, England, the Philippines, South Sudan and Ireland.
During their time in Dublin, delegates visited and worshipped in both Christ Church Cathedral and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Cultural tours of Dublin were also arranged, with opportunities to view the Book of Kells in the Long Room of Trinity College, Dublin, and to visit Marsh’s Library, the Chester Beatty Library and St Michan’s church.
Taking the conference theme of Rites Relating to Healing and Reconciliation, participants reflected on issues ranging from forgiveness to ministry to the sick and dying.
During the meeting there were presentations by Philip Tovey and Colin Buchanan (England), Lizette Larson-Miller (USA), Tomas Maddela (Philippines) and Terry Brown (Solomon Islands).
A number of papers were delivered on subjects including the changing approaches in the Anglican Communion to the ministry to the sick, palliative spirituality shaping ritual and prayer, confession and absolution in the Anglican Formularies and issues surrounding private auricular and general public confessions.
There was also a review of the work of past lALCs and a report to the Anglican Consultative Council was discussed, as were the draft revised guidelines for the networks of the Anglican Communion.
Amnesty calls for public inquiry into Omagh bombing
Amnesty International has joined bereaved families in calling for an independent public inquiry to be established into the circumstances leading to the Omagh bomb and the investigative failures that followed.
On 15 August 1998, 29 people were killed – including a woman who was pregnant with twins – and over 200 people injured when a car bomb exploded in Omagh, County Tyrone.
The Real IRA subsequently claimed responsibility. Amnesty believes that an inquiry is needed in order to investigate comprehensively the circumstances surrounding the Omagh bomb and to ensure lessons are learnt.
Amnesty urged the UK authorities to establish an independent inquiry without delay, and called on the Irish and United States governments to offer full cooperation with the work of such an inquiry.
Despite criminal investigations, a civil case, a Police Ombudsman investigation, and other reviews in the UK and Ireland—including one conducted by the UK’s former Intelligence Services Commissioner, the full contents of which have not been made public—serious questions remain outstanding about alleged state failures in the lead up to and the aftermath of the Omagh bomb.
In particular, there are unanswered questions concerning the gathering and sharing of intelligence material both between domestic agencies (for example between the RUC and MI5) and international agencies (for example between UK authorities, Ireland’s Garda Síochána, and the United States’ FBI).
Northern Ireland Programme Director of Amnesty International, Patrick Corrigan, said:“Fifteen years since the bomb ripped through Omagh, taking lives and causing injury, the families bereaved and those injured by the bomb are still left seeking the full truth about what happened that day and whether it could have been prevented.
“Beyond addressing the families’ need for answers, there remains a broader public interest in establishing such an inquiry, in order to prevent such a tragedy recurring.”
The Omagh Support and Self Help Group has commissioned a report assessing the known facts of what happened in Omagh and the obstacles to, and failures in, investigations over the years. The report highlights the questions that still remain following gaps that have been left by previous investigations.
Patrick Corrigan concluded:“The families have had to suffer the indignity of being drip-fed information over the years, with new wounds opened each time and with none of the bombers ever being held criminally responsible.
“It is doubly sad that the bereaved families and those injured have now had to commission their own report as result of the many partial investigations, each one of which opens up new questions. What they, and Northern Ireland more broadly, deserve is the fullest account possible of what happened in Omagh, delivered by an independent inquiry, with cooperation from all sides.”
Events upcoming
Tomorrow – Wednesday the lunchtime recital in St Peter’s church, Portlaoise, will be given by the Irish Midland Orchestra while in the evening at 7pm the Romsey Youth Choir from Hampshire will give a Summer Concert in St Macartin’s cathedral, Enniskillen.
The final recital in the 33rd Festival of Music in St Barrahane’s church, Castletownshend, will take place on Thursday evening at 8pm when the recitalists will be Keith Pascoe (violin) and Brian Macnamana (piano). On Friday Rachel Talbot (soprano) and David O’Shea (piano) will perform songs and arias by Handel, Schubert, Liszt and others in Sandford parish church at lunchtime.
Premier in NI
Premier Christian Radio, the UK’s leading Christian radio station, has been launched across Northern Ireland on DAB digital radio.
Premier is an ecumenical station covering a broad range of Christian traditions and provides interviews and news from a Christian perspective, testimonies, prayer and a wide range of Christian music. You can find Premier by scrolling alphabetically through the digital radio’s station list. Alternatively it can be found on Freeview channel 725 or can be listened to online at www.premier.org.uk